Photoshop/Proshow Gold Tips and Tricks

PhotoShop SIG 8-9-10

2010-08-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

In this month's SIG we talked about HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging. HDR allows the photographer to capture all the tonal range in a scene that the eye can see but image sensors can't capture in a single exposure. This is done by making multiple exposures by using the bracketing feature or the exposure adjust feature in a digital camera. The multiple exposures are combined into a single image that displays the entire tonal range of a scene.

Software that can do this is found in Photoshop CS3 and later with CS5's HDR Plus being a significant improvement over previous Photoshop versions.

Photomatix, current version is 3.2, is an excellent program for HDR. The web site for Photomatix is from HDSoft, http://www.hdrsoft.com/

We also looked at a new product, HDR Expose from Unified Color. HDR Expose is unique as it provides tooks for editing all of the photograph in 32 bit HDR mode before outputting it to an 8 or 16 bit image. The Web site is http://www.unifiedcolor.com/

Also discussed were various tools and plugins for creating a pseudo HDR from a single exposure. RAW files work the best. In Photoshop CS5 go to Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning.
Photomatix has a Plugin that can be purchased with Photomatix as a bundle for an additional $20 that gives excellent results. I only works of 16 bit images.

At the SIG I showed how the Topaz Labs Adjust 4 plugin also can give an excellent HDR look. A good place to start is the Spicify preset is a good place to start. The web site for Topaz Labs is http://www.topazlabs.com/

At the SIG it was planned to also show some new Plug-ins of interest.

Exposure 3 from AlienSkin, https://www.alienskin.com/ is great for giving a look to an image that emulates a film looks. There are many choices.

ToonIt from Digital Anarchy, http://www.digitalanarchy.com/ is a fun plugin for creating a cartoon look to a photograph. It has many Presets to use to get started.

Portraiture from Imagenomic, http://www.imagenomic.com/, is an excellent plugin for doing portrait retouching.

Photoshop Elements SIG - 6/16/10

2010-06-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

In the Photoshop Elements SIG this month and in the following months we'll be going through exercises from the book "Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 Unleash the hidden performance of Elements" by Mark Galer and published by Focal Press. The book comes with a DVD with the images used in the book so as to follow along with the various lessons and movie tutorials that help following the text. It also comes with various actions and presets that can be downloaded to make the editing easier and better. This books can be obtained from Amazon for $29.67.

We started by pointing out the tutorials available for Elements users on photoshop.com. You also get 2 GB of online storage.All Elements registered users get access to photoshop.com from the Start-up screen. You first have to create an account. Plus accounts offer 20 GB of storage with additional tutorials other stuff. The cost is $49.99/year. At the SIG I played a video tutorial from the normal account "Creating a sense of movement". At the conclusion of the video we went through the tecniques described.

This month we covered book, Part 1 Project 4, Curves, Project 5 Hue/Saturation & Luminance and Project 6 Sharpening, Advanced Sharpening Techniques.

The Project 4 Curves described techniques in Elements that are similiar of the powrful Curves Adjustment in Photoshop for controlling contrast in an image. One of these was the use a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer in Luminosity mode.
I created a video of this technique and it can be viewed by clicking the link
http://tinyurl.com/2bhuf36

Advanced Sharpening Techniques will be shown in the next SIG in August. There will not be an Elements SIG in July.

I will show these steps shown for advanced sharpening techniques.

1. Open 1_P6_USM.tif
2. Dupe background layer by dragging to new layer icon
3. Filter > Other > High Pass
a. set the Radius to around 20 to 30 pixels for a 6 to 12 megapixel image.
b. Click OK
4. Apply the Despeckle filter - Filter > Noise > Despeckle
5. Next the Filter > Noise > Dust and Scratches –
a. R – 1
b. Threshold – 0
Note-the High Pass filter is sometimes used as an alternative to the Unsharp Mask if the duplicate layer is set to Overlay or Soft Light mode. In this project, however, we're using the High Pass filter to locate the edges within the image only.
6. Filter > Adjustments > Threshold is next applied - the threshold will reduce the slayer to 2 levels-black and white.
7. Drag the slider just below the histogram to isolate the edges that require sharpening. The aim of a moving of these sliders is to render all of those areas you do not want to sharpen white, or nearly white.
8. ClickOK
We're now halfway to creating a sharpening mask the mask will restrict the sharpening process to the edges only (the edges that we have just defined). Increasing or decreasing the radius in the High Pass filter will render the lines thicker or thinner.
9. Paint out any areas that were not rendered white by the Threshold adjustment that you don't want to be sharpened. In a portrait, any pixels remaining in the skin away from the eyes and mouth, nose and background is painted over using the brush tool with white selected as the foreground color.
10. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
a.4 pixel radius to ensure the sharpening process will fade in slowly read it rather than have a sharp abrupt edge.
11. Magic Eraser Tool
a. Deselect the Contiguous option
12. Click on any white area within the image, and we should be left with only the edge detail on the layer and none of the white area.
13. duplicate the background layer and drag this duplicate layer to the top of the layer stack
14. Layer menu choose Create Clipping Mask or click on the dividing line between the two top layers with the Alt key depressed.
15. Enhanced > Unsharp Mask
a. Amount - 150
b. Radius - 0.8
c. Threshold - 5
16. Click OK

Photoshop Book by Martin Evening

2010-06-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

I refered to a book in the Photoshop SIG by Martin Evening. The name of the book is
Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers published by Focal Press. I bought my copy from Amazon,

Photoshop SIG 6-14-10

2010-06-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not keeping this blog up-to-date these past 6 months but these months have been a bit difficult. I promise to do better in the future.

If you have a Canon camera that shoots RAW would like to view the Canon RAW files in Windows Explorer go to http://www.usa.canon.com/, hover the mouse over Support and choose Consumer. In the Search box enter Canon RAW Codec. On the resulting page pick your operating system, Vista or Windows 7 and you will be offered to download rc170upd_71.exe, scroll to the bottom of the page and click I Agree - Begin download. Save to a folder on your hard drive and after the download go to this file and click on it to install.

To view dng Raw files I did a Google Search on dng raw file codec. The top of the list took me to Adobe Labs which has the Codec to download and install.

I received a request to show a technique for blending two images together using the Gradient tool. I showed this at the sig and I created a video of this that can be be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/29y4lq5

In the June Photoshop SIG I demonstrated a technique for changing a face in a group shot. Many times in taking photos of a group one or more in the group has their eyes closed or something similiar. To get around this the photographer should take multiple shots of the group and replace those closed eye face with ones that are good.

In taking my group shot, a photo of my grandson's youth soccer team, one of the member's of the team showed up late so I showed how to take a seperate photo of him and then insert this photo into the team photo.

I have created videos of both of these techniques and they can be viewed at:

http://tinyurl.com/293uc6q and

http://tinyurl.com/39jskra

We also talked about camera RAW and all the adjustments in the Camera RAW dialog box.
Martin Evening recommends a workflow for Basic adjustments of:
Exposure to set overall image brightness
Recovery to restore any important detail in highlights
Blacks to set the shadow clipping
Fill to reveal more detail in the shadow area
Bright-Contrast is used last to fine-tune the image after you’ve adjusted the other 4 sliders.

Photoshop Elements SIG - 3-17-10

2010-03-18T05:49:00.001-07:00

This is my first post to the Blog in a few months. Sorry I will try and do better in the future.

I demo'ed a technique for removing a color cast in an image. The steps are:
1. With the image open that has a color cast. Dupliclate the background to a new layer. I use the shortcut control+J
2. In the Filter menu choose Blur > Average. This creates an image with all the colors in the image averaged to a single color. This should be gray for an image without a cast.
3. Add a Levels Adjustment layer. Do this by clicking on the Ajustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layer's panel and by choosing Levels or from the Layers menu, Add Adjustment Layer.
4. The Levels Adjustmet Layer dialog box has three eyedroppers on the left side. The middle one is the gray eyedropper. Click on this to select it and click anywhere in the image on the background copy layer. This makes the adjustment to neutralize the color to gray on the background copy layer.
5. As we now have the adjustment we need in the Levels Adjustment layer either delete the background copy layer or turn it off by clicking the eyeball icon on that layer.
6. This applies the Levels adjustment to the image removing the color cast.

I showed three plugin filters for Photoshop Elements. They were

Topaz Labs Adjust 4, Simplify 2, Clean 2 and Detail 2.
Essentials 3 from onOne Softwere
Sketch by Akvis Software

See you next month.

Photoshop Elements SIG - 12-16-09

2009-12-17T02:52:00.000-08:00

At the Elements SIG I showed a technique for creating an Orb. The steps are as follows:

Creating an Orb

1. Full Edit open flower bunch
2. Crop to a square
a. Marquee tool
b. Cookie Cutter Tool
3. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates
a. Polar to Rectangular
4. Image > Rotate > 180 deg
5. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates
a. Rectangular to Polar

Photoshop Elements SIG - 11/18/25

2009-11-18T12:18:00.000-08:00

Captions Alive Pro

The software that I used to create the animated text captions that I have been showing in my slide shows the past few months has now been released. It is called Captions Alive Pro found at the web site can be found at http://www.visisketchpro.com/CAP/CAP_Main.html
You can download a free trial and then buy it from the web site.

Essentials 3

A few months ago I posted information on Essentials 2, a very reasonably price set of plugins for Photoshop Elements. Unfortunately this version is not compatabile with Elements 8. OnOne Software recently released Essentials 3. Here are the top new features in this release in addition to support for Photoshop Elements 8:

• New Photo Essentials Palette - The Palette provides quick access to all five modules from a single location right inside Photoshop Elements.
• Make It Cool - This new module offers a library with dozens of professional effects that can be added to images in one click. This is based on our award-winning PhotoTools 2 plug-in.
• A new dynamic range optimization algorithm in Make It Better.
The web site for Essentials 3 is
http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=11

Photoshop Elements 8 SIG 10-21-09

2009-10-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

Steps to add texture to an image

1. Open a photo to which you would like to add texture
2. Open a texture image
3. Add the texture to the photo by dragging it into the photo. It will appear as a new layer.
4. Use the Move tool to position it and Free-Transform to size the texture to fit the image
5. Change the Blending mode to what you like best. The best are Overlay, Soft Light or Multiply.
6. Change the layer opacity to suite
7. To apply your texture selectively you can add an adjustment layer above the background image
8. Group this adjustment layer with the Texture layer by selecting the Texture layer and select Group with Previous from the Layers menu (Ctrl + G)
9. You can now paint with black the areas on the mask associated with the adjustment layer where you want to hide the texture.

There are many, many more free textures on deviantArt; enter ‘texture’ into the search box to find them.

Creating an Orb

1. Full Edit open image
2. Crop to a square
a. Marquee tool - Shift Drag a selection and the in Image menu choose Crop
b. Cookie Cutter Tool - Choose a Square Shape, Check Crop in the Options bar and shift drag.
3. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates
a. Polar to Rectangular
4. Image > Rotate > 180 deg
5. Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates

Adobe Photoshop SIG Meets

2009-10-12T08:48:00.001-07:00

The Adobe Photoshop SIG - October 12, 2009 Notes:

RAW Converter

If your version of PS (CS3 or before) or Lightroom RAW Converter doesn't support your new camera, go to the Adobe Web Site > Downloads > Adobe DNG Converter 5.5 Update,
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4576
Download and install the DNG and then when you want to move your digital RAW images from your camera's memory card use the DNG Converter to convert the camera's RAW image files to DNG and move to your computer's hard drive. You can open these files in CS3 or earlier RAW file converters.

