Practical Photoshop

Make tourists disappear… in Photoshop

jmeyer — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:15:14 +0000

How many times has your travel photography been let down by tourists and other unwanted distractions spoiling your scenes?

No need to waste your pictures. Our simple 4-step tutorial below explains how you can remove people in Photoshop and rescue your images.

Our original image

How to remove people in Photoshop

01 Open images from Bridge
Open Adobe Bridge and select ‘FastFix01_Before.NEF’ on the DVD. Hold down Shift and click onto ‘FastFix02_Before.NEF’. Both images are now selected. From the File menu, select Tools>Photoshop>Load Files Into Photoshop Layers. Both Raw files will open directly into Photoshop, bypassing Adobe Camera Raw.

02 Align the layers
In Photoshop, take a look at the Layers Panel. You will see that both images are now stacked into one document. There’s a slight difference in composition between the two layers so to align them, go to Edit>Auto-Align Layers. In the Dialog Box that appears, leave the Auto option selected and click OK.

03 Remove tourists
Make sure that the sharper of the  two images ‘FastFix01_Before.NEF’ is the top layer and click the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel. Select a black brush, then paint over the tourists to remove them. Select the Crop tool (hit C) and draw a crop around the entire image.

04 Tidy messy shadows
Hold down Shift and resize the crop box, removing any overlap between the two image layers. Select the Clone Stamp tool (hit S), hold down Alt and click on the path to select a clone source. Use this to clean up the shadows in the foreground. Repeat the cloning to remove the tree in the top right corner to finish.

Photoshop before the age of Photoshop

scliffe — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:00:08 +0000

There has been much debate in the media recently over the use of Photoshop to manipulate pictures of models in fashion and women’s magazines. The general perception is that this is a fairly new phenomenon. In fact editing images of women for commercial use and mass media is certainly nothing new, as the below pictures from the 1940s and 1950s demonstrate. The ‘before and after’ image features the original photograph and the final artist’s interpretation, which as you can see is notably different from the original!

Source: imgur.com Via: fstoppers.com

101 Photoshop tricks you have to know

Bleach bypass: how to make extreme portraits

jmeyer — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:10 +0000

Photographic styles and digital darkroom effects certainly aren’t immune to the whims of fashion and changing tastes. Whether it’s trendy cross-processing, HDR (High Dynamic Range) tweaks or shooting contre-jour (into the light), flick through the editorial and ad pages of any glossy magazine and you’ll see what’s currently in vogue. The muted colours, exaggerated contrast and super-detailed characteristics of what is known as the bleach bypass effect are very popular at the moment.

Not only can we see the treatment in many of today’s magazines – think grumpy, gnarly chefs – it’s also been used in big-budget, block-busting films such as Saving Private Ryan.

The effect originates from a traditional darkroom process but, like many cool photo treatments, it’s now much easier and less messy to replicate using image-editing software such as Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS. You simply use a combination of Adjustment Layers, layer Blending Modes and the Shadows/Highlights tool.

Here, we’ll show you how easy it is to get the look, so you can transform portraits of your own.

Step 1: Be bold with the crop
Open your original image in Photoshop. For a cool, contemporary crop, select the Crop tool from the Tools palette and choose No Restriction from the drop-down menu. Be bold and confident with your crop and don’t be afraid to make a radical cut into your subject’s head (for more on cropping, check out our free portrait photography cropping guide).

Step 2: Boost the contrast
Go to Layer>NewAdjustmentLayer>Levels and increase the contrast by moving the left and right sliders a little towards the middle of the histogram and the middle slider a little to the left (learn How to read a histogram). Press the Ctrl key while you’re doing this to avoid losing detail by clipping the highlights or shadows.

Step 3: Remove the colour
Create another Adjustment Layer, but this time choose Hue/Saturation from the list of options. Reduce the Saturation slider to -100 to make the image black and white. Now change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. This will increase the contrast further and some of the colour will also return.

