Photoshop Creative

30

STEP-BY-ST

_EP

GUIDES

INSIDE

LEARN NEW SKILLS

STOCK

PHOTO SECRETS

Expert tips to create your own photo library

The best add-ons to give your

images the wow factor

ULTIMATE

PLUG-INS

5

Make the most of the Brush

tool for amazing artwork

INCREDIBLE

PAINT EFFECTS

PHOTOS

LAYER YOUR

_{ Create photorealistic compositions  Build your own scenes}

 Optimise with blend modes

 Improve your editing skills

A PHOTOGRAPHY

PLUS! GUIDE INSIDE

MASTERCLASS

Play with perspective Master retouching

Achieve special FX

MASTER LAYERS, BLENDING AND MORE

ISSUE 99

Restoration challenge

Ultimate guide to gradients

Photograph your own models

ALSO INSIDE

ALL THE TUTORIAL FILES YOU NEED

Available to download from blog.photoshopcreative.co.uk/tutorial-files

Welcome

Charis Webster Deputy Editor

charis.webster@imagine-publishing.co.uk

Learn how to create

fun Photoshop edits

that are good

enough to eat! Head

over to page 50 for

this tasty tutorial

Become part of our Facebook crew

search for photoshopcreative

Upload your images to our website

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk

5 things you will

learn this issue

01

Dynamic edits

Learn speedy edits and great techniques

02

Photograph your own models

Put your friends in your art with our camera advice

03

Colour in your line art

Learn how to achieve incredible shading eff ects

04

Layer your photos

Discover the ultimate guide to compositions

05

Top 5 photo plug-ins

Our favourite fi ve plug-ins to revamp your photos

ISSUE 100 ON SALE 2 MAY!

Any time you put one image into another is called a composition, which means a great deal of digital projects fall into that category! Let our

eight-page special take you through the world of compositing. Learn to layer your photos to achieve everything from photorealistic compositions to dreamy castle scenes (p16-23). We’ve also got some great tool guides for you. Over on page 72 we pit the Clone Stamp tool and the Spot Healing Brush tool against each other in the ultimate retouching challenge. Meanwhile, try building your own funky stickers on page 66 to jazz up your stationary. So, enjoy the read and be creative. Don’t forget, I’m always on the lookout for new work, so upload your creations to the site and your art could appear in the next issue!

Useful tips

102

Advice centre

Photoshop and Elements questions answered

36

Top 5

Check out our favourite photographic plug-ins

59

Quick fi x

Change colours in three easy steps

71

Quick fi x

Make your own custom-made greeting cards

64

Top 10

Top 10 tricks for using Adobe Bridge

Essentials

Readers’ Gallery

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk

Contents

Q&A: Your

Photoshop

questions

answered

P102

114

Expert interview

A one on one with impressive digital artist Shaban Asim

On the disc

Find out what freebies we’ve got for you on the disc

110

96

Creative reviews

A Nikon camera, portrait plug-in and get our vote

06

Readers’ gallery

A handful of images from our talented readers

14

Readers’ Challenge

The winner of our creative challenge has been chosen

15

Enter the Challenge

Your chance to win a photo bundle worth £234!

26

Tutorials

Here’s where your step-by-step tutorials begin

16

Feature: Layer

your photos

8 pages of essential compositing advice

100

Subscriptions

Great discounts when you subscribe (US p78)

06

16

From basic to advanced,

learn key compositing skills

Layer your

photos

Tutorials

Subscribe now

Turn to page 100 to get this

amazing deal! US page 78

Selective colour

Turn photos into art with easy and fun techniques

82

Clipping masks

Learn how to use clipping masks for creative edits

80

The Gradient tool

Learn all about gradients and why they’re essential

92

Panoramas

Turn several photos into one beautiful shot

88

86

Sketch effects

Easy ways to turn photos into sketches

30

%

SAVE

New to Photoshop? Check out our introductory guide

50

66

38

72

76

60

Colour in

your line art

26

Learn great tools to

revamp photos

56

Dynamic edits

Revamp your photos with incredible colour effects

76

Easy composites

Get the most from stock for basic but beautiful images

48

Boost colours

One talented reader shows us how he did this edit

72

Retouching challenge

The Clone Stamp and the Healing Brush tool battle it out

66

Make your own stickers

Show off your doodles with custom-made stickers

38

Make a grunge poster

Discover key skills to achieve an urban, shattered effect

50

Displace fi lter

Utilise the Displace fi lters for eye-catching edits

44

Photograph your

own models

Getting the start photo right makes editing easy and fun

60

Design a bank note

If you had your own currency, what would it look like?

32

Modern family tree

Create a traditional family tree with modern look

26

Colour your line art

Learn incredible shading skills to produce amazing artwork

Incredible shading techniques

Dynamic edits

56

Become inspired by the work of your

fellow readers this issue

S

traight from the melting pot of creativity, here is a grand collection of the fi nest Photoshop art made by our skilled readers. This issue sees a mix of diff erent styles and ways in which Photoshop has been used. From Luigi Gallo’s mystical, sky-high composition to John Phillips’s dark and eerie poster design, there is a lot to admire.

We always love seeing the ideas you come up with and how you implement them. Mubasher Qureshi has created an invisible person, where only the gloves give away the presence of someone there. Ellen Allmye has explored the pretend vanity of children infl uenced by adults, and Bill Bailey brings someone through a time hole in his image Back To The Past.

Don’t hesitate to keep sending in your own Photoshop artwork, as we’ll look to get it printed in these gallery pages, along with other Photoshop Creative readers. Be sure to tell us a little bit about your image too, because we’re always keen to understand the processes behind each one. Most of all – have fun! And, until the next issue, happy editing!

