Workshop
Introduction
The Workshop is all about being creative and thinking outside of the box. These workshops will help your right-brain soar, while making your left-brain happy; by explaining why things work the way they do. Exploring Photoshop’s possibilities is great fun; however, always stay grounded with knowledge of how things work. Knowledge is power.
Getting and Using the Project Files
Each project in the Workshop includes a start file to help you get started with the project, and a final file to provide you with the results so you can see how well you accomplished the task.
Before you can use the project files, you need to download them from the Web. You can access the files at www.perspection.com. After you download the files from the Web, uncompress the files into a folder on your hard drive to which you have easy access from Photoshop.
Project 1: Creating a Sketch from Scratch
Skills and Tools: Multiple Layers, Gaussian Blur, and Blending Modes
Photoshop has a ton of filters. In fact, there are 105 filters located under the Filters menu. Filters perform a wealth of special-effects operations; everything from artistic, distort, and even sketch effects, and while filters are very creative, and fun to use, there is a limit to what they can do. For example, Photoshop has no less than 14 Sketch filters, and while they do creative things to an image they can’t do everything. What if you want to create what looks like a sketch effect and none of the sketch filters do what you want? If you don’t know how to do things from scratch, you’re stuck with the limitations of the filters. The technique you are about to learn will not only let you create an awesome sketch effect, but will give you a better understanding of how blending modes work with multiple layers. There are a lot of steps to this process; however, the end result is more than worth the effort. In addition, if this process seems familiar, they are; many of the steps used in the sharpening workshop are similar to this effect, until you get to the end.
The Project
In this project, you’ll take a photograph and through the judicious use of multiple layers, and blending modes convert in into a beautiful colorized sketch. There are a lot of steps in this workshop, but the final results are more than worth the journey.
The Process
Open the file sketch_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_sketch.psd.
Create a duplicate of the image by dragging the layer over the Create New Icon.
Click the Image menu, point to Adjustments, and then click Desaturate. The copied layer is converted into shades of gray.
Create a copy of the desaturated layer, and then select it.
Click the Image menu, point to Adjustments, and then click Invert. The image layer becomes a grayscale negative (leave the negative image selected).
Click the Blending Mode list arrow on the Layers palette, and then click Color Dodge. The image appears to change to white.
Note
If you see areas of the image that do not change to white, but are pure black, don’t worry, those areas of the image were originally pure black, and they will never convert to white.
Click the Filter menu, point to Blur, and then click Gaussian Blur.
Very slightly blur the image (just a few radius pixels) until you see a soft-ghosted outline of the image.
Click OK.
Select the top layer in the Layers palette, click the Layers Options button, and then click Merge Down, or press Ctrl+E (Win) or 
+E (Mac).
You should now be left with the original image (the bottom layer), and the softly ghosted image (the top layer), which I’ve named, Sketch Effect.
Create a copy of the layer named Sketch Effect, and select it.
Click the Blending Mode list arrow on the Layers palette, and then click Multiply. The two copies combine to create a darker image.
Continue to make copies of the Sketch Effect layer until the image darkens to your taste (this might be 3 layers, or it might be 10).
Merge all the Sketch Effect layers together, but do not merge the original image layer into the Sketch Effect layers.
Note
You can quickly merge layers by using the Merge Down shortcut. Select the top layer, and then press Ctrl+E (Win) or Ctrl+E (Mac). This merges the top layer into the layer directly underneath. Continue using the Merge Down shortcut until all the Sketch layers are merged.
Create another copy of the merged Sketch Effect layer, and select it.
Click the Blending Mode list arrow on the Layers palette, and then click Multiply.
Click the Filter menu, point to Blur, and then click Gaussian Blur.
Add a small amount of Gaussian Blur to taste (1 or 2 Radius). This will soften the edges of the sketch image and create visually softer sketch lines.
Click OK.
Merge the two Sketch Effects layers together.
To colorize the image, select the top layer (Sketch Effect), click the Blending Mode list arrow, and then click Luminosity.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in sketch_fnl.psd. 
Tweaking the Image
The subjective items that will influence the final sketch image are how much you Gaussian Blur the image, and how many additional copy layers you create. Creating more blur enhances the sketch lines, and adding more copy layer, increases the overall density of the final sketch image.