Tips

Zoom
Ctrl + "+" to zoom in and Ctrl + "-" to zoom out.
To resize the window as you zoom go to Edit > Preferences > General and check Zoom Resizes Windows.
You can also zoom in using the Zoom tool (Z) and click in the image. To Zoom out Alt+click with the Zoom tool.
If you are zoomed in and would like to zoom in on a different part of the image, with the zoom tool Click with keep the "H" key pressed. The image will zoom out and you can move the square showing the zoom around to a different part of the image. Release the mouse button and you will be zoomed in on the selected area.

Press the F key to view the image in a full window. You can move the image using the spacebar. Press the F key again the window changes to black and the menu bar,toolbar and palletes go away. To get them back press the Tab Key. Press the F key again to go back to normal view.

Fixing Overexposed or Faded images

You can duplicate the background to a new layer by pressing Ctrl + J and then change the Blend mode to Multiply. This doubles the file size, unfortunately, but another, better way is instead of duplicating the background or a layer that is underexposed, add an Adjustment Layer such as Levels. If you change the Blend Mode to Multiply you get the same effect with no increase in file size. If the increased image density is too much, you can reduce the layer opacity. This technique is very handy for restoring old faded photographs.

Fixing Underexposed or Dark Images

You can do the opposite of the above for dark or overexposed photos by changing the Blend mode to Screen.
In both cases you have the advantage of the Mask that comes with the Adjustment Layer. For example to

Lighten eyes and maybe teeth in a portrait

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer and change the blend mode to Screen. This lightens the whole image so you want to fill the mask with black to hide the adjustment. With black as the foreground color press the Alt + Backspace key. This will fill the mask with black. Now change the foreground color to white and with the Paintbrush at about 30% opacity paint with the white foreground color on the eyes to allow the Screen mode to show through. You can adjust the opacity of the layer to get the right amount of lightening. You can also do this on the teeth or any other areas you would like to lighten.

This is a good technique for opening up detail in the shadows.

Photoshop Elements 8

2009-09-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Adobe announced Photoshop Elements 8, http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/?promoid=BPDEM.

There is no upgrade price from any previous version of Elements, bummer, but they are offering a $20 mail-in rebate until the end of October.

You can check the above web site for the new features that are included. Among the new features is an image scaling feature similiar to Content Aware Scaling that was introduced in Photoshop CS4 that allows the user to reduce the width or height of an image to fit into a set width and heighth without distorting the major elements of the image.

I will go over this new release in the Photoshop Elements SIG on Wednesday, October 21 at the Tampa Bay Resource Center Resource Center.

Color Management

2009-09-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

Devices for monitor calibration are:

X-Rite Pantone Huey - $89
http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=756&catid=107&action=overview

Datacolor - Spyder3Express - $89
http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3express.php

Edit JPEG in Camera RAW

2009-09-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

Note: This does not work in Elements 8.

If you have JPEG files and would like to process them in the Camera RAW Converter you can do this currently in the Editor, File menu choose Open As and choose Camera RAW (not Photoshop RAW) as the format. Your file will open in the RAW converter. This may be a good or bad thing as the a lot of file information in creating a JPEG in the camera has been lost.

If you would like to open a JPEG or other non-raw files from Organizer you can download a free EditInACR appliclation from http://johnrellis.com/editinacr/

The web page will have "Open JPEGs in Adobe Camera Raw from the Photoshop Elements Organizer" by John R. Ellis information and how to download a use the EditInACR.

Plugin Filter for Elements

2009-09-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Most plugin filters for Photoshop costs more than Photoshop Elements itself. That has now changed when onOne Software introduced Essentials 2 for Elements, http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=11. There is a very good plugin filter for Photoshop Elements and at $69.99 is priced very affordable considering what it contains. This small suite of plugins contains a cut-out filter for removing an object from the background. It is very similiar to onOne's Mask Pro at $159.95, plus it contains Make it Better which is similiar to Phototune 2 for $159.95 and it also contains Frame It that is similiar to Photo Frame 4 at $159.95 and finally it has Make it Bigger that is similiar to Genuine Fractals @$159.95. Essentials 2, in my opinion is a real bargin.

Sorry Photoshop users this is only available for Elements.

Photoshop SIG 9-14-09

2009-09-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

Photographic Society of America web site is http://www.psa-photo.org/
Some interesting plugin filters were discussed in the SIG this month.
One of my favorite filter company is Topaz Labs, http://www.topazlabs.com/
I showed examples of using Detail, http://www.topazlabs.com/detail/
and Clean 2, http://www.topazlabs.com/clean/
Akvis has some interesting new filters. Sketch 9, in my opinion, is the best software plugin for creating simulated pencil, pen, or charcoal sketches from photographs. http://akvis.com/en/sketch/index.php
A new filter for creating simulated art work such as an oil painting from a photograh is Artwork,
http://akvis.com/en/artwork/index.php.
A lot of filters are now available for Lightroom
Imagenomic - Portraiture 2 - http://www.imagenomic.com/
Nik Software - Sharpener Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza and Silver Efex Pro http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php

Web sites for color profiling devices are;
Spyder Pro 3 - http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3elite.php
Huey (low cost monitor profiling) - http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?catid=107
ColorMunki - http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=1115&catid=&action=overview

Using the Pen Tool

2009-09-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting tutorial on using the Pen Tool on PhotoshopCafe that I thought you would find interesting.
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/pen/pen.htm

See you at the Photoshop SIG Monday, 9-14, at the Resource Center.

John Nack of Adobe

2009-09-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Adobe has made available a new tool called a Configurator to enable the user to create a panel of tools etc that are frequently used. This is still in beta and John Nack of Adobe offers information on this and allows users to make comments and offer suggestions that will affect the future of Photoshop. This is on his blog,

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/10/introducing_ado_1.html

View Photoshop psd files in Explorer

2009-09-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ever since Photoshop 7 you could no longer view psd file thumbnails in Windows Explorer. To view thumbnail images for Photoshop PSD files in Windows XP and Vista go to http://www.josh.biz/tech/6-view_psd_thumbnails.html
where you will find instructions and a downloadable zip file. The instructions are on this web and in a txt file included in the ZIP. The last step in the instructions is double click Adobe.reg to run this program. After running this Vista users should Restart. Also it won't display a thumbnail if the file is a layered file and the top layer's visibility is turned off.

Camera RAW in Elements

2009-08-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

There is a a very good way to be able to open jpeg images in Camera RAW from the Organizer. The script and how to use it can be found on the Adobe Forum,
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/468562
Remember the Photoshop Elements SIG will resume on Wednesday, September 16th.

No Photoshop SIGs in August

2009-08-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Note there won't be a Photoshop or Photoshop Elements SIG in the month of August. I' taking a break. The next Photoshop SIG will be September 14th and the Photoshop Elements SIG will be September 16th.

Photoshop SIG 7-13-09

2009-07-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Pen Tool
I have posted 3 short video tutorials on the basics of using the Pen tool on
Lesson 1 - http://tinyurl.com/n6e2em
Lesson 2 - http://tinyurl.com/lhxb4s
Lesson 3 - http://tinyurl.com/kpsxau

Various solutions for extracting objects from the background were discussed at the May, June and this months SIG. There is a video link on the May post on this blog. This month I showed various 3rd party plug-ins that are available. They are:

SuperMask from Akvis, http://akvis.com/en/smartmask/index.php at $120
Mask Pro 4 from onOne Software, http://www.ononesoftware.com/products.php at $159.95
Fluid Mask from Vertus, http://www.vertustech.com/index.htm at $149
KnockOut from Corel, http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1152105061771#tabview=tab0
at $99.

In my opinion the best of the group is Fluid Mask.

In addition I showed an inexpensive sketch type of plug-in from Redfield who also makes Fractalius another cool plugin.

Sketch Master available from http://www.redfieldplugins.com/

Photoshop Elements SIG 5-20-09

2009-05-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

Photo touch-up and retouching were shown in this month's Photoshop Elements SIG. The Clone Stamp, Pattern Stamp, Healing Brush and Spot Healing Brush were demonstrated. The use of the clone overlay can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/q9oag3 in a video I recorded.

To use the Pattern Stamp tool,

Use the rectangle marquee took to select an area that you want to use as a pattern.
Then go to the Edit menu and choose Define Pattern from Selection
Choose the Pattern Stamp Tool. In the tool box this is under the Clone Stamp Tool.
Select the pattern you created in Step 2 from the drop down window between Opacity and Aligned.
Create a new blank layer and Drag in this area over the area you want to replace with the pattern.
Use the Move tool to line up the cloned area. You can nudge the area 1 pixel at a time using the Arrow keys. Shift + an arrow will nudge the area 10 pixels at a time.

I also showed the use of two retouching tools that can be installed as Plugins in Elements.
Retoucher v3.5 makes saves a lot of time in retouching and photo restoration and is recomended if one does this a lot. It is $87.
Multibrush is a tool similiar to the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush but many find them much easier to use. It is $49.
They both can be downloaded for a free 10 day fully functionable trial.
The web site is http://akvis.com/en/products-photo-editing-software.php

Photoshop SIG - 5-11-09

2009-05-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

We continued to look at image sharpening using techniques described in Martin Evening's book
Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers and Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers The Ultimate Workshop.

Techniques were shown on replacing backgrounds behind people and replacing bland skies. The replacing skies techniques video tutorial can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/qcc9od.

In the video I left out an important step. After you add the layer mask and before you open Refine Edge change the clouds layer to Multiply mode and then Refine Mask Edge.

Photoshop Elements SIG 4-15-09

2009-04-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

The textures shown in the class maybe downloaded free from

http://kuschelirmel-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/

Proshow Gold/Producer 4.0 Video CD

2009-04-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

The new revised training CD for Proshow Gold and Producer has been completed and is available from my web site, http://www.computerphoto.org/pages/videos.html#proshow.

Photoshop SIG 4-13-09

2009-04-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

Sharpening images was the main topic of this month's month Photoshop SIG. Techniques show were from the following two books:
Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers by Martin Evening and
Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers The Ultimate Workshop by Jeff Schewe and Martin Evening.

The Sketch plugin filter show is from Akvis, http://akvis.com/en/sketch/index.php

Scattered Photo Collage Effect

2009-04-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

The effect shown at the April SIG is from the current Photoshop User magazine. Click on the link to see a video of how to create a Scattered Photo Collage Effect in Photoshop CS4.

http://tinyurl.com/ddsffh

Curves in Photoshop CS4

2009-03-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

In Previous versions you could drag the eyddropper around the image and it would show on the curve where to adjust.

This behavior still available in Photoshop CS4, it is just accessed a little differently now that the Adjustments panel is used in the place of the dialog box when working with adjustment layers.
Previously you could drag the mouse around the image to see a "bouncing ball" on the curve that would indicate the point on the curve that represented the tonal value under your mouse at any given time.

