Workshop
Q&A
| Q1: | How do I decide which filter to try? |
| A1: | As you've seen, you can't always judge a filter by its name. If you want an “art” effect, decide first whether you want full color or limited color. For the latter, look at the Sketch filters. Consider how abstract you want to get.
Cutout and Conté Crayon are both successful with most pictures. |
| Q2: | Is there a way to tone down a filter that does what I want, but does too much of it? |
| A2: | Yes. Near the top of the Edit menu is a command called Fade. It enables you to change the strength of the filter from 100%–0%. |
| Q3: | Are the filters that come with Photoshop CS all there are? |
| A3: | Nope! There must be literally thousands of filters that have been created by individuals or companies. You can locate them by searching for “Photoshop filters” or try the following Web pages:
http://www.flamingpear.com/blade.html (This site has several awesome sets of shareware plug-ins.) http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Software/Graphics/Filters_and_Plug_ins/ (This site links to many pages of filters and other useful Photoshop goodies.) |
Quiz
| 1: | The colored pencil filter applies
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| 2: | Sumi-e is Japanese for
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| 3: | Photoshop Artistic filters, in general, tend to _______ an image.
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| 4: | The Chrome filter is best used with type.
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Quiz Answers
| A1: | b. Try applying it twice with the image rotated 90 degrees between applications. It's a very cool effect. |
| A2: | a. If you knew sushi… |
| A3: | b. If an image is dark to start with, it might turn black. |
| A4: | a. At least, in my opinion… |
Exercises
Use a picture you already have, or download one of the three used in this hour, and try the Artistic, Brush, and Sketch filters. (You can find them at the Sams Web site mentioned in the Introduction.) Experiment with different settings and then try applying the same filter a second time. Also, see how fading a filter can make its effect more useful. Try applying a second filter over the first. Some combinations work better than others. See whether you can find a combination that turns your photo into a work of art.