READERS’

IMAGES

Get in touch

Alternatively, you can email: pcr@imagine-publishing.co.uk

Create your own gallery online

PhotoshopCreative.co.uk

Upload your images to Facebook. Search PhotoshopCreative Tweet us your creative art work

@PshopCreative

IMAGE

OF THE

MONTH

Luigi Gallo

www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/ Gallus

I wanted to convey a feeling of relaxation and lightness, in which all elements, even artifi cial ones, become one with nature without spoiling its purity. I started by searching for individual images, modifying them and giving them the right shading. In the end, I balanced the tone and colours to give it the right visual impact.

Ata Alishahi

www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/Ata

A combination of custom brushes and photos were used in Heavenly (above). Layering techniques with textures and brushes were important for this effect.

I had lots of fun working on Leopard (right). I used adjustments and applied texture using custom and preset brushes. I then played around with the blending options.

7

John Phillips

www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/Johnphill

This was done entirely in Photoshop Touch on the iPad. I combined three different pictures, using the blending tools available in the app. Along with those, I utilised the Eraser and a few effects such as TV Monitor and Sleepy Hollow.

Bill Bailey

www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/Bill_Bailey

I didn’t get the chance to photograph a diner, so I fi rst rendered it completely in Photoshop, drawing each individual piece and the electric poles and wires. I had 120 layers for the diner alone and over 100 layers for the overall image.

Thiago Idehama

www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/thiagopi

In my photomontage Swimming Home (below), colour saturation, masks and blending were applied. Fake hair was added to give the impression of the girl being submerged in water. Color Efex Pro 4’s Cross Balance fi lter was also used.

A picture of a woman was used in Smoke Woman (right) to transform the shape of the smoke. I also applied Smoke brushes, as well as Warp and Liquify, to get to the fi nal image. A Bleach fi lter was applied all over the image using Color Efex Pro 4.

9

Mubasher Qureshi

www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/bushias

I set up my camera on a tripod and shot the blank table fi rst. Then I placed my hands in different positions and took photos of each glove, being careful not to overlap the previous hand. Then it was just a case of masking out my arm or body.

Ocelio Targino

www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/ Ocelio_Targino

This image was made for an event for my group of Photoshop artists. The composition is simple, and was made using layers and colour fi lls to create a fantasy scene.

Jessica Dueck

www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/ StarsColdNight

The best tools in Photoshop that let me create the magical feelings in this image are the new Blur tools and the 3D capabilities. I used more than 30 layers in this piece!

11

Ellen Allmye

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/Lokasp30

It’s A Girl (right) represents the innocence of a child with vanity. She is trying to look grown up, as she wants to imitate adults. I used brushes and light effects, and mixed colours together.

Emanating Energy (left) shows that, even amid sadness, you can enjoy good energy from the elements of nature, music and people. In the background, I used a modifi ed fractal. I smoothed each individual element using brushes.

Thomas Lennon

www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/LittleTimmy

This photomanipulation took me quite a while. I’ve always loved how dramatic lighting can make so much of a difference, and I really tried to apply it to this image.

Roko Duševic

´

www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/reyed33

The cold atmosphere of Voices From Above (right) is down to Gradient Maps and Curves adjustments. The snow was created using the Noise fi lter, and I painted shadows and highlights with a soft brush to blend the elements.

In Lost Melody (below) I used Curves and Color Balance to blend the desert and sky in a warm sunset scene. The guitar is meant to look as though it’s been there for a long time, and for that I applied texture over it.

13

1 Kristy

Charbonneau

I’m Out Of Here!

After adjusting the colour and tone I duplicated the layers, created a frame and altered the perspective. A brush was used to erase the frame and to create the splatter effect…

2 Chantal Keller

Best Friends

Making the [figure in the original] disappear and replacing him with the penguin was a big challenge.

3 Franks Cervantes

Colors Lines

For this image I used the smoke file. I used a filter to define the image, then went to the plug-in Fractalius. I played with layer blend modes a lot and got this picture.

4 Ralph Peel

Sketch book

I turned each photo into a sketch [and] proceeded to paint over [them]. I then cut them out, placed them on the open book and used the Transform Distort tool…

Simon’s Choice

“Kristy has done a great job making the bike seem like it’s tearing through the page. The splatter effects give a great sense of motion.”

Readers’

Challenge

WINNER

C

ongratulations to Kristy Charbonneau for winning our Challenge. Her

wonderful image I’m Out Of Here! makes great use of our biker stock as the subject.

Other entries this issue look just as impressive, especially with the penguin featuring in Chantal Keller’s image. Ralph Peel explores sketching eff ects with a few diff erent images and Franks Cervantes’ Colors Lines takes a completely diff erent approach.

Want to be a part of the Challenge? Create your own image and send it to us, or submit it online via www.

photoshopcreative.co.uk.

2

1

READERS’ CHALLENGE

Challenge

entries

The winner of our

Challenge is…

THE PRIZE

WORTH £234!

Alien Skin’s

Photo Bundle

An incredible prize is on offer, in the form of Photo Bundle from www.alienskin.

com. The Bundle includes award-winning

photography plug-ins Blow Up, Bokeh, Exposure and Snap Art. Each is purpose-built to enhance

your Photoshop workflow by improving image quality, saving time and providing creative freedom. Simply upload your entries for a chance to win!

Think you can do

better? Prove it!

Download

our images

Get creative with the images on your disc and you could win a fantastic prize! Remember, you can use as many of the images as you like (from previous issues too!) and include your own photos

if you wish. Just head over to www.

photoshopcreative.co.uk and hit the Challenge link to get hold of previous images, check out the competition and submit your entries. Good luck!

4

3

15

Photoshop Creative

Upload your images to

Layering enables boundless creativity, from basic

compositions to eye-catching artwork

P

hotoshop is not just known for its one-at-a-time image editing, but also for its complex multi-layered

compositions. Here we take a step

away from the everyday photo edit and glance into the realms of composing fantasy scenes, space art and the visually abstract. But before we do, we’ll

kick things off with some basics: showing you how one background can be replaced with something, well… more interesting! Photoshop really makes it easy for anyone of any ability

to create stunning results using one or more stock images. Choosing a selection method, adapting masks and making adjustments all form part of the processes involved in creating layered artwork. Here we show you where to begin, from

combining tools such as the Quick

Selection and Magic Wand for perfect cutouts, to learning how to blend layers together for truly seamless results.