If you held the Ctrl/Command key when you did this, upon releasing the mouse an anchor point would be placed on the curve in the place represented by the tonal value under your mouse.
In Photoshop CS4 in order to access these capabilities you first need to turn on the "direct adjustment" control by clicking on the icon of the hand with the double-headed arrow next to it at the top-left corner of the Adjustments panel.
With this option turned on (the button is a toggle to turn the control on and off) you can simply move your mouse (without holding the mouse button down) to see the "bouncing ball" on the curve indicating the tonal value for the pixel under your mouse pointer.
If you want to add an anchor point, you can click the mouse in the desired location on the image (with no need to hold the Ctrl/Command key).
Even better, you can click on an area of the image you want to focus an adjustment on, and then simply click and drag up or down to lighten or darken the image with an emphasis on the tonal value below your mouse when you clicked.
Upon releasing the mouse button you can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to fine-tune the position of that anchor point.

Photoshop SIG March 9, 2009

2009-03-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Replacing a Blah Sky Using Apply Image

With the image whose sky you want to replace open look at each channel in the Channels palette and pick the one with the most contrast.
Drag this channel to the New Channel icon
Click on this new Channel and in the Image menu select Apply Image
The default is Multiply but change it to Overlay
Sometimes this isn't enough so Apply image again and this time choose Multiply
Still on the Channel Copy set the Brush to Overlay mode and paint with black on the white in the part of the channel that should be black.
Change foreground to white and paint the areas that should be white.
Click on the RGB channel and
Double click the backgroud to change background to a layer
Drag the sky image to the Image area and below the layer containg the sky you would like to replace.
Control click the channel copy to load as a selection.
With the image layer active Add a layer mask.

Very Cool Plugin Filters for Photoshop and Elements

2009-02-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

At the February Elements SIG I showed example of some very cool filters from Topazlabs.

Topaz Simplify - Allow the user to create works of art from regular photographs. This is the best I've seen since Buzz Pro that I discussed last month and is cheaper. The web site has excellent examples and a nice video tutorial. A 30 day fully functional free copy can be downloaded.

Topaz Adjust - uses advanced algorithms to achieve unique exposure effects and adjustments in seconds. It offers the user full control over creative exposure, color, and detail effects, and has the ability to save and reuse presets for maximum convenience. This filter can emulate effects that one creates with the much more expensive Lucis Pro 6 (over $500).

Topaz Vivacity - This filter provides noise removal, sharpening, and Image Enlarging without loss of quality. Some very interesting effects that can be achieved are shown on the Topaz web site.

I plan to put some examples using these filters on my SmugMug web gallery. Check in a week or so.

Photoshop Elements SIG 2-18-09

2009-02-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

Adjusting Image Tone with Blend Modes

For overexposed, light, Image

Copy Background to a new layer, Ctrl+J
Change Blend mode to Multiply

For an underexposed, dark, image

Copy Background to a new layer, Ctrl+J
Change Blend mode to Screen

Brightness and Contrast Adjustment Layer

Add a Brightness Contrast Adjustment Layer to change the tone and contrast of an image.
Levels gives you more control.

Using Levels

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer
Move both the Shadow and Highlight sliders to the start of the histogram "mountain"

To color correct in Levels

Adjust the highlights by Alt+click on the highlight slider and the image goes black.
Drag to the left until a bit of white appears. This is the brightest part of the image so note where this is in the image.
Reset the slider and click on the white spot in the image with the Highlight Eyedropper. This sets this point in the image as a neutral white, 255, 255, 255.
For the darkest point do the same as above but Alt+click on the Shadow slider. The image goes white. Drag to the right until a dark spot appears. This is the darkest place in the image.
Clicking the dark spot in the image with the Shadow Eyedropper neutralizes this point to 0,0,0.

To Adjust Contrast - Mainly to Increase Contrast

With Levels Adjustment Layer open from adjusting tonal range move the middle slider (midtone) to the right to increase contrast and to the left to decrease contrast.

A Better Way to Increase Contrast with More Control

Add another Levels Adjustment Layer
Change the blend mode to Soft Light
To lessen the amount of contrast move the Output Shadow slider to the right.

To Increase the Local (small area) Color Saturation using Blend Modes

Determine the blend mode that is best by
Copy background to a new layer
Cycle through blend modes by choosing the Move tool (V) and pressing the Shift key and the + key. Each time you press the + key the blend mode will change to the next.
Pressing Shift plus the - key will cycle back.
Notice the blend mode that gives the color you want - good for eyes of birds for example. Overlay and Soft light are normally good.
Change back to Normal blend and with the Brush tool
Change the brush's blend mode to the one you decided, probably Overlay or Soft Light.
To darken corners you can change the brush's blend mode to Multiply and with a large brush at an opacity of about 20% paint the corners.

Local Tone and Contrast Adjustment

The Dodge and Burn tools allow for localized darkening (burning) and lightening (dodge) of an image. It is best to use at between 10% and 20% and build up.
Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Shadows/Highlights can be used to open up shadows in an image.
To use a Layer and a Blend mode to dodge and burn, add a new layer. This can be blank or filled with 50% gray in order to see the effects. Too fill with 50% gray
Press the Alt key when pressing the new layer icon.
In the dialog box you can name the layer. Then choose Soft Light as the blend mode and check the box for filling with 50% gray.
When you paint with a gray that is lighter than the 50% gray you lighten (dodge).
Paint with a color darker, then you darken (burn).

Photoshop Elements 7's new Tools discussed

Quick Edit > Touch Up - either Red Eye, Whiten Teeth, or Make Skies blue.
The Whiten Teeth and Make Skies Blue create an adjustment layer so check the Adjustment layers in Full Edit to see what is being done and to make corrections.
Full Edit - The Smart Brush Tool allows you pick from a group of different corrections. Again Adjustment Layers are created that can be altered.
When you first click with the Smart Brush tool a colored point is placed on the image. Double click this point to change the adjustment.

Free BuzzPro 2

2009-02-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

On of my very favorite plugins for Photoshop is BuzzPro. FoToPix the company that produced this filter has been in receivership for quite a while so you can't buy it, but BuzzPro 2.0 is available as a free download from
http://www.brothersoft.com/buzz.pro-20001.html

I haven't tried the download myself so I can't guarantee it is free from bugs. Do a Google search on BuzzPro and you'll fine some nice tutorials on using it.

Making a Wanted Poster

2009-01-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

Preparing the paper is most of this technique

File > New > Blank
81/2 11 at 240 ppi if you want to make a print or 96ppi otherwise
Alt+click new Layer and name clouds 1
Set the Foreground color -233, 191, 131
Set the Background color -164, 125, 87
Filter > Render > clouds
Ctrl+F to apply filter again - do until you get a nice look
Ctrl+J to copy to a new layer
ctrl + F to apply the clouds filter again
Change layer Blend Mode to Luninosity
Add a Patterns Adjustment Layer and choose the Clouds Patterns, 2nd row right, 900 %
Change to Blend mode to Soft Light at 50% opacity.
Select the 3 layers using the shift ken and Ctrl+E to merge
Add Levels adjustment to Background – OK without an adjustment
Rectangle Marquee to select an area leaving a narrow border
Shift+Ctrl+I to inverse the selection
Choose the Default colors
Adjustment layer active, Alt+Backspace to fill selection with black
Deselect – Ctrl+D
Group the Adjustment Layer with the Clouds 1 layer by pressing the Alt and click on line between layers
Make sure mask is targeted and Filter – Distort > Glass,Distort 10,Smoothness – 11, Frosted for texture,Scale – 170 %
Ctrl+Click on mask to load as a selection
Lasso tool with Subtract from Selection, draw some jagged rips in the border
Ctrl+shift+I to inverse the selection
Alt + Backspace to fill the selection with black
Deselect
Dupe the paper layer using Ctrl+J, and name Edge
Add to the Clipping group, Alt+click on line between layers
Ctrl + click on Layer Mask icon to load as a selection
Select > Modify > Contract about 25 pixels
Target Edge layer and press Backspace to erase the center portion or selected area
Change blend mode to Multiply
Filter > Blurr > Gaussian Blur about 15-18

Paper is finished.

Open the image you want on your poster and drag into the paper
Resize to fit
Ctrl-Shift-U to desaturate
Change Blend Mode to suite. I used Color Burn
Reduce layers Opacity to suite
Add some noise using - Filter Add Noise > Check Monochromatic
Add your text using the Type tool. I used Font Rosewood Std, 72 for WANTED and then Free Transform to size the text.

Orton Effect

2009-01-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

With Image Open Orton
Duplicate background 2 times using Ctrl+J
Top layer change blend mode to screen and
Reduce opacity to 80%
Shift click to select both layers and Ctrl+E to Merge Down
Dupe this layer with Ctrl+j
Name the Top Layer - blur
Name the middle layer - sharp
Turn off blur layer
On Sharp layer
Enhance > Adjust Sharpness, Amount -400 %, R - .5
Turn On blur layer
Change blend mode to to Multiply
Filter > Blur > about 25 (depends on image size)
Note if you have halos, undo and reduce the amount of blur

Using the Displace Filter

2009-01-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

Open image you want to use as the base, in my case boring.jpg
Open image you want to displace, in my case sailboat.jpg.
Move sailboat.jpg into boring.jpg as a layer (you would do the same with your images).
In my case I copied sailboat to a new layer and
Again in my example, Image > Rotate > Flip Vertical and move down below the boat.
Reduce Opacity to about 75%
In my example my displacement map will be the water. You can copy any texture like a brick wall.
Select texture, water in my case and copy to clipboard
Create a New file > Blank. The default size will be the size of the image in the clipboard.
Edit > paste or Ctrl+V
Layer > Flatten Image
Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate as your displacement map is monochrome
Save as displace.psd. File must be a psd file.
Make image to be displaced active, in my example the reflection layer
Filter > Distort > Displace
H – 20,V – 0,Tile and Wrap around is not applicable
In box choose the displace.psd file

Putting Pep in your photos

2009-01-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Open image
Edit > Define Pattern
Filter > Blur > Radial Blur – about 25
Move center to upper right corner
Add a New Layer
Paintbrush about 15 -20 pixels
Brush Palette - Move Scatter slider and Spacing slider
Paint some white spots
Filter ? Blur > Radial Blur - about 10
Clone Pattern Stamp tool
Larger Brush at 50%
Choose saved texture - should be last on the list
Paint in people

Photoshop Elements SIG 1-21-09

2009-01-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

Pseudo HDR in Elements

You can create the 2 exposures by opening a RAW image 2 times, first adjusting for highlights and then adjusting for shadows. You have to save the first one before you open the RAW converter to do the second.
Do the first 2 steps in the Photoshop Pseudo HDR
Add a Levels Adjustment layer to the background - shadow layer. The Mask in the Adjustment Layer will serve as the Layer Mask in Step 3 of Photoshop steps.
Do steps 3 and 5 andAlt click the mask in the Adjustment layer to display it
Ctrl+V to paste in the copied background image
The rest of the steps are the same.