Step 4: Alter the opacity
To remove even more colour, create a second Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and again set the Saturation slider to -100. This time, keep the Blending Mode set to Normal and then set the Opacity slider to 60%. This will introduce more subtle hues into your black and white image.

Step 5: Enhance the detail
Make a flattened version of the image as a new layer at the top of the layer stack by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift and the letter E simultaneously. Now go to Enhance>EnhanceLighting>Shadows/Highlights and set Lighten Shadows to 10%, Darken Highlights to 15% and Midtone Contrast to 15%.

Step 6: Finishing touches
To finish your image, select the Dodge and Burn tools from the Tools palette and use each tool  in turn to selectively darken and lighten specific parts of the final image. By subtly burning areas at the four corners and edges of the image with a large brush you can draw the viewer’s eye into the frame.

Did you know?

The bleach bypass technique originates from the traditional film darkroom. During the processing of colour film the bleaching step was skipped. Put simply, this would result in a black-and-white image over the colour one. The resulting prints would have muted colours, increased contrast and more grain.

Photoshop Tricks: age progression made easy

jmeyer — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:34:04 +0000

If you’re curious about how you’ll look in 30 years’ time, then this Photoshop tutorial is for you! Here we will show you how to mimic age progression in Photoshop.

]The process is made simpler by borrowing some age details from another face. We’ll grab some of the dark colour of wrinkles from an older man and blend them into our model’s face. We’ll borrow some eyebrows, too, and use small brush strokes to add some longer eyebrow hairs.

Additionally, we’ll alter the skin colour to give the portrait a more sallow and aged look, then use the Liquify filter to enlarge some elements on the face that grow larger with age such as the nose and ears. Lips will be thinned, and the hairline receded.

Other changes that take place as we age are greying hair and age spots. We’ll take care of these using some adjustments and a painted layer. To make the process simpler, we’ll use masks where possible to blend in the effects without having to make complex selections.

How to perform age progression in Photoshop

01 Add the wrinkles
Open the portrait you would like to age and the portrait with an older face from which you would like to ‘borrow’. Target the old face, choose Window> Channels, press Cmd/Ctrl and click the RGB layer thumbnail. Choose Select>Inverse then Edit>Copy. Return to the young face and choose Edit>Paste. Click the Move tool, select Edit>Transform>Warp and distort the old face to match the young face. Set the Blend Mode to Luminosity, add a mask and paint out everything but the wrinkles.

02 Add age spots
Name the layer ‘Old_Man’. Use the Lasso tool to select more wrinkles from the old face and paste them in. Move them into position, warp and blend them with masks, reduce the layer Opacity and use the Luminosity Blend Mode. Create a new layer, set the foreground colour to R120, G70, B50 and paint some age spots. Set the Blend Mode to Multiply and then lower the Opacity.

03 Create the eyebrows
Copy the eyebrows from the ‘Old_Man’ layer and paste them as new layers. Place these layers in a group and set the group’s Blend Mode to Normal. Choose Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Saturation and reduce the Master and Yellow channel saturation. Add a new layer, set the foreground colour to grey, and with a very thin brush, draw in some extra hairs on the eyebrows.

04 Increase the contrast
Choose Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Curves. Increase the contrast with a strong S-curve. Choose Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Hue/Saturation. Decrease the saturation in the Master and Red channels and increase the saturation in the Yellow channel. Adjust the masks on the wrinkles layers if required.

05 Fix the hair
Select the hair and choose Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves. Set Output to 255 and Input to 35. Set the layer Opacity to 10%. Add a second Curves Adjustment Layer. Click the curve to anchor the shadows, then drag up the mid-tones and highlights. Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and reduce the saturation to -100. Adjust the layer Opacity to 75%.

06 Reshape the face
Click the top layer in the image and add a new layer by choosing Layer>New>Layer. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to paste a flattened version of the image into this layer. Choose Filter>Liquify and use the Bloat tool to increase the size of the nose and the ears. Reshape the face to add jowls and to push the cheeks down. Push the hairline back and thin the lips.