Good to Know: You can increase or decrease the intensity of the Sketch Effect by selecting the Sketch Effect layer and lowering its opacity.
Project 2: Creating a Sharper Image
Skills and Tools: Multiple Layers, Blending Modes, Layer Opacity, and Paint Brush
In the world of photography, not everything has to be in focus. In fact, smart photographers know that placing image elements out of focus will help to draw the eye to the focused areas. However, there are times when you will take a photograph and the image was accidentally, not intentionally, out of focus (I hate it when that happens). Photoshop has several filters that help you create a sharper image. As a matter of fact, Photoshop has five sharpen filters: Sharpen, Sharpen Edges, Sharpen More, Smart Sharpen, and Unsharp Mask. Of these filters, Smart Sharpen (New!), and Unsharp Mask are considered the two most powerful sharpening filters. Unfortunately, all the sharpen filters have one major flaw; they do not separate the sharpening effects from the image, as in an adjustment layer. So, when you click the OK button, you’re stuck with the results. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; however, there is another way. The technique you’re about to learn for sharpening an image does not require any of the sharpening filters, its effect on the image creates a more believable sharpening effect, and the changes to the image are contained within a separate layer. That gives you the control you need to be creative, and get the best visibly pleasing sharpening results possible.
The Project
In this project, you’ll take an out-of-focus image and sharpen it by creating an editable sharpening layer. Separating the sharpening adjustments from the image, gives you creative control over the entire process.
The Process
Open the file lighthouse_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_lighthouse.psd.
Create a duplicate of the image by dragging the layer over the Create New Layer button, or by selecting the layer and pressing Ctrl+J (Win), or +J (Mac).
Click the Image menu, point to Adjustments, and then click Desaturate. The copied layer is converted into shades of gray.
Note
If the image is originally a grayscale image, you can skip step 3.
Create a copy of the desaturated layer and select it.
Click the Image menu, point to Adjustments, and then click Invert. The image layer becomes a grayscale negative (leave the negative image selected).
Click the Blending Mode list arrow on the Layers palette, and then click Color Dodge. The image appears to change to white.
Note
If you see areas of the image that do not change to white, but are pure black, don’t worry, those areas of the image were originally pure black, and they will never convert to white.
Click the Filter menu, point to Blur, and then click Gaussian Blur.
Very slightly blur the image (just a few radius pixels) until you see a soft-ghosted outline of the image.
Click OK.
Select the top layer in the Layers palette, click the Layers Options button, and then click Merge Down, or press Ctrl+E (Win) or +E (Mac).
You should now be left with the original image (the bottom layer), and the softly ghosted image (the top layer), which I’ve named, unsharp mask.
Click the Blending Mode list arrow on the Layers palette, and then click Multiply. The white areas of the ghosted image change to transparent, and the darker lines are blended in with the original image, creating the illusion of sharpness.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in lighthouse_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
It’s possible that the sharpening effect is too intense. If that’s the case, simply reduce the opacity of the top layer to reduce its effect on the image. If, however, the effect is less than you hoped for, simply create a copy of the top layer to double the effect. Additionally, if you want to remove some of the sharpening effects from portions of the image, just select your Paintbrush tool, and paint the top layer using white, in the areas you want removed.
Good to Know: It is actually impossible to sharpen a photograph. Photographs are two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional world. Since there are no optics in a two-dimensional world there can be no sharpening. What happens in this technique is that the unsharp mask layer actually creates visible lines of force around the out-of-focus areas of the image, and the mind interprets those lines as being a sharper image.
Project 3: Restoring Life to Heirloom Images
Skills and Tools: Levels Adjustment Layer
There is nothing more important to a family than its history. History is found in many ways, places, and formats. For example, you may have historical documents that relate to who you are, or you might have physical artifacts from your ancestors. However, nothing strikes an emotional cord more than a photograph. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Yet even while an image freezes a moment in time, the actual photograph is traveling through time and unfortunately, Father Time can do major damage to a photographic image. Fortunately for us we have Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is your time machine for restoring old images. While there are many methods for restoring an old grayscale image, one of the most consistently successful methods is through the use of a Levels Adjustment layer.
The Project
In this project, you’ll take an old image, and through the use of Photoshop’s amazing Adjustment layers, restore the image. It’s not that difficult, and the final results are awesome.