Magnetic Lasso Tool Tips

Select the tool and click to set the starting point of your selection; like the Polygonal Lasso tool, you don't need to keep the mouse button held down as you move around your object.As you move the mouse pointer, Elements draws a temporary path where it detects contrast, applying these reference points automatically.If the line isn't appearing where you'd like, click to set a reference point (this technique is particularly helpful when specifying sharp angles).
Did a reference point appear where you don't want it?Notice that the last-created point is solid; press the Delete key to remove it without disrupting the path.
When you come back around to the starting point, click on it to complete the selection.
The reference points the tool creates are only guidelines for specifying the selection; you can't go back and edit them later as you would paths in a drawing application. But the Add/Subtract/Intersect modes (see "Editing the Selection") are also available for the Magnetic Lasso tool to help you fine-tune the selection.
TIP: Double-click the mouse to complete the selection at any point.
Using controls on the Options Bar, you can control the strength of the magnet's pull and how many points appear when drawing:
Width: This value (between 1 and 256 pixels) is the distance between an edge and the mouse pointer that will be considered for a path. A larger value can often accurately grab edges without requiring a lot of precision mousing on your part; a smaller value is better for close-in selections.
Edge Contrast: This percentage helps Elements define what an "edge" is. A higher percentage looks only for high-contrast areas, while a low value can pull an edge out of fuzzy areas.
Frequency: A higher Frequency value prompts Elements to create more reference points on a path, increasing the accuracy of the selection (but also potentially creating a more jaggy area, depending on the image).
Tablet pressure: This control is represented by the small pen icon to the right of the Frequency setting. When enabled, this will use the pressure-sensitivity setting of a drawing tablet to affect the Width value.
You could try to draw a selection perfectly the first time, but that trail leads only to frustration. Instead, treat a lassoed selection as sculpture: start rough and refine as you go.
With a broad selection made and the Lasso tool selected, click one of the selection modes in the Options Bar.
Add to Selection lets you grab areas you may have missed initially or create non-contiguous selections.
Use Subtract from Selection to pare away areas and get closer to your subject.
Or,Draw within your selection using the Intersect with Selection mode to keep just that area.
Better yet, ignore the Options Bar altogether and switch modes using modifier keys. With any of the Lasso tools active, hold the Shift key to Add to Selection; hold Alt (Mac: Option) to Subtract from Selection; or hold both Alt and Shift to Intersect with Selection. The tool's icon changes to reflect the mode as you're working.

Refinements

The controls in the Options Bar, such as Feather, apply only if you set them before creating a selection. What if you decide you want a feathered edge after it's drawn?
Right click and select feather
Click the Refine Edge button to bring up a dialog that can alter an existing selection.(The Refine Edge button doesn't appear when the Magnetic Lasso tool is selected.
Simply switch to the Lasso tool after you've made a magnetic selection to make it appear.)
The Smooth slider removes jagged edges and rounds out the selection.
Feather applies a soft edge.
And the Contract/Expand slider reduces or enlarges the selection in percentage increments.
With the Preview button enabled, use the sliders to adjust the selection.
You can press F or click the red Custom Overlay Color mode button at the bottom-left of the dialog to see a mask overlay that helps preview the selection;
You can also press X to temporarily remove the 'marching-ants' border around the selection.
Feel free to move the image using the Hand tool or change the zoom level using the Zoom tool while the dialog is still open.

Photoshop SIG Jan. 12 2009

2009-01-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

The web sites for programs and plugins used in the SIG are

Photomatix - HDR software - http://www.hdrsoft.com/
ToonIt - Cartoon like imaging plugin - http://www.digitalanarchy.com/toonPS/main.html

Pseudo HDR

Open 2 exposures of an image, one for the highlights and one for the shadow.
Holding the shift key with the Move tool move the highlights image (the lighter one) to the shadow image (the lighter one)
Add a layer mask to the highlights layer, layer 1
With the shadow image, background, active - Select All using Ctrl+A
The Ctrl+C to copy selection to the clipboard
On layer 1, press Alt when you click on the Layer Mask to display it
Now press Ctrl+V to paste the copied selection into the mask
Click the eye visibility icon to view the image.
It is best to blur the mask so with the Mask active - Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur - about 5-6 pixels.
Apply Levels to the mask using Ctrl+L to brighten the image move the shadow slider to the right darkening the mask.

Creating an in-camera zoom effect

With image open use the Elliptical Marque tool to select the area of the image that you want to remail sharp. Pressing the Spacebar with the tool allows you to move the selection.
Right click in the selection to apply a feather of about 20-30 pixels. The amount depends on the size of the image and selection.
Press the Shift+Ctrl+I to inverse the selection
Now go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur > about 55 -70 pixels.

Portraiture Photoshop Plugin

2008-12-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

The portraiture plugin for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements can be found on
http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx.

Photoshop Elements SIG 12-17-08

2008-12-17T11:59:00.000-08:00

Fix Red-Eye and color Cornea

Openphoto in Full Edit or Quick Edit.
In Quick Edit try the Auto Fix but if this doesn't work, pick the Red Eye tool in Quick Edit or in Full Edit and click in the red of each eye.
and eliminate red
Go to Full edit and use the Quick Selection tool to select the left eye and then add to the other eye using pressing the Shift key when using the Quick Selection tool to add the selection.
With the eye selected add a Solid Color Adjustment layer
Choose the color you want and
Change Blend mode to overlay and reduce opacity to suit.

Whiten Teeth

Open model in Quick Edit
In Quick Edit – paint with the Whiten Teeth brush found at the bottom of the panel.
With Selection Go to Full Edit
Adjust the opacity
Ctrl+click on Adjustment layer to make the load the selection of the teeth
Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer
Reduce the Saturation to remove any color (like yellow)

Smart Objects – New Frame Layer

This is from a tutorial on Photoshop.com

This technology started in V5.0 and is used in photo collages and photobooks. We’ll look into the technology

Open an image in Full Edit.
Use Free-transform to downsize to postage stamp size. Click accept
Use Free-transform to restore to original size and click accept.
Notice the jaggies - not sharp
Undo
Choose Create – Photo Collage
Select a Page size
Choose Theme – no theme
Pick a layout - simple, for landscape image choose the first one.
Uncheck – Auto place
Drag in image from bin
Resize down and then up
Notice no lack of sharpness.

Holiday card

File > New 8 in X 4 in – 240 ppi
File > Place holiday-card background
File > Place command brings your image in a something called a smart object. Smart objects can be scaled up or down, rotated, or otherwise transformed without sacrificing quality. If you do need to scale your background image, and want to do it proportionally, make sure the Constrain Proportion box in the Options Bar is checked.
Scale to fit.
Ctrl + J to dupe background
Blend to Multiply, this will darken the image.
Make sure default colors are set to black as the foreground color
Add a gradient adjustment layer and choose the second gradient from the left in the top row, Foreground to Transparent.
Click the Reverse checkbox, and click OK.
Select Rectangle Shape tool (U) draw a rectangle approximately where you would like the family picture to appear.
Duplicate the shape layer by pressing control-J and rename the original shape layer White Rectangle.
Hide the black rectangle layer by clicking the layer visibility icon.
Click on the white rectangle layer and making sure why he is still your foreground color, press control-backspace. This should fill the shape with white.
The bottom shape will serve as the frame for the pictures, so it needs to be a little bigger than the black shape on top. Using free transform, and with the alt key drag one of the side borders. Using the alt key both sides will resize equally.
Repeat this for the rectangle tight and accept the transformation.
You’re white rectangle layer should still be targeted. Hold down shift on your keyboard and click the black rectangle layer. With both rectangle layers selected, click the Link Layers icon at the top of the layers palette.
Free-Transform, position the cursor outside one of the corners and rotate at a slight angle and reposition on the paper if necessary, because both rectangle layers are linked together they will transform at the same time.
Press Enter.
Unlink the layers
It's time to add your family photo. Go to file > Place and navigate to the photo. We plan to use. Because it is a Smart Object until you press enter or return, it can be scaled without affecting the quality. Checked the constrain proportions box in the option bar to scale the image proportionally and rotate it to 50 angle of the rectangles we created. Your image should be a little larger than the black rectangle.
Press Enter
In the Layers palette, position the photo layer directly above the black rectangle layer. If it's not there already.
To have the image appeared only in the the black rectangle press control-G, which creates a clipping group. You can use the move tool to position the image inside the rectangle. Using a clipping group allows you to use other photos in your template if you wish. All you need to do is place another photo directly above the black rectangle and protect and press control plus G2 clip it to the rectangle area.
Use the Text tool to add text

Enhancing the Sun’s Rays

Create a new blank file 500 pixels by 500 pixels.
Select the Gradient tool from the toolbox.
In the top left of the options bar click on the small downward facing arrow on the Gradient Picker, which lets you choose a specific gradient. We're going to choose from a different gradient group, so click the small double arrows to the top right of that window and choose the Noise samples preset from the list.
Then click on the transparent pixels per gradient-the last one in the noise gradients list-and will use this gradient for the project.
The five icons to the right of the Gradient pickerare the types and gradients we can apply. We'll choose the Angle Gradient the middle icon here. Move your cursor to the middle of the image and click and drag toward the bottom right corner to create the gradient. You don't have to be exact, but it is close to the center as possible.
The grain is fairly uneven for what will need to do layers so we'll drag a gradient three more times once from the center to the bottom left corner and then from the center to the top left and finally from the center toward the top right. That will even out the effect can make it look more realistic when we add it to our photo.
We don't want to have any color in this gradient so will go to the Enhance menu and choose Adjust Color> remove color.
To add more punch go to levels and slide the black slider over toward the left edge of the histogram and the white slider toward the right edge of the histogram then click OK.
Select all and Copy
Now we're ready to apply this to a photo. Choose. Open the image we want to apply it to and paste the gradient onto it
Obviously the gradient tool looks quite funky the way is laid out on top of the image, changing the layers blend mode from normal to overlay will help out a lot making it look like some really intense sunbeams. Use the move tool to move the center of the gradient over the Sun.
Finally, select the eraser tool from the toolbox click on the one of the brush presets and use a large 300 pixel brush and erase around the edges so the rays will just affect the immediate area around the Sun.
If you want to re-create this effect all over again, you can save it and open it in again to reuse it without going through all the steps of creating.

Photoshop Elements SIG 11-19-08

2008-11-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

Creating something different

Open an image
With image open > Change Background to a Layer
Rectangle Marquee select a rather small area in the center
Copy selection to a new layer using Control+J
Double click the new layer and change the name to top and
Change Blending Mode to multiply to be able to see it.
Make 3 more selections on the layer “0”, the bottom, each one a little larger and
Copy each to a layer using Control+J
Name the layers from top under the Top layer, Green, Gold. & Brown
Make Drop shadow for each starting from top by first
Creating a new layer under the Top layer by pressing the Ctrl key and
Clicking on the New Layer Icon then
Ctrl+click the Top layer to add the selection of the top layer and on the
New blank layer fill with black using the Paint Bucket tool, make sure the default colors are selected
Deselect and blur using Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Adjust the amount to suit.
Do the above on the Green, Gold and Brown layers
On the Top Layer press the Alt key and Click and hold the Adjustment Layer Icon at the top of the Layers palette.
Select the Hue/Sat Adjustment layer and click in Group with Previous box
Adjust Saturation -80%
Brightness 10
Paint with black on the Hue/Saturation Mask in the center to reveal some full color
Ctrl click the top layer to create a selection and then
Edit > Stroke the Selection with white
5 px inside for the top layer
Do the same on the bottom layer with a 10 PX white stroke
On the Green, Gold. & Brown layers add an Adjustment layer as you did on the Top Layer, Alt + Click on Hue/Sat and Group with Previous checked.
Instead of adjusting the Hue, click on colorize and then adjust the color for
Green, Gold. & Brown respectively on each layer.
Select the bottom layer and
Ctrl+click on the New layer icon to add a New layer under bottom layer
Image > Resize > Canvas - Increase the Canvas by 1” Width and Height check Relative.
On the new layer on bottom add a Foreground to Background Gradient with the Foreground color – 4a3300 and the Background color – b40000
On the top layer choose the Burn tool with a brush size about ½ the size of the top layer.
50% Exposure and Midtones
Drag along the top and sides to darken
Rotate the middle layers Using Free Transform (Ctrl+T) and click and drag outside of a corner.
You can use the Text tool to add your name on the bottom.

