Learning Photoshop
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LIGHTING
In the following images we learned how to use lighting effects and lighting with layers to enhance images.
This shows a soft omni lighting effect
This image shows a triple down light with color changes to the lights
Now onto lighting using layers and layer masks. The benefits to lighting in this manner are the increased number of choices you are given to help reach your desired effect.
Using adjustment layers & masks allowed me to create my own soft omni effect
By refining the edge of my layer mask and adjusting the brightness and contrast in the above picture I created my own effect. The lighting adjustments don’t effect the area where the layer mask occurs. Another example of this can be seen more drastically in the image below.
This example highlights the spy in the background trying to steal industry secrets
BLENDING
In the following series of images I used the Auto-Blend Layers and Auto-Align Layers commands to alter some images I found on the web. Photoshop can take images that you have overlapped and automatically combine them to make a larger more comprehensive image. You can either stack your images one on top of the other, or side-by-side.
The image below is comprised of three random images of a similar subject matter. One image is a skyline, another shows sunlight shooting through clouds, and the last is a cloudy sky at sunset. They have been stacked and blended.
Nice effect considering its three different times of the day
The next image uses Auto-Align and Auto-Blend to create this photographers panoramic shot of Nature. I used a series of eight photographs taken by the artist and overlapped them substantially to help Photoshop align and blend the image.
Looks awesome! I'm afraid I may only take panoramic pictures from now on
QUICK SELECTION TOOL
This tool can be used to easily and efficiently alter and/or extract multi-colored subject matter from images.
For the example below I will use the street vendor you’ve seen in the prior “Lighting” section of this post. I still don’t know what the guy is selling and neither do you. So why not have a little fun and make this guy, “Hulk Out.”
Another bad day in the piazza
The next shot is of the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan. This was a study in perspective and adding people to a background image. I added a guy with a bike, a soldier from the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and a guy praying on his knees under the soldier’s right arm. The Quick Selection Tool allows you to quickly extract images for this use. Go figure, the name says it all.
You can't lead a field trip without your Type 56 assault rifle
ART HISTORY BRUSH
The Art History Brush is an easy tool used for altering the appearance of any image. You can select from a vast library of art brush styles that give many different effects to an image. You can adjust how much distortion you want to use by changing brush sizes and types.
The following photo is of a field in Tuscany that I found on the web. The picture following the photo shows how the Art History Brush can alter the look of an image and give it a different artistic quality.
Original photo
Altered Photo
Here is another example of the Art History Brush. I used a light chalk brush and softened up the image.
Original Image
Altered Image