The Process
Open the file three_girls_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_three_girls.psd.
Important
Always scan old grayscale images as RGB, not Grayscale. Most old images begin taking on a color as they age, such as: brown, sepia, or yellow. Although you will want to remove that color, it is information that Photoshop can use to correct the image.
Click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button (half-moon icon), and then click Levels.
The Levels dialog box represents the brightness values of the pixels within the image. The data is called a Histogram, and is similar to a bar chart.
Click the RGB Channel list arrow, and then click the Red channel.
Drag the black input slider to just below the visible rise of the histogram.
Drag the white input slider to just below the visible rise of the histogram (that’s where white has moved to after all those years).
Once you have established the position of black and white, increase the input value of the white slider by 4, and decrease the value of the black slider by 4.
The value of 4 is an average, and based on the image; however, backing down both sliders, you help keep the light and dark areas of the image from blowing out (going pure white or black).
Click the RGB Channel selector, click the Green channel, and then repeat steps 4 thru 6.
Click the RGB Channel selector, click the Blue channel, and then repeat steps 4 thru 6.
If the image still appears a bit too dark or light, return the RGB Channel selection to the RGB option, then drag the middle gray slider to correspondingly lighten or darken the image in the mid-tones.
Click OK.
Click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button (half-moon icon), located at the bottom of the Layers palette, and then click Hue & Saturation.
Drag the Saturation slider to the far left.
Click OK.
This has the effect of removing any unwanted colorcasts from the image.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in three_girls_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
Like all adjustments in Photoshop, nothing is perfect, and no two images are ever adjusted in exactly the same way. Your results will depend on the physical information left within the scanned image. However, with a bit of practice, and knowing exactly how to move the Levels Input sliders, you will achieve fairly consistent results.
Good to Know: The brightness levels of a pixel range from 0 (black) to 255 (white), when you move the input sliders, you’re redefining where black and white are within the active image. As an image ages the original values of black and white shift. The purpose of Levels is to reestablish those positions. Once that’s completed, Levels can approximate the positions of all the other remaining pixels, and balance the image.
Project 4: Enhancing Image Contrast
Skills and Tools: Curves Adjustment Layer, Layer Masks, and Paintbrush
Contrast enhancement differs from sharpening. When you sharpen an image, you’re attempting to fool the eye into seeing a sharper edge. In other words the image looks more in focus. When you enhance contrast, you’re attempting to give the image more separation between the shadows and highlights. In other words, you want your whites whiter, and your darks darker. While Photoshop has an Auto Contrast adjustment (click the Image menu, point to Adjustment, and click Auto Contrast), you will gain much more control over the process if you perform the operation using Curves. The technique you are about to learn will give you a greater understanding of how Curves performs, and let you, not Auto Contrast, decide exactly what areas of the image are to be enhanced. You should understand that enhancing contrast essentially, compresses tonal values within the image. This technique is called a standard “S” contrast curve, and will work to increase the contrast on almost any image. Before you get started, remember, if you are too aggressive, the image will being to look a bit posterized, and you will see banding occur within transitional shadows. Therefore, a soft hand on the controls is recommended.
The Project
In this project, you’ll bump the contrast of a dull image. The process is simple to accomplish, and will help to kick up the contrast values of any image.
The Process
Open the file colorado_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_colorado.psd.
Click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button (half-moon icon), located at the bottom of the Layers palette, and then click Curves.
Create a mid-tone point by clicking on the middle of the diagonal curves adjustment line.
This allows you to lock the mid-tone values of the image.
Create a quartertone highlight point by clicking halfway between the mid-tone point, and the top point on the line.
Create a quartertone shadow point by clicking halfway between the mid-tone point, and the bottom point on the line.
Drag the quartertone highlight point straight up the curves grid (about 1 grid).
Note
If you want to remove a point, click the point and drag it off the grid, or hold the Ctrl (Win) or (Mac) key, and then click the point.
Smart Tip: When you select a point on the Curves grid, you do not have to drag the point using your mouse, instead you can control the active point using your keyboard up, down, left, right arrow keys.
Drag the quartertone shadow point straight down the curves grid (about 1 grid).
