Tutorial: Bring out Shadows and Highlights in Photoshop

This tutorial is for Photoshop but probably works in a similar way in other programmes.

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After


Before

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1. Open the photograph you want to improve in Photoshop
   
2. Duplicate the background layer
   
3. Filter > Other > High Pass
   
4. Set the radius to 8 pixels
   
5. Click OK
   
6. Set the Layer Mode to Hard Light
   
7. Right click on the top layer and choose 'Merge Down'
   
8. Save as... and you're done.

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After



Before

Sir Trevor McDonald

A recent t-shirt design I did. I'm really pleased with it!

Season's Greetings!

I'm rather pleased with this image I created this afternoon. It started off as a photo of a wall display in a garden centre, then I cloned out the poster, price tag and marks on the wall, increased the contrast using levels and curves, then created a red fill layer and played around with the blending mode and opacity. Finally, I created an outline, using a colour from the red branches.

So, I hope this time of year isn't too stressful and is instead filled with cute red robins and nice lovey world peace stuff.

Same Photo, Different Treatments

I started with this image:

and followed two different tutorials on it, both already tried and tested on this blog.

Firstly, it got the lomo treatment, the second of the two I tried.



Then I gave it the Orton treatment, which is my favourite of the two experiments.



PS.

Fake Model Photography

Since I first saw it, I have wanted to try this technique, to make normal photographs look like they are photographs of a miniature model. There are some good examples here. This is also called Tilt-shift miniature faking.



Using this tutorial, I've made my first attempts. I'm not convinced by them, but I'm getting the idea, and will keep working on this. Enjoy my experiments, anyway.

Choosing the right photos to use can be tricky, too. Photographs taken from above will suit the method more, as that is how photographs of miniature models are usually taken. I think I need to find a high-up spot and take some images for this very purpose, cutting out sky and smoke and such things which detract from the fake-realistic possibilities.

Photo to Drawing: Raspberries

Back to this tutorial, it's a bit tricky, but spending a little time can get really great results. I love it!

And the raspberries were tasty, too!

The Orton Effect

Orton imagery, also called an Orton slide sandwich, is a photography technique which blends two completely different photos of the same scene, resulting in a distinctive mix of high and low detail areas within the same photo. It was originated by photographer Michael Orton.



The original technique [...] was to overlay two or more images of an identical scene with very different exposures on slide film. One image is sharply focused and the others are very out of focus.

I followed this tutorial, with mixed results. The amount of gaussian blur really seems to make a difference and I haven't found any kind of formula, other than playing around, that gets the best results.



But when it's right, it's great. It's almost a watercolour or impressionist type effect, and I'll definitely experiment more with this one.

The tutorial is written for Elements 5, but it works fine on Photoshop CS3.

Other of my attempts are here and here.

Comparative Lomography!

Last week I followed two different tutorials around creating the lomography aesthetic in photoshop.



Both had great results, but quite different. So this post is to show a comparative study, I used both tutorials on two images and placed them together. The image on the left, and the one above, are following the first of the tutorials, the image on the right, and the one below, were made following the second of the two.

Original photos:

More Classical Art Colour Match

Following this tutorial, I have done four manipulations based on classical art, on the same photograph of sunflowers.


For the purpose of this post, I have matched up the resulting image up with the painted art which influenced its colours.

Create a Rainbow in Photoshop

A fun effect here, creating a larger-than-life rainbow on your photos or images.



The tutorial is here and is written for Photoshop CS but I used it with CS3 and there were only minor differences.

I found using the tab stops in the gradient editor a bit tricky, I didn't really know what I was doing, but other than that it's a nice tutorial to work from. Creating a good rainbow shape with the radial gradient tool can take a few goes, but ctrl-z is a lifesaver in this instance!

It's a nice effect and, though slightly tricky, worth a go.

Different Lomo Effect Tutorial

Following the success of yesterday's lomo effect tutorial, I decided to explore other digital lomography tutorials.



I chose this one from digital photography school and, again, produced great results.

In this one, the cross-processing effect of film lomography is more evident, and the fabulous vignetting and colour effects are present.

The tutorial was fairly easy to follow, so have a go!

The Lomo Effect

Lomography, an increasibly popular type of photography, is very much a back-to-basics approach. Cheap film cameras, often toy cameras, are used and there is a lomo aesthetic which is very appealing.

Lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique." (from wikipedia)

I play with a Holga and other toy cameras, all plastic, to varied effects. One of the joys of lomography is indeed its very complete unpredictability.

The Holga's cheap construction and simple meniscus lens often yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks, and other distortions. Ironically, the camera's quality problems became a virtue among some photographers, with Holga photos winning awards and competitions in art and news photography. (from wikipedia again!)

The most faithful of lomographers despise digital attempts to reproduce the lomo aesthetic, so I avoided it for a long time. However, the unique beauty of this effect has led me astray and I have, for the first time, followed a 'lomo effect' tutorial for Photoshop. And I don't regret it. The results, above, are just fantastic.

The tutorial I used is here. There are probably hundreds of them but I like this one. Simple and effective.

Lomo links:
lomography.com
Lomography UK
A Guide to Lomography

Classical Art Colour Match

This colour-match tutorial states,

Adjusting your photographs to get the color 'just right' can be a chore. Think about this: The Old Masters of painting spent years of their lives learning about color. Why let all their effort go to waste on the walls of some museum when it could be used to give you a hand with color correction?

I used 'Garrotte' by Santiago Bose to really alter, and improve, the colouring of this photograph of the church in Edale, Derbyshire.



With the tutorial and the Bose image, I created this:



I then used the same technique on this portrait:


and, using the colours from this floral painting, created this quite different mood.

Further Photo to Drawing: Sunflowers.

With further exploration of the Photo to Drawing technique, I edited this image:



and from it created this one:



With help also from here when trying to understand the gradient tool.

Photo To Drawing - Photoshop

Roughly based on this tutorial from Planet Photoshop, I turned this photo:


into this, where the image is the photograph on the left, graduating to a line drawing on the right.



The photograph is of a 'Nicaragua Must Survive' poster. The manipulation could certainly be improved, but am sharing my first attempt at a new technique.

English Tea Can / China Painting Effect in Photoshop

Following this tutorial, with a few minor adaptations to make it work with Photoshop CS3, I created these images.



The originals are this one and this one, taken on holiday in Edale last summer.

Dreams. Edited in Photoshop CS3

Dreams, originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Original image:

1. Select the statue using the magnetic lasso tool
2. Select > Modify > Feather > 5
   
3. Image > Adjustments > Black and White
   
4. Adjust the colours until the angel is how you want it.
   
5. Select > Inverse
   
6. Filter > Blur > Radial Blur
   
7. Adjust the settings until the background is how you want it to be.
   
8. Image > Adjustments > Hue & Saturation.
   
9. Adjust the 'hue' until the background is how you want it.
   
10. Select > Deselect
    
11. Filter > Render > Lens Flare
    
12. Move the lens flare to behind the statue's head.
    
13. Filter > Render > Lighting Effects > Light Type > Omni
    
14. Adjust all settings until it looks right. I moved the light to the statue's hands and adjusted the over / under exposure settings.