Photoshop SIG 11-10-08 - Photoshop CS4

2008-11-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

OpenGL 2.0

For Photoshop to access the GPU, the display card must contain a display driver that supports OpenGL 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0 and has enough Graphics RAM to support Photoshop functions, at least 128 MB (256 MB is recommended).

Information on the GPU accelerated features and on Adobe tested and supported graphics cards can be found at http://tinyurl.com/6rdxql.

The Accelerated Features can be turned on or off in the Preferences > Performance.

New Tabbed image window - To move a selection from one image tab to another, make the selection in one image and Ctrl + Drag to the other image until it opens and then drag the selection down into the image.

Photoshop CS4 Features and Shortcuts

Hide Panels - Shift + Tab

Change the Brush Size by pressing the Alt key and right click and drag to change the size. There will be a visual appearance in red of the brush. The color is set in the Preferences > Cursor. To change the Hardness press Shift +Alt and drag.

Spring Loaded Tools - with a tool selected press and hold the shortcut tool for the 2nd tool. This tool will be active as long as the key is held. You will return to the selected tool when you release the shortcut.

Zoom - For continuous zooming, choose the Zoom tool - shortcut Z and click and hold. Release the mouse when you reach the desired zoom level. Press the H and click again to fit in the screen and get a navigation square that can be moved in image to a different point in the image.

Content Aware Scaling - Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C - Must be on a layer. Double click background to change the background to a layer.

Select an area that you want to protect and save as a channel. In the Options pick the Alpha channel in the Protect box to protect the selected area or the People Icon to order to protect skintones.

Bridge in CS4 - Change thumbnail size - press Ctrl and use the mouse scroll wheel.

New Tool - To increase the tonal range of an image take two photos of the scend, one exposed for the highlights and the other for the shadows. Use the same f-stop and change the shutter speed to do this. In Bridge select the two images and choose Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers. On the top image add a Layer Mask and blend the two images together.

Increase Depth of Field - Take multiple images with different focus points and in Bridge select these and then choose Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers. In Photoshop select all layers using the shift key and in the Edit menu > Choose Auto Align Layers > Auto. Next choose Auto Blend Layers > Stack Images and make sure Seamless Tones and Colors is checked.

In Bridge to get a Full Screen Preview - Press the Space Bar

Stack like Images - Ctrl + G. To open the stack, click on the number in the upper thumbnail corner.

Adjustment Panels - Add a new Adjustment layer by clicking the left arrow in the lower part of the panel.

For Targeted adjustments click the icon at the top of those on the left that looks like a hand. Drag in the image. This is available in the Curves Adjustment where dragging up lightens and down darkens; in the Hue/Saturation where dragging to the right increases saturation and to the left decreases saturation. Ctrl dragging changes the Hue; in the Black and White panel, clicking in the image and dragging to the right lightens this tone and to the left darkens this tone in the image.

Clone and Healing brush live previews - To get a live preview of what you are cloning or healing make sure Show Overlay is checked in the Clone Source Panel. This should be checked by default.

For excellent tutorials on Photoshop CS4 go to http://www.lynda.com/cs4u/ All of the tutorials on this site can be accessed for a fee of $25 per month. I received a free month when I purchased the upgrade from Adobe.

Photoshop Elements SIG, 10-15-08

2008-10-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

New features of Photoshop Elements 7.0 were discussed. The video shown on the new Scene Cleaner tool can be found at http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=709.

You can pay a monthly fee to view all tutorials on this site or buy the CD.

The steps used in creating the Triptych can be found in the September blog.

TBCS Photoshop SIG, Oct. 13, 2008

2008-10-13T08:26:00.001-07:00

The URL's for the web sites of the plugin filters that were demostrated are:

Fixerlabs, FixerBundle V2 - http://www.fixerlabs.com/index.htm

Nic Software, Sharpener Pro 3.0 - http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php

The Action for creating an Out-of-Bounds photo is free from PanosFX
http://www.panosfx.com/. Scroll down on the page and you will find the Out-of-bounds action which is free. There are instructions for downloading, installing and using this Action. It cannot be used in Elements.

The Photoshop CS4 video on Content Aware Scaling by Russell Brown can be found on his site at
http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html. Scroll down on this page and you will find the Quick Time video.

Creative Enhancement in Camera RAW

Open an image in Camera RAW Converter
Move the following sliders to the right to 100, Recovery, Fill Light, Contrast, Clarity, and Vibrance. Move Black to about 50. Adjust Exposure and Black and the Contrast curve. This is the 2nd icon at the top of the converter dialog box. Move the Highlight and Lights sliders to the right and the Darks and Shadows sliders to the left to create a dramatic "S" curve.
Adjust all sliders to suite.

2008-09-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Phtotoshop Elements SIG, September 17, 2008

Create a Triptych

Turn on Rulers and Grids
I had in Edit > Preferences > GridGrid line every 2 inches and subdivisions 4
Duplicate background to a new layer using Ctrl+J and name “image name”
Set Background and Foreground to default
Choose the Rectangle Shape Tool (U) and Draw a rectangle – mine was 2” by 7”
With tool still active Ctrl+Alt+Shift click on rectangle and drag to the right about a block away to create a copy
Rt+Click on Shape tool and choose from bottom of list the Shape Selection Tool
Ggo to first rectangle and Transform > Shape > Perspective and drag down top right corner a block or division
The bottom moves up as well
Choose Enter or click the check mark
With Shape selection tool active duplicate (ctrl+Alt+Shift) the first rectangle and drag to the far right.
With far right shape still selected go to Image > Rotate > Flip Layer Horizontal
With the Shape Selection tool click on middle rectangle and drag the top and bottom to match the outside shapes
Choose Enter or click the check mark
Use the Move tool to position the 3 shapes
In the Layers palette drag the Shape layer below the duplicated background
Create a new blank layer below the Shape layer using the New Layer icon
Click on the Foreground color icon and choose a background color for the final, I choose Gray.
Fill new layer with this color
On the layers palette hold the Alt key and position mouse between the top image layer and the shape layer. Click when you see overlapping circles.
This creates a clipping group and groups the image into the shapes.
With the Shape Selection Tool move the two outside shapes closer to the middle one. Ctrl+shift while dragging to drag in a straight line.
With shape layer active go to the Effects palette and click the Layer Style button and choose Drop Shadows and double click to apply a style.
Double click the style icon on the layer and check Stroke and place a 4 pixel stroke in black. Change color from Red by clicking in the red box.
Add new layer under the shape layer
Edit > Fill Layer Choose 50% Gray
Change blend mode to Overlay
Move layer on to the top of image layer
Paint with black and a 30% opacity to darken edges of all shapes. You can hold the shift key to paint in a straight line.
Turn off Grid view
Save as PSD to maintain Layers.

Photoshop SIG 8-8-08

2008-09-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

Click for a short video on using the Graduated Filter and Adjustment brush in Lightroom 2.
This is a new way I'm showing videos so it is a little choppy right now but I hope this will be better. Click on http://screencast.com/t/maiIlVpkKfW.

There are many good resources for learning Lightroom 2. Julieanne Kost of Adobe has some good free tutorials on her web site, http://www.jkost.com/lightroom.html.

A good introduction to Lightroom 2 is on the Photoshop User website,
http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom2/ where NAPP has some excellent videos on Lightroom 2. Non NAPP members can access this site.

Another good resource for learning Lightroom 2 is found on the Luminous Landscape site,
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/download-videos.shtml. They have a downloadable 7.5 hours of video tutorials. The cost is only $39.95 and worth it.

A good book on Lightroom 2 is The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book by Martin Evening. I use this as a resource to look up questions I have when using Lightroom 2.

In the SIG I also discussed plugins for Photoshop from Kodak and Alien Skin Software. They are:

Alien Skin makes 4 of the filters, Exposure, Blowup, Image Doctor 2 and Snap Art. They can be found on the Alien Skin web site, http://www.alienskin.com/.

Restore Original Color is found on the Kodak, Austin Texas site, http://asf.com/products/plugins/rocpro/pluginROCPRO/. I showed an older version that is no longer available. The Pro version is the only one that is available but if you want to do photo restoration on photos that have lost their color, this filter is well worth the investment. There is no comparable way to match it's effect.

Photoshop Actions on the Internet

2008-06-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Photoshop Actions both free and not free can be found at the following web sites:

http://addictedtodesign.com/free_photoshop_actions.html

http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm

http://www.shutterfreaks.com/

http://www.panosfx.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Adobe

HDR Imaging

2008-06-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Information on HDR (High Dynamic Imaging) and the software Photomatrix Pro can by found on http://www.hdrsoft.com/.

Comparisions I did comparing HDR images created in Photomatrix Pro and Photoshop CS3 can be found at http://stans-photos.smugmug.com/gallery/5025687_guR6P#301741405_mQj2t.

Action for Sharpening an Image Using the High Pass Filter

2008-06-06T06:19:00.001-07:00

This is an action to sharpen an image in Photoshop using the High Pass Filter,

An Action To Flatten a Layered File

2008-06-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

This is an action to flatten a layered file in Photoshop.

Action to Resize, Sharpen and then Flatten

2008-06-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

This is a single action combining previous actions that will first resize, then sharpen using the High Pass filter and then flatten the image.

Simple Action for Resizing

2008-06-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

This video shows a simple action for resizing an image in Photoshop to a width of 1024 pixels.

Using Photoshop's Shear Filter

2008-05-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is the first of what I hope will be more video tutorials. How many that will be posted will depend on the time available to create them. I hope you enjoy this and those that follow.

Simulated Lighting Revised

2008-05-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

1. Open scene where you want to add simulated lightning
a. Set foreground color to i. H - 215 ii. S – 36 iii. B – 33
2. Add New Layer to make the scene look stormier.
3. Choose the Gradient Tool > Linear Foreground to Transparent
a. Drag from the top to the bottom
4. Change Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply
a. Reduce Opacity to 80%
5. Add New Layer named Lighting
6. Default colors
7. Gradient Tool > Foreground to Background
a. Drag across small distance on a slight angle
8. Filter > Render > Clouds (new)
9. Filter > Render > Difference Clouds - note: you can press Ctrl + F to reapply this filter until you get the look you want.
10. Levels – move Midtone slider to ~ 3.66
11. Invert, Ctrl+I
12. Levels – Mid-tone slider to the right to make black
13. Change to Screen Mode
14. Hue/Sat – check Colorize
15. Move slider to the right 15.
16. Delete the unwanted "strikes" either paint them with black or select them with Marquee slection tool then Delete.
17. When you have a single strike and want to create a branch with the rectangleur Marquee select lower part of the lighting
18. Crtrl+J to copy selection to a layer
19. Use Ctrl + T, Free Transform to change size and move into a position to attach it to the main strike.