Since you locked the mid-tones, you will create what looks like an “S” curved line. This will lighten up the mid-tones of the image, and correspondingly darken the mid-tones.
Continue raising or lowering the quartertone and highlight points until you see the desired results.
Click OK.
Good to Know: If some of the areas of the images do not need the contrast sharpening supplied by the Curves Adjustment layer, simply use you paintbrush on the built in mask to isolate areas of the adjustment. Remember, painting with black masks out the Curves adjustment to the image, and painting with white restores the adjustment.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in colorado_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
It’s possible that you may need to work with the mid-tone point as well. The mid-tone point will not increase or decrease contrast, but will lighten or darken the mid-tones. Therefore, if after enhancing the contrast of the image, you feel overall it’s a bit too dark or light, then click and drag the mid-tone point up or down.
Factoid: The human eye looks for the effect of contrast based on the speed in which tonal values shift. By opening the Curves Adjustment layer, and performing a standard “S” contrast enhancement curve, you are essentially increasing the rate in which the tonal values shift, and fooling the eye into believing there is more contrast.
Project 5: Colorizing a Grayscale Image
Skills and Tools: Multiple Layers, Blending Modes, Layer Opacity, and Paintbrush
Have you ever wanted to colorize an old grayscale image? Well, if you’ve ever wanted to add color to an old image, or ever change the colors within a new color image, then you’ve come to the right place. There are a lot of ways to colorize an image, and Photoshop knows them all. The technique you are about to learn will help you control the colorization process through the use of layers, blending modes and opacity. As a matter of fact, you will be able to control each color within the image and, later change those colors with the click of a button. This method is so powerful that with a little bit of patience and care, the image won’t just look colorized; it will look like an original color image. Just remember this simple item: every time you add a new color to the image, you will add a new layer. This means that a single image may contain twenty or more layers; however the final results are worth it.
The Project
In this project, you’ll take a old, or new grayscale image, and through the use of multiple layers and blending modes create a colorized image that looks like it was taken with color film.
The Process
Open the file colorization_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_colorization.psd.
Click the Create New Layer button, located at the bottom of the Layers palette, and name the layer to correspond to the area of the image you’re coloring.
Click the Blending Mode list arrow, and then click Color.
Select the Paintbrush tool.
Select the color you want to use to paint a specific area of the image within the new layer.
Use the Paintbrush tool to paint an area of the image.
Note
Since you changed the blending mode of the layer to Color, the image retains its details, and only the color (Hue) of the information changes.
Depending on the color you chose, slightly lower the opacity of the layer to make it appear natural.
Note
Different colors require different opacity settings to appear natural. This occurs because of the saturation of the color, and the detail within the areas you are painting. Experiment with opacity settings until the image looks correct.
Repeat steps 2 thru 7 for each individual color within the image.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in colorization_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
Since you are using individual layers to control the colorization process, if you over paint an area, it’s a simple matter to use your eraser tool and remove the offending color information.
Smart Tip: When you change the opacity of a layer, it’s not necessary to click the triangle button, located to the right of the Opacity input box, to access the triangular slider. All you have to do is click the word, Opacity, and drag left or right. It’s that simple.
Project 6: Removing Complex Image Information with Extract
Skills and Tools: Multiple Layers and Extract
Extract has been a part of the Photoshop application since version 5.5, and it’s improved in every version. The primary purpose of the Extract filter is to remove areas of image information from the selected image layer. For example, removing the sky from an image bordered by mountains is not too difficult; owing to the sharp nature of the sky against the mountains. However, what about removing the sky from between the branches of a large tree, or removing the background around a model with wind-tossed hair. It’s problems like that the separate the serious Photoshop user from the tourist. In this workshop you will gain understanding of exactly how the Extract tool performs its magic on removing selective areas of image information. Just remember, it’s not about color; it’s about contrast.
The Project
In this project, you’ll learn the secret to removing simple and complex backgrounds from images using Photoshop’s awesome Extract tool.
The Process
Open the file old_tree_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_old_tree.psd.
Click the Filter menu, and then click Extract.
Select the Highlighter tool and proceed to highlight the areas that contain the edge. As you can see in this example, the highlight tool is used to fill in the entire branch structure of the tree.
Important
This is absolutely the most important step in the Extract process. You are highlighting where the edges of the image interact with the background that you want to remove; in this case the sky. Get this part wrong, then nothing else will work.