Creating compositions is a great way to explore Photoshop too. You can find tools and adjustments that may, or may not, work for you and even stumble across

something new. When you feel like you’ve got the basics, you can try creating a fantasy composition that combines castles, mountains and plenty of mist. Here layers will start to build up and masking techniques prove vital for keeping hold of parts of each layer, without actually deleting them.

So don’t hold back and enjoy creating your own composition, be it an outer-space theme, or a simple selection cutout. As soon as you start, you’re sure to get a thirst for more!

“Photoshop really

makes it easy for

anyone of any

ability to create

stunning results

using one or more

stock images”

LAYER YOUR

PHOTOS

START IMAGES

ACTIVE LAYER The active layer is always highlighted as light blue. To select more than one layer, either hold Shift or use Cmd/Ctrl while clicking on layers. GROUPS Keep layers inside Groups to tidy up the palette and stay organised in busy compositions. Rename Groups according to what’s in them. COLOUR COORDINATE Add colour to a Group to help indicate layers of similar content, such as foliage. Ctrl/right-click on a layer, or go to Layer>Layer Properties, to view available colours. MASKS

Layer masks can be applied to Groups in just the same way as on single layers, meaning you can apply edits to everything inside it in one swoop.

ADJUSTMENTS

Adjustment layers are vital for balancing lighting and improving tonal ranges for each layer – these two affect just the Background containing the actual landscape.

17

Expert tip

Smart Objects and Smart Filters are helpful for keeping edits tucked away inside a layer. When you convert a layer to a Smart Object (Layer>Smart Objects >Convert to Smart Object) a small symbol will appear in the Layers palette indicating this. Simply double-click on its thumbnail to open the layer in a separate fi le, keeping the main composition free of clutter.

Smart

Objects

Photoshop Creative

17

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Transport a subject to another image using Photoshop

Starting with the basics and working your way up to more-complex compositions is the best route to take. The success or failure of a composition all comes down to accurate selections,

matching colour balance and careful lighting throughout.

When taking a figure out of a scene, try to make a sharp and crisp selection around them. A layer mask helps to retouch the edges of the cutout before transporting it into another scene. When the selection and cut-out process is all done and dusted, it’s then down to a blend of adjustments and filters to take it from an average composition to a stunning one.

BACK TO BASICS

SELECTIVE BLURRING

The Gaussian Blur fi lter blurred the background and added depth. A layer mask helped selectively remove parts of the blurred layer.

ADD INTEREST

When composing images like this, there is nothing stopping you placing other objects such as a hot air balloon. Be sure to position this new layer under any lighting adjustments.

HIGH PASS

To fi nish, all the layers were merged via Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E and a Hard Light blend mode was set. Using Filter> Other>High Pass with a setting of 18px boosted the fi ner details.

To make this composition believable, we have to include a Drop Shadow in the same direction as the lighting. Double-click on the model’s layer and add a Drop Shadow from the Layer Style menu. Apply subtle blurring to the shadow by increasing Depth and keep Opacity to 100%. Hit OK, then Ctrl/right-click on its layer and select Create Layer. Use Edit>Transform>Distort to lay the shadow on the fl oor. As you’ll no longer be able to edit the layer style, use the Opacity slider in the Layers palette to gradually reduce its strength.

Shadows

WHITE GLARE

White was painted behind the model using a soft brush, on a blank layer with 50% Opacity. This mimics a back-lighting effect and boosts the appeal.

START IMAGES

01

Easy cutouts

Make a Quick Selection around the figure. Use Refine Edge in the Select menu to paint over strands of hair against the backdrop. Keep Feather set to 0-0.5px and add a mask.

02

Resize to fit

Ctrl/right-click the layer, press Duplicate Layer and select the main image’s file name from the Document list. Try not to enlarge the layer too much, as its quality may decrease significantly.

03

Clip adjustment

Brightness/Contrast

(Layer>New Adjustment Layer) boosts the lighting on the subject to match the landscape. Once the adjustment is in the Layers palette, apply Layer> Create Clipping Mask, to only affect the subject.

04

Inner Glow

A white Inner Glow on the subject will help to blend the layer into the background. If the background is already quite bright, keep this glow soft and thin to remove any harsh edges.

Put your brush and selection

skills to the test and make

your very own space scene

Filling up the vast emptiness of outer space with planets and stars is a great way to practise some fundamental techniques.

Searching for stock images of our planet and Sun is easier than you think. This Earth image can be downloaded for free from NASA’s official Visible Earth Collection (http://

visibleearth.nasa.gov). For pictures of the sun,

a particularly good source worth checking out is Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu).

Stars can be painted into your scene using the Brush tool. Choose a solid round brush tip and open the Brushes palette from the Window menu. Set Scattering to 1,000%, Spacing to 170% and apply with a white brush to create a spray of white dots. Reduce the size of your brush using the left square bracket key and apply smaller dots to bring depth to the fi eld.

Build a star

To enhance the stars, fi rst add the Outer Glow layer style. Set a Screen blend mode, change the colour to white and apply a Size of around 60px. The key here is to change the Contour of the Outer Glow to the Sawtooth 1 preset. A Gaussian Blur fi lter with a Radius setting of 0.5px helps to remove the sharpness of the stars after painting them.

Stardust

COSMIC

CREATIONS

LEVELS

The whole composition was made darker using the Levels adjustment layer and sliding the midtones pointer to the right.

LENS FLARE

Rendering a lens fl are (Filter> Render> Lens Flare) brought the composition together. This was applied to a black layer set to Screen blend mode and stretched out via Edit>Free Transform.

BLACK FILL

A black fi ll under all the other layers gave the perfectly simple backdrop for this galactic result.

MARQUEE TOOLS

Using the Elliptical Marquee, with Feather set to 15px, Opt/Alt+Shift was held to drag a circular selection from the planet’s centre. After going to Select>Inverse, and hitting Delete, the layer was then pulled onto the composition.

