Photoshop CS4 vs. CS3

The Best Thing about Photoshop CS4

 I love reading up on people’s favorites. I find that the latest and greatest material is often the most beneficial. For anyone considering upgrading from CS3 to CS4 I want to share with you what I consider to be the best improvement in Photoshop from the latter versions. I purchased Photoshop CS4 about a year ago and it has a new feature that adds tremendously value to the upgrade, in my opinion; it is now one of my favorite features on Photoshop! It is the Vibrance tool and it can be located on the convenient adjustments panel on the right-hand-side.

What this tool does is increase the saturation of an image but, being a photo-editing program, it is especially sensitive to skin-tones, allowing you to improve the overall color of your photographs without having to single out certain sections of a photo with the Magic Wand/Magnetic Lasso tools to achieve the right hue. Selective color can also be very useful in bringing out certain colors since it applies the filter to certain colors in an entire photograph. This tool, however can be found in both CS3 and in CS4.

The Vibrance tool also gives the skin a more tanned look whereas the Saturation tool makes skin look very yellow and discolored. The Saturation tool can also be used but this often has a very harsh and extreme look and it is usually quite obvious that the finished product has been tampered with.

The following shows an example of some photographs in their original states, and then after Vibrance and Saturation have been applied with the same percentage in both Saturation and Vibrance.

Notice the excessive yellow tint throughout the Saturated photograph and how it destroys the ambiance in the picture. Now notice the next example of a landscape:

There is a definite improvement with both the Vibrance and with the Saturation but, again, the grass looks too yellow to be realistic. This would be a good example of a photo that would require the use of the Magic Wand/Magnetic Lasso tools I spoke about before in order to apply the effect selectively (in this case, the sky).

I have tried the Vibrance tool on many different types of photos and it has improved many photographs, especially older ones. The newer, more high-end cameras coming out now seem to require fewer touch-ups when editing but one will inevitably come into contact with many poorly taken photographs that are indispensable and could use a little more Vibrance. This tool has improved many of my photos, I encourage you to check it out and to try it undestructively (use adjustment layers) on some of your own. Compare before and after – I think you will be equally impressed.

Avatar Eyes

Hi everyone! I am excited about this tutorial. There is a new movie coming out called Avatar with fantasy human-like beings and I thought I would do a tutorial on how to create a similar look on a photo of yourself.

This is the poster for the upcoming movie Avatar:

Step 1:

Select pupil of the eye then go to Select > Modify >Feather and feather the selection with 20 pixels.

Step 2:

Copy and past the selection three times by pressing Ctrl>C, Ctrl>V three times. Set the blending mode to Screen for all of the eye layers. The end product should look like this:

Step 3:

Add a Curves adjustment layer with the following adjustments made to the red, green, and blue settings:

Step 4:

Add a Levels adjustment layer with the following settings:

The picture should look like this:

Step 5:

Use your Brush tool and draw a similar shape as shown then select Soft Light for the blending mode.

I used a brush size of 200 color #45adca.

Step 6:

Change the brush size to 4 pixels then go to Window > Brushes and apply the following settings:

Step 7:

Create a new layer and call it glitter. With the Brush tool still selected, set the opacity to 80% and give your model some glitter.

Step 8:

Add an Exposure adjustments layer with the following settings:

Step 9:

Lastly (optional) add some decorative swirls and such to your model using the brush tool. Be sure to do this on a new layer. Set the blending mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 70%. Add a white Outer Glow with the following properties:

The finished product:

Glamorous Christmas Lights

Kick off the holiday season with a new technique that will glam up any picture of Christmas lights, giving it a glow like never before!

Step 1:

Open the desired picture in Photoshop and start by duplicating the layer. Give the layer an input mask and select Image > Apply Image. Hold down alt and click on the input mask. The photo should reveal the applied input mask and be black and white. Go to Image > Adjustments > Threshold and adjust so that the only white areas are the tiny Christmas lights from the picture.

When you are finished, select the brush tool and the color to #000000 and remove all of the areas you wish to exclude from the light effect.

Step 2:

Set the Blending Mode to Screen and duplicate the layer.

Step 3:

Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and select anywhere between 100 and 170 works best. for fewer lights a larger streak is appropriate, however, the picture can become clouded when a large streak accompanies many detailed lights.

Select the other layer and apply the same motion blur, only change the Angle to -45.

Step 4:

To make the streaks more visible select each one individually and go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

Apply to the other layer then highlight both layers, right-click and select Duplicate Layers to intensify the effect.