Select the Paintbucket tool.
Click to fill in all the areas that are to be saved.
Enter 80 percent in the Smooth box.
The Smoothness option helps to create a softer transitional edge between the areas to save, and the areas to extract.
Click the Preview button to view a preview of the Extract.
The black areas are removed (extracted), and the Paintbucket areas are saved. The only place Photoshop will look for the extraction edge is in the original highlight.
Click OK.
Open the file clouds.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_clouds.psd.
Drag the sky layer into the extract document.
Drag the sky layer below the extract layer to view the results.
The Extract tool removed the sky from around the individual branches of the image, and allowed you to replace it with another sky image.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in old_tree_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
If you are not entirely happy with how the Extract tool performed, you might look at how you highlighted the edge, and try again, or if there is too much missing information, you might still click the OK button, and then use the History brush to fill in small amounts of missing information.
Project 7: Managing Images with Masks
Skills and Tools: Multiple Images, Layer Masks, Paintbrush, and Selection
Layer masks are one of those powerful features in Photoshop that have been around for a long time. The technique you are about to learn will give you a greater understanding of Layer masks, and how they can be used to combine image elements from multiple images. Layer masks let you control the visible elements of a layer by simply painting on the mask. Think of the mask as a piece of black construction paper. You take a pair of scissors and cut a shape out of the construction paper, and lay it directly over the image. The area cut out of the construction paper becomes the visible elements of the image, and the black areas of the construction paper mask everything else. When you work with a Layer mask, you paint with black, white, and shades of gray. Areas of the mask painted black appear transparent, areas painted white are visible (the cutout in the construction paper), and shades of gray produce values of transparency. For example, painting with fifty percent gray, produces fifty percent transparency. Each layer in an image can have its own layer mask, and the mask will control only the elements in the layer they’re attached. As you can see Layer masks are a very powerful, and creative tool.
The Project
In this project, you’ll learn the creative potential of using layer masks to control the visible portions of any layer in Photoshop.
The Process
Open the file lake_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_lake.psd.
Click the Add Layer Mask button, located at the bottom of the Layers palette.
Photoshop creates a mask, and places it to the right of the image thumbnail.
Select the Paintbrush tool.
Select Black as your Foreground color by clicking the Default Colors button.
Important
A layer with an attached mask has two elements: The image thumbnail, and the mask thumbnail. If you want to edit the image, click the image thumbnail. If you want to edit the mask, click the mask thumbnail.
Click the mask thumbnail to select it.
Move into the document window, and begin painting. As you paint the black color converts the image information to transparent.
Note
White painted areas of the mask become 100 percent visible, and painting with shades of gray produces various percentages of transparency, depending on the shade of gray.
Continue painting using black, white, and shades of gray, until you have completely isolated the sky portions of the image.
Smart Tip: You can create a mask by first using selection. Open the image, and before creating the mask, use your selection tools to select the visible areas of the image. Now, when you click the Add Layer Mask button, the mask will be created for you.
Open the sky.psd image in Photoshop, save it as my_sky.psd, and then click in its document window.
Move to the Layers palette, and drag the sky layer into the document window of the image containing the mask. You have just made a copy of the sky layer in the masked image.
Close the sky image.
Click the sky layer in the Layers palette and drag it underneath the masked layer.
The image, which is now defined as a composite, appears with its new sky.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in lake_fnl.psd_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
It’s possible that the visible edge of the masked image and sky appear too sharp and, therefore, unnatural. To help blend the two layers together, simply select the mask thumbnail, and apply a bit of Gaussian Blur to the mask. Click the Filters menu, point to Blur, and choose Gaussian Blur. The blur creates a band of gray pixels on the edge of the black/white areas of the image, and helps blend the two images together.
Good to Know: By default, a mask and image move and transform as a unit. If you want to adjust the mask independently of the image (or vise versa), click once on the chain icon, located between the image and mask thumbnail. The icon will disappear, and the mask and thumbnail can be adjusted or transformed independently.
Icing on the Cake: If you really want to get fancy, you might want to create a reflection of the clouds on the water. To accomplish this, create a copy of the sky layer, select the Edit menu, point to Transform, and then click Flip Vertical. Now, create a mask that only reveals the areas of the water, use the Overlay Blending mode, and slightly lower the opacity. The lake_fnl.psd image contains a sample reflection in a separate layer.
