» photoshop

Introduction to Adobe Camera Raw and Some Beauty Retouching – Part 2

Feb 252013

In January we looked at an Introduction to Adobe Camera Raw and some Beauty Retouching: and Fixing Common Beauty Problems in Photoshop.

Today, with the same image we’re going to look at beauty retouching in more detail, skin softening in particular. This is a convoluted process but the results are excellent!

So, with our image, I’ve opened in Photoshop and just for these purposes, so we can see the results in more detail, I’ve cropped in to the face, and the first thing to do is to duplicate the image; shortcut is Cmd (Ctrl) J or from the menus, Layer > Duplicate Layer. Alternatively, you can drag your current layer down to the Create a New Layer icon on the bottom of the layers palette. Read more...

Make a simulated overlay / photo-matte! (Part 1)

Photoshop No Responses »

Sep 122012

Today I’m going to take you through a tutorial on making a simulated overlay or photo-matte to give your images that professional finish on a website.

Open the image you want to ‘frame’ and make a copy of that ‘background’ layer by Cmd / Ctrl J or dragging your background onto the new layer tab of the layers palette.

Click with your cursor, back onto the background layer and choose the crop tool.

Ensure the crop dimensions on the toolbar are clear …
Read more...

Learning to Speak “Image Manipulator”!

Photoshop No Responses »

Aug 132012

Here’s a tutorial for those of you who have used Photoshop for a little while but are still baffled by some of the “Adobe Speak” that gets used in some of the tools!

There are a number of functions, buttons and tools in Photoshop that have some weird and wonderful names. In this article I’d like to look at a few of them and tell you what they’re used for.

Contiguous
Let’s start off with the word ‘contiguous’!

You’ll find the contiguous button in the options bar when you click on the Magic Wand tool. (It also pops up as an option for the background erase tool). Read more...

Basic Brushes, Photoshop and You – Part 2

Photoshop No Responses »

Jul 232012

The next section is really interesting. Colour Dynamics allow you to change the way colours work in your brush. To see this effect I have set the brush colour to red.

(Before colour Dynamics)

Hue jitter does just that, it varies the hue of the brush along the stroke. So when this is set low you will see a range of colours from yellows to reds, but if set to 100% you will see a whole range of colours from all hues.

Saturation jitter varies the saturation of the brush. So some spots of colour will be desaturated while others will be bright and vivid. Read more...

Healing Tools – The Basics

Photoshop No Responses »

Jun 012012

So we’ve looked at using the Clone Stamp Tool, but what if there were an even easier way to heal images? One where Photoshop blends the clone into the image for an even better look. Well, there is. In fact, there are a couple and we will be looking at using those today. The tools we will be using are called the Healing Brush Tool, Spot Healing Brush Tool and the Patch Tool.

Let’s take this very happy photograph of a lion in a zoo. Before it can be taken further for colour adjustments and finalising there are a few things that need to be fixed. Read more...

Clone Stamp – For Awesome Photoshopping

Photoshop No Responses »

May 312012

Let’s take this innocent leopard photograph and really play with it. How about some extra eyes, or even ears? All the better for hearing and seeing you with…

For this tutorial we will be using the infamous Clone Stamp tool – It really is good fun and can be extremely useful. But let’s start with the fun side first.

But what does the Clone Stamp Tool even do, I hear you cry. The clone stamp tool allows you to paint over a part of the image using a different part of the source image. It is almost like a basic Patch Tool (if you don’t know what that does, don’t worry as I will be going over that very soon in another tutorial) Read more...

Leopard Can Change It’s Spots 2 – Part 2

Photoshop No Responses »

Apr 272012

Just in case you missed part 1, it’s right here, so check it out before returning here ready to finish this tutorial.

Mixing your subject with objects in the scene will help sell the illusion better, so I have placed the subject over the barrel and will now make it look like she is standing next to it. The shadow is causing a problem, but nothing a mask cannot fix.

What’s new in Photoshop CS6

Photoshop No Responses »

Apr 232012

If you have been wondering what’s new in Photoshop CS6 – wonder no more. Adobe have now announced Photoshop CS6 which includes some nice new features to make life easier and quicker for everybody that uses it.

We have listed some of the newer features below: Read more...

Cutting Out: Background Eraser Part 1

Photoshop No Responses »

Feb 272012

Green Screen Removal is one of the first things you want to learn in Photoshop; after all, that is what it’s all about right? But then you probably got caught up in learning the basic tools and removing background properly and effectively might have dropped off your to-do list. Well, it is time to put it back on as I take you through a series of different ways of skinning the same cat… um… green screen; Photoshop style of course. Read more...

Creating Realistic Shadows in Photoshop

Illustrator, Photoshop 2 Responses »

Feb 022012

In this tutorial I will show you how to create realistic shadows in photoshop using one technique (as always in Photoshop, there is more than one way to skin a photo)

I will be using the same shape I was using in the Illustrator tutorial to demonstrate the techniques in this one. To get it into Photoshop I just copied and pasted it in as a Smart Object. (For more on Smart Objects, check out this previous tutorial)