Photoshop User June 2017

T H E A D O B E® P H O T O S H O P

Dynamic Range

®

“ H O W -T 0 ” M A G A Z I N E ›

Craft a composite that creates the illusion that part of a photo is coming right out of your smartphone’s screen

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june

Learn how to use displacement maps in unique ways to create dispersion and particle effects

2017

Proving Ground ®

PHOTOSHOP SPECIAL EFFECTS Adding finishing effects to your images will have your clients screaming for more

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF

Markus Gollner | KelbyOne Member

Watch How Zach Got the Shot

The Rapid Box™ Duo Portable Speedlight Modifier

Watch What’s Trending on the KelbyOne Channel!

Photoshop Buried Treasure, #2: B&W Conversions Using Calculations

Buried Treasure in Camera Raw: One Key Super Zoom

Photo Tip Friday: Dave Clayton “Photoshop Templates”

Lightroom Mobile & The Two Finger Tap Lightroom Tips | Photoshop Tutorials | Photography Tips “Photo Tip Friday” Quick Tips | Online Class Trailers | Full Episodes of The Grid

CONTENTS

Adobe Stock; BLT Communications; Layout: Jessica Maldonado

[   P H O T O S H O P U S E R • J u n e 2 0 17 • V O L 2 0 • N O 5   ]

[070] FINISHING EFFECTS IN PHOTOSHOP By Corey Barker to his Photoshop toolbox for finishing his composites. From custom brushes to layer styles to HDR Toning, these special effects will help unify the elements in your composites and add that wow factor that will impress your clients and viewers. More importantly, these techniques are a

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©Adobe Stock/Zsolnai Gergely

springboard for you to experiment and come up with your own amazing finishing touches.

©Adobe Stock/RUSLAN SOLNTSEV

FEATURE

Over the years as a designer, Corey Barker has added a plethora of quick-and-easy effects

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A NOTE FROM SCOTT

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DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

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CONTRIBUTORS

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DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

BENEFIT SPOTLIGHT

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BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP

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DYNAMIC RANGE

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RETOUCHING MAGIC

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DESIGNING WITH PHOTOSHOP



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KELBYONE COMMUNITY [016]



HEARD ON THE TWEET



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A Few Finishing Tricks to Get that Movie Poster Look Craft Your Own Set of Energy Wings Removing Distracting Objects

Bringing Smartphone Screens to Life Blend Mode Magic

Working with Type in Photoshop

NEW ONLINE TRAINING

COLUMNS

FROM THE HELP DESK

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PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND



Using the Displacement Map for Particle Effects

DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT

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PHOTOSHOP TIPS

Whenever you see this symbol at the end of an article, it means there are either downloadable practice files or additional content for KelbyOne members at http://kelbyone.com/magazine.

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DESIGN MAKEOVER

Whenever you see this button at the end of an article, click it to go to the Online Community to ask questions or make comments about this issue.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS

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BOOK REVIEWS



Discuss this Issue



in the nav bar at the top Click this symbol of the online reader to access the Contents.



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Boost Your Productivity and Creativity

Home Design

Get the Scoop on the Latest Gear

Reviews of Photoshop and Photography Books

Kristina Sherk

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David Williams

DEPARTMENTS

HOW TO

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KelbyOne Members Receive Exclusive Discounts

The Professional’s Source TM

Log on to KelbyOne’s website: http://kelbyone.com/discounts

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› › FROM THE EDITOR

> A Note from Scott

details as we get closer. Congratulations, Melanie! We can’t wait to share your wonderful work with the world. One more thing, and then I’ll let you get to the mag. If you’re not visiting the KelbyOne Insider blog (the link is in your dashboard), you’re missing out on lots of cool stuff. One thing that’s really resonating with our members is our Member Challenges—you have to check it out on the site (go to page 12 to learn even more). While you’re on the site, check out the latest member discount from Macphun. They just added a 15% discount on their Luminar plug-in (that’s what I’ve been using since my Nik Collection started to die, which has been happening to a lot of folks lately). Sadly, Google announced that they wouldn’t be updating the software any longer for people who can’t get it to work. In short, it’s dead, but I have a new class on how to use Luminar coming out at the end of June, so you can make an easy-and-painless jump from the old to the new. Whew, that’s a lot of stuff, and I’ll have a whole lot more next issue. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who tells their friends about KelbyOne, who gives us a shoutout on social, or is active in the Community. You guys rock! Now you can check out the mag—it’s a pretty good one. ;-) All my best,

Scott Kelby KelbyOne President & CEO Editor & Publisher, Photoshop User

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

I have lots of cool things to share this issue, so let’s get to it! Last issue, I talked about our new KelbyOne Mags app for reading this magazine and our sister publication, Lightroom Magazine, and it’s been an overwhelming hit with our members. I wanted to share a quote from one member who went on Twitter and wrote: “I downloaded the app last week. What an improvement. I had pretty much given up reading the magazines because it was so inconvenient, but I have already read the latest issue and [am] going back to earlier issues. Great job! Actually, it is the best reading app I have used!” I wish I could take the credit, but it was Chris Main and Erik Kuna who worked to make this app a reality, and then take it further than any of us imagined it could go. But we actually have more app news: The all-new, from-the-ground-up version of our other app. (Yes, we have two apps—one for reading the mags, and one that lets you take KelbyOne courses offline so you can watch them when you don’t have Internet access, or really slow access, like when you’re on a flight.) Well, we’ve been testing the new app internally (and yes, it’s for iPhone and Android), and it’s stable enough to start having beta testers look at it. To find beta testers, we’re looking to the awesome members involved in the KelbyOne Community section of the website. These folks (the most helpful folks in the world) are totally engaged with their membership and us, and I know they’ll put this baby through its paces in a big way before the full release to the membership. So if you’re an active member of the Community, keep an eye out for your beta release invite for the new KelbyOne app. In other news, we’re very, very excited to once again announce the winner of our contest where one talented KelbyOne member (and a guest) will be flown to Florida for her own solo gallery showing at “The Gallery at KelbyOne.” We had members enter from all over the world, and I’m thrilled to announce that our winner is KelbyOne member Melanie Kern-Favilla. Her stunning images of flowers absolutely captivated the judges, and we can’t wait to see her images hanging on the walls of the gallery. Her gallery show opening is at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 21, and we’ll be broadcasting a live, one-hour interview with Melanie at 8 p.m. that evening from our events theater. Keep an eye on your email inbox for more

Kalebra Kelby

CALLING ALL BETA TESTERS

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J U N E 2 0 17 • V O L 2 0 • N O 5

AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF

EDITORIAL: Scott Kelby, Editor-in-Chief Chris Main, Managing Editor Kim Doty, Associate Editor

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Corey Barker • Peter Bauer • Bruce Bicknell • Dave Clayton Michael Corsentino • Kirk Nelson • Kristina Sherk • Colin Smith Lesa Snider • Scott Valentine • Erik Vlietinck • Jake Widman David Williams

GRAPHICS: Jessica Maldonado, Art Director Margie Rosenstein, Senior Graphic Designer Angela Naymick, Senior Web/Graphic Designer

MARKETING: Adam Blinzler • Jacque Johnson • Rachel Scott • Kleber Stephenson Melissa White

WEB: Adam Frick • Curt Husting • Yojance Rabelo • Aaron Westgate

PUBLISHING: Scott Kelby, Publisher Kalebra Kelby, Executive V.P. Jean A. Kendra, Business Manager

ADVERTISING:

Jeanne Jilleba, Advertising Coordinator 800-201-7323 ext. 152

HOW TO CONTACT KELBYONE: U.S. Mail: 118 Douglas Road East • Oldsmar, FL 34677-2922 Voice: 813-433-5000 • Fax: 813-433-5015 Customer Service: [email protected] Letters to the Editor: [email protected] Help Desk: http://kelbyone.com/my-account/helpdesk

COLOPHON: Photoshop User was produced using Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 and Adobe InDesign CC 2017. Korolev was used for headlines and subheads. Frutiger LT Std for text.

Each issue we feature cover art by a KelbyOne member! This issue´s cover image is by Austria-based artist and photographer Markus Gollner of Markus Gollner Photography. Markus is an autodidactic photographer with a passion for surreal art and fast-paced action. Whenever his job as an airliner allows, he covers rock concerts or ardently dedicates his time to create new surreal and dreamlike images. His art is emotional and teasing. Markus´s long-term goal is an exhibition and to get recognized for his artwork. To learn more about Markus and to see more of his work, turn to page 14.

All contents ©COPYRIGHT 2017 KelbyOne, LLC. All rights reserved. Any use of the contents of this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Photoshop User is an independent journal, not affiliated in any way with Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners. Some of the views expressed by contributors may not be the representative views of the publisher. ISSN 2470-7031 (online)

COREYBARKER is an award-winning designer and illustrator. A featured instructor at the Photoshop World Conference and an Adobe MAX Master Instructor, he has produced numerous training titles for KelbyOne. Look for his latest book

CONTRIBUTORS

PETERBAUER

COLINSMITH

is an Adobe Certified Expert that does computer graphics consulting for a select group of corporate clients. His latest book is Photoshop CC for Dummies. He was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2010.

is an award-winning digital artist, photographer, and lecturer who has authored 19 books and has created a series of training videos. Colin is also the founder of the online resource PhotoshopCAFE.com and president of Software-Cinema.com.

BRUCEBICKNELL

LESASNIDER

is the founder of Digital Blue Productions. He has been an instructor on Adobe’s in-box training, and is an instructor at Sessions.edu. His clients include Time Inc., NFSTC, DTCC, and magazines that include People and National Geographic..

is the author of Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC for Photographers: Classroom in a Book (2016), Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, TheSkinnyBooks.com, more than 40 video courses, and the “Creaticity” column for Macworld.

DAVECLAYTON

SCOTTVALENTINE

is a KelbyOne instructor, designer, and creative specialist with more than 30 years experience. He specializes in creating branding projects and logos and has been published by Peachpit and KelbyOne. He’s also an Adobe Influencer and ACA in InDesign.

is a member of Adobe’s prerelease team, an Adobe Community Professional, and Photoshop author. His books include The Hidden Power of Adjustment Layers and The Hidden Power of Blend Modes (both by Adobe Press). Keep up with him at scoxel.com.

MICHAELCORSENTINO

ERIKVLIETNICK

is an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer, Photoshop and Lightroom expert, author, columnist for Shutter Magazine and Resource Magazine, and speaker and international workshop leader. Learn more at www.michaelcorsentino.com.

founded IT Enquirer in 1999. A J.D. by education, Erik has been a freelance technology editor for more than 22 years. He has written for Macworld, Computer Arts, and many others. He also contributes to UK-based Red Shark News and Red Shark Sound.

KIRKNELSON

JAKEWIDMAN

is a professional graphics artist in the Washington, D.C., area. He has a B.A. from George Mason University and is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop. Kirk’s career has touched on a broad range of subjects from logo design to animation. He can be reached here.

is a writer and editor who lives in San Francisco. He’s been covering the intersection of computers and graphic design for about 25 years now—since back when it was called “desktop publishing” and Photoshop was just a piece of scanning software.

KRISTINASHERK

DAVIDWILLIAMS

is a high-end retoucher based in D.C. and has worked for clients such as Time Inc. and Hasselblad. She loves “translating” Photoshop for people and has written for Shutter Magazine, as well as authored KelbyOne courses and PhotoshopCAFE’s Fashion Retouching DVD.

is a well-seasoned, UK-based travel photographer with internationally published work and a passion for sharing his knowledge of Adobe software. Dave lives by the mantra, “Lend me your eyes and I’ll show you what I see.”

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

Photoshop Tricks for Designers.

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> Benefit Spotlight

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

KELBYONE MAGS: THE NEW MOBILE APP FOR PHOTOSHOP USER & LIGHTROOM MAGAZINE

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We recently released KelbyOne Mags for both iOS and Android devices. This new app is perfect for reading Photoshop User and Lightroom Magazine on the go. And the library is stocked with back issues. Photoshop User goes all the way back to January 2014, and the entire collection of Lightroom Magazine is available in the app. That’s more than 60 issues. If you’re on a Wi-Fi or cellular network, just tap the cover of the issue you want to read and start reading. If you know you’re going to be somewhere without an Internet connection, download a few issues directly in the app, and then you can read them offline! (We highly recommend that you download issues over Wi-Fi, unless you have unlimited data.) But that’s not all. The app also gives you instant access to the KelbyOne Community. Have questions, comments, or

suggestions about the magazines, online courses, or anything to do with photography, Photoshop, or Lightroom? Visit the Community and start interacting with other members, instructors, and writers. There are tons of people there ready to help. Plus, you can access the new KelbyOne Insider. This blog is for members only and will keep you up to date on everything going on at KelbyOne. And finally, you can access our Facebook and Twitter feeds directly in the app to give you even more ways to interact with KelbyOne. You can find out more about the app right here on the Insider. We also have a dedicated topic for the app on the Community. So go ahead and download KelbyOne Mags today and visit the Community to let us know what you think.

#KelbyOneBooks

RACHELSCOTT & DAVECLAYTON

> KelbyOne Community Inspiration, information, and member musings to fuel your creativity Ready for a Member Challenge? We’ve always known our members are talented, but when the Gallery at KelbyOne slammed that message home with countless incredible bodies of work, we decided we had to do something more to show off your work. So what did we come up with? Weekly Member Challenges! What’s a Member Challenge? It’s a mini-contest that’s announced via both the Insider and the Community. In those posts, we pick a topic or theme with which to challenge our members. Member Challenge 1 consisted of landscapes. We asked our members—that’s you guys—to submit their very best landscape photographs (only one entry per person). And boy did you deliver! Our first winner was Scott Chandler with this beautiful shot of the Moeraki Boulders at sunrise in New Zealand. Here’s the link to the Insider post announcing the winning image.

In Member Challenge 3, we asked members to submit their best wildlife images, and once again, we were impressed by the number of amazing images that poured in. It really does make it tough to pick a winner. This time around, Doreen Lawrence took the top spot. Check out the Community to see all the great submissions, and the Insider to see the announcement of the winning image.

All Member Challenge winners not only get to be featured on the Insider with a post dedicated to their winning image for all other KelbyOne members to see, but they also get an exclusive T-shirt—only available to Member Challenge winners. Member Challenges will take place every Friday with winners being announced the following Thursday. Keep an eye on the Insider for your next chance to win!

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

The winner of Member Challenge 2, which was photos with a summer theme, was Svetlana VanKempen. Here’s the link to the Insider post announcing her winning image.

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Special Guest Rob Foldy We had another visitor at KelbyOne headquarters, and this time he was someone a bit more local, Rob Foldy. Based out of Miami, Rob is a professional sports and portrait photographer. He’s shot for Getty Images, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated. Wondering why Rob paid us a visit? Two reasons! Reason #1: Rob was a special guest on episode 285 of The Grid. Scott and Rob discussed what it takes to get paid as a photographer. So if you want to start making some cash with your work, you need to watch that episode. Reason #2: Rob was filming two new sports photography classes for KelbyOne—feel free to jump out of your seat and do the wave! To see some of Rob’s work, visit his website, Rob Foldy Photography. You can also get to know Rob on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT >> BRIAN RODGERS JR. MEMBER SINCE 2008

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT >> CHRIS LORD MEMBER SINCE 2004

WHO’S WHO IN THE KELBYONE COMMUNITY >> MARKUS GOLLNER MEMBER SINCE 2014

› › K E L BYO N E C O M M U N I TY

Who’s Who in the KelbyOne Community Markus Gollner is an Austria-based artist with a passion for surreal art and fast-paced action. His art is emotional and teasing, and his long-term goal is an exhibition and to get recognized for his artwork.