Add colour to a black and white photo

jmeyer — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:07:03 +0000

Hand-colouring of photographs first became popular in the 20th century, as a means of adding realism to black-and-white photos. Different types of paint were applied using fingers, brushes and swabs.

However, we can now achieve a similar effect in Photoshop and add colour to a black and white photo using the Brush tool. Whereas the traditional hand-painters only got one attempt, we can use layers to keep each colour separate and delete any hues we don’t like (to learn more about black and white photography, see our guide to what every photographer should know about monochrome).

We can also control the effects with Blend Modes and Opacity settings. Plus, we don’t need to worry about going over the lines, as brush strokes are easily erased and we can change colours after they’ve been applied.

Here’s how to get the hand-painted look…

How to add colour to a black and white photo

01 Digitise the photo
If you don’t own a scanner, attach your photo to a wall and illuminate it evenly with two lights placed either side of the image at a 45-degree angle. Use a tripod and shoot in RAW at the lowest ISO for maximum quality. Once you’ve uploaded the image, open it in Elements.

02 Quick Tidy
Go to Enhance > Auto Smart Fix to sort out the tones, then use the Crop tool to get rid of any borders. Next, click the Create New Layer icon and grab the Spot Healing Brush. Check the Sample All Layers box in the Options bar. Paint with the tool to repair any marks or spots.

03 Set up layers
Hold Alt and click the Create New Layer icon to access the New Layer box. Name the layer ‘red top’, then click the Mode dropdown menu and choose Color. Press OK, then grab the Brush tool and choose a realistic red shade for your foreground colour.

04 Provide colour
Paint over a subject’s clothing to add colour. When you’re done, go to the Opacity slider at the top of the Layers panel and set it to about 60%. Repeat the process for other people in the shot. Use a separate layer for each garment. Vary the colours and name each layer appropriately.

05 Add skin tone
Try using different shades for darker or lighter areas of skin, to give the effect more depth and realism. Next, colour people’s hair, eyes and lips, as well as the photo’s background. Experiment with each layer’s Opacity slider to control the intensity of each colour.

06 Tweak your work
If you want to change colours, highlight a layer and hit Cmd/Ctrl+U. Use the Hue slider to make tweaks. Then highlight the top layer in the Layers panel and click Create Adjustment Layer. Choose Photo Filter and set Filter to Warming Filter (85). Move the Density slider to 25%.

100 free Photoshop textures to download

jmeyer — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:00:44 +0000

We’ve been giving away free Photoshop textures every Tuesday since the start of the year and have now exhausted our supply. But because they’ve been so popular, we thought we would put them all in one place for you to download all in one go or come back to as and when the need arises!

And rest assured, we may have run through our latest batch of Photoshop textures, but we’re working putting together some exciting new freebies to give away in the near future. So watch this space.

Below you can find a sampler of each of the 10 packs of free textures and direct link to download them today.

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 1 – Peeling paint

Download this free Photoshop texture collection.

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 2 – Rusted metal and roasting tins

Download this free Photoshop texture collection.

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 3 – Close-up pictures of wood

Download this free Photoshop texture selection.

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 4 – Close-up pictures of metal

Download this free Photoshop texture selection.

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 5 – Underbellies of fishing boats

Download this free Photoshop textures pack

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 6 – Distressed textures (Brick, wood, metal)

Download this free Photoshop textures pack

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 7 – Close-up pictures of bread

Download this free Photoshop textures pack

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 8 – Muted colours

Download this free Photoshop textures pack

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 9 – Close-up pictures of wet rocks

Download this free Photoshop textures pack

Free Photoshop Texture Pack 10 – Domestic delights

Download this pack of free Photoshop textures.