LAYER STYLES

A yellow Color Overlay helped remove the orange in the original image of the Sun.

AN EASY CUTOUT

Photoshop Creative

19

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01

Initial edits

The landscape was opened and the waterfall was applied to the rock tower. Mist was added along the base of the image using a white soft brush. This removed the lake originally there.

Learn the techniques behind building a mystical

castle scene in the mountains

A closer look at the adjustments that went into this scene

Fantasy art requires you to composite many images to form a completely make-believe world that would otherwise be impossible to capture with a camera. The beauty of it all is that Photoshop enables you to combine as many

images as you like, as it’s only limited by your imagination. Compositions like the once seen here start with you visualising how you want the final result to look. After this it’s just a case of searching for the images and piecing them all together.

MAKE FANTASY

SCENES A REALITY

PREPARATION

CREATION PROCESS

CLIFF FACE

The Quick Selection tool was used to cut out the cliff face. A mask was then applied and the image was transferred to the canvas by Ctrl/right-clicking on its layer and selecting Duplicate Layer. The Color Balance adjustment was applied directly to the layer, increasing the Green slider.

ROCK PEDESTAL

The landscape image formed the base of the composition, but the rock tower needed selecting to bring it in front of the cliffs and clouds. The Magic Wand tool – set to a low Tolerance and with Contiguous unticked – was used to remove the parts in between the small trees on the edge.

WATERFALL

Including a waterfall helped to add further interest to the scene. This was also effective in giving the impression of something moving within the composition. A layer mask was added and then the Brush tool set to 0% Hardness was used to leave just the water streaming down.

The Blur tool is useful if you ever need to soften the edges between two layers in a composition. Set Strength to 100% in the Options bar and paint continually to the right layer to gradually blend it in. The Move tool with Auto-Select set to Layer enables you to click on a rough edge and instantly select its layer. This saves you guessing which layer needs selecting in the palette.

Blur

A CASTLE ON TOP

The Magic Wand tool was very useful for cutting out the castle. Once a basic selection had been made, and a mask added to the layer, a brush set to black and 100% Hardness was used to remove the trickier parts. Getting a good cutout is key to any composition’s success.

CLOUD FORMATION

The clouds were one of the last elements to go in. They were selected out of a different image using the Rectangular Marquee tool and then positioned into the image under all other layers. The atmosphere they bring really adds to the mysterious theme of the composition.

BRUSH SIZE

When editing mist, a large size with the Eraser tool, such as 400px, will help keep your edits subtle. Lower the opacity of the tool for even softer application.

Expert tip

Try not to overdo the amount of Feather that’s applied to an object. If too much is used then the subject will look unnatural in the composition, especially if this subject is a person. In the Refi ne Edge command, Smooth, rather than Feather, is the best setting to use to remove harsh edges from a selection.

Beware of

the Feather

04

Order the layers

The sky, castle and more mist were added to complete this fantasy image. The order of the layers is vital for the composition to work and for each element to sit in its right place behind rocks, trees and hills.

03

Apply colour

The Photo Filter adjustment was used to tint the composition orange. A Curves adjustment above all layers boosted the contrast, pushing the shadows and midtones darker. Half of the adjustment was removed using a black brush over its mask.

02

Add depth

The cliff face was added, then the rock tower was selected and brought to the front to add depth. A Brightness/Contrast adjustment was used to darken the rocks.

BALANCE LIGHTING

The lighting is what makes a composition like this work effectively. To control light, use adjustments on the separate layers that make up your image and look to create depth.

COLOUR ADJUSTMENTS

Some of the layers weren’t matching in colour. Use the Color Balance adjustment (Image>Adjustments> Color Balance) to tweak any layers that don’t match the main landscape.

CHECK A MASK

Opt/Alt-click on a mask in the Layers palette to see a bigger version of it. This helps edit a mask and makes sure that none of the unwanted parts of a layer are accidentally showing.

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03

Add to the mask

The Magic Wand tool can select the parts between the spokes. Tick Contiguous and lower Tolerance to 20 to keep selections local. Press Delete to add areas to the mask.

02

Pay attention to detail

After the initial selection has been made we can now add a layer mask. This hides everything and reveals parts of the subject that still need removing, such as the background between the spokes.

01 

Make a quick selection

The first step to cutting the bike and rider out of the background is using the Quick Selection tool. A simple click and drag around the head, toes and tyres will make a decent first selection.

Work with the Magic Wand

and Quick Selection tools in

perfect harmony

For all compositions it’s important to have a firm understanding of the selection tools.

The trick is not to feel limited and remember that more than one tool can be used at a time. This means that tools such as the Quick Selection and Magic Wand can be combined to make a perfect selection around a subject. For this mountain bike, the spokes proved particularly difficult for the Quick Selection to detect, but the tool was fast to select the rider. After using one tool, switch to the other, focus on other areas and build up a layer mask around the subject.

SELECTIONS

COMBINED EFFORT

For a composition to look at its best, it’s always worth checking the pixel dimensions of the images that are involved. Go to Image at the top of the interface, scroll down to Image Size and compare the fi gures in this menu for each of your images. This provides a useful indication of whether the composition will work in terms of fi tting everything in and sizing layers according to the concept.

Image dimensions

Watch those small images!

START IMAGES

USE FREE TRANSFORM

Once the rider was masked out, hitting Cmd/Ctrl+T gave instant access to Free Transform, where the angle and size of the layer could be adjusted.

SELECTIVE MONOCHROME

A Black & White adjustment layer was added between the landscape image and the rider. The Yellow slider was increased to accentuate the foliage elements in the foreground.

REALISTIC SHADOW

An applied Drop Shadow layer style gives the impression the rider is part of the original image. Ctrl/right-click the layer style, pick Create Layer, then go to Edit>Transform> Distort to reshape the shadow.