From my youth I was always creative, and at the same time interested in technical stuff. I did mostly painting, as at that time, I had no computer or Photoshop. At the age of 15, I got my first camera and I liked it instantly. It’s a combination of technique and vision, and I got a result quicker than in a slow painting process. Don’t ask me why, but at that time photography wasn’t on my radar as an occupation. After my bachelor’s degree, I started aviation training, and today I’m captain of an Airbus 320 flying in Europe. I did take photos nevertheless, and photography in a professional way became interesting in my mid-thirties. At one point I was bored with the “normal stuff“ and was keen in going a new and different way, covering subjects that aren’t everyday. My entry into that field was to cover the Special Operations Unit COBRA, the Austrian Police Special Forces, publishing a photo book about them. That led to the “Jagdkommando,“ the Austrian Army Special Forces. Next came “Kommando Spezialkräfte“ of the German Army.

You have a quote on your website that reads “Make Visible What, Without You, Might Perhaps Never Have Been Seen.” What made you start experimenting with fantasy style images? My first fantasy style image was “Vampires.“ At that time I was covering action—Special Forces, sports, and music. I loved that and still do, but I was looking for something new and different. Nowadays, we’re flooded with zillions of images every day, which we rarely look at consciously or remember later on. I wanted to create images that stand out, catch you off guard, make you stop and engage.

Where does the idea start for a new project, and do you aim for one image or a series? Every shoot has a theme, mostly surreal, dark art. Around that theme the models come up with ideas, outfits, and stylings, and I add my input and stuff I have available. I always make a series of images—different poses and angles, with and without accessories, etc.—to cover all corners. Then I have the essential flexibility in the postprocessing part.

Do you work out of your own studio? I have a studio at home in Ebreichsdorf, near Vienna, Austria. But I work out of town, as well, when it’s more efficient for me to get there, instead of having a lot of people come to me.

Who or what inspires you? A great source of inspiration are painters and artists from earlier centuries, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and Picasso, as well as modern artists, such as Gottfried Helnwein and other hyper-realistic painters. I learned a lot from fellow photographers, especially Bernhard Moestl and Stefan Gesell. Additionally, literature and movies about science fiction, fantasy, and comics!

You seem to enjoy the compositing side of your work. Do you shoot your own backgrounds? A good part of my work is collecting backgrounds, textures, and the like. Whenever I come across some useful stuff, I take images of it.

What kit do you use and what is on your wishlist? My first camera was a Canon AE-1 and I’ve been using Canon for the last decade, currently owning a D5 Mark III and a 1D X. Recently, I bought a Fuji X-T20 and haven’t touched my Canon gear since that day. The Fuji is like my old Canon, but with the modern technology of today. Now I’m seriously considering a transition to Fuji with the Fuji GFX on top of my wishlist.

What’s your history with KelbyOne, and what advice would you give to anyone who isn’t a member? About 12 years ago I got a Canon D20 and the logical consequence was to start using Photoshop. With no knowledge at all, it was a difficult trial-and-error process. Then I came across Scott Kelby’s The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers and that was a game-changer for me. Other books followed, as well, such as Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It; Photoshop Classic Effects; Photoshop Killer Tips; and Photo­shop Down & Dirty Tricks. I wish every teacher had the ability to teach his students like Scott does. He shows you in a simple, but effective way how to achieve something. If my teachers had been like him, I suppose I’d be a little rocketscience-Nobel-Prize genius. So it was just a matter of time to sign up with KelbyOne and suck up the different courses like a nerd. My advice for others is: Go for it! Look in your heart, where your deepest love for a subject or a field of work is, where your passion lies, and what brings you the most joy. Then go pedal-to-the-metal. Pick your courses, learn, try, fail, get up, and never stop having fun and being curious. If you love it, the rest will follow. n

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

Please tell us a bit more about yourself and what made you start in photography?

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> Heard on the Tweet

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

A Quick Glance at Some Highlights from our Twitter Feed

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› › HEARD ON THE TWEET

KelbyOne and Scott Kelby on Twitter!

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

Follow

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Here Are Your Late

Every week, we publish at least one new training c

Designing Graphics for Social Media in Photoshop

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Learn how to use Photoshop to help get your message out on social media! Join Dave Clayton to get a designer’s perspective on using your images to build your brand awareness on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. With Dave’s Photoshop templates and techniques you’ll be well on your way to creating a cohesive message tailored to each platform.

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Deconstructing Design in Photoshop Take inspiration from good design and make it your own. Join Dave Clayton as he demonstrates in Photoshop how you can start with an existing design and build on top of it to make something completely unique, as a tool to help you learn and improve your craft. Learn how to find inspiration, extract from PDFs, add vector images, work with templates, as well as tips and techniques for adding all the final touches.

est Online Courses

course. Check out these brand-new courses below:

Just One More Flash

Sports Photography: Make Your Pee Wees Look Like Pros Photograph your kids sports like a pro! Join Rob Foldy, professional sports photographer, as he teaches you the basic photographic principles that will make your subjects proud. Rob shows you how to configure your camera for the best results. You’ll also learn the importance of storytelling and how being prepared before you go to the game will help you take your photographs to the next level.

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

Learn how to add one more flash to your portrait lighting with Scott Kelby! Building on the foundation you gained in Just One Flash, Scott teaches you the why, when, and how of adding a second flash to your Speedlight setup. Whether you want to create separation between your subject and the background, add a fill light, or change the look of the background itself, you’ll be amazed at all the great things you can do with a second flash.

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COREYBARKER

A FEW FINISHING TRICKS TO GET THAT MOVIE POSTER LOOK This time around I thought we’d revisit a favorite topic of mine, and that’s movie posters. I wanted to show you a few handy finishing tricks you can add to your own design to get that cool, gritty, movie poster finish. We’ll do this by way of a mini project

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

creating a poster for Sherlock Holmes.

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› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

a young man in the image of Sherlock

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Smoke on black background

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Tower Bridge in London England

Step One: Begin by going into Photoshop and creating a new document (File>New) in which to build the final design. Make it 945 x1400 pixels at 100 ppi to work with the Adobe Stock images. For high-res images, you’ll want to make it 1350x2000. Whatever size you choose, just be sure to keep the proportions to a movie poster format. Set the Background Contents drop-down menu to Black, and click the Create button in the New Document dialog.

Step Two: Start by opening the Sherlock image. If you downloaded it to your Libraries panel, simply double-click it in the panel to open it. You’ll see the subject is shot on a dark backdrop and selecting it would be rather tricky. In this case, however, we don’t need to make a selection because we’re going to utilize the dark background.

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

•

©Adobe Stock/Ruslan Solntsev

To obtain the stock images used in this exercise so you can follow along, download the watermarked previews from Adobe Stock, or add them directly to your Libraries panel (Window>Libraries) by clicking on the link for each image below. When the Adobe Stock webpage opens, make sure you’re logged in to your Adobe account, then to the right of each image, you’ll see the option to Save Preview to My Library (you can click on My Library to select a different library or download option). Click on the cloud-with-an-arrow icon, and the preview image will automatically be downloaded to your Libraries panel in Photoshop.

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› › HOW TO

Step Three: Switch to the Move tool (V) and drag the Sherlock image over to the main document that we created in Step One. Hold down the Shift key before you release the mouse button so that the image lands centered in the canvas. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform to scale and reposition the image to fit better in the composition. Hold down Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) as you drag out a corner handle to scale the image larger (Shift maintains proportions and Option [PC: Alt] transforms it from the center outward). Then, just click-and-drag inside the bounding box to reposition it. Press Enter to commit the transformation when done.

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Step Four: In the Layers panel, lower the Opacity of the Sherlock layer to 75%.

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Step Five: Click the Create a New layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a new blank layer above the Sherlock layer. Then set the layer blend mode near the top left of the Layers panel to Overlay and drop the Opacity to 75%.

› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step Six: Select the Brush tool (B) in the Toolbar, and then click on the panel icon in the Options Bar to open the Brush panel. Choose a simple round, soft-edged brush, and make sure that there are no other brush features turned on in the panel. If you’re using a pressure-sensitive tablet, click on Transfer and set the Control drop-down menu under Opacity Jitter to Pen Pressure. If you’re not using a tablet, just set the brush Opacity to around 50% in the Options Bar. Set the size to around 250 pixels.

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

Step Seven: Press D to set black as the Foreground color. Then start painting in the darker shadow areas of the subject to crush the shadows even more.

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> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Step Eight: Now create another blank layer and set its blend mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 50%. Press X to swap the Foreground and Background colors, making the Foreground white. Using the same brush as before, paint over the brighter highlights of the subject. This will enhance the detail and even add a soft glow to the subject.

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Step Nine: Now that we have the subject in place, let’s begin adding the special effects. We’ll start with a smoke element for the pipe in his hand. Open the Adobe Stock smoke image. You’ll see it’s a simple smoke element on a black background. To quickly extract the smoke from the background, open the Channels panel (Window>Channels) and hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key as you click on the RGB channel thumbnail. This will create a luminance-based selection, and since it’s simple white smoke on a black background, it will select all the smoke.

©Adobe Stock/Deyan Georgiev

› › HOW TO

› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step 10: Now go back to the Layers panel and create a new blank layer. Then, press OptionDelete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the selected area with white, which is your current Foreground color. There. You’ve perfectly extracted smoke. Just use the Move tool to drag it to the main design.

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

Step 11: Use Free Transform (Command-T) to scale the smoke down, and then drag it into position over the pipe in the subject’s hand. Press Enter when done. Finally, drop the layer Opacity to 50%.

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› › HOW TO

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Step 12: Now we’re going to use a texture image as an overlay that will add some texture and contrast to the image. If you’re a KelbyOne member, you can download this image from the magazine page (see link below). Using the Move tool and holding the Shift key, drag this texture to the main design and make sure the layer is at the top of the layer stack. Then, change the layer blend mode to Multiply and drop the layer Opacity to 75%. [KelbyOne members may download the texture file used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone.com /magazine. All files are for personal use only.]

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Step 13: Now let’s add a cool type overlay. Select the Type tool (T) from the Toolbar, and then starting at the top-left corner of the canvas, drag a text box over most of the canvas area. Go to the Options Bar and set the font to Trajan Pro or something similar. Feel free to play with other fonts, as well. Also, set the Size to around 30 pt (I used 50 pt for my high-res version). Click on the color swatch in the Options Bar to open the Color Picker, set it to white, and click OK. In the Paragraph panel (Window>Paragraph), select the Justify All option (last icon at the top right).

› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step 14: Go under the Type menu and select Paste Lorem Ipsum to fill the text box with filler text. (If you have text of your own, you can go ahead and paste the text in the text box.) Place your cursor in the text and press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) to select all. Hold the Option (PC: Alt) key and tap the Up and Down Arrow keys to adjust the leading (space between lines) until you have something that looks like this. Place the cursor at the end of the text block and run Paste Lorem Ipsum again to fill the rest of the image with the text.

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Step 15: Go to the Layers panel and set the Type layer’s blend mode to Difference and drop its Opacity to 10%. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key and click on the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at bottom of Layers panel. This will add a mask filled with black, which will hide the type layer from view.

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› › HOW TO

Step 16: Select the Gradient tool (G) in the Toolbar. In the Options Bar, click the gradient preview to open the Gradient Editor, choose the Foreground to Transparent preset, and click OK. Back in the Options Bar, set the gradient type to Radial and the tool Opacity to 50%. Press D to set white as the Foreground color. Also, in the Layers panel, drag the Type layer below the texture layer.

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Step 17: Drag out one of the bottom corners of the document window so you can see the canvas around the image. Starting just outside the document bounds, drag a gradient in toward the subject. Continue to add gradients around the image to reveal the text texture. Remember, this is nondestructive editing, so you can press Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z) to undo a gradient, or even refill the entire layer mask with black if you need to start over.

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Step 18: Now let’s add a background image with a cool shot of the Tower Bridge. Open this Adobe Stock image from the Libraries panel and drag it to the main design. In the Layers panel, drag the Tower Bridge layer below the Type layer. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform, then scale and position the image in relation to the subject, keeping in mind which areas you want to keep visible and which areas you want to hide. Don’t commit the transformation yet.

Step 19: Here’s another cool trick when it comes to compositions. Once the image is in place, Rightclick on the object and choose Flip Horizontal from the pop-up menu. This angle works better for this design. Often backgrounds like this are abstract enough so that you can’t really tell they’re flipped, especially with the other effects we’ll be adding. Now you can press Enter to commit the transformation. Next, press Command-U to open the Hue/Saturation dialog. Check on Colorize and use these settings to put a blue cast over the layer. Click OK.

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©Adobe Stock/clayllama

› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

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› › HOW TO

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Step 20: Now drop the layer Opacity to 75% and add a layer mask. We’re going to use the same radial gradient as before but this time we’re going to press X to set the Foreground color to black and set the Opacity in the Options Bar back to 100%. Add gradients in the middle of the layer to hide the bridge and reveal Sherlock. In some areas it may seem like it’s ghosting the image a little; that actually looks good for this project. This happens because the bridge layer is above the subject layer in the Layers panel. We added gradients in the top corners, as well.

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Step 21: Now for another favorite effect of mine, which involves using HDR Toning. This adjustment, however, can’t be applied to a layered image, so go to the Image menu, choose Duplicate, and click OK. Once the duplicate is created, go under the Layer menu and choose Flatten Image. Step 22: Go under the Image menu, to Adjustments, and choose HDR Toning. You can use these settings here to start but feel free to play around to see the range of effects you can get. You’ll want to be sure to drop the Saturation at the bottom to –100. Click OK when done.

› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step 23: Using the Move tool and holding the Shift key, drag this image back to the original document and place the layer at the top of layer stack (it’s important to hold the Shift key so this layer is aligned with the original layers). Then, set the blend mode to Overlay and drop the layer Opacity to 50%. You can see it adds more contrast to the scene. Step 24: You can also use this HDRtoned layer to change the temperature of the image. Press Command-U (PC: Ctrl-U) to open the Hue/Saturation dialog again. Check on Colorize and use these settings here to add a subtle warm cast to the layer. Click OK when done.

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Step 25: All that’s left is to add some text, and you can see how I added the text shown in the final image by clicking here to watch a video tutorial. Remember to experiment with these effects and see how they can be useful by themselves, or combined, to create your own custom movie poster look. [For more on creating finishing effects for your composites, check out Corey's feature article in this issue starting on page 70.—Ed.] n

[ 31 ]

KIRKNELSON

CRAFT YOUR OWN SET OF ENERGY WINGS The camera shutter is devised to capture a single moment in time—a snap that freezes movement and records a split second. Yet when used over an extended period of time, the whole idea changes dramatically. One of the most fun experiments you can do with a long shutter exposure is to create light streaks. This is somewhat similar to the effect our eyes see when somebody waves a sparkler through the air. By using this technique to create light streak resources, we can then use Photoshop to

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draw out more complicated elements with those resources.

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› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

In this project, we’ll give a ballet dancer a set of glowing wings that seem to be comprised of pure light energy. We fully encourage you to create your own light streak resources, but if you don’t have the time or available resources, feel free to use ours!

Step Two: To create the light streaks, the general principle is to adjust the shutter to stay open while you wave the glow sticks in front of the camera. The exact settings will depend on your setup, but these images were taken in manual mode with an aperture of f/4.8, ISO 500, and shutter speed 2 seconds. If the background is clearly visible, reduce the aperture or ISO. If the streaks are too dim, try a longer shutter speed and move the glow sticks more slowly. ALL IMAGES BY KIRK NELSON UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

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Step One: Crafting your own light-stream effects is fun and easy to do. Glow sticks are ideal for the task. They’re readily accessible at most party stores and inexpensive too. Having a variety of colors is a fun addition, but certainly not required. It’s important to use a dark room with a solid background. A tripod is essential to keep the camera steady during the long shutter exposure. [KelbyOne members may download the light-stream files used in this tutorial at http: //kelbyone.com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.]