MORE FREE STUFF

50 free photo frames and borders for Photoshop
25 free triptych photo frames
10 free photo grids for Photoshop

Win a full days’ tuition at a Photoshop Workshop!

scliffe — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:50:30 +0000

Do you want to spend a day learning from a professional how to make creative portraits in Photoshop? In his workshop, Glyn Dewis will take you through the whole process of creating fantastic character portraits, beauty portraits and themed composites right from setting up the lighting through to the final print.

You will learn:

Double RAW Conversions
Cleaning up your images (dust spots, etc.)
Tidying up
Eyes (brightening, adding contrast, colour and sharpening)
Skin retouching
Creating texture/adding details
Dodging and Burning
Cut outs (get the most out of Photoshop CS5 Refine Edge Command + Extracting using Channels for those using earlier versions of Photoshop)
Adding in Background Elements
Lighting effects
Creating ‘The Look’
Special effects
Lots more!

The workshop will take place on Saturday 21st July 2012 from 10am to 6pm in Wokingham, West Berkshire.

To Enter

Simply answer the following question:

When Red, Green and Blue colour values are all 128 the colour is…

If you think you know the answer, enter the competition here!

Important Note:

You will need to arrange your own transport to the venue. The competition prize is for the workshop only. For this reason this competition is open only to people in the UK. You must be willing to travel to Wokingham, West Berkshire on Saturday 21st July 2012.

Visit Glyn’s site, or follow him on Twitter.

READ MORE:

Interview with Glyn Dewis

Leica unveils M Monochrom black and white camera

jmeyer — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:10:04 +0000

Leica has ended weeks of speculation and confirmed the launch of its new black and white camera, the Leica M Monochrom

The new Leica camera features a monochrome CCD sensor with a native resolution of 18 million pixels, as well as programmable tones.

Sample image taken with the Leica M Monochrom black and white camera

“As its sensor does not ‘see’ colours, every pixel records true luminance values – as a result, it delivers a ‘true’ black-and-white image,” the company says.

Leica also claims the M Monochrom’s images are ’100% sharper’ thanks to direct processing of raw data with no interpolation or colour filter array.

The company also says that noise on its black and white camera is ‘extremely fine-grained’ going up to ISO 10,000.

Sample image taken with the Leica M Monochrom black and white camera

Those who can afford the Leica M Monochrom price tag of £6,120 will also get a free online download option (available after registration of the camera) for the software packages; Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 4, a professional workflow solution and the world’s leading black-and-white image processing software Silver Efex Pro.

Sample image taken with the Leica M Monochrom black and white camera

Leica also announced an X1 replacement in the form of the new Leica X2. The X2 features a large APS-C CMOS sensor with 16-megapixel resolution and boasts a Leica Elmarit 24 mm f/2.8 ASPH. lens.

Another key feature of the Leica X2 is a new autofocus system that Leica says is ‘extremely precise and virtually silent.’

The Leica X2 price will be £1,575.

101 Photoshop tricks you have to know

jmeyer — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:47 +0000

Are your photo editing skills a little on the slow side? Could your Photoshop knowledge be better? If so, you’re in the right place. Below we’ve culled from experts 101 of the best Photoshop tips and tricks you need to streamline your photo editing skills and start working faster and smarter.

We’ve broken our list down into categories of Quick tips, Adobe Camera Raw and Bridge tips, Tips for using Layers, Tips for using Photoshop’s many tools and, finally, Tips for using Brushes. We hope our round-up of cunning techniques, shortcuts and cool effects gives you the help you need, and if you have a suggestion for something we missed… let us know!

Quick Photoshop Tips

01 Combine images with text
There’s a really easy way to overlay an image on top of text. Drop an image layer over a type layer then hold down Alt and click the line between the two layers in the Layers Panel to clip the image to the text.