SOFTEN

Once a mask was added to the biker’s layer, Gaussian Blur was applied to soften its edges and then the Eraser tool to bring back the spokes.

03

Add a filter

Use the Move tool to reposition the top layer so it lines up with the horizon of the original. Go to Filter>Distort>Ocean Ripple to load the Filter Gallery. Use this to apply a wave to the reflection and hit OK.

02

Use Marquee

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and draw over the canvas’s top half to hide it. Invert the selection via Cmd/

Ctrl+Shift+I, then apply a mask to this layer to reveal the original.

01

Flip the image

Compositions don’t always need to have multiple images to work. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to make a copy of the Background layer, then go to Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical to turn it upside-down.

SINGLE-IMAGE

COMPOSITIONS

After selecting a patch of water with the Quick Selection tool, a completely different image can be dropped in using a layer mask. Unlinking the mask from the layer enables you to move the image independently and distort the angles of the image. The Screen blend mode helps to bring through the texture of the water underneath.

Underwater portal

Create mixed messages with simple

masking and blending

When you’re making a composition, use the Place option inside the File menu. This is instead of just copying and pasting an image into a composition, as any differences in the dimensions and resolutions that the two images may have will be disregarded. This enables you to resize the image in a non-destructive fashion. Once you’re happy with the image’s position, Ctrl/right-click on its layer and select Rasterize Layer (in Elements, this is called Simplify Layer).

Place

Work smarter with images

It’s a common problem that when two or more images are next to each other, one can look blurrier than the other. This is where the Sharpen fi lters come in use to adjust the clarity of individual layers in the composition. Use Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen, setting Radius to 2px, Amount to 100% and tweak Threshold to remove any obviously sharp edges. Try not to overdo the amount of sharpening applied and always look to keep the main subjects sharp.

Sharpening

Keep an eye open for blurry images

Compose an abstract image using

Transform tools and layer modes

Sometimes it doesn’t require much to create an interesting composition. In fact, in some cases, it’s just

about changing the opacity of a layer and flipping it upside-down to create a reflection.

REFLECTIONS

START IMAGE

Expert tip

Used sparingly, the Dodge and Burn tools are helpful to blend layers into a composition. Dodge will lighten an area of a layer, whereas Burn will darken it. Set to Midtones and a low Exposure setting, you can apply the tools around the edges of a layer in an image in a painterly fashion.

Use Dodge

and Burn

Photoshop Creative

23

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©Larry Ewing

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P

ainting in Photoshop can be fun and very rewarding. Get to grips with swiping the Brush

tool with a mouse as though it were the real thing. Better still, try this tutorial with a graphics tablet and ensure your brushes have pressure sensitivity enabled. Although you can use a mouse, it would be much less intuitive and more laborious; you would have to manually adjust the opacity and flow settings to achieve a similar effect. To be quite frank, it’s just not as much fun using a mouse!

In this painting tutorial, you can either create your own artwork from scratch, or you can use the Dragon linework that is available to you in your resource pack (called ‘Dragon lines.EPS’). We will take you right through, from adding in the linework, making a fat colours layer and using a clipping mask layer to add shading, to using paper textures, adjustment layers and altering blending loads. Don’t worry, though – this is a lot easier in practice and much less daunting than it may at first sound!

Colour in

your line art

Learn to paint your own linework-based piece of Eastern art

Step by step

Make a dragon masterpiece

Become a Brush tool master and colour in pre-made vectors

for an Eastern-inspired painting

The setup

01

Open up a new PSD file with the

following settings: 245mm x 310mm, Mode: RGB and Resolution: 300 dpi. Open up the ‘Dragon lines.eps’ file (when the rasterise EPS format dialog box appears, click Okay) alongside your canvas.

Copy and paste the lines

02

Hit Cmd/Ctrl+A to select the whole

canvas (since the background is transparent, you will only copy the linework). Use Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy and then Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+V to paste into your PSD file.

Aging a paper texture

03

Paste ‘Textured paper.jpg’ beneath

the linework, duplicate the layer (press Cmd/Ctrl+J) and then apply a Hue/ Saturation adjustment by pressing Cmd/ Ctrl+U. Move the Saturation slider to 75 and click Okay. Set the layer’s blend mode to Multiply, at 73% Opacity.

Essentials

Works with

What you’ll learn

Painting with the airbrush, layer masks and clipping masks

Time taken

3.5 hours

Photoshop CS2 and above and Photoshop Elements

Expert

David

Cousens

“My work has been infl uenced by both Eastern and Western culture ever since I was a child, so it’s nice to make some art to show that off every now and then.

I’ve been drawing fun and fantastical things like dragons, robots and barrels full of monkeys professionally for around 7 years now!”

Tutorial

Colour in your line art

On the disc

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Start image

Colour the lines

05

Click the lock transparency icon (the

chessboard in the Layers palette). With the layer’s transparency locked, you can paint only on existing pixels, so there is no need to worry about painting over the lines; you will just recolour the existing lines.

Create a flat colour layer

04

Create a new layer between the paper

texture layers (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N). Grab the Brush tool (B) and use a hard-edged brush to colour the dragon. To replicate the ancient oriental feel, we’ve used desaturated colours with strong reds and blacks.

Add a shading layer

07

Make a swatch with the colour

values Red: 137, Green: 118, Blue: 123. Create a new layer to paint your shading on, setting the mode to Linear Burn and Opacity to 65%. Check the ‘Use previous layer to create clipping mask’ box and click Okay.

Blur the fire lines

10 

Press Cmd/Ctrl+D to deselect the smoke lines and then draw

a new Lasso selection around the fire, this time applying a Gaussian blur of 3.8 pixels.

Shading with just one colour

08

Use the airbrush setting to apply

shading with just your new colour swatch. The Linear Burn layer makes the colour react with the flat colour layer beneath, so you don’t have to worry about picking appropriate colours to shade with.

Blur the smoke lines

09

Select the Freehand Lasso tool (press L) and set it to ‘Add to

selection’ (in the Options bar). Draw a selection around both areas of smoke and then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur, setting the Radius to 8.2 pixels. Click Okay to apply.