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Step Three: To obtain the stock image used in this exercise so you can follow along, download the watermarked preview from Adobe Stock, or add it directly to your Libraries panel (Window>Libraries) by clicking on the link for the image below. When the Adobe Stock webpage opens, make sure you’re logged in to your Adobe account, then to the right of the image, you’ll see the option to Save Preview to My Library (you can click on My Library to select a different library or download option). Click on the cloud-with-an-arrow icon, and the preview image will automatically be downloaded to your Libraries panel in Photoshop. •

Ballet dancer-action

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Step Four: Open the image in Photoshop either through the File>Open menu command, or by double-clicking on the image in the Libraries panel. Then, grab the Crop tool (C), and drag the top-center point up to extend the canvas upward. Lengthen the canvas until the lower third is approximately even with the neckline of the dancer’s dress. Press the Enter key to commit the crop operation. Press Shift-G until you have the Paint Bucket tool in the Toolbar, then press D to set your Foreground color to black. Click once in the extended canvas area to fill it with black.

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Step Five: Go to File>Place Embedded and select the LightStreak1.jpg image. This brings the image in as a smart object. Change the blend mode near the top left of the Layers panel to Linear Dodge to render the black areas completely invisible. Use the transformation handles to move, scale, and rotate the light streak to roughly form the upper outline of a wing from the dancer’s back.

©Adobe Stock/Zsolnai Gergely

› › HOW TO

› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step Six: To further shape the light into a shape that more closely resembles a wing, go to Edit> ­Transform>Warp. Pull on the warp grid points to bend the top area of the wing to form a smooth curve. Pull down on the bottom corner points to expand the light curve downward to fill in more area for the wing. Press Enter to commit the transformation.

Step Eight: Place the LightStreak2.jpg image into the composition in the same fashion. This one will be used for defining the outside curve of the wing as it slopes inward from the top edge. We rotated it to the left to around –115°. Be sure to use the Linear Dodge blend mode and warp the light shape as needed.

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Step Seven: Place the LightStreak5.jpg image into the composition and change the blend mode to Linear Dodge. Use Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal and then rotate it to form the bottom curve of the wing. Use Edit>Transform>Warp to further refine the curve to fit the proper shape. Press Enter.

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› › HOW TO

Step Nine: Use the LightStreak3.jpg image to fill in the central portion of the wing. For this streak, choose Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical, and then rotate, resize, and warp it. Pay attention to how the light “flows” from one texture into another. The goal is to get a seamless illustration of the wing so it isn’t apparent where one light streak begins and another ends.

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Step 10: Use the LightStreak4.jpg image to add definition to the outside edge of the wing shape. Again, use the Linear Dodge blend mode and the warp transformation to craft the shape. Then add a layer mask with Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. With the mask active, use the Brush tool (B) with a Soft Round tip and black paint (press the letter D then X) to remove any stray marks from this texture along the inner edge of the wing.

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› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step 11: With the top light streak layer still active, select all of the other light streak layers by holding down the Shift key and clicking on the thumbnail of the bottom light streak layer in the Layers panel. Then go to Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object. Double-click the name of the resulting smart object and rename it “Light Wing 1.” Even though the individual layers had a specific blend mode set to them, the combined smart object reverted to the default Normal mode. Change it to Linear Dodge to render the black areas completely invisible.

Step 12: Add a layer mask to the Light Wing 1 smart object and use the Brush tool again to paint out any light streaks that appear out of place. Make sure none of them cross over the centerline of the model, as it will conflict with the second wing that we’re going to create in the next step.

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Step 13: Duplicate the wing layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J), and rename the duplicate “Light Wing 2.” Go to Edit>Transform> Flip Horizontal to flip the wing, and then use the Move tool (V) to drag it to the other side of the dancer.

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› › HOW TO

Step 14: The two wings should be almost symmetrical, but not perfectly so. There should be some slight variation for realism. First, delete the mask from the second wing by Right-clicking on the mask thumbnail and selecting Delete Layer Mask. Then use the warp transformation on the second wing to create a slight deformation difference. This alteration should be subtle, so use very small movements on the warp mesh.

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Step 15: We removed the layer mask in the previous step, not because it wasn’t needed, but because we needed to warp the wing first, and the warp transformation doesn’t like linked masks. Additionally, this wing should have its own unique mask. So add a new layer mask and use the brush again to remove stray light elements.

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› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step 16: Use the Shift-click method to select both wing layers and group them together with Layer>Group Layers, or press Command-G (PC: Ctrl-G). Rename this group “Wings” and hide the group by clicking on its Eye icon next to it in the Layers panel.

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Step 17: Go to Select>Color Range and the Select option should be Sampled Colors. Click on the black background area in the image to sample it and the preview in the Color Range dialog will show it as completely white. Adjust the Fuzziness until all of the background is selected, somewhere around the level of 28 should be fine. This will select some of the dancer as well. Click OK to create the selection.

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› › HOW TO

Step 18: Reveal the Wings group again by clicking where its Eye icon used to be, and use the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at the foot of the Layers panel to use the selection as a mask on the group. This will conceal the portion of the wings that were in front of the dancer. If there are areas where the selection isn’t correct, touch up those areas by using the Brush tool set to black. Tip: Option-click (PC: Altclick) the mask thumbnail to view just the mask in the image so you can see if any areas on the dancer need to be filled with black. Option-click (PC: Alt-click) again to return to the regular image view.

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Step 19: Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key and go to Layer>Merge Group to create a merged layer of the Wings group, and rename this layer “Wings Glow.” This merged layer also inherited a layer mask. Right-click on the mask thumbnail and select Apply Layer Mask. Then drag this layer beneath the Wings group in the Layers panel.

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› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

Step 21: Click on the background image layer in the Layers panel to make it the active layer and go to Filter>Convert for Smart Filters. Next, go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects, set the drop-down menu at the top of the Properties panel to Point, and drag the center of the light to the center of the frame. Hover your cursor over the outer edge of the light until it turns yellow, and then click-and-drag to resize the light (as shown here). Click on the Color Swatch in the Properties panel, set the color to a pale green (RGB values of 203, 252, 99, respectively), and click OK to close the Color Picker. Set the light Intensity to 20, Exposure to 10, Metallic to 67, and Ambience to 54. Apply the effect with the OK button in the Options Bar.

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Step 20: Let’s soften the glow layer with a blur using Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, and in the dialog set a Radius setting of 5 pixels (I used 10 pixels for the high-res version of the image), and click OK. Now, go to Image> Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and check the Colorize option. Set the Hue to 50 and Saturation to 67, and click OK to give the layer a bright-yellow color. Then set the layer blend mode to Screen and reduce the Opacity to 50%.

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› › HOW TO

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Step 22: Add a new layer called “Sparkles” at the top of the layer stack. Grab the Brush tool and open the Brush panel by pressing F5. Start with the Soft Round tip. Reduce the Size to 5 px (30 px if using the full-resolution image), increase the Hardness to 64%, and then set the Spacing to 350%. Engage the Shape Dynamics and set the Size Jitter to 70%. Engage the Scattering, check the Both Axes option, and set the Scatter amount to 800%. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key to temporarily switch the Brush tool to the Eyedropper, and click to sample a brightgreen color from the wings. Use the Brush to softly paint in sparkles along the wings. If the specks seem too bright, reduce the layer Opacity as needed.

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› › DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS

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Step 23: Add another new layer called “Bokeh” and set its blend mode to Screen. In the Brush panel, increase the brush Hardness to 65% and the Size to 300 px (1,000 px if using the full-size image). Reduce the Spacing to 33%, and in the Shape Dynamics, reduce the Size Jitter to 11%. Press D then X to set the paint color to white, set the brush Opacity to 20% in the Options Bar, and paint in some large bokeh blooms. Reduce the layer Opacity to 19% to make the blooms very subtle. And you’re done! n

[ 43 ]

LESASNIDER

> BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP

REMOVING DISTRACTING OBJECTS Photoshop excels at removing distracting objects in your photos. If you do the removing on new, empty layers, you won’t harm the photo or bloat your document with a slew of duplicate layers. In this column, you’ll use the Patch tool, Clone Stamp, Content-Aware Fill and the Spot Healing Brush to zap power lines and more. Step One: Choose File>Open and navigate to the Santorini photo shown here. If you’re starting in Lightroom, select the photo and then choose Photo>Edit In>Adobe Photoshop CC. Press Shift-Command-N (PC: Shift-Ctrl-N) to create a new layer. In the resulting dialog, enter “power lines” as the name and click OK. [KelbyOne members may download the files used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone .com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.]

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Step Two: Zoom into the photo by pressing Command-+ (PC: Ctrl-+). Press-and-hold the Spacebar and drag to reposition the photo so you can see the power lines at the upper right. Activate the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and drag to draw a rectangular selection around the top of the power pole and the five power lines.

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› › BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP

Step Three: Press Shift-J until the Patch tool is active in the Toolbar. In the Options Bar, set the Patch dropdown menu to Content-Aware and turn on Sample All Layers. Click within the selection and drag it upward to a clear area of sky. Release your mouse button and Photoshop performs the patch—don’t deselect yet! In the Options Bar, experiment with the Structure and Color sliders. To preserve more of the texture of the area from which you copied pixels, increase the Structure slider; to preserve less, decrease it. To perform more color blending between the two areas, increase the Color slider; to perform less, decrease it. As you experiment with these fields, keep an eye inside your selection and you’ll see the pixels change (values of 7 and 3 were used here). When you’re finished, choose Select>Deselect.

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Step Four: Switch to the Rectangular Marquee tool and draw a selection around the remaining power lines. Switch to the Patch tool, and drag the selection upward to a clean area of sky. Experiment with the Structure and Color fields in the Options Bar, and then choose Select>Deselect. Repeat this step to remove the tallest plant next to the building. Tip: You can also use the Quick Selection tool (W) for selecting, and then switch to the Patch tool. To make the Quick Selection tool work on an empty layer, turn on its Sample All Layers setting in the Options Bar.

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› › HOW TO

Step Five: Create a new layer and name it “power line clean up.” Zoom farther into the image and activate the Clone Stamp tool (S). Since this tool doesn’t perform any blending, you won’t create blurry areas near the building’s hard edges. In the Options Bar, click on the brush preview on the left to open the Brush Preset Picker and set the brush Size to around 20 pixels and brush Hardness to around 75%. Then, choose All Layers from the Sample drop-down menu in the Options Bar. Set a sample point by Option-clicking (PC: Alt-clicking) the area of the sky from which you want to copy pixels. Release the modifier key and brush down the side of the building to remove the remaining plants. Reset the sample point as needed as you go.

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Before

[ 46 ]

Tip: If the sky within the area you fixed looks blotchy in color, use the Spot Healing Brush as described later in this column. Note: The Healing Brush tool works the same way in that you need to set a sample point first; however, it does automatically blend pixels. The photo looks a lot better without the distracting power lines and plants, as illustrated in this before and after.

After

› › BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP

USING CONTENT-AWARE FILL If you have plenty of similar background pixels surrounding the object you want to remove, start with the Fill command’s Content-Aware option. Like the Patch tool, this method is quick and automatically blends pixels; however, you don’t pick from where Photoshop copies pixels; it uses the pixels just outside the selection.

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Step One: Open the photo of the pyramids. Duplicate the image layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J). (The Fill command doesn’t work on an empty layer, so the only way to use it without harming your original photo is to use it on a duplicate image layer.) In the Layers panel, doubleclick the duplicate layer’s name and enter “shadow.” Zoom into the photo and reposition it so you can really see the shadow at the lower right. Press Shift-M until the Elliptical Marquee tool is active in the Toolbar, and draw a selection around the shadow that extends off the document’s edge. Make the selection a little larger than the item you’re removing. You can press-andhold the Spacebar while you’re drawing the selection to reposition it. Tip: The Fill command only works on single layers. If you have multiple layers, activate the topmost layer and press ShiftOption-Command-E (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E) to create a new layer that contains the content of all visible layers. Then use the Fill command on that layer!

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Step Two: Choose Edit>Fill and, in the resulting dialog, choose Content-Aware from the Contents drop-down menu, turn on Color Adaptation, and click OK. You get different results each time you use this command, so you may want to undo it by pressing Command-Z (PC: Ctrl-Z) and then run it again. Choose Select>Deselect when you have a result that you like. Tip: If you still don’t like the result, try using a different selection tool, creating a tighter or looser selection, or both. For example, if you first used the Elliptical Marquee, you may want to try the Lasso tool (L) in order to make the selection shapelier.

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Step Three: To remove the car, reposition the photo onscreen so you can see it, add a new empty layer, and then press Shift-J until the Spot Healing Brush tool is active in the Toolbar. In the Options Bar, turn on Content-Aware and Sample All Layers. Set the brush size to around 30 pixels and then brush across the car to remove it. Alternatively, you can increase the brush size until the entire car fits within the cursor and then click once.

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› › BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP

Before

As you can see, a combination of ContentAware Fill and the Spot Healing Brush greatly improved the photo. Until next time, may the creative force be with you all! n Discuss this Issue ALL IMAGES BY LESA SNIDER

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After

[ 49 ]

DAVIDWILLIAMS

> Dynamic Range

BRINGING SMARTPHONE SCREENS TO LIFE In this project, we’ll take a London city scene that features a tall object (in this case, it’s the Elizabeth Tower, or St. Stephens Tower, or Big Ben, or Jubilee Tower, depending on who you ask) and composite it with an image of a smartphone. We’ll manipulate the two images in Adobe Photoshop to create an effect where it appears that part of the building comes to life and emerges from the smartphone.

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Together, we’ll blend the desired elements of both images to create the composite.

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With this tutorial, I’ve provided you with the files you’ll need to follow along, but here’s what you need to know to use your own images: You’ll need one photo focused on the phone set at a depth of field that causes the background to be knocked out of focus. In this case, I shot at f/2.8, but you can use a narrower depth just as effectively to achieve the necessary effect. The second shot needs to be the exact same scene with the same exposure settings, but without the phone, and focused on the main feature of the shot. Use your tripod to ensure your composition remains consistent. The composition and alignment of the phone is important because you must ensure that only the desired element—the Elizabeth Tower—can rise from the phone when we get to postprocessing. The rest of the building to the right of it must remain below the limits of view masked by the phone. If you don’t do this, you’ll be left with an awkward situation whereby the roofline of the building to the right (which, if you’re interested, is Westminster Hall) would have to be chopped off at the limitations of the screen edge, and so you wouldn’t have a clean image. To ensure that you don’t land in this situation, it’s important that you position the phone in such a way that you fully consider the final result. [KelbyOne members may download the files used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone .com/magazine. All files are for personal use only.]

› › D Y NAM IC R A N G E

Step One: We need to load both images into Adobe Photoshop to work on them simultaneously. We’ll be switching back and forth between them and using different elements from each.

Step Three: After we’ve selected the majority of the tower, we can refine the selection to capture some of the thinner details. With the selection still active, click on Select and Mask up at the top in the Options Bar to open the tools that allow us to refine our selection. I find that the Overlay View mode, which is enabled by pressing V, works best to see my selection easily. This makes the selected area appear normal and the area outside the selection has a red overlay by default. To catch the finer details in this image, expand the Edge Detection section in the Properties panel and adjust the Radius of the selection to 68 px. This will select the finer details surrounding the bulk of the tower, aside from the very tip (again, we’ll deal with that later). Click OK at the bottom of the Properties panel.

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Step Two: Within the image of the focused tower, using the Quick Selection tool (W), select the tower. As you draw inside the tower with the tool active, Photoshop will automatically find the edges to make an approximate selection. When using this tool, the algorithm Adobe Photoshop uses to find the edges is pretty spot on, but it can miss certain thinner details at the edges. Also, notice that it may limit itself at pronounced lines within the limits of the tower, so be sure to check that all the inner areas are selected. You can add areas to the selection by clicking on them or by painting over them, and you can remove areas from the selection by doing the same while holding the Option (PC: Alt) key. You can also change the size of the brush with the keyboard shortcuts of the Left Bracket key ([) to decrease, and the Right Bracket key (]) to increase the size. Don’t worry about selecting the element at the very top of the tower for now; we’ll take care of that later.

