Innehållsförteckning för Issue 9 2024 från Photoshop User

1 We have opened another image that needs some fixing. It is a sunrise on the moors that is a little underexposed and needs some work to bring out the foreground, while keeping the sky relatively untouched, since that is quite well exposed. This is where the use of layers and masks will help us out. 2 First, the colour balance needs to be adjusted. The image is a little too magenta and warm, particularly if you look at the colour of the grass. This can be altered by using a really simple trick that can be really effective and requires the use of layers to do it. 3 Press Cmd + J to copy the Background layer. Name the new layer 'remove cast'. Then go to Filter > Blur > Average. This…

Brush Tool 1 The Brush Tool (B) is one of the most often used tools in the photo editor’s arsenal. Whether you are painting directly over a photo, or adding brush strokes to a layer, the Brush Tool is designed to behave like its real world counterpart but with more powerful features built in. 2 When you click on the Brush Tool, the options available are quite varied. You can control brushes with your mouse or if you use a tablet, you can control it as if it were an airbrush with pressure sensitive effects for more artistic flair. 3 You can choose any number of brush types from the brush picker and alter the Size and Opacity values. You can also load new brushes that can be purchased and downloaded from a…

Thanks to digital technology you can be a makeup artist and control exactly how you want your subject to look. Naturally, there are numerous ways you can go about retouching skin. Some techniques are very simple but do not give natural results. Some people take it to extremes and end up with their models looking like mannequins. All we are looking to do is make our model’s skin look as healthy and glowing as possible. We are going to use a technique called frequency separation. Simply put, you break the base image down into two components. One layer carries just colour and tonal information, the other layer holds detail and texture. This means you can work on one, without affecting the other. It’s a simple and effective method. 1 Our example…

Active layer The layer currently selected in the Layers panel. Adjustment layer A layer that lets you apply colour and tonal adjustments to your image without permanently changing pixel values. Use adjustment layers to experiment with colour and colour tones. You can think of an adjustment layer as a veil through which the underlying layers are seen. Adobe Bridge Bridge is a browser application produced by Adobe Systems as part of the Creative Suite and is usually installed alongside Photoshop. Its main function is as the file management hub of the Creative Suite. It can be used to open, manage, rate and rename files as well as edit their metadata. Adobe RGB The RGB colour space profile by Adobe Systems, Incorporated. It provides a large gamut of colours. Aliasing The…

Rectangular Marquee 1 This tool lets you make selections of square or rectangular areas of your image. In addition to making the selection, you can add to it, subtract from it and intersect with it. You can make selections of a fixed size, fixed ratio or normal aspects. You can also feather and refine the edge. Elliptical Marquee 2 The Elliptical Marquee tool behaves in the same way as the Rectangular Marquee tool and has the same tool options available. You can make circular and elliptical selections of any size or proportion. If you hold the Alt key, you can centre your ellipse over the cursor position. Lasso 3 The Lasso tool can be used to make area selections from your image or active layer. The shapes you select with the Lasso tool…

Crop Tool 1 The Crop Tool (C) is the most common method of cutting areas of your photo off in order to change the composition and proportions. When you click the tool, the options panel will display some suggestions for you as to how it thinks the image can be cropped. You can use those or make your own crop. 2 You can use set proportions to crop or you can go it alone with no restrictions and make your own crop. Simply click and drag your mouse across the area of the scene that you want to be cropped and a gridded box will show you the current crop. You can click the green commit arrow to proceed. 3 Within the crop tool options you also have the Cookie Cutter Tool (C),…

Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are part of the same scene. In this tutorial we will be looking at a fairly typical approach for the two main elements of the image which is the grey/neutral background compositing technique. Shooting your main subject against a grey screen gives them a well defined edge that makes the process of blending them into another environment all the easier. Grey screen compositing is the choice of many graphics professionals and is easier to do than you might think. We have a scenario in which we have a photo of a cellist and want to put them into a much grander environment than just a grey background. 1 Go…

Quick Mode 1 We start in the Quick mode workspace with a sunrise image of a pier that is in need of some work to make it look its best. The first thing to do is remove that large black spot in the top right corner: probably a bit of mud stuck to the lens, currently spoiling the shot. 2 To remove such a blemish, you can go to the toolbar and choose the Spot Healing Brush Tool (J). When you choose this tool, the Tool Option panel displays Spot Healing Brush options. You can choose Spot Healing Brush or Healing Brush to remove the spot. 3 The main difference between the two brushes is that the Spot Healing Brush lets you paint directly over the blemish and then works out what to…

Eye Tool 1 Red-eye is caused by light from the flash of a camera reflecting off the blood vessels at the back of the eye when the pupil is wide open. If you happen to find a favourite photo where your subject has red-eye, then it is a simple process to remove it. 2 Click the Eye Tool (Y) and simply click your cursor over the offending redness in the eyes of your subject. The tool will remove the redness and you can alter Pupil Radius and Darken values to make sure the red has been completely removed. It can also be set for Pet Eye as well. Closed Eye Correction 1 Another great function available in the options panel is the function to open closed eyes. Click the Open Closed Eyes button…

Blue skies are wonderful. They mean we are having a lovely sunny day. This is particularly meaningful if you live in the UK, which is often the butt of jokes about its horrible weather. No better time then to get out and take some photographs. The only problem you may find if you’re anything like us, is that landscapes shot on days like this can look a little dull. The light is great, but the sky is lacking in any drama and it’s just a big, blue, empty canvas. Sometimes the sky is lovely but it’s in the wrong part of the image in relation to the landscape you were trying to shoot. Well, there is an answer to your woes with sky swapping. It requires your primary photo and…

Dodging and burning have their roots in the days of analogue photography, long before digital cameras and computers were in use. Dodging refers to the technique of lightening an image at the darkroom stage by reducing the exposure of a photographic print in specific areas. Burning is the opposite, where parts of the image are exposed for longer onto the print, making those areas darker. With the advent of digital technology the process is done on a computer but the basic principle and its terminology remain the same. In our example we had a basic image that was lacking in contrast; using the dodge and burn techniques, brightness and contrast was selectively added to produce a much stronger image. 1 Begin by opening a relevant image to work on. Go to…

Rain is great, as long as you’re not caught out in it without your umbrella. It is certainly a favourite of cinema to add a more brooding feel to a shot. If you’ve ever seen films like Seven and the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic Blade Runner, you can see that rain is treated almost like a character in its own right. In this tutorial we are going to show you how you can make your own rain and take your images to a different level. We have an example shot of a dog looking very unimpressed by being out in wet conditions. The photo was taken during a lull in the rain, but perhaps the rain can be started up again, to make the dog even more grumpy. 1 The process…