There you have it.

Creating Textured Wood in Photoshop

2008-05-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

This technique works in Elements as well as all releases of Photoshop

Open new document
Add a new layer name wood (Alt+New Layer icon allows you to name the layer)
Fill Layer with dark wood - R102, G53, B26
Filter > Noise > Add Noise
Amount - 90, Uniform, Monocromatic
Filter > Blur > Motion Blur
Angle 0 degrees, Distance -85
Stretch sideways to apply the filter to the whole layer using
Free Transform + Alt and drag the right side to the right. By holding the Alt key when dragging the left side is expanded to the left as well.
Adjustment > Levels – bring in the white point to the left and the black point to the right until you get the wood look you desire.
This will give you a smooth wood look. You can add texture after the next step.
Photoshop Liquify is at the Top of the Filter menu as an item in Elements go to Filter > Distort > Liquify
In the big dialog box the top tool in the toolbox is the distort tool. With a big brush drag this from left to the right to create the wavy wood textue tool. Do this over the entire image. Experiment with the 3rd and 4th tool that swirls the wood. Play with some of the other tools as well.
To get a textured wood look Copy this layer to a new layer and name Texture
Filter > Render > Lighting Effects
Settings are:
Default;
Directional;
In lighting box drag black spot at the end of the line to inside of the top left corner. Draging it in toward the center lightens the image. Drag to suit;
At the bottom of the box is box labeled Texture Channel. Click the down arrow and choose the Blue channel. You can experiment with the other channels; for a rough texture leave the setting between Flat and Mountainous. For less texture move the slider to the left toward flat. White is High should be checked.
Click OK

You now should have a nice wood image to use in a variety of ways.

Creating a Soft Focus Look on a Model

2008-05-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

With the original non-sharpened image open

Filter Convert for Smart Objects
Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur - Radius of about 10-15
Click OK
If you double click the small icons on the right of the Gaussian Blur layer you will bring up the Blending Options box.
a. Change the Blending mode to Lighten and reduce opacity to about 70%
Add another Gaussian Blur layer the same as Step 2
a. change the blending mode to Darken
b. reduce Opacity to 60%.
On the mask for the Blur filter paint with black on the eyes, eyebrow, mouth and the nose to remove the soft focus from these areas.

Slective Sharpening Using Smart Objects

2008-05-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

Open image to be sharpened - works well on portraits. I used a model.
Use the Spot healing brush to correct skin blemishes- no use sharpening skin blemishes.
Filter Menu chose Convert for Smart Filters
Click OK in the next dialog box
I used the Smart Sharpen filter found in Filters > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen
In the Smart Sharpen dialog box I used Lens Blur in the Remove option.
Adjust amount and radius to sharpen image. I used 180 as the amount and 1 as the Radius.
Note that the skin pores is sharpened which we don't want.
In the Shadow tab you can reduce the sharpening effects in the shadows or the highlights. Noise is most noticeable in shadows so you can use this feature to reduce the sharpening in the shadow areas. I chose about 60% Fade Amount
Click OK and notice the filter shows a mask Smart Filter. As with any mask you can paint with black to remove. Click in the Mask and you get a border around the mask indicating the mask is active.
Gradually paint on the face to remove sharpening from the face.

You now have selectively sharpened the image.

Luminosity Blend Mode

2008-05-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Luminosity blend mode creates the same result as the “color” mode if the layers are reversed, i.e. the color layer is underneath. The luminosity values within an RGB image have a number of useful applications. The luminosity values can be extracted from an RGB image (from the channels palette) and saved as an alpha channel, used as a layer mask or pasted as an independent layer above the layer.

Increase contrast using Luminosity

To increase an image's contrast using the Luminosity Blend Mode, with the image open

Load the luminosity of the image by, in the Channels palette Ctrl+click the RGB channel.
Control+J to copy the luminosity as a layer and name lighten.
Change the lighten layer's blend mode to Screen. This lightens the highlights.
To increase contrast we now want to darken the shadows.
Click the Background layer and load the luminosity by Ctrl+Click on the RGB channel as in step 1.
Inverse the selection by Shift+Ctrl+I
Ctrl+J to load the selection to a layer and name darken.
Change blend mode to Multiply.
The image's contrast has been increased.

Photoshop Smart Objects

2008-05-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Photoshop Smart Objects Mean Never Having to Say You're sorry is the title of a Creative Pro article on Smart Objects. This article can be accessed by clicking on
http://www.creativepro.com/article/photoshop-smart-objects-mean-never-having-say-youre-sorry
In the article is a link to download the images used in the tutorial. The link is Smart_Files.zip. Click on this link in the article to download the files.
If for some reason the link to the article doesn't work, do a Google search on "smart_files.zip".

Nik Software Viveza

2008-04-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

The link to Nik Software's Viveza is http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza/usa/entry.php.
You will find good video tutorials if you click on the Lessons link on this site.

Adjusting for Improper White Balance

2008-04-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

This technique works in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
Open the image that is off color.
If it is not badly off color and there are off color areas which should be white (the highlights) or black (the shadows) use the White Point / Black Point method of color correction. This is:

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer.
To find the area that is the lightest in the image which should be white, press the ALT key and press the Highlight slide (the one on the right). The image should go black.
Drag the slider to the left until a light area appears. This area will be the whites part of the image. Remember where that is.
Move the slider back to the right and Click the Highlight eyedropper, the right of 3 eyedropers on the right side under Options.
Click on the area that you found to be the whitest in step 3 and click here with the Highlight eyedropper. You can open the Info palette and you can see the R, G, B valuses as you move the cursor around in the image. When you are at the lightest or brightest part of the image the numbers will be the highest. Clickin in this area will set this area of the image to 255,255,255 or white and neutralize the highlights.

To neutralize the blacks you follow the same procedure described in steps 2-5 but Alt+drag the black point. The image goes white and the first area to appear is the darkest area of the image. Use the Shadow Eyedropper (the one on the left) and click on the dark area, making this area 0,0,0, neutralizing the shadows.
With an image that is not far off color, making the highlights and shadows neutral all tones in between should be correct.
The middle eyedropper is the midtone eyedropper and if there is a neutral gray, 128, 128, 128, you could click this area with the midtone eyedropper and the midtones would be neutralized, removing any color casts.

Most of the time it is difficult to find an area that is a neutral gray, 128, 128, 128 so the following technique works well in these cases.

With the image open duplicate the background and make the duplicate layer the active layer.
Go Filter > Blur > Average. This filter averages all the color in the image and changes the image to show this averaged color. This color should be a neutral gray. To make it neutral,
Add a Levels Adjustment layer.
Click in the image with the middle eyedropper, the midtone eyedropper.
This adjusts the tones on this layer to neutral gray. Click OK
In the Layers palette click the eye next to the background copy layer (now adjusted to be gray) to turn if off or hide it.
The Levels adjustment layers adjusts all layers under it so the adjustments you set to neutralize the background copy layer will be applied to the background, effectively neutralizing the midtones.

The image should now look color correct.
If the highlights or shadows still show a color cast you can apply the white point/black point method described earlier.
The following images shows the before an after using this technique. Also shown is the Layers palette showing the layers. Layer 1 is the background copy with the Blur > Average filter applied.
Image Before

Simulating Rain

2008-04-14T12:45:00.001-07:00

1. Image that you want to add simulated rain
2. Create a New layer name Rain
3. Filter > Noise > Add Noise
a. Amount 95, Mono, Uniform
4. Adjustments > Levels –
a. Move black slider to 71 to increase contrast
5. Blur > Gaussian Blur
a. Radius - .5
6. Blur > Motion Blur
a. Angle 63, 49 amount
7. Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap
a. Highlight strength 20,
b. Detail - 14,
c. Smoothness - 3
8. Filter > Other > High Pass
a. Radius = 72
9. Re-apply Motion Blur same settings
10. Blending Mode of Rain Layer set to Hard Light
11. On Background – Adjustments > Levels and move midpoint slider to the to right to darken the image to intensify the rain
12. On Rain Layer – Adjustments > Levels move highlight slider to left to lighten rain
13. Marquee Select bottom of anything like the bottom of a building that would reflect in the foreground
14. Ctrl+J to Copy to new layer
15. Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical
16. Move down and so it sits on pavement
17. Change blending mode to Soft Light
18. Erase reflection from any table tops

Simulated Lighting

2008-04-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

1. Open scene where you want to add simulated lightning
a. Set foreground color to
i. H - 215
ii. S – 36
iii. B – 33
2. Add New Layer –
3. Choose the Gradient Tool > Linear Foreground to Transparent
a. Drag from the top to the bottom
4. Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply
a. Reduce Opacity to 80%
5. Add New Layer named Lighting
6. Default colors
7. Gradient Tool > Foreground to Background
a. Drag across small distance on a slight angle
8. Filter > Render > Difference Clouds
9. Levels – move Midtone slider to ~ 3.66
10. Invert, Ctrl+I
11. Levels – Mid-tone slider to the right to make black
12. Change to Screen Mode
13. Hue/Sat – check Colorize
14. Move slider to the right
15. For a lighting branch select a Marquee and select lower part of the lighting
16. Crtrl+Shift+J to cut selection to a layer etc.
17. Use Ctrl + T, Free Transform to change size and move into a position to attach it to the main strike.

Liquid Resize Resizing Filter

2008-04-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

the Liguid Resize resizing filter is available as a free preview from onOne software, http://www.ononesoftware.com/

Adobe TV

2008-04-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

Learning tutorials on all Adobe products are found at Adobe TV, http://tv.adobe.com/

Photoshop Express

2008-04-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

You can try or sign on for Adobe Photoshop Express Beta
at https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html.
Instructions for using Photoshop Express can be found at
http://www.photoshopexpresstechniques.com/

Lightroom 2 Beta

2008-04-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Instructional videos on Lightroom 2 Beta by Julieanne Kost of Adobe are abvailable from http://www.workshopsondemand.com/ps_lightroom/lrb2_p01/
The videos are three parts. Change p01 to p02 and p03 for the 2nd and 3rd parts.

The public Beta of the free Lightroom 2 is available from Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

Links to Web sites mentioned in the March SIG

2008-03-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

The plugin filter used in the Orchid sketch can be found at http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm

The Actions and Effects of old paper and others can be found at http://www.panosfx.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Actions for Photoshop and Effects for Elements that include Layer Mask http://www.shutterfreaks.com/

Displacement Maps

2008-03-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

This filter is very complex. It is mainly used to have a design that appears on a three-dimensional surface take the shape of that surface. To do this it reads a second image called a displacement map and moves every pixel in the filtered image according to the values in the displacement map. White and black pixels in the displacement map have the most effect. They cause the pixels to be moved the maximum amount in opposite directions. A middle gray value in the displacement map causes no movement. You can use any grayscale or color image as your displacement map so long as it is saved in the Photoshop format. You simulate the bumpy effect of a natural surface by using the surfaces themselves to create the displacement map.

In the SIG I demonstrated an effect similar to painting large text on a fence, an effect of painting a flag on a brick wall, a flag on a cloth background and creating a reflection of a boat in the water. With the exception of the boat reflection I started with either the large text or the flag as a layer (layer 1) on the wood fence or brick wall background.