[ 51 ]

› › HOW TO

Step Four: It’s good practice to save your selection (so you don’t lose it): Go to Select>Save Selection and you’ll be presented with a dialog where you can name your selection. In this case, we’ll name it “tower.” Note that when you save a selection, you can save it under any of the currently open documents—this may be useful to remember for later.

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Step Five: With the tower dealt with, we can move on to the phone image. We’ll make a selection within the phone to mark out the screen using the Polygonal Lasso tool (press Shift-L until it’s active in the Toolbar). We’ll estimate a screen area in this image from which the tower will rise. With the tool selected, click one corner of the screen as a starting point, and then click the next three corners to demarcate the limits of your screen. With each click, a straight line will be drawn until you reach the starting corner. As you get close to the starting point, the cursor will change to include a small circle, and when you click, the line will automatically join up with the first point to create the selection.

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Step Six: We need to save this selection, as well, using the same method as we used for the tower in Step 4. Name this selection “screen.”

› › D Y NAM IC R A N G E

Step Seven: Now we need to load the screen selection in the tower image. Switch back to the image with the focused tower and navigate to Select>Load Selection. From the Document dropdown menu under Source, select the filename of the screen.jpg image. This will allow us to open a saved selection associated with that open file. The Channel drop-down menu should automatically switch to the screen selection since that’s the only selection saved in that file. Click OK, and we now have the selection that we just made in the phone image loaded into the tower image.

Step Nine: Now we need to switch back to the other image again. Make sure the screen selection is still active, and press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to paste the copied tower content into our phone’s screen.

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Step Eight: With our screen selection loaded, copy the selected area with Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C).

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› › HOW TO

Step 10: The next element to move across to the phone image is the tower. Go back to the image with the tower in focus and load the tower selection, as we did with the screen selection, by navigating to Select>Load Selection, but this time choosing the tower.jpg document and the tower Channel. Click OK to close the dialog, and then press Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to copy the selected tower.

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Step 11: We can now switch back to the image with the phone and paste the tower into the image. If you shot both images on a tripod as I did here, you can go to Edit>Paste Special> Paste in Place and the tower will be pasted in exactly the same position from which you copied it, which will line it up perfectly with the copied portion of the building in the phone. If the alignment is off, you can easily align the pasted layer by lowering its Opacity in the Layers panel, zooming in, and using the Move tool (V) to line it up correctly. Return its Opacity back to 100% when you’re done.

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Step 12: Looking at the pasted tower, we’ve fallen outside the edges of our phone screen, so our next task is to erase the edges of the tower that fall outside the screen. To do this, we need to load the screen selection again the same way we did in Step 7, but in the next step we’ll be working outside the screen, so we need to invert the selection with Shift-Command-I (PC: Shift-Ctrl-I).

› › D Y NAM IC R A N G E

Step 13: Using the Eraser tool (E) set to a hard brush, we can now simply paint over the bits that have fallen outside our screen, safe in the knowledge that the selection will protect what’s inside the screen from the Eraser tool. Start with the portions that fall below the edge of the screen.

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Step 14: With the bottom edge dealt with, we can now remove any unwanted copied areas from the top edge of the screen, being careful not to touch the tower itself. Adjust the size of the Eraser tool using the Bracket keys as necessary.

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› › HOW TO

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Step 15: The last touch to our tower is the very top piece that we left earlier. As the tower itself sits against a relatively simple blue-sky background, we can do this quite easily. Go into the image of the focused tower, and using the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) draw a small marquee around the edge of the tip, making sure to select some of the sky around it. Once this is done, click on Select and Mask and adjust the Feather to 20 px, which will give a gradual but useful fade between the focused and unfocused skies. Click OK and copy the selection with Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C).

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› › D Y NAM IC R A N G E

Step 16: Switch back to the final image one last time and paste in the selected tip using Edit>Paste Special>Paste in Place. If it doesn’t line up perfectly, align it to its correct position at the tip of the tower using the same technique we used in Step 11.

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And now we’re all done! Just be sure to save a PSD of your layered file so you can go back and make changes anytime you need. n

ALL IMAGES BY DAVID WILLIAMS

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KRISTINASHERK

> Retouching Magic

BLEND MODE MAGIC Layer blend modes are a great way to experiment with your images to get tons of different effects in a nondestructive way. The featured image below, which is on my website’s home screen, periodically prompts conversations about the process I used to create the rainbow effect on the lips. Since it’s been a while since I created that image, I decided to jump back into the file and rediscover the steps I took

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

to create this look.

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The first thing to do with any beauty image, especially macro images, is clean up the image. My beauty retouching work­ flow typically involves skin smoothing, frequency separation, and correcting the skin tone. For this specific image, it also including touching up the golden lip color.

› › RETOUCHING MAGIC

Next, I added depth to the finger area, which I thought needed a little more dimension. For my dodging and burning, I held the Option (PC: Alt) key while clicking the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to open the New Layer dialog. In the dialog, I named this layer “dodge and burn,” set the Mode to Soft Light, turned on the option to Fill with Soft-Light-Neutral Color (50% Gray), and clicked

OK (the thumbnail in the Layers panel will be gray, but you won’t see gray in the document because it’s set to Soft Light). On the dodge and burn layer, I used the Brush tool (B) set to black with a low opacity to paint over the fingers, gradually adding shadows and highlights. (In the image below left, I changed the blend mode on the dodge and burn layer from Soft Light to Normal so you can see the brush strokes.) THE BLEND MODES Before we get to the rainbow lips effect and how I got from the gold to rainbow, I’d like to give a brief explanation of each of the different blend modes. Changing a blend mode on a layer changes how it interacts with the layer below it. Adobe Photoshop has 27 different blend modes and these can be a little confusing, but Adobe has categorized them into six groups to help clarify them a bit. These categories and blend modes are: NORMAL MODES

Normal Modes

•

 ormal: Doesn’t change the way the active layer N effects the underlying layer

•

 issolve: Transparent and partially transparent D pixels in an irregular pixelated pattern

Darken Modes

Lighten Modes

•

 arken: Darker pixels of active layer are D kept in image; lighter pixels turn invisible

•

 ultiply: Multiplies luminance levels of active M layer and underlying layer. (Think about what a photograph would look like if it were printed with ink on a regular piece of paper; the dark colors would be very “wet” and dark. This is the effect this blend mode gives to layers.)

•

 olor Burn: Similar to Multiply but darker and C more saturated

•

 inear Burn: Less saturated than Color Burn L but still darker than Multiply

•

 arker Color: Close to the Darken mode but D it’s applied to the RGB composite channel instead of individually to the RGB channels

Contrast Modes

Inversion Modes Cancellation Modes

Component Modes

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DARKEN MODES

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› › HOW TO

LIGHTEN MODES •

 ighten: Lighter pixels of active layer are kept in L image; darker pixels turn invisible

•

 creen: Lightens luminance levels of active layer S and underlying layer

•

 olor Dodge: Similar to Screen mode but brighter, C more saturated, and more contrast

•

 inear Dodge (Add): “Adds” luminance levels; L less saturated and intense, but brighter than Color Dodge

•

 ighter Color: Close to the Lighten mode but L applies to RGB composite channel instead of RGB channels individually

CONTRAST MODES •

 verlay: Combines Screen and Multiply. Screen O brightens light pixels and Multiply darkens dark pixels

•

Soft Light: Similar to Overlay mode but with a “softer” look

•

Hard Light: Combines Linear Dodge on light pixels and Linear Burn on dark pixels; similar to Overlay but with a “harder” look

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•

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 ivid Light: Combines Color Dodge on light pixels V and Color Burn on dark pixels; more contrast and more saturated

•

 inear Light: Close to Vivid Light but combines LinL ear Dodge and Linear Burn with a more intense effect

•

 in Light: Combines Lighten and Darken blend P modes. Lighten works on light pixels and Darken on the dark pixels and removes all midtones

•

 ard Mix: Converts each channel to black H and white, then keeps the darkest shade of red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow. The result is often very intense highlights, shadows, and saturated colors

INVERSION MODES •

 ifference: Subtracts color from either D underlying layer from active layer or vice versa, depending on which is brighter

•

 xclusion: Effect is similar to Difference E but less contrast

CANCELLATION MODES •

 ubtract: Subtracts color from active layer from S underlying layer; similar colors cancel each other and become black

•

 ivide: Divides color from active layer from D under­lying layer; black stays black

COMPONENT MODES • Hue: Adds color and hue from active layer to underlying layer; luminance and saturation from underlying layer •

 aturation: Adds saturation from active layer S to underlying layer; hue and luminosity from underlying layer

•

 olor: Adds color from active layer to underlying C layer; luminance from underlying layer, hue and saturation from active layer

•

 uminosity: The inverse of Color, adds luminance L from active layer, and hue and saturation from underlying layer

[For even more on blend modes, visit Adobe Help and the PhotoBlogStop.]

TASTE THE RAINBOW Now that we have a basic idea of what each of the modes do, we’re on to the fun stuff! Step One: In order to create the rainbow colors on the lips, I needed to start with a “clean” lips layer, so I pressed ShiftOption-Command-E (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E) to create a merged layer at the top of the layer stack. I started by desaturating the normal color from the lips using a Hue/Saturation adjustment

› › RETOUCHING MAGIC

layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue Saturation). In the Properties panel, I pulled the Saturation all the way down to –100. Then, I created an empty new layer and painted some funky colors, slightly overlapping each other. You can see that colorful layer, at the bottom of the previous page. Step Two: The next step was to apply the rainbow colors only to the lips, so I added a black layer mask (hold down Option [PC: Alt] when you click the Add Layer Mask icon [circle in a square] at the bottom of the Layers panel). Once my black mask was created, I painted the lip area of the black mask with white to let the color show through. To get the desired effect from this layer, I decreased the Opacity to

60% and changed the blend mode to Vivid Light. I also copied the layer mask to the Hue/ Saturation layer to remove the blackand-white effect from the rest of the image. To copy a layer mask to another layer, hold the Option (PC: Alt) key, and click-and-drag it to the layer to which you want to copy it. Since the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer already has a mask by default, Photoshop will ask if you want to replace the mask. Click Yes.

Step Four: Then, as with most images that I retouch, I added a High Pass layer with the blend mode switched to Soft Light to sharpen the layer. I also desaturated (ShiftCommand-U [PC: Shift-Ctrl-U]) the High Pass layer so as not to change the colors in the image. To create a High Pass layer, create another merged copy of the image at the top of the layer stack using the Shift-Option-Com­ mand-E (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E) shortcut, then go to Filter>­ Other>High Pass.

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Step Three: The steps to complete the transformation of this image was to add a few Curves adjustment layers (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves) to accentuate the highlights and shadows on the lips, giving them a more three-dimensional appearance. (Be sure to copy the lips layer mask from one of the other layers to the Curves adjustment layers.)

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› › HOW TO

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

EXPERIMENTING WITH BLEND MODES Next, I’m going to play around with a few adjustments to the lips using other blend modes to demonstrate some of the different looks you can achieve. First, I created another merged layer at the top of the layer stack, added another new Hue/Saturation layer, set the Hue to –134 in the Properties panel, and copied the lip layer mask as described above from the rainbow color layer to this new Hue/Saturation layer. Now that I have the Hue/Saturation layer set up and masked, I can play around and see what happens as I switch between blend modes. Here are the ones I used: Normal, Darken, Linear Dodge (Add), Soft Light, Exclusion, Divide, and Hue. (Note: For some of them, I played around with the Blend If sliders in the Layer Style dialog. The sliders give you even more control over how the two layers blend with each other. To access the Blend If sliders, double-click to the right of the Hue/Saturation layer’s name in the Layers panel. To split a slider into two parts, Optionclick [PC: Alt-click] it. Splitting sliders will give you smoother transitions.) Each of the example images looks significantly different, even though they all have the same Hue/Saturation layer. That’s the magic of exploring the different blend modes.

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Normal

Soft Light

I hope this inspires you to play around with layer blend modes. As you can see, they create very versatile looks. Now get out there and have some fun with your images! n

Hue

› › RETOUCHING MAGIC

Linear Dodge (Add)

Exclusion

Darken ALL IMAvvvGES ARE BY KRISTINA SHERK

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Divide

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SCOTTVALENTINE

> Photoshop Proving Ground

USING THE DISPLACEMENT MAP FOR PARTICLE EFFECTS Since this issue focuses on special effects, I thought it would be fun to pull out one of Photoshop’s more enigmatic tools and breathe some life into it. The most popular use of displacement maps (let’s call them D-maps for short) is to distort and warp one image so it better fits the surface of some object in another image, such as logos or text on T-shirts, or textures on faces. It’s a really easy way to blend things in a natural way. Let’s take things further and build a popular dispersion effect using a slightly hidden power of D-maps: channels. The core concept of a D-map is that it uses gray values to determine from where to copy pixels in your base image: 50% gray means nothing moves around, while 100% (white) pulls image pixels from one direction, and 0% (black) pulls from the opposite direction. Typical D-maps are grayscale images, where white on the map copies from the lower right, and black copies from the upper left. Original

D-Map

Result

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3x3 Map showing before/map/after

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When you apply a D-map (Filter>Distort>Displace), you get the following options: To control the Horizontal and Vertical Scales by percentage; a choice of stretching or tiling the D-map to fit your canvas; and whether pixels at the edge of your image should be repeated or taken from the other side (Wrap Around). To make things more predictable for this article, we won’t be using these options because our map will be the same size as the original image. The percentage values are really handy, but they don’t affect the

size of the map; they affect where the map reaches out to your image for pixels.

250%

200%

The grid example is built so that each square is 128 px, and it’s done on purpose because D-maps evaluate gray value as “distance away from zero.” White and black mean “Go 128 px away, grab a copy of the pixel there, and bring it back here.” Being in the middle, 50% gray doesn’t go any distance away; it samples from and copies to right where it is. When you apply a percentage value in the Displace dialog, you’re changing the distance of the sample, but not the placement. Applying 200% in both vertical and horizontal directions means a white pixel on the map reaches out 256 pixels down and to the right; 50% pulls from only 64 pixels away. You can also use negative values, and different values in each of the horizontal and vertical fields. This example uses the same map applied at different horizontal values. It’s important to point out that the values used by the D-map are fixed pixel values, not scaled, which means that with larger documents you need to adjust the percent values to get more displacement. (Note: D-maps only work with 8-bit RGB or Grayscale images. In the following example, my base image is 8-bit, but if it were 16-bit, I’d have to convert my D-map to 8-bit before applying it.) D-MAPS AND CHANNELS Now there’s one more thing to know before we can really do some cool stuff. D-maps use channel information, not just gray values. The Red channel works horizontally, and the Green channel works vertically. On the Red channel, white pulls from right to left, and on the Green channel, white pulls

100%

50%

0%

100%

200%

300%

128 px

256 px

512 px

100%

200%

300%

128 px

256 px

512 px

100%

200%

300%

128 px

256 px

512 px

100%

200%

300%

128 px

256 px

512 px

100%

200%

300%

128 px

256 px

512 px

Examples of 50, 100, 200, 250, and 300 percent displacement

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› › PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

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› › COLUMN

Original

Squeezed

© Scott Valentine

Expanded

Linear grad D-map and result © Adobe Stock/Alexander Y

from bottom to top. The third channel is not used, which is why it’s blue. (Ha ha! Well, I thought it was funny.) Anyway, use the Blue channel to make notes or sketch boundaries when you get to really detailed D-maps, but for now we’ll ignore it. There’s an interesting gotcha using channels, though. Remember that channels get blended together, so if you paint with pure RGB red on a regular layer, the Red channel gets pure white, but the Green and Blue channels get black, and that will affect our D-map! The way around this is to work directly on each channel independently. If I open a document with a single layer filled with 50% gray (see images above), I can go directly to the Red channel and apply a black to white linear gradient from right to left, and on the Green channel from bottom to top. The result will look expanded. Reversing that causes everything to squish.