02 Rotating patterns
You can make amazing kaleidoscopic patterns with the help of a keyboard shortcut. Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T lets you duplicate a layer and repeat a transformation in one go. To demonstrate, we’ve made a narrow glowing shape by squeezing a lens flare effect, but you can use any shape, image or effect you like. First, make an initial rotation by pressing  Cmd/Ctrl+T and turning slightly, then hit Enter to apply. Next, press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T repeatedly to create a pattern (download our 50 free photo frames and borders for Photoshop and see which ones work best with your creations).

03 Bird’s Eye View
When zoomed in close, hold down H and drag in the image to instantly dart out to full screen then jump back to another area.

04 Quick full  Layer Masks
You can Alt-click on the Layer Mask  icon to add a full mask that hides everything on the layer.

05 Easier marquee selections
Hold down Alt to start a selection at the centre point with any Marquee tool, and then hold Space to temporarily move the selection around.

06 Funky backgrounds
Want to change the default grey background to something more funky? Shift–click over the background area with the Paint Bucket tool to fill it with your foreground colour. Right-click it to go back to grey.

07 1000 History states
Go to Edit>Preferences>Performance to change the number of History states up to a maximum of 1000. Beware though of the effect that this has on performance.

08 Colour code layers
Use colour coding to organise your Layers Panel. Right-click over a layer’s eye icon to quickly access 8 colour code choices.

09 Close all images
To close all of your documents at the same time, Shift-click any image window’s close icon.

10 Spring-loaded Move
While using any tool, hold Cmd/Ctrl to temporarily switch to the Move tool. Release to go back to your original tool. Note that spring-loaded keyboard shortcuts work for other tool shortcuts, too.

11 Interactive Zoom
For interactive zooming, hold Cmd/Ctrl+Space then drag right to zoom in, or left to zoom out. The zoom targets where your mouse icon is, so it’s one of the quickest ways to navigate around an image.

12 Lightning fast  layer copies
Hold down Cmd+Alt and drag any layer to instantly make a copy.

13 Diffuse effects
The Diffuse Glow filter can give highlights a soft ethereal feel, especially when you combine the effect with desaturation. Hit D to reset colours then go to Filter>Distort>Diffuse Glow. Keep the effect fairly subtle, then go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and drop the saturation down to complete the dreamlike effect.

14 Undo, Undo, Undo
You probably know that  Cmd/Ctrl+Z is Undo, but you may not know Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Z lets you undo more than one history state.

15 Cycle Blend Modes
Shift + or – will cycle through different layer Blend Modes, so long as you don’t have a tool that uses Blend Mode options settings.

Tips 16-25: Essential Photoshop shortcuts

16 Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E will merge a copy of all Layers
17 F Cycle through workspace backgrounds
18 X Change your foreground and background colours
19 D Reset foreground and background colours to black and white
20 ] and [ Change your brush tip size
21 Cmd/Ctrl+J Duplicate a layer or selection
22 Space Bar Hold Space and drag to navigate around the image
23 TAB Hides or shows all panels and tools
24 Cmd/Ctrl+T Transform a layer
25 Cmd/Ctrl+E Merge selected layer down,  or merges several highlighted layers

Adobe Camera Raw and Bridge Tips

26 Use Select All
To quickly batch process a group of images, open them all in Adobe Camera Raw (the easiest way to do this is through Adobe Bridge) and then click Select All. Now, any changes you make to one image will be applied to all the open files.

27 Open Smart Objects
Hold down Shift in Adobe Camera Raw and the Open Image button switches to Open Object. Now the file opens as a Smart Object, which means you can double-click the layer thumbnail in Photoshop to go back and edit the layer in ACR.

28 Mask Sharpening
The Masking slider in the Detail Panel lets you control which areas of an image are sharpened, but it’s impossible to judge unless you hold down Alt as you drag. This displays a greyscale view, in which black areas are protected from sharpening, enabling you to isolate the sharpening to edge areas.

29 Reset the sliders quickly
Double-click any slider to reset it to 0. If you click once, then the slider jumps to the point you’re over. So if you keep the mouse still, you can single-click, then double-click over a point for a quick ‘before and after’ view of any adjustment you’ve made.