Expert tip

Applying shading or additional detail is much easier to do in Photoshop when you use a clipping mask. These allow you to produce new pixels on top of existing ones, so if you are applying shading to a character then you don’t have to worry about your brush going over the line boundaries since your brushstroke will stop the moment it hits a transparent pixel. You can create a clipping mask layer by Ctrl/right-clicking a layer in the Layers palette, and it will link to the layer below it.

Painting

with masks

Tutorial

Colour in your line art

Add the kanji

06

To add to the oriental feel, open up

‘kanji.jpg’ and ‘Free_Dragon_Tattoo_ 01.eps’ (kindly supplied by vector-clipart-eps.com ) and use the Lasso tool (L) to select the kanji symbols. Then copy and paste them into your artwork, setting the layer’s blend mode to Multiply.

Desaturate the image

11 

Click on the small

black-and-white-circle icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new adjustment layer. Pick a Hue/Saturation adjustment and drag the Saturation slider left to -15.

The mask becomes clouds

14 

Use your airbrush to paint on the layer

mask, hiding areas of the dragon and the background to simulate clouds. Paint the clouds so that they look like they are pointing inwards towards the dragon to strengthen the composition.

Create a

layer

group

13 

Holding down Shift, click on the lines layer so that all of the dragon layers are highlighted, then group the layers (press Cmd/Ctrl+G). Click the circle-in-square icon in the Layers palette to add a layer mask to the layer group.

Bringing

back details

(part 1)

15 

For areas where you have accidentally painted over the dragon, masking it out, you can bring it back by Ctrl-clicking on the ‘flat colours’ thumbnail in the Layers palette and Shift+Ctrl-clicking the lines layer to make a selection of the dragon.

Add a background layer

12 

Create a new layer to paint a dark

background underneath the flat colour layer. Use a larger airbrush to paint in a variety of dark browns around the dragon.

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Expert edit

Start out small

01 

Using a small airbrush, draw out the thin top line of the clouds. The top edges should be the sharpest and most defined part of the clouds.

Build up and fade out

02 

Alter your airbrush’s size using

the square bracket keys. Build up the shape of the clouds below, reducing the pressure you apply to your stylus near the bottom so the clouds fade out.

Use the layer mask

03 

Make the most of painting with a layer mask by pressing X to switch between using black and white; this allows you to either subtract or add to the mask as often as you like.

Use pressure sensitivity

04 

To add depth, not all of the clouds

should have the same definition. Press down on your stylus very softly with a large airbrush to simulate a fine mist effect, finishing off the clouds.

Add another texture

18

Repeat this with ‘parchment.jpg’, but

after setting this texture to Multiply, reduce the Opacity in the Layers palette to 69% and then Free Transform the paper to fit your image by dragging the handles. Adding multiple textures gives the image more variation.

Add a paper texture

17

Open up ‘CS dirty paper.jpg’ then copy and paste the contents

into the top of your image. Change the layer’s blend mode to Multiply in the Layers palette so that the texture is visible over the image. Free Transform it (via Cmd/Ctrl+T) to fit the image.

Wash out the image

19 

To tweak the colours a little, add a

Curves adjustment layer. In the Properties tab, drag the top-right anchor point higher up to the right (see the screenshot for reference). This will slightly wash out the image.

Brighten key areas

20 

Add a new layer with the blend

mode set to Overlay. Press Shift+G to select the Radial Gradient tool, then set it to Foreground to Transparent and 25% Opacity. Using a white colour, click and drag to make small gradients near the centre of the image. Now save out and you’re done!

Bringing back details (part 2)

16

Press X to switch between using black and white, and

paint the sections of the dragon back in on the layer mask. Refer to the Expert Edit boxout on the previous page for more instructions on how to successfully render the clouds.

Tutorial

Colour in your line art

Wrong

Right

While it is always good to put your own unique spin on your artwork, when working on a pastiche (working in the style of someone or something else) it’s important to remember not to go too far in your own direction. For example, having shading that is too detailed and complicated, or colours that are too vibrant, would render this image ineffective as a pastiche because it would venture too far from the source materials. Be sure to look at your inspiration and identify the common themes so that your initial goal doesn’t become lost somewhere along the way.

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On the disc

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N

eed something special to give out at the next family get-together? Surprise your

relatives with a slick family tree! To set the stage, we’ll use some ellipses for rolling hills, a light blur image as the basis for the aurora-like backdrop, and a simple tree adorned with layer styles. Adventurous Photoshop users can use the Pen tool to craft their own tree. For silhouettes, we’ll use shape files courtesy of http:// all-silhouettes.com. These are vector shapes which can be brought into play using the Custom Shape tool (Photoshop users: be sure to choose Shape

Layers in the Options bar), and they’re all supplied in your resource pack. We’ll use them to represent various family members. We also provide a frame and tips for using actual photos if you want to make a more personalised keepsake.

To turbocharge the colours in our piece, we’ll use the Color Balance and Hue/Saturation adjustments along with a Color Fill set to Linear Dodge. Some dabs with a sparkle brush will make a nice mystic substitute for leaves.

Photoshop users: it’s advised to group related layers for easier asset management.

Modern

family tree

Get creative and make a 21st-Century design

Step by step

Illustrate your family tree

Thrill your loved ones with a freshly modern take on the

traditional family tree

Light blur

01

Create a new document at 235 x

300mm, 300ppi and with a transparent background. Go to File>Place and add ‘Blur.jpg’ to the top of the canvas. Don’t worry about the empty space at the bottom – we’ll fill it soon.

Gaussian blur

02

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and

apply a 24 pixel blur. This will make it more suitable as a background element, reducing its detail but retaining colour and flow. Let’s play with it further.

Warp the surface

03 

Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to bring up Free

Transform. Click the Warp button in the Options bar to bring up the Warp mode, which makes the layer a malleable surface. Manipulate the mesh to give a more dynamic, wavy effect to the blur.