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CREATING THE DISPERSION EFFECT We now have everything we need to start making a dispersion effect. I’m using this dancer from Adobe Stock because it has a relatively uniform background and will make things much easier to see. To obtain the stock image used in this exercise so you can follow along, add it directly to your Libraries panel (Window>Libraries) by clicking on the link for the image on the next page. When the Adobe Stock webpage opens, make sure you’re logged in to your Adobe account, then to the right of the image, you’ll see the option to Save Preview to My Library (you can click on My Library to select a different library or

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Original

› › PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

download option). Click on the cloud-with-an-arrow icon, and the preview image will automatically be downloaded to your Libraries panel in Photoshop. Double-click the image in the Libraries panel to open it. •

the dancer

[KelbyOne members may download the brushes used in this tutorial at http://kelbyone.com/magazine. Simply double-click the .abr file to load the brushes into Photoshop. You’ll find them at the bottom of the Brush Presets panel (Window>Brush Presets).] Step Two: Right-click on the brushed layer in the Layers panel, and choose Duplicate>Layer. In the dialog that opens, select New in the Document drop-down menu, and click OK.

Step One: In order to work more accurately, I like to paint my basic D-map into a blank layer above my image by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Select the Brush tool (B) and make sure your Foreground/Background swatches at the bottom of the Toolbar are set to the default Black/White by pressing the D key on your keyboard. In the Brush panel (Window>Brush) use the Spatter brushes at 100% Opacity around the subject, reducing Opacity (to about 30%) and Size (using the Left Bracket key on your keyboard) as you get closer to the subject. I used black here to make it more visible, but we’ll change that in the map itself.

Step Three: Still in the new document, click on the brushed layer to make it active, then open the Channels panel (Window>Channels). Select the Blue channel, and fill it with 50% gray.

Brushed layer

D-map showing brushed layer over 50% gray

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In the new document, click the Create a New Layer icon, and drag this new layer below the brushed layer in the Layers panel. Fill this layer using Edit>Fill. In the Fill dialog, set Contents to 50% Gray, and click OK.

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› › COLUMN

Step Four: Click on the Red channel and press G to load the Gradient tool. Click on the gradient preview thumbnail in the Options Bar and choose the Foreground to Background preset (the first one), and then choose the Linear Gradient icon in the Options Bar. Press D to set Black/ White as your Foreground/Background colors. Drag from the right edge of the canvas to the left, which will fill the brushed marks with the gradient, but won’t affect the transparency. Step Five: Repeat the gradient on the Green channel, but drag from the lower right to the upper left. Step Six: Click the RGB composite channel, and check out the colors. Step Seven: Save this file, which is your map, next to your base image in the Finder (PC: Windows Explorer). I like to use the same name as the base, but with “_DMap” at the end, so Photo.psd becomes Photo_DMap.psd.

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D-map Red channel

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D-map Green channel

D-map composite (RGB)

Final image

Final variation

Step Eight: Back in the original image of the dancer, turn off the visibility of the brushed layer by clicking on its Eye icon in the Layers panel, and then duplicate the Background layer (Command-J [PC: Ctrl-J]). With the Background copy active, choose Filter>Distort>Displace. Ensure the Scale percent values are 100%, and then click OK. Navigate to the DMap you just saved, and click Open.

Step 10: Repeating the same displacement (ControlCommand-F, [PC: Ctrl-Alt-F]) two more times yields the “Final Variation” image above.

Step Nine: Turn on the brushed layer on and off to compare the map with the results. Not every brush mark you made will be filled with pixels from the subject, so you may have to Undo the filter (Command-Z [PC: Ctrl-Z]) and try again with larger percent values. Alternatively, you can simply repeat the filter, but I recommend starting with the largest percent displacement and working down to smaller values. Voilà! Particle displacement!

Some things to note: The process is destructive, so work on duplicate layers. If you create multiple duplicates of your Background, then apply the D-map to each, at different percent displacements, you can selectively blend them with masks. Also, because of the nature of D-maps, you’re likely to get pixelated edges. Finally, remember that the gray values of your map represent specific pixel distances. The pixel dimensions of your document will affect the apparent movement of your D-map, so experiment with the percent values. As always, be sure to share what you come up with, especially on the new KelbyOne Community forums! n

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› › PHOTOSHOP PROVING GROUND

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By Corey Barker

Tips & Tricks for Creating Special Effects for Your Images

I have to admit that I grappled with how I was going to approach this feature on finishing effects. I was going to discuss the theory behind finishing effects, and cite examples, but then I realized that approach would just leave you wanting to know how to create those effects. I decided that, since this is a magazine on Photoshop techniques, I’d give you just that: a collection of some of my go-to finishing effects that I use every day. You’ll be amazed > PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

how adding a few simple little touches can be the cherry on top

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of your composites. Once you go through the steps in this article, you’ll have the tools to experiment with new effects that you can add to your library and use right away. Before we go into the techniques, I’d like to discuss briefly the world of finishing effects.

Fortunately, most of us aren’t designing feature film posters (though some of us would like to), nor do we have to endure a drawn-out review process; however, we can take advantage of some of the techniques that finishers use to add pizzazz to our own work. It just might be the thing that makes the difference in getting that next job. (Trust me, because this has happened to me.) So, in this article, we’ll explore some finishing effects I developed over the years that owe their existence to other effects I learned from other designers. Once you understand how an effect works, you can play around with other ways to use it, which leads to discovering a whole new world of effects. I encourage you to experiment with the following tips to come up with your own effects. So enough chitchat; let’s get into it!

Real-World Examples If you’re curious to see some incredible finishing work, visit BLT Communications, one of the premiere agencies for feature film design. Check out their site and you’ll see a lot of work done for some of the biggest feature films ever. I visit this site often to see what’s new, and to get inspired.

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Look at it this way. When a house is built, it starts with an architect who creates the original concept, followed by someone who builds that design, and finally someone comes in at the end to paint and landscape to make the final house presentable. In entertainment design, such as a movie poster, the concept is presented by the art director, a designer creates the initial concept, and then the finisher adds the final effects. There’s even an entire industry built around designers who only do finishing effects. You know those posters you see in theaters? That’s the result of a long process of concept and approval at numerous levels until it reaches the finisher, and even then it goes through the wringer a few more times before you have the final movie poster.

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Brushes & Layer Styles Are Always There When You Need Them!

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Before we get into the techniques, let’s talk about a couple of key features you should get familiar with if you want to get the most out of custom finishing effects: brushes and layer styles. You may be saying to yourself that you already know how to use brushes and layer styles, but do you really? Have you exhausted all that’s possible with these two facets of Photoshop? I’ve been using both features since they first arrived in Photoshop, and I’m still discovering amazing things to this day. The trick is to look beyond what they’re called and concentrate on what they do. This always reminds me of one my favorite quotes from the movie Apollo 13 in which Ed Harris’s character says, “I don’t care what anything was designed to do; I care about what it can do.” So look beyond what something was designed to do and play with all the settings to see what it can do. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve with just layer styles when you combine, mix, blend, and vary the settings. Yes, many of these features were designed by engineers for a very specific function, but you have to look at these features as an artist. They go way beyond what they were engineered for. It’s up to you to discover those possibilities. I hope these tricks give you a good start.

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Create a Custom Particle Brush Let’s do a couple of exercises to help you think differently when it comes to using brushes and layer styles. These are finishing effects I use often, and once you follow through these steps, not only will you have a better understanding of custom brushes, but you’ll also have a cool particle brush you can use right away.

Step One: Start by creating a new 1000x1000 pixel document at 100 ppi.

Step Two: Press D to set the Foreground/ Background colors to their default black/white, and then go to the Filter menu, to Noise, and choose Add Noise. Set the amount to 400%, Distribution to Gaussian, and check on Monochromatic. Click OK.

Step Four: Now open Levels by pressing Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L). Push the highlight and shadow sliders below the histogram toward the center to where they almost touch. The closer they get, the more contrast you’ll see in the noise in the image. Here you can see that pushing the sliders to the right of center spaces out the particles even more. Click OK when you get the amount you like.

Step Three

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Step Three: Go under the Filter menu to Blur and choose Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 3 Pixels and click OK.

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Step Five: Press Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to invert the image, making the particles black and gray and the background white.

Step Six: Select the Gradient tool (G), and in the Options Bar, click on the gradient preview strip to open the Gradient Editor. Choose the Foreground to Transparent preset and click OK. Select the Linear Gradient icon in the Options Bar. Press D then X to set the Foreground color to white. Proceed to draw a gradient from each side of the image toward the center of the canvas to fade the edges of the particle effect. Step Five

Step Six

Step Eight

Step Seven

Step Seven: Press Shift-Delete (PC: ShiftBackspace) to open the Fill dialog. Set the Contents to Black and Mode to Overlay. Click OK. This will darken the lighter particles that remain.

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Step Eight: Go under the Edit menu and choose Define Brush Preset. Name the new brush when prompted, and click OK.

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Step Nine

Step Nine: With your brush defined, let’s change its behavior. Select the Brush tool (B) in the Toolbar and your new brush should already be selected. If not, just click on the Brush Preset Picker in the Options Bar and locate the brush at the bottom of the list of brushes. Open the Brush panel (Window>Brush) and click on Brush Tip Shape. Go to the bottom of the panel and increase the Spacing to around 25%.

Step 10: Click on Shape Dynamics to activate it and set both the Size Jitter and Angle Jitter to 100%. Also check on both Flip X Jitter and Flip Y Jitter near the bottom for more randomization.

Step 11

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Step 10

©Adobe Stock/alonesdj

Step 11: Finally, activate Transfer and set the Opacity Jitter to 100%. Now just paint on your image to add random particles. Use the Bracket keys on your keyboard to change the brush Size for larger or smaller particles. Also play with different colors. Set the brush to white for snow or black for dust and dirt effects.

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Corey Barker

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

[ 76 ]

But why stop there? You know those coollooking, slightly blurred spark elements you see in movie posters? This brush, combined with layer styles, can achieve this easily. First, turn off the Shape Dynamics and Transfer options in the Brush panel, and make the brush a fairly large Size, about the width of the document. Add a new layer and click once to add one instance of the brush. Activate the Warp feature under the Edit>Transform menu and use the grid to manually stretch the particles, resulting in a sense of movement. Press Enter to commit the Warp. Finally, go to Layer>Layer Style>Inner Glow and play with the settings to turn the particles yellow, then click on the Outer Glow option in the list of Styles on the left of the Layer Style dialog, and play with the settings to create a darker orange glow around each particle. Position the particles in the image. Done! This demonstrates how the discovery of one effect can lead to another. You’re essentially being inspired by your own work. Weird but cool! Let’s move on.

©Adobe Stock/rybindmitriy

Custom Lens Flares One of my favorite brushes is the flare brush. A flare is a great finishing effect when the occasion calls for it. Remember there’s no need to add a flare just because you can, but it’s nice to have some lens flares at the ready when you need them. So here’s how to create your own: Step One

Step One: Find an image of a lens flare on a stock site or even do a Google image search for anamorphic flares. Doing the latter is more of a gamble, as there’s no guarantee that the image will be a usable size. You want an image that’s at least 1000 pixels at its widest dimension. Normally, flares will be on a black background.

Step Three: Open Levels by pressing Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L) and click on the left eyedropper in the group of three eyedroppers. This eyedropper sets the black point in your image. Click on the background somewhere close to the flare itself and click OK. This will convert some of the areas around the flare to black. Now press Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to invert the image, making the flare black on a white background. When defining a brush, Photoshop reads black as opaque, gray areas as semi-transparent, and white areas as completely transparent. This means the background needs to be pure white. You can use Levels once again to push the highlights up a little to convert areas that you don’t want included in the brush to pure white. Step Four: Now just go under the Edit menu and choose Define Brush Preset. Name the brush and click OK. Voilà! You have a flare brush. Add a new blank layer to your image, press D then X to set the Foreground color to white, and click once with the Brush tool to add a flare anywhere you want. Don’t forget to add an Outer Glow layer style to match the flare to the color in the scene.

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

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Step Two: Open the image in Photoshop and remove the color by pressing Shift-CommandU (PC: Shift-Ctrl-U).

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A Simple 3D Trick While there are myriad cool things you can do with 3D in Photoshop, here’s a cool little trick you can do with the flare brush we just created. Again, this demonstrates how one effect can build on another. Step One: Start by creating a new 1500x1500 pixel document at 100 ppi. In the New Document dialog, set the Background Contents to Black and click OK. Step Two: Create a new blank layer, switch to the Brush tool (B), and select the flare brush we just created. Use the Bracket keys on your keyboard to size the brush to about two-thirds the width of the document. Press D then X to set the Foreground color to white, and then dab a few instances at the bottom area of the canvas.

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Step Three: Go under the Filter menu to Distort and choose Polar Coordinates. Make sure Rectangular to Polar is selected and click OK. You’ll see the flare turn into a circular flare.

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Step Four: Go to the 3D menu to New Mesh from Layer and choose Postcard. You won’t see any change other than the fact that the circular flare is now in 3D space. Switch to the Move tool (V), and in the Options Bar, choose the Orbit the 3D Camera tool in the 3D Mode section.

Step Five: Open the 3D panel located under the Window menu and make sure Current View is selected. Then, just click on the canvas and drag to change the angle of the flare.

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Step Six: You can also add a layer style to a 3D layer in the same way as a regular layer. For this effect, go to Layer>Layer Style>Outer Glow, and experiment with the settings. click OK to close the dialog.

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©Adobe Stock/Scree Graphics: d1sk; Woman: Studio Kwadrat

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

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Here’s an example where I used this very effect on a movie-poster design as a special light effect. I even added a Drop Shadow layer style. In the Layer Style dialog, I set the Drop Shadow to a light color, the Opacity to less than 10%, and the Blend Mode to Dissolve, yes Dissolve. This created the effect of small particles around the glowing flares. Be sure to experiment with different types of flares and glow colors. These can be easily catered to your images. You can also get extremely dramatic angles by modifying the Camera settings in the Properties panel (Window>Properties).

PixelSquid/3d_molier

HDR Toning: A Different Use Now I want to tell you about what has become my “secret sauce” for finishing a composite. It involves using the HDR Toning feature but in a way for which it wasn’t necessarily designed. But then again, how many great things in history owe their discovery to venturing outside the box. So if you have a composite image comprised of multiple layers of images, graphics, and effects, this effect will help unify the overall look, while adding some overall contrast. Step One: HDR Toning won’t work on a layered document, so you’ll need to flatten the image; however, you don’t want to flatten your working image. So instead, go under the Image menu, choose Duplicate, and click OK to create a copy of the composite. Now you can go under the Layer menu and choose Flatten Image. Step Two: Once the image is flattened, go under the Image menu to Adjustments and choose HDR Toning.

Step Four: Go up to the Tone & Detail section and increase the Detail amount. This tends to brighten the image a little too much in some areas, so dial down the Exposure slider a little to compensate for this. Depending on the image, you can also increase the Gamma a little to soften the highlights.

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Step Three: Go to the bottom of the HDR Toning dialog and set the Saturation to –100% to remove all the color, as it will tend to muddy the image with oversaturation. Since this will be an overlay, it doesn’t need color.

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Step Five: Next, go to the Edge Glow section and check on Smooth Edges. Then, nudge the Radius and Strength sliders a little to the right, depending on how strong an effect you want. Click OK when done.

