Photoshop Challenge: Create a digital darkroom inspired image

Each month Practical Photoshop sets you a task to create something in Photoshop. This month’s Challenge is inspired by traditional darkroom techniques. Take a look at the image above for an example of what we’re looking for, and read our five top tips below to help you get started.

Our favourite images will be featured in Issue 17, which goes on sale on 23 August, 2012. The overall winner walks away with a copy of the superb Tiffen Dfx 3.0!

In addition to featuring the best image in Practical Photoshop, you’ll also bag a copy of the Tiffen Dfx 3.0 filter suite worth $229 (approximately £145). Tiffen Dfx 3.0 has 125 individual filters that simulate 2,000+ Tiffen glass camera filters, specialised lenses, optical lab processes and film grain types. Visit Tiffen’s website for more information.

The closing date for entries is 1 August, 2012. Share you images with us to our Facebook page, or email challenge@practicalphotoshopmag.com.

5 top tips for darkroom inspired images

01 Get inspired

Here we’ve taken inspiration from the shape transform of a darkroom enlarger for our conceptual digital darkroom design. Why not give a classic object a similar makeover or apply darkroom treatments over digital effects?

02 Combine effects

Why not try combining text and images? Here we’ve traced the outline of a traditional enlarger with the Pen tool, making a series of box paths that cover the overall shape. We’ve then filled these paths with our digital 1s and 0s.

03 Use old-school designs

If you have any old contact sheets or film lying around, you could scan it then use the classic details in a fresh way. Alternatively you’ll find a selection of Contact Sheet PNG files amongst this month’s downloadable files. Copy this link into your browser: http://mos.practicalphotoshopmag.com/issue14.zip

04 Control tones

Mastering tones is one of the most crucial image editing skills you can learn. The best way to do this is with Adjustment Layers. Here we’ve used a green Solid Color Adjustment Layer set to the Color Blend Mode. Adjustment Layers also allow you to make use of the layer options like Masks and Opacity.

05 Move and transform

If you choose to combine different elements like we’ve done here it pays to learn the ins and outs of the Transform Command. This will help you shape layers quickly and easily and ultimately leads to a more creative workflow.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2012 at 10:06 am and is filed under Competitions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.