Project 8: Getting Creative with Adjustment Layers
Skills and Tools: Adjustment Layers, Layer Masks, and Paintbrush
Adjustment layers are thought of mostly for image enhancement. For example, the Levels and Curves adjustment layers are excellent tools for restoring lost contrast, or rebalancing out the colors in an old photograph. The technique you are about to learn will give you a greater understanding of how adjustment layers can be used to not only correct image problems, but to generate special effects. The key is in understanding that an adjustment layer can be controlled using its built-in layer mask. The adjustment layer mask functions similar to a normal layer mask; in other words, you can paint the mask with black, white, or shades of gray. However, the results are different. In a normal layer mask, areas of the mask painted black make the corresponding areas of the image transparent, when you paint with black on an adjustment layer mask, you mask out the effects of the adjustment. That means you can create a mask, and isolate its effects on the image by using the mask. While this is a powerful way to control image enhancement, it’s also a great way to use adjustment layers to produce special effect. In addition, when you use an adjustment layer, the changes to the image are contained with the adjustment layer, and never change the original images. This gives you the ability to precisely control the creative process. In this example, you will completely change the mood of an image; using an adjustment layer and mask to create the illusion of looking through blinds.
The Project
In this project, you’ll learn how to use Adjustment layers to precisely control the restoration, and enhancement of any Photoshop image.
The Process
Open the file mystery_woman_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_mystery_woman.psd.
Select the Rectangular Marquee tool.
Create a long rectangular selection from left to right, across the image (like a window blind).
Hold the Shift key, and proceed to draw several more rectangular selections underneath the first.
Note
Holding the Shift key lets you create two or three additional selections within the document window.
Click the Select menu, and then click Inverse (this reverses the selection).
Click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button (half-moon icon), located at the bottom of the Layers palette, and then click Hue/Saturation.
Photoshop creates the adjustment layer, and the mask is created based on the selected areas of the image.
Drag the Lightness slider to the left until the non-masked areas of the image have significantly darkened.
Drag the Saturation slider to the left and lower the saturation value to -20 percent.
Click OK.
Select the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Click the Filter menu, point to Blur, and then click Gaussian Blur.
Drag the Radius slider to the right to slightly blur the adjustment layer mask (you’re looking for the light areas of the mask to resemble sunlight streaming through window blinds).
Click OK.
Use the Paintbrush tool with white (in this example) to paint out the blinds on the right side where they expose the back wall.
The image has now completely changed, and even the mood of the woman seems to be more serious. This is an example of how you can use adjustment layers to change the very mood of a digital image.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in mystery_woman_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
The realism in this effect is all in the Gaussian Blur. Light streaming through blinds, and falling on someone’s face (in this example) would create a soft transition between dark and light. However the amount of blur would be determined by the image, and the resolution of the image. Therefore, don’t look for a specific Radius, just look at the image and stop when you like what you see. Remember, being creative is not about a mathematical equation, it’s about a certain look that you want to create.
Good to Know: The reason we slightly lowered the saturation value of the image is to make it appear more natural. In the real world, when images darken, they have a tendency to loose some of their tonal values, and that effect can be replicated by slightly lowering the saturation of the darker areas.
Project 9: Creating the Illusion of Depth
Skills and Tools: Multiple Documents, Selection, Adjustment Layers, and Blur Filters
When we look at an image in Adobe Photoshop, the photograph is obviously flat. Computers lack one important thing, the third-dimension. Yet, although we know logically that the image is flat, our minds still persist in see the image as three-dimensional. For example, you’re looking at an image of a landscape with mountains in the background, white puffy clouds in the sky, and your Uncle Charley waving in the foreground. The depth you perceive within the image is based on how our mind perceives three-dimensional objects, on a two-dimensional monitor, or page. The technique you are about to learn will give you a visible demonstration of how the illusion of depth can be achieved within a digital image. In this workshop, you will open two images, move one into the other, and using a few simple techniques, create the visual illusion of depth.
The Project
In this project, you’ll learn how to blur selective areas of an image to focus the viewer’s eye to specific portions of the image, and to create a feeling of depth within the image.