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Step Six: Using the Move tool (V), hold the Shift key and drag-and-drop this image back into the original layered file. The Shift key will center the HDR image, aligning it with the original image. Drag the HDR toned layer to the top of the layer stack. Set the layer blend mode in the Layers panel to Soft Light and drop the layer Opacity to 50%. You can, of course, try other blend modes, depending on the image. Remember that every image will react differently to this effect, so think of this example as a springboard to get you started. Experiment with various settings to get a better idea of how they work, and this will open even more creative possibilities.

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©Adobe Stock/Militiaman: Mark J. Grenier; U.S. Flag: Daniel Thornberg; Declaration of Independence: lawcain; Parchment: Scisetti Alfio; Map: Sergey Kamshylin

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I hope you’ve been inspired to look beyond the obvious and endeavor to expand your special effects skill set, and that when it comes to special effects in Photoshop, you won’t be so much concerned with what a feature or tool was designed to do, but what you can do with it. n

©Adobe Stock/snaptitude

A Final Word Regarding Textures Another secret weapon for finishing effects is textures. You’ll benefit tremendously by building your own library of textures either by taking pictures of them yourself or purchasing stock images. As you start using textures, you’ll discover that there are some you’ll use over and over. Since textures are abstract, you can use them in variety of ways. You can use them as a simple texture overlay to add some grit to a photo, or you can define them as patterns and then apply them as a layer style, which you can then combine with other layer styles to create a whole new look. You can turn a texture into a custom brush and paint an effect on a layer, then add a layer style to that layer, and apply the original texture as part of the layer style. Oh yeah, you know what I’m talking about! The point is that textures can play a key role in finishing an image. Just look at composites and even movie posters; some have very obvious texture effects, while others tend to be subtler. Like the HDR Toning effect, textures have a tendency to help unify all of the elements in the composite. In fact, you can think of the HDR Toning effect as a custom texture created from the image. How about if you ran the HDR Toning effect on an image of texture? I’ve actually done this, and it does a great job of pulling gritty detail from a texture you didn’t even know was there. Many would never think of applying an HDR effect to a texture, but it’s that kind of thinking that prevents people from discovering what lies on the other side. All you have to do is try it! (Check out my “Down & Dirty Tricks” tutorial to see some of these techniques in a stepby-step poster project on page 20.)

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DAVECLAYTON

> Designing in Photoshop

WORKING WITH TYPE IN PHOTOSHOP Using Photoshop for creating graphic design projects is really simple. If you don’t have InDesign but you want to create content with lots of text, then here’s a few type tips you can use in Photoshop to give you more control over your type options. Photoshop has many great type effect options but

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

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1. CONVERT POINT TEXT TO PARAGRAPH TEXT AND VICE VERSA There are two ways to add text in Photoshop: point or paragraph text. If you simply click on the canvas with the Type tool (T) and start typing, then you’ll create point type; but if you click-and-drag out a frame for your text, you’ll create paragraph text. Point text will stay on the same line until you press the Return key; paragraph text will wrap to the next line when it hits the edge of the frame. Both of these are useful, and the good news is that you can always change them later. You can convert a point text into paragraph text and vice versa at any time using the Convert to Paragraph/Point Text option in the Type menu. This option will be grayed out if you have your cursor inserted in the text, so commit the type first before making the switch. The same applies to converting horizontal and vertical text, which can be created with either the Horizontal or Vertical Type tools found in the Toolbar. To convert them, look for the Toggle Text Orientation icon on the left side of the Options Bar. It’s the T with an arrow pointing down on the left and an arrow pointing to the right below it. You can also go to Type>Orientation. With horizontal or vertical type, it’s okay to have the cursor inserted in the text before you convert it.

©Adobe Stock/sborisov

these few tricks may help your workflow and keep you creating!

› › DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

3. A PPLY NONDESTRUCTIVE FILTERS TO LIVE TEXT Turning a text layer into a smart object will keep the text ask if you’d like to Rasterize the text or Convert to Smart editable inside the smart object, and it will allow you to Object. If you want to change the text without having to apply filters nondestructively to the text. Any filters will be reapply the effects, just double-click the thumbnail of the added as smart filters, making it easy to revert or change text smart object in the Layers panel. This will open a temthe text. To convert the text to a smart object, just Rightporary file with your text. Change the text, close and save click on the layer’s name in the Layers panel and select the temporary document, and when you return to the PSD Convert to Smart Object. But even if you forget to convert file, you’ll see the changes apply to the text but the effects the text before you select a filter, Photoshop will politely are still the same.

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2. C  ONVERT TEXT TO SHAPE FOR CUSTOM TEXT (LIKE ILLUSTRATOR) Converting a text layer into a vector shape layer means to Shape. This is usually done to create a type effect, such that you’ll no longer be able to edit the text; but you’ll as a logo mark. Using the Direct Selection tool, drag points be able to use the Direct Selection tool (A) and the Path to manipulate the text shapes, elongating or shortening Selection tool to make custom modifications to the parts of the letters. You can marquee over two corner characters. Keep in mind this conversion can’t be reversed. points to select them and use the Up or Down Arrow keys You can either Right-click your text layer in the Layers to elongate or shorten that part of the letter. panel and choose Convert to Shape, or go to Type>Convert

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› › HOW TO

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

4. QUICKLY DISTORT OR CHANGE THE SIZE OF LIVE TEXT Whether you’ve set point text or paragraph text, you can distort the text and still have live, editable text. With your type cursor inserted in the text, press-and-hold the Command (PC: Ctrl) key, and you’ll see a Free Transform-like bounding box appear around the text. If you hover the cursor below any point of the bounding box until it changes to a white arrow, you can click-anddrag to skew the text box to how you want it. All the text inside will remain editable. Sometimes the obvious tips are still unknown! You can also clickand-drag any point to resize the text (hold the Shift key to maintain proportions). You can check this in the Character panel or Options Bar to see that the point size has changed. Plus, you can click-and-drag anywhere outside the bounding box to rotate the text. (Note: With paragraph text, you don’t have to hold the Command [PC: Ctrl] key to rotate the text.)

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› › DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

6. CHANGE COLOR OF TEXT To change the color of your text to a color from your image, just click on the Foreground color swatch near the bottom of the Toolbar, click a color in the image to sample it, and click OK to make it the Foreground color. Then, select the text you want to change with the Type tool, or double-click the T in the Layers panel to select all text, and then use the shortcut of Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to change the text to the Foreground color.

depending on which panel you’re in. You can now apply the character styles to any selected part of your text, but applying paragraph styles will affect the whole paragraph. You can experiment with mixing the two types of styles together. You can also double-click the name of the styles in the panels to edit them.

If you then wanted to change a single word or a selection of words within that text to a different color to highlight something, you can set the Background color the same way by clicking its swatch in the Toolbar. Highlight the specific piece of text you want to change and then use CommandDelete (PC: Ctrl-Backspace) to make it the Background color.

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5. C  HARACTER AND PARAGRAPH STYLES Character and paragraph styles can save you a lot of time when you need to use the same styling of text in the same Photoshop document. You can find both panels under the Window menu. Once you’ve formatted your text the way you want, click on the flyout menu of either panel and select New Paragraph Style or New Character Style,

[ 8 7   ]

› › HOW TO

7. EDIT MULTIPLE TYPE LAYERS AT THE SAME TIME You can change the font family, font size, or color of multiple type layers at once by simply selecting all the text layers that you want to change in the Layers panel (Shift-click to select contiguous layers; Command-click [PC: Ctrlclick] to select non-contiguous layers). Then, simply make the adjustments in the Options Bar or Character panel.

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

8.  TRANSFORM TEXT INSTANTLY (BOLD, ITALICS, UNDERLINING, ALL CAPS TRANSFORMING, ETC.) If you want to change the style of the text quickly, you can either choose the font family options in the Options Bar, or in the Character panel you have a line of icons which allow you to bold, italicize, make all caps, underline, strikethrough, and some other options. Be aware, however, that the bold and italic options in this section are referred to as “faux” because Photoshop is faking these attributes.

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9. T  YPE ON A PATH: LOGO STYLE EFFECTS Start by creating a path. In this instance, use the Ellipse tool (press Shift-U until you see it in the Toolbar), set it to Path in the Options Bar, and hold the Shift key as you drag out the path to create a perfect circle. Now select the Type tool (T). Hover the cursor over the outside of the circle, and you’ll see a wavy line appear, which means you can start typing on the outside of the shape. You can change the font, size, color, etc. You can also drag the type around the shape with the Path Selection tool (A). This is great for making logos in Photoshop. Plus, you can use the Path Selection tool to drag the type to the inside of the circle. You may need to change the tracking (spacing) between the letters in the Character panel to “unsquish” the text.

› › DESIGNING IN PHOTOSHOP

10. CHECK SPELLING With the Type tool active, Right-click on the type and choose Check Spelling. The Check Spelling dialog will find misspelled words and give you the option to change them, along with suggestions for the correct spelling. You can change single instances of a word, all instances of a word, or just completely ignore changing it altogether. If only more people would do this. Better yet, get your work proofread!

11. FIND AND REPLACE Go to the Edit menu and choose Find and Replace Text. Type in the word you want to change and then type the word with which you want to replace it. Click Change All and it will change all instances of that word.

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12. CHANGE FONT PREVIEW SIZE You can change the size of the font previews in the font drop-down menus in both the Options Bar and Character panel. Make sure that you don’t have the cursor inserted in any text, and go to Type>Font Preview Size and select the size for your preview (Medium is the default). The larger you set the preview, the more memory you’ll use.

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› › HOW TO

13. PLACE AN IMAGE INSIDE TEXT It’s really easy to place an image inside live text. Just type your text and then place a suitable image directly above the text layer. Position the image over the text to make sure it covers it. In the Layers panel, hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, hover

the cursor between the two layers until a small square with a downward arrow appears, and click. This not only clips the image inside the text but it also allows you to change the text and move the image around inside the text.

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

14. USEFUL  KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS TO EDIT TEXT What better way to end this article than with a bunch of useful shortcuts to edit text quickly in Photoshop?

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•

J ump between words: Command-Left or Right Arrow (PC: Ctrl-Left or Right Arrow)

•

 lignment: Shift-Command-L (PC: Shift-Ctrl-L) for A Left, R for Right, C for Center, and J for Justify

•

J ump between paragraphs: Command-Up or Down Arrow (PC: Ctrl-Up or Down Arrow)

•

 ll Caps: Select text and press Command-Shift-K A (PC: Ctrl-Shift-K)

•

Select characters: Shift-Left or Right Arrow

•

•

 elect words: Command-Shift-Left or Right Arrow S (PC: Ctrl-Shift-Left or Right Arrow)

 erning/Tracking: Insert cursor between two K letters and press Option-Left or Right Arrow (PC: Alt-Left or Right Arrow) to change kerning; select an entire word or words to change the tracking.

•

Select lines: Shift-Up or Down Arrow

•

•

 elect paragraphs: Command-Shift-Up or Down S Arrow (PC: Ctrl-Shift-Up or Down Arrow)

 eading: Select at least one line of text and L press Option-Up or Down Arrow (PC: Alt-Up or Down Arrow)

•

 elect by clicking: Two fast clicks will select a S word, three fast clicks will select a line, and four fast clicks will select a paragraph

•

 aseline Shift: Select at least one letter and press B Option-Shift-Up or Down Arrow (PC: Alt-Shift-Up or Down Arrow)

•

 elect or Deselect all: Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) S or ESC, respectively

•

•

 tyles: Command-Shift-I (PC: Ctrl-Shift-I) for Italic, S -B for Bold, -U for Underlined

 tart typing on new layer in Photoshop: S Make sure your type cursor isn’t inserted anywhere in a current type layer and Shift-click in the document window with the Type tool (T)

 ize: Command-Shift-. (PC: Ctrl-Shift-.) to make S it larger; use the Comma key instead of the Period to make it smaller; include Option (PC: Alt) for larger changes

•

•

 pecify size of text frame in Photoshop: S Option-click (PC: Alt-click) in the document window with the Type tool. n

#KelbyOneBooks

You’ve Updated Photoshop , ®

Now Update Your Photo Editing Skills!

The photographer’s workflow in Photoshop has evolved greatly over time, and in the latest edition of The Adobe Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers (2017 Release) by Scott Kelby, you’ll wind up doing a lot of your processing and editing in Photoshop’s Adobe Camera Raw (whether you shoot in RAW, JPEG or TIFF—it works for all three). That’s because, for years now, Adobe has been adding most of Photoshop’s new features for photography directly into Camera Raw itself. Since today’s photography workflow in Photoshop is based around Camera Raw, nearly half of this book is about mastering Camera Raw like a pro. If you’re ready to learn all the “tricks of the trade”—the same ones that today’s leading pros use to correct, edit, retouch, and sharpen their work—then this is the book that will get you up to speed!

fuel for creativity

COLINSMITH

> Photoshop Tips BOOST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY & CREATIVITY It’s my favorite time, time for more tips. I mean it’s always time for tips, right? Because they save you time. Okay, enough of the bad jokes. What’s not bad, though, is this nice collection of Photoshop tips. Enjoy! CLIPPING IN LEVELS When you’re adjusting the brightness of a photo, there’s a point where the image “clips.” Clipping means that brights become 100% white with no visible detail, and the darks become 100% black with no detail. As a rule, you should avoid clipping your images. When you’re making a Curves adjustment, if you hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key while moving either the white or black triangle below the curve, your image will show only the areas that are clipping. This clipping preview helps you to avoid “over­ correcting” or clipping details in your photographs.

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

ESCAPE COMMITMENT ON YOUR TYPE When you’re applying type, you need to apply or commit the type. Enter commits the text. (You may have inadver­ tently found that hitting the Return key starts a new line.) You can also apply your text by clicking the checkmark in the Options Bar, or choosing a different tool in the Toolbar. You can also use the ESC key to apply your text. The first time you use the ESC key with text, Photoshop brings up a dialog asking if you’d like “to use the ESC key to commit text or cancel the text entry.” Choose Commit Text. If you’re creating a design with a lot of text, this is a good option to use. You can always change it later in Preferences by going to Photoshop CC (PC: Edit)>Preferences>Type and turning off the Use Esc Key to Commit Text option.

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RELEASE THE BACKGROUND There are certain things that require you to convert the back­ ground into a regular, editable, floating layer, such as add­ ing masks, smart objects, etc. There have been many ways of doing this in the past, such as Option-double-clicking (PC: Alt-double-clicking) the Background layer’s thumbnail. Now, there’s an even faster way (it’s actually been there for a cou­ ple of years now). Simply click the padlock to the far right of the Background layer in the Layers panel and, voilà, you now have a floating layer. What about changing it back to a background? (Huh?) Just choose Layer>New>Layer from Background. There you go—round trip!

NONDESTRUCTIVE HEALING The Spot Healing Brush tool (J) and the Healing Brush tool have revolutionized retouching because they’re so easy to use. Here’s a little tip: Don’t heal directly on your photo or image layer. Instead, create a new blank layer on top of the layer stack and name it “healing.” By doing all your healing work on that layer, it’s easy to undo or edit corrections later. The trick to healing on a blank layer is to make sure you turn on the Sample All Layers option in the Options Bar, or you’ll be healing nothing. WHAT’S THE STUFF AT THE TOP MEAN? Have you ever looked at the top of your Photoshop docu­ ment, saw something like “Untitled-1 @100% (RGB/8)*,” and wondered what it all means? Well, the first part is the filename and the @ symbol followed by a percentage is the

magnification level you’re currently viewing. This is impor­ tant because you always want to be at 100% when retouch­ ing or sharpening. The term (RGB/8) means that you’re in RGB color mode and working in 8 bits per channel. And the last part, the “*,” is really important. This means that there are some changes to the document that are unsaved. Bonus, if you’re working on a layer or mask, it will also dis­ play which layer or mask is currently active; for example, if you’re working on a mask on Layer 1, you’ll see (Layer 1, Layer Mask RGB/8).

