Mixing PS and Photography

[nomaddan]

There was some interest in how I put together my post in the "Show Your Creativity"

http://aquatic-photography.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3963&page=7&pp=10

forum so I put this together. If any part of this is unclear let me know and I will try to explain it better.

Here is the finished product...

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/T07.jpg

I started with two different images.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/001_OriginalPics.jpg

I used the Quick Mask tool to select the Tulip and saved the selection in case I needed it later. The Quick Mask Tool allows you to use the paint brush as a selection tool. Paint with white to select and use black to unselect. I started out with the Magic Wand to select the large areas around the tulip then inverted the selection. I then went back in Quick Mask mode to get the detailed edges of the tulip. I cut the tulip out and pasted it on its own layer.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/01_QuickMask_Background.jpg

For the frame I made a box with the Rectangle tool and filled it with black then went to Select > Modify > Contract to shrink the selection and deleted the middle. Using the Free Transform tool I tilted the Frame.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/02_FlowethroughBox.jpg

To give the frame the "metal" Look I locked the transparency so I would only affect the frame. The lock transparency is in the Layers window up top. It looks like a checker board. When you click on it a lock will appear in the Layer you are working on. I then went to Filter > Render > Clouds. The color of the clouds will depend on what colors you have set as foreground and background in the tool box. I used black and white . I then went to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. I used Gaussian and clicked the Monochromatic box. You can use whatever values you think works best. After adding noise I put on a Motion Blur From Filter > Blur Motion Blur

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/03_AddEffectstoFrame.jpg

To change the frames color I made a copy of it on its own layer. Painted it blue and set it below the original. The opacity for the original and the copy were set to 50% to soften it a little. On the Original I added a Drop Shadow and Bevel by double clicking on the thunbnail in the Layer window.

For the shadow, make a copy of the tulip layer. Click Transparency Lock and paint the copy black. Set it below the original in the Layer Window. Use the Free Tranform tool to tilt it to the angle you want. To get rid of the leaves that were hanging over the frame I use the Magic Wand tool and selected inside of the frame. Do select Inverse and hit delete after selecting the shadow layer. I did a Gaussian Blur by going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian and set the opacity at 50%.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/04_TulipShadow.jpg

I used the original Image again to set the background in the frame. Using the Magic Wand tool again I selected the inside of the frame did a select inverse and deleted the leftover part of the image. I set the background image at 50% opacity to fade it out. I added a layer and filled the inside of the frame with white set to 100% opacity and placed it under the framed background image to hide the larger background I would be adding later.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/05_FramedBG.jpg

To give the frame a glass look I added a layer and used the Gradient tool with a slight gray at the edges and white in the middle to add the glare.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/06_GlassWGrad.jpg

For the larger background I took the sky from the original image, rotated it 90 degrees and enlarged it to about twice its size. After palcing it I used the Crop tool around the whole piece to get rid of the extra that you don't see.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/07_TulipSky.jpg

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/08_AddSkytoBackground.jpg

For the streakes I added a layer and with blue as the foreground color and white as the background color I rendered clouds, used the magic wand tool to select part of the white and deleted it.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/09_RenderCloudsSelectandDelete.jpg

For the streakes I added noise and put on a motion blur.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/10_RenderCloudsSelectandDeleteBlur.jpg

The sky backround was set to 45% opacity. I added a layer and filled it with blue, set the opacity at 100% and set the Blending Mode to Hue. The Streakes layer is on top of the Blue layer and the Sky background is on the bottom.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/11_SolidBlue.jpg

For the large tulip on the right I deleted everything around it and enlarged it.

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/12_BGTulip.jpg

I used the sky from the second image focusing on the clouds, enlarged it to about twice its size and set it so the clouds are on the left side of the background with the opacity at 50%. I placed the sky from the second image under ther sky fro the original and put the large tulip at the bottom.

Here is the layer order:

http://aquatic-photography.com/gallery/files/5/5/2/LayerOrder.jpg

This is my first attempt at a tutorial. I hope it is clear. If anyone has suggestions about making it better I am all ears. I hope you enjoy!

Dan

[squidfish]

Dan


Interesting article and very well set out. It has got me thinking on how I may extend my limited photoshop skills and apply some of these techniques to having some fun with some fish photographs.

May be this should be placed in the article section?

Cheers

Rich

[Ibn]

Very nice tutorial! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[paradise]

Agree, it should be... and it is:

http://aquatic-photography.com/forum/article.php?a=18

Great job, Dan. Even if I dont understand half of it :)

[nomaddan]

Thanks! It was a challenge for. I have never had to explain what I was doing before :).

Ed, if you need me to clarify anything let me know

Thanks Again!

Dan

[Obliviou$]

Great tutorial. There's so much more to photoshop than any of us will ever now.
That software is a miracle.

I'll have to try this one sometime.

[Willy wombat]

Wow Dan your skills in PS are quite advanced. I found it a little hard to keep up, but thankyou for the great tutorial. Will have to try something like this one day!