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Expert

Andre

Villanueva

“Nothing is more important to me than family. I try to disengage from my symbiotic connection with my MacBook Pro whenever I can to spend time with my loved ones.

I discovered Photoshop in the early 2000s and taught in the Media Arts department for fi ve years. Now I’m a multimedia designer, and soothe my inner instructor by sharing techniques with Photoshop Creative readers.”

Essentials

Works with

What you’ll learn

How to create a family tree by using the shape tools, adjustment layers and layer styles

Time taken

2 hours

Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Elements

VIDEO TUTORIAL

FREE WITH

THE DISC!

Learn new skills

Colour glare

07 

Click the Create New Fill Layer

button in the Layers palette to add a Color fill layer using #f006ff. Set the blend mode to Linear Dodge and drop Opacity to 90%. Paint the mask with black to remove everything except the upper-right tree area.

Silhouettes

08 

There are many online resources

for custom shapes in the CSH format. Go ahead and search for family silhouettes to import, or download the same ones we used from the supplied resources. If you’d like to use photos, consult the Expert tip to the left.

Add the first shape

10

Create a new layer. Select one of the silhouette

shapes you loaded from your Custom Shape presets. Photoshop users: select Shape layers from the Options bar. On the canvas, hold Shift as you click and drag out your shape. Add a soft Drop Shadow.

Load shapes

09

Select the Custom Shape tool (U)

and expand the preset drop-down in the Options bar. Use the Load Shapes option from the fly-out menu to import the appropriate CSH files. Set the foreground colour to white.

Add the other shapes

11

Now add the rest of the silhouette

shapes to your composition. Be sure to create a new layer for each, and remember to hold Shift as you drag them out, keeping them in proportion.

Expert tip

Use real family photos to make a more personalised piece. You can create a frame using the various Shape tools, then dress the elements with Layer Styles. Make an inner shape to use as a clipping mask fi rst. Position your photo above the mask, then Opt/Alt-click between the layers to place it within the shape. You can use ‘Frame.psd’ as a template (‘Frame_Elements.psd’ for Elements users). Customise it then merge the layers (Cmd/ Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E).

Photo

frame

Tutorial

Modern family tree

Style the tree

06 

Open the Styles Palette. From the

palette menu, choose Load Styles and locate ‘Tree.asl’. With the tree layer still selected, click the new preset. You can examine and fiddle with the styles if you wish.

Plant the tree

05 

Now it’s time to introduce the

ancestral tree. Go to File>Place and add ‘Tree.png’. Place it so it’s planted in the foreground hill. For an ancestral tree, it sure is homely. Let’s dress it up with some styles.

Rolling hills

04

Use the Ellipse tool (U) to create

three hill shapes at the bottom. We used the colours #b9a151, #497441 and #dfddac (foreground). Apply soft Inner Glows to the two background hills and a soft Inner Shadow to the one in the foreground.

Place a texture

17

Go to File>Place and add ‘Texture.jpg’.

This old envelope scan will introduce just a tinge of overall texture. Set the blend mode to Overlay and drop Opacity to 60%.

Add a vignette

18

Apply a black Color Fill layer. Fill the

mask with black, set the foreground color to white, then come back with a soft, white brush at 20% Opacity to paint around the edges. This will darken the perimeter, drawing viewers’ eyes inward.

Color Balance to finish

19 

Click the New Adjustment Layer icon

and choose Color Balance. For Midtones, set the sliders (from top to bottom) to -100, -31 and 100. Paint black in the mask with a soft, round brush to restore some of the original colour. And you’re done!

Write the names

12

Use the Type tool (T) to add in names

for each family member (we’ve used Verdana). Add drop shadows to help distinguish them from the background.

Make it sparkle

15 

Load ‘Sparkle.abr’ from the Brush palette menu (Brush Presets in

CS5+). Dial Brush Opacity up to 40%. Set the foreground color to #ffffff and the background to #9ef847. On a new layer, dab throughout the composition. We’ll now add the final layers at the top of the stack.

Saturate the image

16

Click the New Adjustment Layer icon and choose Hue/

Saturation. Increase Saturation to +39. Paint black in the mask with a soft, round brush to remove the effect from everywhere except the centre.

Cast shadows

13

On a new layer below the tree, use a

soft, round brush with black at 15% Opacity to create some shadows under the tree, and under the matriarch/patriarch.

Add glares

14 

Click the Create New Fill Layer icon in

the Layers palette to add a Color fill layer using #b4df6a. Drop the layer’s Opacity to 50%. Fill the mask with black, then paint dabs with a soft(ish), white brush at 100% Opacity to add glares throughout.

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EDITOR’S

CHOICE

01

05

04

03

T

here really is no greater pleasure than blasting apart an image to achieve an explosive and dramatic composition inside Photoshop. With an effect such as this, you can

really run riot with adjustments, masks and blending tools to break apart an image into shards. This means not having to worry about replicating the perfect result, which is sure to put you at ease.

Over the next few steps we’ll take you through how to build selections around this stunning bird of prey caught in mid-flight. Simply by overlaying a

worn texture, the composition takes on a more dramatic feel. We’ll also show you how to use layer styles and adjustment layers to bring everything together and to make this composition work.

There are no solid rules to this poster’s design, or how these techniques can be applied, so you can be as arbitrary with the placement and application of the effects as you like.

For the final touches, adding in extra images such as a mountain range to the background will give the overall composition an atmosphere.

Create

grunge posters

Alter stock images with layer adjustments and a texture

Step by step

Achieve a shattering result

Combine images and textures for a cracked, graphic poster effect

Copy the eagle

02 

Go to Select>Inverse to flip the area,

then use the Refine Edge command to assess the quality of the selection. The sky areas should only be masked. Hit Cmd/ Ctrl+J to copy the eagle to its own layer.

Get a new canvas size

03 

Go to the Image menu and locate

Canvas Size. Enter 21cm as the Width, 30cm as the Height, hit OK, then set the Foreground colour in the Toolbar to a dark blue (#: 455260).