› › PHOTOSHOP TIPS

CURVES IN COLOR (RGB OPTIONS) You may have discovered that Curves are the best way to target specific tones in your image. They’re very powerful and let you make very precise adjustments. What some people don’t realize is that Curves can also be used for very specific color adjustments too. Where it says RGB (or CMYK in CMYK mode), you can choose the specific color channel: Red, Green, or Blue (or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, or Black). Once you’ve chosen one of those options, you can use curves in the same way as usual, but now you’ll be adjusting the specific colors in the tonal range of your choosing. CHANNELS IN COLOR Why are your channels (Window>Channels) always dis­ played in black and white? Aren’t they supposed to be in color? Well, yes, they are color; however, Photoshop displays them as grayscale to make it easier to see the pixels and the effects of your masking and other work. White means more density on that channel, while black is the absence of that color (unless you’re in CMYK, then it’s the opposite). If you like, you can display your channels in color. Go to Photoshop CC (PC: Edit)>Preferences>Interface. Near the bottom of the dialog, under Options, you’ll see a box that says “Show Channels in Color.” Guess what? (You already guessed, didn’t you?) Check that box and you can view the channels in color in the Channels panel. You don’t even have to restart Photoshop to see these changes.

all of this for you, including the math, and you don’t have to drag out a single guide. Sound promising? Go to View>New Guide Layout. Choose a preset, or enter the number of Columns and Rows you want, as well as Gutters (spacing between rows or columns) and margins. When you do this, don’t forget to save it as a preset, so that you can reuse these settings in the future. Just select Save Preset from the Preset drop-down menu at the top of the dialog. RESHAPING A PATH There are lots of ways to make paths in Photoshop, but the most flexible way is by using the Pen tool (P). Sometimes you may want to resize your path, or reshape it slightly. It would be very painful to watch someone drag each point individually, or even select and drag multiple points. It would be even more painful to do this yourself, knowing there’s a better way. Here’s how: Choose your path with the Path Selection tool (A). Tap Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) for Free Transform. Now you can use Free Transform to scale or rotate your path. Right-click, and all your transforming “friends” are there too, including Skew, Distort, and even Warp. “Whaaa? Free Transform works on paths? I didn’t know that,” you say. Yeah, you can also transform selec­ tions (Select>Transform Selection)—try it. n

THE OLD NEW DOCUMENT WINDOW When you’re creating a new document (File>New) in Photo­ shop, you’ve probably noticed the new giant New Document dialog that pops up, which is packed with useful presets and templates. You may love this new dialog, or you may not. If you don’t like it, the good news is that you can make Photo­ shop work like it used to. All you need do is go to Photoshop CC (PC: Edit)>Preferences>General, and check the box that says Use Legacy “New Document” Interface.

> K ELBY ON E . CO M

MAKING GUIDES Guides are a pain. I mean, they’re really useful, but they’re a pain to set up. Say you want three columns: First, you have to divide the page into thirds, but what if you want to add a little margin around the edges? Wait, you’ll need a calcula­ tor for this. Stop the madness! You can make Photoshop do ALL IMAGES BY COLIN SMITH

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JAKEWIDMAN

> Design Makeover CLIENT Eva’s Phoenix www.evas.ca

home design

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

[ before ]

[ 9 4   ]

Eva’s Phoenix is one of three facilities operated by Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth in Toronto, Canada. The organization is named for Eva Maud Smith, an immigrant from Jamaica who worked as an educator and youth worker. In those roles, she saw the challenges that homeless­ness presented for many students, and how shelters intended for adults didn’t offer the special services that homeless youth need. As a result of Smith’s efforts, the youth shelter Eva’s Place opened in 1994. Over the next 10 years, it was joined by Eva’s Satellite, another emergency shelter, and then Eva’s Phoenix, which provides longer-term transitional housing, as well as educational support and employment and independent living skills for ages 16 to 24. “Up to 50 youth can live here at one time,” says Alanna Scott, Eva’s director of development and campaigns. The facility comprises 10 townhouses that accommodate five residents each. “Residents get a private bedroom and their own key,” continues Scott. “They can live here for up to a year.” A couple of years ago, Eva’s Phoenix got the opportunity to relocate to an unused municipal building; but before it could do so, the organization had to come up with $12.1 million to renovate the structure into the living spaces needed. That meant appealing to corporate and financial donors, who would expect some kind of recognition for their generosity. Eva’s old facility had a list of donors on the wall, but the organization wanted something more appealing for the new place. At about the same time, the organization undertook a logo redesign. “We had a primary-color logo that looked like it came out of the ’80s,” says Scott. “We had a company come in and redesign the brand pro bono.” The new donor recognition signage, whatever it turned out to be, would also reflect the logo redesign. Eva’s Phoenix opened its new location in September 2016, with a new set of plaques to recognize donors.

Original donor wall

makeover submissions We’re looking for real-world makeovers for future installments of the “Design Makeover,” so let us know if you recently had a branding makeover or if you did a branding makeover for a client that you’d like us to consider. We cover everything from product packaging or labels, print advertisements, websites, logos, and magazine covers that are currently in the marketplace. So if you’d like to be considered, send us an email at [email protected].

› › DESIGN MAKEOVER

CLIENT Eva’s Phoenix www.evas.ca

Early versions of plaques on architects’ renderings

For the donor-recognition signage in its new space, Eva’s Phoenix wanted to find someone to “interpret our brand look-and-feel into something that would work in our facility,” says Scott. Each of the 10 townhouses would be named for a donor, and a sign on the door would acknowledge the donation. In addition, there would be five “Pillars of Support”—columns running down the central aisle of the building, each sponsored by a donor—a Donor Wall, a Cumulative Wall, and a Brick Wall, all bearing the names and logos of the donors who funded the move. “But we didn’t want the interior to feel like a branded environment,” says Scott. There was understandable concern that the youth they were serving wouldn’t feel comfortable or “at home” in a space filled with corporate logos. In the summer of 2015, Eva’s put out a Request for Proposal for the donor-recognition signage. The directors of the fundraising campaign chose the proposal of Jamey “Cactus” Vella, owner of Anxiety Attack Designs. “My job as the designer was to give fair and high-quality recognition to the many donors, while keeping Eva’s Phoenix a place that still felt like home to the residents,” says Vella. Eva’s gave donors the opportunity to include a famous quote that related to why they supported youth experiencing homelessness. They provided the quotes and the donor information, along with Eva’s brand guidelines, to Vella. Aside from that, “they didn’t give me any design direction,” he says. He proceeded to research the donor recognition areas of hospitals and corporate spaces, but he didn’t like what he saw. “A lot of those were very sterile—just text,” he says. “We’re working here with a shelter for young people, so you’d want it to be a little more fun.”

about the client Eva Maud Smith (1923–1993) immigrated to Canada in 1956 from Jamaica and started working in domestic jobs. But it wasn’t long before she became a Toronto community leader, youth worker, and educator. Through her work, the first youth-focused shelter in North York, Toronto, opened in 1994. Over the next 10 years, Eva’s expanded with Eva’s Satellite and Eva’s Phoenix, which provides housing for 50 youth aged 16 to 24 for up to a full year in townhouse-style units. Furthermore, working with business, labor, and community partners, Eva’s Phoenix provides homeless and at-risk youth with educational support and employment and independent living skills that give them a base from which to move forward with their lives. While at Eva’s Phoenix, youth develop the skills to live independently through goal-setting exercises, workshops, and hands-on programs that are delivered in a supportive environment.

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[  the project  ]

[ 9 5   ]

› › COLUMN

DESIGNER Anxiety Attack Designs anxietyattackdesigns.com

[  the process  ]

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Early mockup of plaques

[ 9 6   ]

Final designs printed at Eva’s Phoenix’s print shop

Vella’s concept took off from Eva’s Initiatives’ recently redesigned logo, which incorporated a house shape. “I looked at it and said, ‘This is the main point of your branding. We can run with this,’” recalls Vella. He started working in Photoshop using the architects’ renderings of what the final space would look like. “I’d design the plaques and then put them at the proper angles, with the drop shadows, to re-create how it would look.” (See images on previous page.) By the time they got to the second meeting, Eva’s Capital Campaign Chairperson and Executive Director wanted to see physical samples. Vella had some printed onto Plexiglas and some onto card stock at various sizes. The original idea was to have the Plexiglas cut in the shape of the house, but there was concern that the results had too many sharp points. “We even got a couple of mockups made so I could bring them into the donor presentation meetings,” Vella says. “Everyone was really impressed with them, but we’re housing 50 young people here, and we didn’t want anything that could potentially cause harm. So we just went with the square with the image behind it.” The image is printed on paper (at Eva’s Phoenix’s own print shop) and sandwiched between two squares of Plexiglas. That turned out to have an added advantage: on the cutout version, the only other visual was the donor’s logo. Placing the donor’s logo inside the house shape meant Eva’s logo dominates the plaques, increasing their visual consistency and reducing the branded-environment effect. That approach brought its own challenges, however. As new donors signed on, sometimes their logos had a different dimension or shape than most of the others. That meant Vella would have to rework some completed designs to maintain their consistency. In addition to the donor’s logo, “there’s also a quotation chosen by the company about why the donation was made,” says Scott. The quotation is set in Asap Bold from Omnibus Type, a font specified in Eva’s branding guidelines.

› › DESIGN MAKEOVER

DESIGNER Anxiety Attack Designs anxietyattackdesigns.com

[  the result  ]

“Anxiety Attack took Eva’s brand and the donor brand and put them together,” says Scott. “If you walk down the main area, you see these wall plaques everywhere, but all you really see is the Eva’s logo—a plaque with a blue background and a white logo. Then, as you get closer, you see that inside is someone else’s logo.” According to Scott, many people aren’t aware of how big a problem youth homelessness is, but they’re interested in who the donors are. “I lead donor tours with our board of directors, and I find that people stop to see who is supporting the capital campaign,” says Scott. “It helps when people see all these prominent companies supporting us.” The donors appreciate the recognition too, says Vella. “When we do tours of the building, they usually walk right up to their plaque, and they usually have a big smile on their face.” At the official launch last September, with the mayor and a city councilor present, “everyone was taking photos in front of their plaques,” Vella says. He also thinks he accomplished his goal of incorporating the donor’s logos without making Eva’s Phoenix feel too corporate for the people who live and work there. “The staff all seem generally pleased with it,” he says. “I think because there was so much concern about what it could look like with so many logos in a small space, when it was all done, everyone was pleased.” All in all, “I think I did my job well because no one complained,” he concludes.

Final design

Jamey “Cactus” Vella is a Toronto-based freelance graphic designer. He launched Anxiety Attack Designs in 2010. “I can remember designing my very first event poster back in high school, cut-and-paste style. Armed with scissors and magazines, I utilized the Xerox machine at my school and meticulously created what I thought was a masterpiece. I also remember a few years later when a friend showed me Adobe Photoshop for the first time. That was a game-changer! Those were both life-altering events for me.” Vella is also a husband and father as well as an accomplished musician. (Check out his music here.) “When I’m not working on a design project, you’ll find me spending time with my beautiful wife and daughter or performing on a stage somewhere.” He calls Aaron Draplin one of his biggest influences. “The guy has created an empire of sorts, and he’s changed the way freelance designers work and promote themselves.” n

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about the designer

[ 9 7   ]

> Reviews GET THE SCOOP ON THE LATEST GEAR

Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster Multifunction Light Measurement Control for Photographers and Filmmakers Review by Michael Corsentino

Exciting news for light meter geeks everywhere: The Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster Light Meter is finally shipping, and it’s a game-changer! The new Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster Light Meter sports the full digital feature set and touchscreen interface common to Sekonic’s recent mid-tier model makeovers. Its large 2.7" color dot-matrix touchscreen makes adjusting settings quick and easy, but that’s where the similarities begin and end. This light meter is not just a revamped digital version of Sekonic’s venerable Sekonic L-758 DR, but rather the first meter able to measure flash duration—a crucial metric when trying to accurately and predictably freeze motion—and the first that can

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

Company: Sekonic

[ 9 8   ]

Pricing: $599

measure strobes in High Sync and Hyper Sync modes. You can even program the number of pre flashes to exclude from the main exposure measurement. This is a major boon for mixed-light

Rating:

portrait photography and for those wishing to freeze action with

Hot: Measures flash duration and strobes in HSS mode; three optional trigger modules

shutter speed rather than flash duration—both huge advances

Not: Radio modules not interchangeable with previous model; no sync cable

the 1/1,000 sec. shutter speed top end of most light meters,

in light-meter technology. The Sekonic L-858D-U races past delivering a future-proof 1/16,000 sec. top shutter speed!

Brandon Rechten

› › REVIEWS

The L-858D-U also has three stops of increased sensitivity for incident light and two stops for reflected light, allowing you to measure light down to 0.1 lux. Available ISO settings have been

“This light meter is… the first meter able to measure flash duration—a crucial metric when trying to accurately and predictably freeze motion—and the first that can measure strobes in High Sync and Hyper Sync modes.”

cameras. In addition to the tried-and-true Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, a new ISO Priority mode has been added. Wireless triggering options abound with no less than three optional radio modules available: one for Pocket Wizard (U.S. and Canada); Pocket Wizard (International); and Elinchrom and Phottix (select countries) combined into one module—perfect for anyone with both Elinchrom and Phottix gear. The Pocket Wizard modules allow users to trigger any Pocket Wizard wirelessly and control the power on any Control TL-compatible unit. The combined Elinchrom-Phottix module also offers full Skyport triggering, Skyport power control capabilities, and complete Phottix Strato capability. Also included with the Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster Light Meter are: a nylon padded pouch with belt loop, lanyard, AA batteries instead of CR123A, antiglare screen protector, weathersealed ports, and a three-year warranty; however, there’s no included sync cable for camera calibration. ■

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expanded to include the native ISOs of today’s most popular

[ 9 9   ]

REVIEWS › ›

Intuos Pro Paper Edition Wacom Combines Professional Pen Tablet with Paper Review by Erik Vlietinck

Company: Wacom Co. Ltd. Price: $549.95 (Medium $399.95)

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Rating: 5

[ 100   ]

Hot: Surface tactile feel; pen pressure levels; paper sketching; broad range of applications Not:

Wacom’s new Intuos Pro graphics tablet is the thinnest (0.3") and best ever. For my tests, Wacom kindly sent me a large (L) Paper Edition model (16.8x11.2"). [It’s also available in a medium (M) model that’s 13.2x8.5" and uses A-5 (half-letter size) paper sheets instead of A4 (letter size).] The Wacom Intuos Pro can be hooked up via USB cable or wirelessly with Bluetooth 4.2 built-in. The newest version of the largest Intuos Pro still has the familiar eight programmable buttons and Touch Ring that can have up to four different assignments, but its surface is now a sheet that feels like sketching paper. The box contains swatches of replacement sheets that have a smoother or coarser surface. Multi-touch is still supported, but it can now be activated and disabled using a button on the tablet’s side, which is more efficient than having to go to any kind of onscreen menu. I tested the Wacom Intuos Pro Paper Edition with a slew of Mac apps, including Corel Painter 2017, OmniGraffle Pro 7, DxO Optics Pro 11, Perfectly Clear Complete v3, Alien Skin Exposure X2, and even Final Cut Pro X. With most of these apps, I tested the tablet by drawing and painting—from masks to brush strokes—with the Wacom Pro Pen 2. This new pen supports 8192 pressure levels, which is four times as many as the previous pen. It was obvious when testing it with Painter 2017 that there’s a far more subtle feedback when varying the pressure. You have much better control over the flow of the paint or effect with the new pen. The sensation of working with a graphite, lead, or pastel on paper, as you’re used to, is further reinforced by how thin the new tablet is. It’s also half the height of a Rhodia dot Pad. Whereas