The Process
Open the file lincoln_monument_start.psd in Photoshop, save it as my_lincoln_monument, and then open soldier.psd.
Click in the document window of the image you want to move (in this example, soldier.psd).
Drag the layer from the Layers palette into the document window of the receiving document.
Close the document (solder.psd).
Move to the Layers palette and select the bottom layer.
Click the Filter menu, point to Blur, and then click Lens Blur.
Adjust the Lens Blur options until you create a soft blur.
Click OK.
Select the bottom layer in the Layers palette.
Click the Add Fill Or Adjustment Layer button (half-moon icon), and click Hue/Saturation.
Drag the Saturation slider to the left and reduce the saturation value to -20 percent.
Click OK.
With the background blurred and partially desaturated, the mind maps a greater distance between the foreground objects and the background, creating the illusion of depth.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in lincoln_monument_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
Blurring the background using the Lens blur filter, as opposed to the Gaussian Blur filter, creates a bit more realism within the image. You can vary the amount of Lens Blur to increase or decrease the effect depth.
Good to Know: The human eye does not like to look at blurred objects. Therefore, when you blur specific areas of an image, not only are you generating the illusion of depth within the image, you’re helping to direct the viewer’s eyes to the focused areas.
Project 10: Simulating High-Contrast Films
Skills and Tools: Layers and Image Adjustment Commands
Photography has been around for a long time. In the beginning there was only the ability to shoot in grayscale, and photographers were sad; well some of them anyway. Then, around the second quarter of the last century, we started working with color, and photographers rejoiced with great joy. Grayscale was pushed to the back, in favor of the “realism” produced by shooting in color. Never mind, that photographers were seldom able to produce the color values they saw, who cared... we had color. Fast forward to the present, where for many years grayscale photography has made a fantastic comeback. Unfortunately, simply converting an RGB digital image into grayscale doesn’t actually represent the films and photographic papers of years past with their dramatic shifts from dark to light and fixed contrast values. That’s where the Channel Mixer comes into play. In this workshop, you will gain better understanding of how to reproduce old grayscale photographic effects, using the Channel mixer.
The Project
In this project, you’ll learn how to age a photograph to simulate old high-contrast films; such as those used in glass-plate photography.
The Process
Open the file high_contrast_start.psd in Photoshop, and then save it as my_high_contrast.psd.
Select the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button (half-moon icon), located at the bottom of the Layers palette, and then click Channel Mixer.
Select the Monochrome check box.
Drag the Red and Green sliders to the right, and then drag the Blue slider to the left.
This will have a tendency to compress the tonal values and create a starker image, reminiscent of old grayscale photography. The best results come from dragging the Red channel to the extreme right, the Blue channel to the extreme left, and use the the Green channel to establish a bit of balance.
Drag the Constant slider to the right or left to lighten the mid-tone values of the final image.
Click OK.
Compare this image to a normal grayscale version of the color image, and the difference is very dramatic.
The Results
Finish
Compare your completed project file with the image in high_contrast_fnl.psd.
Tweaking the Image
As you can see, there is not a lot of work in producing this awesome effect. Remember, to get those harsh contrast values, reduce the Blue channel while increasing the Red and Green channels, and then use the Constant value to lighten or darken the final image.
Icing on the Cake: You’re not limited to creating the entire image as an old grayscale film document. You could, for example, use the Adjustment layer mask, and then remove the effect from all the areas of the image except the tree... think outside the box, and you’ll see amazing things happen.
Lessons to be Learned: What does performing this technique on an image teach us? Well, for one thing it lets us know that striving for realism (full color) is not always the only objective of a photographer. Sometimes replicating old films and remembering where we came from is not so bad an idea. I’d like to think that Ansel Adams would be proud.
Want More Projects
You can access and download more workshop projects and related files at www.perspection.com. After you download the files from the Web, uncompress the files into a folder on your hard drive to which you have easy access from Photoshop.
Get Everything on CD
Instead of downloading everything from the Web, which can take a while depending on your Internet connection speed, you can get all the files used in this book and much more on a Photoshop CS3 On Demand CD. The CD contains task and workshop files, tips and tricks, keyboard shortcuts, and other goodies from the author.
To get the Photoshop CS3 On Demand CD, go to www.perspection.com.