The finished product will look as follows:

Give your photos depth of field

Step 1:

Duplicate the layer then select the part of the photograph you wish to bring to the forefront using the selection tools. The selected area will be bordered with marching ants like so:

Step 2:

Select the opposite area by pressing Shift>Ctrl>I. Next go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply a blur of about 20%.

 

Step 3:

Next, select the Erase tool, set the opacity to around 20% and use a large brush with 0% hardness. Eras the areas closest to the object that would not be completely out of focus. The opacity and feather will prevent this from having such a harsh effect.

Step 4:

If you would like to add a shadow border for special effect, merge the layer, double-click on the merged layer and apply the following effects:

The finished product:

A Fun CrAzY Effect YOU Can Apply to Almost Any Photo

Step 1:

Open your picture in photoshop. Create a new layer and fill the layer with a preferable background color.

Step 2:

Using the eliptical marquee tool, make large circles as shown.

Step 3:

Using the paint bucket tool, fill the circles with a different, but complementary, color.

Step 4:

Press Ctrl>D simultanously to deselect (important for desired effect). Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set it somewhere around 60. and press OK.

Step 4:

Place your cut-out over the background. We are now going to apply a similar effect only with a more customized placing of the circles so that the bubble-like ‘glow balls’ excentuate the cut-out. Use a different color here also but apply the same effect. Here is my background with and without the cut-out:

Step 5:

Using the pen tool, draw out a customized path for your swirly glowing banner that will envelop your photo. This might take a bit of work but I have found that the tighter the curls are, the better, the more loops the better, and the more intricate the better. You should end up with a work path that looks something like this:

Step 6:

Press B to activate the brush tool. Open your caligriphic brushes and select the following brush (with size 10, not 911):

Go to Window > Brushes and tick Shape Dynamics. Make sure that Control is set to Pen Pressure and that Maximum Diameter is set to 40% like so:

Step 7:

Press A to use your direct select arrow. Move the arrow over the path, right click and select Stroke Path > Brush. You picture will end up looking like this:

Step 8:

Apply the following effects to your glow-banner:

Step 9:

Now duplicate the layer by right clicking on the layer in the layers palette and selecting Duplicate Layer > Ok. Once the layer has been duplicated click V to activate your Move tool and then cick ^ three times and > three times. Duplicate this new layer and move it the same amount of spaces. Continue until you have four or five lines to make up your banner. When you are done merge the glow banner layers together.

Step 10:

Select the Erase tool by pressing E and erase the areas of the banner that would be hidden if it were weaving in and out of objects in the photograph. The end product should look somethinglike this:

Bring out colors in black & white photographs

Bringing attention to certain objects by color-extraction in a black and white photo is not a new concept. However, while it is quite popular with wedding photographers I am finding that few actually know how to do this in Photoshop.

In this tutorial I will show you how to extract an object and improve the quality of its’ color while leaving the background in black and white.

Step 1: Right click on your background layer and select “Duplicate Layer”. It should appear in your layers pallet like so:

Step 2: Pick out what, in your photograph, you wish to feature. In this example I will be featuring the rose.

Select your feature using the Quick Selection tool, the Magic Wand tool, the Marquee tool, or any of the Lassos. You should have little marching ants walking around your photograph like so:

Step 3: With the feature still selected go to Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance OR, if you are using CS3: Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Saturation. This will do basically the same thing. If you would like to learn more about the difference between the two you can check out my blog entitled:.

I used 70% for my Vibrance and, for CS3 users, 12% Saturation:

Now, because the selection was made, Photoshop automatically created an input mask and applied the vibrance to the selected area. However, if you ever wish to apply an adjustment to the topmost layer select this button:

Step 4: Select the bottom layer/the original “Background” layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and bring Saturation to 0%:

This will turn the photo black and white. The old image is still visible, though.

Step 5:  To erase the colored image you do not wish to show hold down Ctrl and click on the input mask in the Vibrance layer. This will select the feature again.

Press Ctrl > Shift > I simultaneously to select inverse and then press Delete. The end product should look somewhat like this:

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. This is a very flexible effect and can be applied in endless ways. Here are some other photos of my own where I used this effect. Enjoy!

I hope you’re inspired !

Photoshop Weight Loss Program: 20-pound loss in 4 minutes guaranteed

So I thought it would be fun to give a tutorial on how to shed the pounds in your photos. You can also use this tool to warp photographs or to enhance muscles.

Step 1:

We will apply the strongest effect by liquefying the photo. This feature can be used both for weight loss/gain, for warping photos, or for enhancing muscles. You can find this feature in Filter > Liquefy. Once there you will only be using the following tools.

Select the Pucker tool as shown and apply to the areas you wish to reduce in size. When performing the initial pucker it is always best to start off with a larger brush and then to gradually reduce the brush size to alter particular problem areas.