“…the tablet captures and temporarily saves your strokes to its internal memory, which will store up to 200 multilayered or 1,000 single-layered drawings until you connect it again. Files are then downloaded to your Inkspace, where they can then be exported as editable SVG or PSD files that can be opened in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.”

previous versions fell short in creating the illusion of drawing on paper, the new version delivers. The Intuos Pro is Bluetooth 4.2 compatible, which means that you can hook it up to any modern PC, Mac, or iPad. You can connect the tablet with its USB-C to USB-A type cable, as well. The cable is less flexible than it used to be, but oddly enough it’s better at lying flat on your desk. The tablet is also ambidextrous. By the way, the design of the complete Intuos Pro, including box, pen stand, pen, tablet, etc. is gorgeous! There’s no other word for it. Part of the new tablet’s appeal is that you can sketch if you have the Paper edition. This works with a Paper Clip that attaches to the top of the tablet to hold sketching paper. You can use whatever paper you like, but a few Wacom sheets are included in the box to get you started. The Wacom Finetip Pen is delivered for sketching. As you draw, the tablet captures and temporarily saves your strokes to its internal memory, which will store up to 200 multilayered or 1,000 single-layered drawings until you connect it again. Files are then downloaded to your Inkspace, where they can then be exported as editable SVG or PSD files that can be opened in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. With Inkspace running, you can synchronize, store, and export sketches, but you can also have your sketch refresh the onscreen version in real-time when your tablet is connected via Bluetooth. I’d like to see this Inkspace feature evolve into a plugin for Photoshop and other hosts. That would make the Wacom Intuos Pro Paper Edition “sketching party” complete! ■

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› › REVIEWS

[ 101 ]

REVIEWS › ›

HP Z2 Mini G3 Performance Workstation A Mighty Computer in a Small Package Review by Bruce Bicknell

How does the saying go? Mini is mighty? Well, if that’s not a saying now, it should be with the new HP Z2 Mini G3 Performance Workstation. I’ve reviewed computers of all sizes and forms from both sides of the fence (Mac and Windows), but I have to say this one has totally blown me away. Not only does it have the cool factor, as it looks like it should be on the desk of a superhero, but it also has the horsepower and flexibility to rival just about any desktop (and not just mini form factors)! The ability to hook up six monitors out of the box is quite a feat for any size box, but it’s even more impressive considering the small size of the Z2 Mini. Let’s start with the horsepower and functionality. My test model is maxed out with an Intel i7-6700, 32 GB (2x16 GB)

Company: HP

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Price: $1,946.70 (as tested); starting at $694

[ 102   ]

Rating: 5 Hot: Design; up to 32 GB RAM; up to six monitors; size; price; customizable; very quiet Not:

of RAM, and a discrete NVIDIA Quadro M620 GPU with 2 GB of dedicated video RAM. Storage is provided by a 256-GB HP Z Turbo PCIe SSD and a 1-TB SATA drive that gives more than enough space for files, and the SSD launches all of the systems quickly and efficiently. The configuration really allows this machine to perform, and it’s amazing that they got all of this into a small package (8.5" on a side, and less than 2.5" high). This is where it gets even cooler: the number of features HP packed into such a small box. If you’re like me, I’m always looking for more ports to connect my devices, as well as the ability to hook up multiple monitors without jumping through tons

› › REVIEWS

of hoops. Well, this one may surprise you, as you’ll find four DisplayPort 1.2 connectors, two USB Type-C 3.1 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, and an RJ-45 Ethernet port. (Note: There’s also an Entry-level version of the Z2 Mini that has fewer ports.) I was excited about the capability of hooking up to six monitors out of the box. I “only” have four external monitors, but I had them all up and running in no time, and the video card handled them

“Not only does it have the cool factor, as it looks like it should be on the desk of a superhero, but it also has the horsepower and flexibility to rival just about any desktop….“

with ease and no lag between them. The designers and engineers at HP have created an aesthetically pleasing case that oozes coolness, as well as being functionally sound with its performance and cooling capabilities. This machine stays cool and is ultra-quiet sitting on the desktop. It’s VESAmountable (for Z Displays and third-party stands, arms, and wall mounts) so it can be mounted out of the way if desired; but personally, I love the look of it on my desk, as its design is inspirational (and did I mention that it just looks cool). This machine performed well above my expectations in both Lightroom and Photoshop. I think HP has a serious contender in this market and a much-welcomed alternative to anyone who needs a smaller, more powerful computer. I’d recommend the HP Z2 Mini G3 Workstation to any creative pro who’s looking for a great computer at a reasonable price. (Note: Pricing can vary based on component costs and promotional discounts.) ■

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[ 103   ]

Theodore Kefalopoulos

REVIEWS › ›

Alien Skin Exposure X2 Another Kind of Photo Editor/Organizer Review by Erik Vlietinck

Is Alien Skin Exposure X2 an alternative for apps such as Adobe Lightroom? It depends on your needs. With Exposure X2’s latest Advanced Layers update, the app offers nondestructive RAW editing and better organization, enhancement, and exporting capabilities.

Company: Alien Skin Software

In this update, Exposure X2’s nondestructive layering not only

Price: $149 (Upgrade: $99)

works with brushed adjustments and effects, but applies to pre-

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Rating:

[ 104   ]

Hot: Unique approach for editing/organizing; multi-image editing; multi-location quick export

sets, as well. This means you can apply a preset to a layer, then quickly remove (or add) effects, or make them weaker or stronger on another layer—and possibly only in some parts of the image. The new advanced layering lets you finish a retouching job much faster; for example, I could first apply a preset that

Not:

I tuned down by lowering the intensity and adding several one-effect-per-layer adjustments. More importantly, I applied those layered effects on multiple images simultaneously, all without incurring even the most minor speed drop on my

› › REVIEWS

mid-2011 iMac. While most comparable apps let you export several images at once, Exposure X2 lets you actually process them by just selecting them and start adjusting. Exposure X2 has lots of presets, and with this update it gains

“Another feature that I found brilliant is the healing brush, which allows you to adjust healing areas after the fact, by dragging them around.”

a new set of bright and vintage presets. The latter provide rich platinum tones with border overlays that simulate a brushed look to strengthen the illusion. Another feature that I found brilliant is the healing brush, which allows you to adjust healing areas after the fact, by dragging them around. On the management side of things, Exposure X2 lets you set metadata, such as ratings and flags. It also allows you to select matching images and show EXIF data by hovering over images. The app’s export support has been given a unique twist in that it offers the ability to simultaneously export multiple images to multiple preset locations and formats. You can download a free trial at the Alien Skin website. ■

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[ 105   ]

REVIEWS › ›

OWC Drive Dock Use Bare SATA Disks with a Thunderbolt 2 Mac Review by Erik Vlietinck

The appeal of a bare drive dock is that you can hot swap and read two disks simultaneously. The OWC Drive Dock has speed and expansion functionality to spare with its two Thunderbolt 2 ports and single USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface. It’s an all-aluminum large

Company: OWC Digital Price: $269.75

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Rating:

[ 106   ]

square box with independent power switches and LED activity monitors per drive bay, in addition to an overall on/off switch at the back of the unit. The top is made from a robust matte black plastic sheet that

Hot: Speed; ruggedness; design; per-bay on/off switch

holds the inward-swinging, dust-protection covers. The whole

Not: You can’t mount Atomos disk caddies

switching power supply and, like other drive docks, accommodates

thing is built like a tank. The Drive Dock also has a built-in auto-

both 2.5" and 3.5" drives. I’ve been testing the OWC Drive Dock as a backup and offload device, and I also tested the dock using two identical WD drives

› › REVIEWS

set in a RAID 0 configuration. It worked like a charm, although you must ensure both drives are switched on simultaneously to avoid RAID errors. Finally, I tested the OWC Drive Dock to start up the Mac. Note: Remember to switch on the active bay just

“OWC’s Drive Dock has a nice ergonomic design, and its sturdiness combined with its performance makes for a very attractive product.”

seconds before turning on the Mac or you’ll get the dreaded blinking “System not found” icon. The one and only thing I could possibly have wished for is the SATA connector sitting just a bit further from the edge so that I could use it to mount Atomos’ disk caddies when offloading video. (It would be awesome if you could!) Alas, the bare drives must lean against something in order to reduce the risk of breaking the SATA connector when removing the drive. OWC’s Drive Dock has a nice ergonomic design, and its sturdiness combined with its performance makes for a very attractive product. ■

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[ 107   ]

REVIEWS › ›

ON1 Photo 2017

ON1 Photo 2017 is a completely new, sophisticated, beautifully implemented piece of software, delivering a ton of new features and a fast, state-of-the-art RAW-processing engine and imageprocessing pipeline, ON1 Photo RAW. The interface is still thoroughly familiar, however, for anyone transitioning from a

Photo Organizer, Editor, RAW Processor, and Effects App

prior version, and intuitive enough for new users.

Review by Michael Corsentino

addition to the much wider latitude RAW files allow—compared

Let’s talk about RAW and why you need it in your life. In

to JPEG—when making exposure adjustments, the other huge Company: ON1, Inc. Pricing: $119.99 (Upgrade: $99.99)

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Rating:

[ 108   ]

Hot: Sophisticated RAW editor; powerful image-management/filtering tools; new develop module Not:

benefit of a RAW workflow is nondestructive image editing. The value of this can’t be overstated. With hard-drive storage and large-capacity memory cards now relatively inexpensive, RAW is no longer a question mark, but the only way I’d tell you that you should be working if you aren’t already. ON1 Photo 2017 is packed with significant improvements and useful changes designed to make your life with RAW workflow easier and faster. New to ON1 Photo 2017 are: nondestructive RAW image-editing (as mentioned above); new local adjustments (rejoice!); faster ON1 Effects; a brand-

› › REVIEWS

new develop module—where you’ll do the bulk of your editing; global presets that can now be applied to images directly from within the Browse module; a powerful new local adjustments brush; a new Film Strip View (yes!); and midstack rendering, which allows you to see the effects you’ve

“ON1 Photo 2017 is packed with significant improvements and useful changes designed to make your life with RAW workflow easier and faster.”

ON1 Photo 2017 also includes the ability to reduce or enhance haze and fog—a feature I know landscape photographers are going to love. The Browse module has gotten a major facelift, too, with the addition of even more sophisticated filtering and search features. The powerful new indexed-folder feature makes managing images quick and easy, and this feature is truly a showstopper because it allows users to drill down and browse the entire hierarchy of folders on a directory in just seconds. This means not only being able to view every image in a directory super quickly, but you can also search across multiple folders using myriad user-specified filtering criteria. Now that’s powerful! ■

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applied in real time without turning off those above them.

[ 109   ]

R E V I EWS › ›

Photoshop for Artists: A Complete Guide for Fine Artists, Photographers, and Printmakers By Sylvie Covey Review by Peter Bauer

Here’s a book being reviewed by request. It was originally published several years ago (though an update may be coming), but it works with every version of Photoshop since its publication. I’m grateful to the reader for this recommendation—it will become

Publisher:  Watson-Guptill Publications Pages: 304

part of my permanent library. The book is divided into four parts: Understanding the Vocabulary and Logic of Photoshop; Tutorials for Drawing and Painting Digitally; Tutorials for Creating and

Price: $35.00; $21.99 (Kindle)

Developing Fine-Art Digital Photography; and Tutorials Combin-

Rating:

ing Photoshop and Printmaking. Each of the 28 tutorials is clearly

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

written and illustrated and the author avoids the use of short-

[ 1 10   ]

cuts so that the very newest beginner can’t get confused. What strikes me most about this book is the section on drawing and painting in Photoshop. Some tutorials start with a photo, others with a blank canvas. You’ll likely also find that the tutorials on digital transfers give food for thought. n

› › R E V I EWS

How to Photograph Everything: Simple Techniques for Shooting Spectacular Images From The Editors of Popular Photography Review by Peter Bauer

The “Everything” in the title includes 43 different subjects, ranging from food and animals to fireworks and amusement parks. I’m sure you can come up with a couple of subjects that aren’t included (UFOs and alien beings, for example), but if you shoot

Pages: 327

it, it’s likely covered. If you want to shoot it, here’s where to learn. Each section starts with Getting Started, Tech Tips, What to Shoot, and a very valuable and thought-provoking section

Price: $40; $7.55 (Kindle)

called “Gear Up.” (The section on shooting birds suggests that a

Rating: 5

camera with an APS-C sensor may be preferable to a full-frame sensor for the increased magnification of the lens you choose.) The examples that follow have informative captions, many of which provide suggestions for a particular shot, as well as the name of the photographer who captured that image. If you love a shot, see the photographer’s website for more inspiration. n

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Publisher:  Weldon Owen

[ 1 11   ]

PETERBAUER

> From the Help Desk ANSWERS TO PHOTOSHOP AND GEAR-RELATED QUESTIONS I’m trying to create a panorama, and nothing seems to work: Not Photoshop’s File>­A utomate>Photo­ merge; nor loading the files into layers and using Edit>Auto-Align Layers. I shot the images using a tripod and overlapped each by about 25%, and the overlap areas include such identifiable items as windows and the corners of houses. Is there any way to manually create a panorama

> PHOTOSHOP USER > J U N E 2017

in Photoshop? — Rusty

[ 1 12   ]

Yes, sometimes the automated processes don’t read the

Zoom out so that you can see more of the canvas. Use

images well enough to create panoramas. (I’ve seen Photo­

the File>Place Embedded command to add the second

merge take four well-overlapped horizontal images and

image to the canvas, and then press the Enter key to accept

try to stack them vertically, and Auto-Align often mis-

the image’s size.

orders the images.) Creating a panorama in Photoshop

Now for the fun part: In the Layers panel, change the

from a series of overlapping images is certainly possible

upper layer’s blend mode from Normal to Difference (down

and precise, but it takes a number of steps. Here’s how

near the bottom of the menu). Using the Move tool (V),

I do it:

Shift-drag the top layer until the area of overlap turns

Open the first image (left, right, top, or bottom

completely black (or almost completely black, depending

depending on what you’re creating). In this case, I’ll use

on your lens). This ensures that the area of overlap is prop-

the example of creating a horizontal panorama, starting

erly aligned. You may need to rotate the upper or lower

with the leftmost image.

layer a bit to get proper alignment.

With the first image open, head to the Layers panel and

Back in the Layers panel, return the upper layer’s blend

click the Lock icon to unlock the layer. (This isn’t techni-

mode to Normal. With the Hand tool (H) or the scroll bar at

cally necessary, but I prefer to work over a transparent back-

the bottom of the image window, scroll to the right until you

ground rather than white—or whatever the background

see the right part of the second image and empty canvas.

color is during the next step.)

(You’ll want all of the right side’s area of overlap visible.)

Go to the Image menu and select Canvas Size. In the

Place the next image in the sequence of your panorama

three-by-three proxy box, click on one of the three boxes

(and press Enter). Again, switch the top layer’s blend mode

on the left, so that when you extend the canvas, it extends

to Difference and align the area of overlap, then return the

to the right rather than to both sides.

blend mode to Normal.

Switch the unit of measure to Percent. Make sure that

Using the same techniques, add each of the other

the Relative box is unchecked. In the Width box, increase

photos for your panorama. At this point, I strongly suggest

the width according to the number of images in your

saving the image as a layered PSD or TIFF. Of course, it’s

panorama. (If you’re using five photos, for example,

good practice to save after adding each image.

enter 500 in the Width box.) This is more canvas than we

Crop the panorama to remove the empty area to the far

need because of the image overlap, but the image gets

right. If you had to rotate any of the images and you ended

cropped later. Leave the Height field set to 100%. Click

up with transparency in areas, use the Crop tool with the

the OK button to expand the image to the right.

Content-Aware option selected in the Options Bar. n

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