1. Open your image to be used as a surface and use it to create the Displacement map.

2. To do so, change the Mode to Grayscale, Image > Mode > Grayscale.

3. Then blur using Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, about 2-5 pixels will do depending on the image size.

4. Save this image in PSD format on your hard drive.

5. Open the image you want to place on the textured background and
Filter > Distort > Displace

6. In the dialog box enter a number in Horizontal and Vertical Scale of 10% for starters. many times it is a good idea to create a few maps with different settings to see what works best.

7. Select Tile and Wrap around.

8. Click OK and you will get a box asking to open a displacement map file. Choose the one you created and saved and click OK.

Your image should now be distorted to conform to the textured surface.

9. To get a more dramatic effect add the original texture as layer 1 on the image and change the Blend mode of this layer to Hard Light

In the example of compositing a sailboat on a water scene and creating the boat’s reflection, the boat was selected from it’s background and moved into the water scene as layer 1.

1. To create the reflection, copy the boat to a new layer and

2. Image > Rotate > Flip Layer Vertical

3. Move this layer down with the Move tool so it is looks like the reflected boat.

4. Now to displace the reflection to confirm to the water, use the Rectangle tool to select an area of the background water under the reflected boat and

5. Edit > Copy. Keep the selection active.

6. File New to create a new file. The size will be the size of the copy in the clipboard by default.

7. Edit > Paste the water to the new image and

8. Layer > Flatten.

9. Blur using Gaussian blur about 2-4 depending on the overall image size.

10. Save in PSD format as you displacement map.

11. Back to the boat and water image, with the selection active and the boat layer active,
Filter > Distort > Displace.

12. I set the Horizontal scale about 15 and the Vertical scale to 5.

13. After clicking OK select the saved displacement map.

The boat should now be distorted to confirm with the water.

Installing Layer Masks in Elements

2008-03-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

Go to http://www.shutterfreaks.com/
Click on Photoshop Elements Actions
Click Photoshop Elements 6
Click **FREE** actions for Photoshop Elements
Scroll down to the bottom and you'll find Layer Masks
Click on the link "Layer Masks"
Download ZIP file for Elements 6
After you download the Zip file the instructions say to unzip to a temporary folder on your hard drive, then follow instructions in the Read Me file.
There are other instructions and information on how to use Layer Masks on the page that contains the ZIP file for downloading.

Pen and Ink Art

2008-03-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Open your image - best used on simple image with good contrast
Duplicate background layer
Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color
Filter > Adjustments > Invert (ctrl + I) to Invert
Filter > Blur > Smart Blur > Edge Only >
High Radius ~ 12
Threshold ~ 65
Ctrl+I to Invert again for black lines on a white. background
For an added effect duplicate the background layer again.
This copy layer would be under the Smart Blur layer and above the background.
Filter > Artistic > Cutout
Number of Levels – 5
Edge Simplicity – 3
Edge Fidelity – 21
Click OK
Change blending mode to Multiply

Simple Pencil Sketch

2008-03-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

1. Open your image
2. Convert to Grayscale - Image > Mode > Grayscale
3. Duplicate background by draging the background to the New Layer Icon or Ctrl+J
4. Filter > Adjustments > Invert (Ctrl+I)
5. Change the Blending mode to Color Dodge
6. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
a. 4.5 pixes approximately
b. increase to 8
8. In Undo History Revert back to original color image
9. Redo the steps but don’t convert to grayscale
10. You now have a colored pencil sketch

Good Use of Dissolve Layer Blend Mode

2008-03-11T06:31:00.000-07:00

With file open that contains an object on a layer in my case it is the Ferrari.
Create a new layer and set the foreground color to a dark blue and the background color a darker blue.
With the Gradient tool set to reflected gradien drag from the center up about half way.
Load car (object) as a selection by clicking on the layer icon with the Ctrl key pressed.
Select Menu > Modify > Border > 50 pixels
Create new layer and Fill selection with white – Note the edges are soft
Change Blend mode to dissolve
Create new layer beneath dissolve layer to make the dissolve layer an normal blend.
With dissolve layer active Merge down the dissolve layer to the blank layer
Filter > Blur > Radial Blur > Zoom > 100
This is still grainy so Ctrl+F to apply Zoom again
Create a duplicate layer and drag under the car so we have light beams in front and behind the car.
On the copy layer Add Outer Glow effect and change blend to Overlay
Select top layer and change to Overlay
Add text
Add drop shadow or other layer styles
Reduce Fill in Layers to 0

Seam Carving - Image Resizing

2008-03-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

Video showing image resizing using "Seam Carving" can be viewed by clicking here.

HumanSoftwar's new plugin filter XFile V2 for Photoshop uses "Seam Carving" can be found on the HumanSoftware web site, http://www.humansoftware.com/pages1200/XFile/HSxfil0.html

The site for online image resizing using "Seam Carving" is http://rsizr.com/. This is free.

The Fractalius Plugin filter link was placed on this blog earlier but to help find it I've added it again, http://www.redfieldplugins.com/

Posterized Photo of the Mabry Mill

2008-03-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

Creating a Posterization Like the Photo Shown Above

2008-03-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

With color image open change to black/white using Images > Adjustments > Convert to black and white.
Change background color to black
Increase Canvas size on the left only by 20% using Image > Canvas Size. Put 20 in width box, percent, in adjacent box and check Relative. Alternatively you can use the crop tool to crop the entire image and then drag the left handle to the left about 20 %.
Using the rectangle margee tool select a rectangle in the newly created additional canvas.
With Default colors drag select the Linear Gradient, Foreground to Background and drag from the top of the selected rectangle to the bottom. Holding the shift key will limit the drag to a straigt line.
Image menu > Adjustments > Posterize (near the bottom of the menu)
Select 7 levels. This is a level each for the primary rgb colors, the cmy secondary colors and black. This creates 7 boxes of 7 different tones in the selected rectangle.
With the Magic Wand, tolerance 0f 10 and Contigious not checked click in the lightest (white) area.
Add a new Layer and with this layer active select a color from the Swatches palette. Note that the upper 6 colors in the Swatches palette are rgb and cmy.
Use Alt + Backspace key to fill the selected area on this layer with the selected color.
Add a new layer
Make the background layer active and click on the next lightest color in the tone boxes.
Make the new layer active, select another color and fill the selection with the selected color.
Add a new layer
Make background layer active and click on the next lightest color and repeat steps 13 and 14.
Repeat the above until you have selected the 6 tones other than black and filled each layer with a color.
Crop your final image.

Photoshop Plugin Filters

2008-02-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

Filter Type
There are three main types of filters.

A one step filter applies the filter with no user control. You cannot specify any specific action of the filter it does whatever it does and it's done.
A parameter filter give you choices. You need to set sliders or controls to specify what the filters will do. They can be spotted because they have (....) after their names.
A mini-application filter is a filters that enables you to save and recall settings and creates its own environment inside of Photoshop. Many third-party filters are many-apps.

The Filter Menu – Effects Palette

Photoshop's media filters appear on the filters menu in 13 categories and this hasn't changed since version 3. At the bottom of the menu filter lists will be a line and under this any third-party filters that have been added.

Artistic Set

1. Colored Pencil takes an image or selection and stylized as it to resemble, supposedly, colored pencils on neutral paper stock. In reality, the filter uses the predominant colors in the image and removes areas that it changes to the paper color depending upon the parameter settings. It is color dependent the background color that is the “ brightness” color.

2. The Cutout filter, is an enhancement of the Posterize command that simplifies the colors of your image into the number of levels that you request.

3. Dry Brush imitates the traditional dry brush technique of dragging a loaded Photoshop brush until it runs out of paint. The edges aren't aliased and hard, through the internal shading will retain the variations in soft shadings.

4. Film Grain looks good when used on text but it's not especially attractive as a special advanced filter.

5. Fresco is very similar to the Dry Brush filter but it intensifies the contrast in the image and makes the darks much bolder good for abstracting an image in sharpening the contrast.

6. Neon Glow is extremely color dependent. It reacts to the settings of the foreground and background colors into a third colors selected in the filter itself. Pick contrasting colors for the most noticeable results.

7. Paint Daubs is supposed to look like spots of paint. It doesn't. Some settings can give pleasing results.

8. Palette Knife can make your image looked if it's been painted using a palette knife using the correct settings and if you want to palette knife to be perfectly flat on the canvas. It can be combined with other filters like Crystallize or Emboss.
a.Open image
b.Copy to Layer
c.Background > Emboss Filter
.d Copy Layer > Palette Knife
1.Settings top to bottom are 50, 3, 02.
2. Change Blending mode to Hard Light

9. Plastic Wrap can be used to give a shine to a portion of your image but I've never seen it used effectively. It does worked fairly well to enhance simple line art graphic or when used on text.

10. The Poster Edges filter posterizes the image in its own colors and adds black detail around the edges all settings produce visible changes in the image is can be good for a would cut-type look.

11. Rough Pastels A very complex filter with a large number of parameters that can very the most critical parameters a texture itself, which makes an enormous difference to the final result. The pastels rub off on the high parts of the texture the darks.

12. Smudge Stick looks if you took a towel and smudged a chalk or pastel drawing. It is a fairly good texture-generating filter when used on a blank image as has had noise added.

13. The Sponge filter looks like someone is daubing paint on the image and is one of the more successful stylizing filters. This makes a wonderful grained paper effect when applied repeatedly to a solid color image.

14. Underpainting filter. Using a canvas texture and a small brush with the highest texture coverage you get an image so real that you think the paint was still wet. It looks the way it would if you had sketched in the details with thin oils on a canvas.
a.Image file open
b.Copy to a new layer
c.Filter > Underpainting
e.0, 40, Brick, 100%, 4, Bottom
f. Copy bkgrd to a new layer on tope. Adjustment Layer Mask and hide all
g. Paint in details.

15. Watercolor is supposed to make an image look as if it was painted with watercolors. It doesn't. The Watercolor filters results are very similar to the Fresco filter, but the Fresco filter adds more outlining around the edges of the shape it identifies. It intensifies the dark areas in the image far too much and the final colors are extremely strong.

Blur Filters

The Blur filters are used to reduce the difference in color between nearby pixels the blur and blur more should be ignored because they don't give you any control.

1. The Average filter averages the colors in the image and might be useful for creating backgrounds.

2. Gaussian Blur is one of the most useful and basic filters. It is used to soften the differences between nearby pixels and to help remove grain.
a. To Simulate depth of field
1.Open an Image that you would to show has selective focus or Depth of Field
2.Dupe the background
3.Filter > Gaussian Blur, setting to suite.
4.Add adjustment layer and create a mask
5.Paint with a Linear, Black/White Gradient in the mask starting where you wish the blur to start.
b. A special effect that some call gives an "ivory painting" look. Works best on a portrait.
1.Open image
2. Duplicate Layer
3. change blending mode to darken
4. background layer active
5. Gaussian blur
a.R-12

3. Motion Blur adds motion to an image. I showed a race car that had the car selected and the selection saved.
a.The background was copied to a layer
b. A layer mask was added. (See notes on adding a layer mask in Elements)
c. Add motion blur to top layer
d. Load selection and fill with black , hiding the blur on this layer.