Use the Magic Wand

01 

Open up ‘Eagle.jpg’ from the supplied

resources, then select the Magic Wand tool (W), setting Tolerance to 71 and uncheck Contiguous in the Options bar. Now click once on the blue sky to select it.

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Expert

Simon

Skellon

“These sorts of stock images are just begging to be used together. I always enjoy getting hands-on with layer masking and selections. As Photoshop Creative’s features editor, I have been using Photoshop ever since version 7. I’ve combined my passion for photography with Photoshop, and enjoy nothing more than composing photomanipulations. With years of editing experience, I have built up a large catalogue of top techniques.”

Essentials

Works with

What you’ll learn

Learn to combine layer styles, masks and selections to replicate this shattered poster

Time taken

2 hours

Photoshop CS versions and Photoshop Elements

Before

Masked eagle

07 

Now click on

the eagle’s layer and hit Cmd/ Ctrl+J. This will create a new layer containing a distorted version of the eagle. Add a layer mask to the original eagle layer, then use the Brush tool to paint away the wings and talons, leaving just its head.

Break up the segments

09 

On the texture layer, use the Quick

Selection tool to roughly select one of the cracked segments. Now hit Cmd/Ctrl+ Shift+J to cut and paste the segment onto its own layer. Use Cmd/Ctrl+T to slightly rotate the segment.

Lighten things up

08 

Add the Brightness/Contrast adjustment

layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer) to the top of the Layers palette. Boost Brightness to +65 and Contrast to +10 to brighten the image.

Apply Drop Shadow

10 

Use the Quick Selection tool on other parts of

the texture, cutting, pasting and rotating them. Now go to Layer>New Layer Style>Drop Shadow (in Elements, go to Layer>Layer Style>Style Settings) and add a black shadow – with Size at 0px and Distance at 5px – to each layer as well as the main texture layer.

Tutorial

Create grunge posters

Expert tip

It’s a good idea to create a new Group in the Layers palette (Layer>Group) to store all of the individual layers of cracked segments inside. If you’re using Photoshop CS6, then the Drop Shadow layer style can actually be applied directly to the Group as a whole, which will save a bit of time.

Grouped

layers

Rasterise and select

06

With Opacity back to 100%, go to

Layer>Rasterize>Smart Object (in Elements, use Simplify Layer), then hit Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+U to remove all colour from the texture. Set its blend mode to Overlay, select the Magic Wand tool and set Tolerance to 15 with Contiguous unchecked. Next, select a dark area of the texture to create a selection.

Add a textured surface

05 

Download the texture from www.

freestocktextures.com/texture/ id/131. Use File>Place to load this into the composition, reducing its Opacity to 50%. Ctrl/right-click and select Flip Horizontal. Resize the texture so the centre of the cracked area is over the eagle’s talons and it covers the canvas, then hit Enter to confirm.

Enlarge the eagle

04 

Click on the Background layer, hit

Opt/Alt+Backspace to fill this with blue and leave the eagle on the layer above. Using the Move tool (V), drag the eagle up and enlarge it slightly with Free Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T).

At points throughout this tutorial you’ll be creating selections to delete parts of other layers. Things can start going wrong when making sure you have the right layer highlighted in the Layers palette, before hitting the delete button. When you Cmd/Ctrl-click on any layer’s thumbnail in the palette to activate it as a selection, that layer doesn’t become the one that’s highlighted.

It’s the little things

that can make all

the difference

Layer selection

Hide your layers

11 

To make the areas under the

segments darker than everything else, hide all the layers containing the shards using the eyes in the Layers palette. Now Cmd/Ctrl-click on the thumbnail of the texture layer and go to Select>Inverse.

Fill the layer

12 

Add a new layer and fill it with black by

going to Edit>Fill and setting Contents to Black. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+D to remove the active selection, then lower the Opacity to 25% via the slider in the Layers palette.

Get a clear sky

15 

Press Delete to remove the sky from the landscape image. Go to

Select>All and hit Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy the image. Go back to the main composition and hit Cmd/Ctrl+V to paste the landscape.

Combine selections

13 

Reveal the shards by clicking back on

their eye symbols. Holding Shift, Cmd/Ctrl-click on each of the thumbnails to form a large selection, then select the black layer made previously and hit Delete. This will hide black parts under each segment.

Edit the landscape

14

Go to File>Open and locate ‘Mountains.jpg’ from the

supplied resources. Use the Quick Selection tool to select the sky, then hold Opt/Alt and double-click on the Background layer to make it live.

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Blend elements together

17 

Change the blend mode of the

landscape layer to Luminosity and lower its Opacity to 60% to reduce its impact. On a new layer, paint black using the Brush tool along the base of the

composition to balance the overall tone.

Flatten and save

18 

When you’re happy, go to File>Save

As and save out as a PSD to keep the layers intact. Go to Layer> Flatten Image and save as a JPEG, setting Quality in the JPEG Options between 8 and 12.

Reorder your layers

16 

Move the landscape’s layer so that it’s

just above the Background layer, then use the Move tool to position the landscape to cover just the bottom third of the canvas.

Tutorial

Create grunge posters

Why the structure of the Layers palette is so important

Closer look

Important techniques

MAGIC WAND TOOL

The Magic Wand tool is useful for selecting colour across the entire image in one go by turning off Contiguous in the Options bar.

THE EAGLE’S TALONS

Matching up the central point of the texture with the eagle’s talons improves the overall composition, making it seem as if the bird is fl ying out the picture.

ADJUSTMENT LAYERS

With the help of adjustment layers, such as Brightness/ Contrast, highlights can be boosted to make it seem more like glass breaking up.

KEEPING IT SHARP

By keeping the head of the eagle clear of any cracked texture using masks, the viewer has something familiar to focus on.

DEPTH WITH SHADOWS

Layer styles help to give the broken shards more depth. A slight Drop Shadow set to a Size of 1px is all that’s needed.

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