30 Crop ratios
Square crops can help to make your images stand out from the crowd. For a list of different crop ratios, hold down the mouse button over the Crop tool. Remember, like everything else in ACR, cropping is non-destructive, so you can try out different ratios and adjust the crop at any time.

31 Exposure before colour
It’s always best to adjust exposure before you move on to colour correction.

32 Adjustment Brush controls
The Adjustment Brush is perfect for selective toning in ACR. The brush works by setting pins, each linked to a painted mask that specifies the area you want to tweak. You’ll need to view the mask when painting, and hide it when using the sliders to adjust the area. Hit Y to switch the view of the mask on or off.

33 Erase masks
When painting with the Adjustment Brush, hold down Alt to erase parts of the mask.

34 Clip the blacks
Deep blacks give an image extra punch, so it’s okay to clip the blacks a little. For deep blacks, drag the Black point slider inwards while holding down Alt until a few dark spots appear.

35 Straighten horizons
Hold down A and drag a line to straighten your images.

36 Clipping views
Hold down Alt while dragging the Exposure, Blacks or Recovery slider to see any clipped pixels, or click the icons at the top right and left of the histogram to see them all the time.

37 Screen real estate
Make the most of your screen size by hitting F to switch the ACR display to Full Screen Mode.

38 3D carousel view
Hit Cmd/Ctrl+B to see your images in a snazzy 3D carousel. Scroll through the images with the left and right arrow keys and hit down to remove an image from the view.

39 Paste ACR settings
You can copy ACR treatments from one file to another in Bridge. Right-click any file with the circular ACR icon, then go to Develop Settings>Copy Settings. Right-click another file (or hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click to select more than one) then choose Paste settings.

40 Stack similar images
Stacks can help you keep your workspace tidy and easier to navigate by grouping similar images together. Select a group of files (hold down Shift and click the first and last) then go to Stacks>Group as Stack.

41 Open in Adobe Camera Raw
Raw files open automatically into Adobe Camera Raw, but you can open JPEGs and TIFFs, too, by right-clicking them and choosing ‘Open in Camera Raw’, or simply hit Cmd/Ctrl+R.

42 Open as layers
You can load a group of images into layers of a single document by going to Tools> Photoshop>Load Files into Photoshop Layers.

43 Step-by-step Solarisation in Adobe Camera Raw

01 Make a cone-shaped curve Open an image in ACR, then click the Tone Curve Panel. Drag all the points off the curve to delete them, then make one single point in the middle. Drag this down, then drag the bottom left of the curve to line up to the top, making an inverted cone shape.

02 Convert to mono Click the HSL/Greyscale Panel and check ‘Convert to Black and White’. Use the sliders to tweak the black and white conversion. If you want to add some colour, go to Split Toning and adjust the sliders to add colour to the shadows and highlights.

NEXT PAGE: Photoshop tips for using Layers, Tools and Brushes

Enter the Practical Photoshop poetry-inspired challenge!

scliffe — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:53:44 +0000

Our latest Reader Challenge is inspired by poetry. Use a title or line from your favourite piece of verse and give it the full Photoshop treatment! In our case, we’ve used TS Eliot’s The Wasteland. Take a look in Issue 12 (page 20) of Practical Photoshop for our top five tips for making a poetry-themed design. (You can also download Issue 12 from iTunes.)

Our favourite images will be featured in Issue 15 of Practical Photoshop, on sale 28 June 2012. Not only that, but the overall winner will receive a copy of the fantastic plug-in, Tiffen Dfx 3.0, a filter suit worth $229! 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.

To Enter

Load the DVD that came with Issue 12, go to the Resources section, and find the source images we’ve provided for you as a starting point to create your own work of art. You can use as many or as few as you like, and include any images of your own – as long as you own the copyright. To enter the image, email challenge@practicalphotoshopmag.com.

The closing date for entries is 6 June. We’re looking forward to seeing your work!