4. Radial Blur is a special effects filter and can be very useful in emulating taking a photo on long exposure while zooming a lens.
a. To blur car wheels, select the wheel and copy to a layer.
b. Load the selection by ctrl+click the layer.
c. Filter > Blur > Radial Blur > Spin and move the center to the approximate position relative to the image. Click OK
d. If it isn’t at the center, undo and try again.

5. Zoom
a. Image open, copy the center of interest to a layer and the select Zoom from the Radial Blur box, centering the zoom behind the layered object.

6. Smart Blur is only with in the area bordered by an edge. Useful for portraits were you don't want to blur facial blemishes.

Brush Strokes

This class of filter is best used to stylize an image or to create texture. All of these filters work wonderfully on a blank image that he has had the Add Noise filter run on it try this as the start of many exciting textures.
1. Accented Edges is similar to the Find Edges filter but it can be used to give more texture to an image hence it the reason is in the Brush Strokes category. It looks best with the Edge Width Very small. At the small edge width, but with maximum brightness and smoothness, you almost feel if you're looking at liquid colored chrome.

2. Angle Strokes makes an image look as if diagonal brush strokes of oil paints of them been applied to a canvas.

3. Crosshatch can create lovely textures. The filter can make an image looked as if a brush was stroked at angles on a campus. You can also give the impression of a random weave.

4. Dark Strokes is similar to the angled strokes but you cannot see the brush strokes clearly not a favorite of mine.

5. Ink Outlines is very similar to the Dark Strokes filter but you have control of the stroke. It also performs a sort of find edges that can be attractive on some images.

6. Spatter can help to enhance a simple line art graphic and looks good when used on text.

7. Sprayed Strokes can't help to enhance a simple line art graphic. I like to use it to put an edge on an image.
a. Open image.JPEGs
b. Changed to a layer
c. add white background
d. add adjustment later
e. makes selection
f. Fill a border with black
g. Add Sprayed Strokes filter followed by Pixelate > Crystallize

8. Sumi-e is a calligraphy filter that works very well with special effects and with text I seldom use it.

Channel Masking in Photoshop

2008-02-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

An extremely quick and effective method for selecting a subject with a reasonable color contrast to the surrounding pixels is to create a mask and then to load this mask as a selection.

1. Click on each channel to see which channel offers the best contrast, white and black.
2. Duplicate this channel by dragging it to the new Channel icon.

Depending on the channels contrast you can do one of the following:

Method 1 – For relatively high contrast channels

1. Apply a levels adjustment to the duplicate channel to increase the contrast of the mask.
Slide the shadows, mid-tone and highlight sliders in until the required mask is achieved.
2. The mask may not be perfect but this can be modified using the painting tools.
3. Choose a paint brush, set the opacity to 100% in the Options bar, and then paint with either black or white to perfect the mask.

Method 2 – For more complex channels and those that have soft or hair transition areas.

1. With the duplicate channel active choose Image > Apply Image and in the target box choose Multiply or Overlay to get the best black and white contrast.
2. The mask will seldom be perfect so it will need to be touched up. You can use the Levels adjustment as described in method one and then
3. Make the RGB channel active to see the image and use the Pen tool to create a path on the edges that have a relatively hard edge.
4. As you create the path and you come to an edge with an hair or an otherwise soft edges click inside the soft edge and set a point, moving inside the hair edge setting points as you go.

You should now have a path which is along the hard edge but inside the soft or hair edge.

5. Create a selection from the path using ctrl+plus the Enter.
6. Fill the selection with black using Atl+Backspace
7. With the Paintbrush paint the area in the mask that should be white. Do not paint on the transition area between the white and black that contains the soft or hairy edge.
8. You now will use levels to create the mask in the transition area. You do this by selecting a relatively small area with the Lasso tool using a Feather of about five to 10.
9. With this area selected open Levels, Cctrl+enter, Drag the Shadows slider to the right and the highlight slider to the left until you get good contrast in this area.
10. Select additional areas of the transition and adjust using Levels as in the previous step. Do this until the entire transition area has been adjusted.
11. You now have a mask that can be used to extract an area from its background. This mask can be loaded by clicking on it with the Control key or by selecting it in the select > Load Selection menu.

Plugin Filters

2008-02-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

The Fractalius plugin filter for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements can be found at http://www.redfieldplugins.com/.

Color Efex Pro 3.0 filter set can be found at Nik Software.

Layer Masks in Elements

2008-01-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

Using a Pattern Adjustment Layer to Blend Two Images Together

Have 2 images that you want to blend together into a single photo. They must be the same size, same pixel dimensions.
In the SIG I used lion 1 and lion 2
Add a Levels Adjustment Layer on Lion 1. Notice Adjustment layers have a Mask. Make a levels adjustment and click OK. If you make any adjustment with Levels you can paint with black to hide the adjustment or white to show the adjustment. Flatten to apply your adjustment.
Select your other image, in my case Lion 2.jpg
Select > All or the shortcut Ctrl+A
Edit menu > Define Pattern
In the first image, in my case Lion 1.jpg, add a Pattern Adjustment Layer. The last created pattern, Lion 2, will appear as the current pattern to be applied.
With Black as the Foreground color and white as the background Select the Gradient tool and drag on the Mask to blend the two images together. Start the drag where you want to stop hiding what is on this layer and stop when you want the layer fully revealed.

Layer Mask using an Adjustment Layer as a Clipping Group.

I used two images, one with a bald sky, Space Adventure and another with the sky I wanted to use to replace the bald sky, clouds.psd. The following are the steps taken to replace the bald sky.

Open Space Adventure.jpg
I used the Magnetic Lasso to select the foreground. You can use whatever selection tool that gives you the selection that fits your subject. You want the sky to be eventually selected. I selected the foregroud because it suited the Magnetic Lasso tool.
I added the trees with the Magic Wand with the Add button selected on the Options bar.
In the Select Menu click Add Similar to get trees that weren't selected.
Select Menu > Refine Edge to adjust the selection.
In the Select menu > Inverse to now make the sky selected
Select > Save selection.
Double click the Background to change the Background to a Layer
Open clouds and move with the Move tool to the space adventure image
Drag the clouds under the space adventure layer.
On Space layer add a Levels (could be any) Adjustment Layer
Drag the Adjustment Layer under the Space layer
With the Space layer active select Group with Previous to create a clipping group with the Adjustment Layer.
Click on Mask in the Adjustment layer and in the Select Menu load the sky selection.
The new sky should now replace the bald sky. If the sky replaced the foreground instead, click on the Mask and Ctrl+I key to Invert the selection.
You can paint on the mask with black or white to touch up your mask.
8. Load selection in Mask

VisiSketchPro

2008-01-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

A new program called VisiSketchPro was demostrated at the Photoshop SIG. This program is designed to build animations of just about any image one can imagine. VisiSketchPro is now available from http://www.visisketchpro.com/. It will be demostrated again at the Photoshop Elements SIG on 1-16.

Creating Starburst glints of light in Photoshop

2008-01-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a nice effect that looks like the sun glinting off a metallic or shiny surface. This starburst effect even includes a little lens flare. A tasteful replacement for the sometimes over used lens flare filter.

1. First thing we need to do is create a new document, 600 X 600 pixels.
a. Set my background to black to that you can see the white glint that you will prepare.
2. Create a new layer and choose the line tool (Hidden under the rectangle shape tool in the toolbox)
a. Choose 2 pixels and the draw pixel option from the options bar
3. Set white as your foreground color
4. Draw a short dash (A) (About 170 pixels). Hold the Shift key to constrain the rotation to a horizontal line
5. Choose Filter>Blur>Motion Blur
6. Add enough distance to get a nice tapered look.
a. Make sure the angle matches the angle of the line.
7. Duplicate the Layer with the dash on it
8. Press Ctrl (Windows+T) for free transform
9. Rotate the dash while holding down shift to constrain the rotation
10. Choose both dash Layers and press Ctrl/Cmd+E to merge them (On version CS and earlier, choose the top layer and press Ctrl/Cmd+E to merge with the layer beneath) Careful not to merge with background
11. Duplicate the merged dash layer (Ctrl +J)
12. Press Ctrl/Cmd+T for free transform
13. Rotate 45 deg, grab a corner point and scale toward the center to make the new star smaller (hold down alt+shift to scale from center and constrain)
14. You now have your starburst and you may be happy right here.
15. Create a new Layer
16. Grab the elliptical marquee tool (circular selection tool)
17. Create a selection over the starburst
18. Choose Edit>Stroke Choose a 1 pixel white stroke
19. Deselect
20. Filter>Blue>Gaussian Blur to soften the effect
21. Merge the 3 layers together by selecting them and Ctrl+E to merge.

virtualPhotographer by OptikVerve Labs

2008-01-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

virtualPhotographer is a free plugin for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. It can be downloaded FREE from the OptikVerve Labs web site, http://www.optikvervelabs.com/default.asp.

Notes for Elements SIG

2007-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

Using the RAW File Converter in Elements 6

Work top down - adjust white balance
Arrow at top right corner of histogram turns off and on the blown out hightlights and shadows indicator. Red shows blown out highlights
Adjust Exposure so there is no red.
Recovery can also reduce blown out highlights by moving slider to the right.
Fill Light will open some shadows
Clarity is improving mid-tone contrast. Move to the right until the image shows sharper midtones.
Vibrance increases the saturation in non-saturated colors.
Open in 16-bit mode for prints larger than 8X10

Dodge and Burn using Soft Light Blending Mode

1. With an image 0pen
2. Add a new layer and change blending mode to Soft Light
3. Dodge Eyes or lighten by painting with white. Burn by painting with black

Creating a Pencil Sketch in Photoshop Elements 6

1. Dupe your image to a new layer by dragging the background to the new layer icon
2. Enhance >Adjust Color > Remove Color
3. Dupe the desaturated layer
4. Invert that layer – Filter > Adjustments > Invert
5. Set the inverted layer blend mode to Color Dodge
6. Under Filter go to Other->Minimum and play with the radius value
a. usually somewhere between 1 and 3
7. Optional > Flatten the layer stack and save
8. To maintain layers with top layer active press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to copy the visible layers to a new layer.
9. Copy the new copied layer to a new layer and change Blend mode to Multiply.
10. Add sharpening if it needs it.

SmugMug

Stan's Gallery

Picnik - free online image editing

Using the Pen Tool

2007-12-10T07:07:00.001-08:00

Remember that you use the:

1. Path Selection tool to select an entire path -

2. The Direct Selection tool selects and moves anchor points and direction arrows. With the Pen tool selected pressing the Ctrl tool changes the Pen tool to the Direction tool.

3. The Convert tool will convert an anchor point from a straight to a curved point or vice versa. It can also be used to change the direction of a direction arrow. With the Pen tool selected pressing the Alt key changes the Pen tool to the Convert tool.

Points to remember:

Creating a Sketch in Photoshop

2007-11-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

1. With Image Open - Dupe background as a new layer
2. On this dupe layer - Image > Adjustments > Desaturate
3. Create a Dupe of the Desaturate layer
4. On this layer - Image > Adjustments > Invert
5. On this Layer Change Blending mode to Color Dodge
6. Filter > Other > Minimum - Choose 1,2, or 3 for your image
7. Make a copy of visible layers by Pressing the Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E keys

8. Make a copy of this Layer and change to Multiply Blend Mode

Layer palette show look like this the image show here.