Dynax Digital Forums

This follows a question in another thread.

How to apply texture to an image

1. Open your image you want the texture applied to in PS
2. Open the image with the texture (In future you might want to think about shooting textures as well and build you own image bank- I have a   
    couple of thousands by now )
3. Click the image with the texture to activate it. Make sure that both images are the same orientation (makes it easier)
4. Ctrl + A > click on the image you want the texture applied to > ctrl +V (cmd for apple)
5. edit > transform > scale > if you hold shift +ctrl at the same time and pull one of the corners you can adjust the size of the texture layer without changing its perspective.
6. You have now the texture layer on top of the image layer which you can't see
7. Now set the layer blending mode either to darken/ multiply/overlay/soft light/ and change the opacity of that layer to somewhere around 50%

Tip: any of these layer blending options might work. The easiest is to first lower the opacity to 50% then click in the layer palette where it says "normal" so that normal changes to blue colour. What you can then do is just scroll down through all layer blending modes by using the downwards arrow next to your number pad on your keyboard!
Voila- just should find easily the right blending mode in a couple of seconds!

Happy photoshopping!
Stef.

Faking Infrared (IR)

It is not a replacement for real infrared shooting but can work wonders:
1. Open you image in PS
2. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer
3. Use the following settings: Red +100; Green +200; Blue -200
Now: Don't scream yet...
4. Use the constant slider at the bottom and adjust the image to your liking - this point 4 is what most people don't know but you do now
5. Click O.K and flatten if happy.

Voila you should be done!

Happy photoshopping
Stef.

I'm in a good mood today- here is tip number 3 for today:

Blown Out Highlights

This is for advanced users and you should experiment around a bit with the following:
1. Open you image in PS
2. Duplicate the Background Layer
3. Image > Adjustments > Invert
4. Lower the opacity to somewhere around 5-10% and set the layer blending mode to darken
5. Now this is where the advanced user comes in: mask the parts of the image that you don't want to have darker or just erase parts of that layer so that the lighter backround can show through

Tip: if it is a sky which is blown out you might want to use the gradient tool set from black to white and use it on the layer mask of the inverted layer. Alternatively: you might want to fill the layer mask with black and then paint with white on the mask where you want the darker parts to appear (change the opacity of the brush according to how strong the effect should be) Any questions to this please use the other thread and I am more than happy to explain a bit further. This is just a tip for you to experiment with!

Happy photoshopping!
Stef.

How to blur a background

Ever wanted to throw something out of focus in the background but did not know how?

(1) open image in PS
(2) duplicate background image
(3) click Q (= edit in quick mask mode)
(4) choose the gradient tool (make sure reverse is ticked/ and black is the foreground colour)
(5) hold the shift key and click somewhere in the middle of your image; drag the cursor just about 1 inch towards the top of the image (the longer you drag the softer the gradient of the blur will be; you could also just start at the bottom and go all the way up => experiment with this one!)
(6) if you let go – the top of the image should be reddish- if not don’t worry => click: Q again => you should now have a selection at the TOP of the image. If not do the following: click select > inverse
(7) filter > blur > Gaussian blur > try something between 10 and 20 but don’t overdo it!
8. ctrl/cmd + D => deselects
(9) layer > layer mask > reveal all
(10) choose black as foreground colour: now take a soft brush and paint over the parts that you want to have in focus; towards the border of your subject (i.e. hair) lower the opacity of the brush (and that last part is the trick to keep it realistic! You might need to work around the hair/ face with an opacity of 10%) Take your time with step 10!
(11) you are more or less done- if the effect is too strong- lower the opacity of the blurred layer until happy

Hope this helps?
Happy photoshopping
Stef.

Alternative way of Dodging and Burning (non distructive).

[not sure if Stef has already shown this, but can't find it so will post..]

1. Open your image in PS
2. Create a new layer
3. Edit > Fill > 50% Grey & 100% Opacity
4. Select the new layer and change belending mode to 'overlay'
5. Use a feathered brush on the 50% grey layer of either white of black for your dodging and burning, varying the opacity for the desired effect.

This makes it obviously easiler to undo any mistakes without worrying about the saves history.

[not sure if Stef has already shown this, but can't find it so will post..]

We welcome all input in Photoshop Tips. Your tip, although similar to Stefs, has enough differences to make it very useful. Thank you for your time and effort to help others springtide.

I have added your tip, as I do with all good tips, to the Photoshop Tips Index.

In reply to AScots request, (I feel a bit funny posting here, I  hardly feel qualified but here goes) Open Adobe bridge, select the image or images you want to resize then in tools select photoshop then image processor, photoshop will then open and the image processor box will open to, you can then select where to save the images,  file type (jpeg PSD or tiff) the quality level and the size in pixels be careful to untick the run action box in preferences (mine was ticked by default) hope this helps.

PS the reason I go thru bridge is because that was how I was shown and apparently the "image processor" opened through CS3 only allows you to open folders not single images

Mark

Thanks Mark - and Ascot - for coming up with this tip. It's another option I now have for resizing batches of photos - see the thread on MS Image resizer and PS7/CS3... Many thanks

Frank [Wires]