You can also use the forward warp tool to push difficult areas “into shape”. Be careful that you do not use it as the primary tool as it can leave the photograph looking unprofessional.

Step 2:

I like to use the burn and dodge tools to fix up specific areas by bringing out the shadows and pushing back the highlights where needed. This takes an eye for which areas need fixing up. Step back and ask yourself, “What looks off? If he/she were this size how would he/she look different?” I have highlighted the “problem areas” in my photograph:

My finished product:

Create a unique team-photo to share with friends

In this tutorial I will be teaching you how to jazz up your photo with an exciting background and effects. I will also be teaching you how to cut out the portion of the photograph that you wish to use for the compilation.

 Step one:

 You can select your section of the picture several different ways. The three ways I used in my picture are the Elliptical tool, the Lasso tool, and the magic wand tool.

 

• The Elliptical tool allows you to select areas by using shapes. You can resize by clicking and dragging and you can move your sized selection by pressing the spacebar while you resize.
• The Lasso tool allows you to select areas freehand, magnetically (the line clings to obvious lines in the photographs), or with a straight-line – depending on which one you use.
• The magic wand tool allows to you select certain areas based on color.

 Once your selection has been made delete the surrounding bits of the photograph by selecting Select > Inverse > Delete. Your picture should look like this with the background removed:

 Step Two:

Now for the background; double-click on the selection in the layers palate and give it a stroke with the following properties:

 Step three:

 Right-click on the same layer and select Convert to Smart Object. Repeat steps two and three until you have filled the screen with the desired number of outlines. This will create a unique, custom outline that will revolve around the picture selection and really make it stand out.

Step Four:

 Add text. You may use whatever style text you want. Below are the properties I used for the photograph:

 

My finished product:

 

The finished product will look different with each individual photo you edit. So experiment with different colors and stroke sizes. Good luck!

Glamour-shot glow

I recently had to submit a picture for the program of a pageant I will be in but I had no professional glamour-shot to submit … so I made one of my own. In this tutorial I will show you how to put a professional glow on a picture of your own!

Step 1: Duplicate your picture by right-clicking and selecting “Duplicate image” then select “OK” to accept the default settings.

Step 2: Apply an input mask by selecting the following button from the bottom of the layers pallet:

Step 3: Select the input mask

then select Image > Apply Image and the image will show up in the input mask in a black and white form. Hold down alt (or option on a Mac) and reselect the input mask and the image shown will be the input mask.

Step 4: Refine areas you wish to show through. Select Image > Adjustments > Threshold and I have found that a good rule of thumb is to adjust the threshold until 3/4ths of the face is white.

Optional: You can color parts of the picture with the brush tool that you don’t want featured as heavily. I used a partially opaque brush to end up with a final mask that looks like this:

Step 5: Click on the top layer to show the original image then change the image to screen mode:

Step 6: With the top image selected go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. I have applied a blur of 8.7 here:

Step 7: Decrease the opacity to give a more natural, professional look. I have reduced it ton 72% here but each image will vary.

Final results:

Hide blemishes and smooth out your skin in 5 easy steps

Hi and welcome to TipWel. My name is Meredith and today I will be showing you how to fix up those special occasion photographs quickly and non-destructively. We all know that special occasions (proms, weddings, graduation, etc.) are often accompanied by much stress and, therefore, can temporarily result in bad skin. Not for you! Follow this guide to re-vamping your photo and learn how easily you can transform your look in minutes!

First find a picture in need of fixing and open it in Photoshop. In the picture I chose, there are no blemishes but I will show you how to fix an individual blemish by removing a freckle from her shoulder.

Step 1: Duplicate the layer

Duplicate the layer twice by right clicking on the background layer and selecting Duplicate Layer (then repeat). I named my new layer “After,” the second layer “Layer 1″ and the third “Before.”

Your layers pallet should be in this order:

Step 2: Hide any unwanted blemishes

Select the Clone Stamp tool from the toolbar . Change the opacity to around 70% like so:

 

Now place the cursor near an area of smooth skin that resembles the area being covered, hold down alt (PC) or command (Mac) and click. If the brush size is not ideal, right-click and resize accordingly. Place the brush over the blemish and click. You may reset your sample area anytime by holding down alt/command and clicking.

Step 3: Blur the bottom image

Select Layer 1 then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 2.4 (if this is too strong or weak fro the photograph you may adjust accordingly). By having separate layers you are able to go back and change settings undestructively.

Step 4: Set up photograph

Select the top layer and add an Input Mask by clicking the following button  at the bottom of the layers pallett. Make sure that the foreground color is set to white and the ackground color is set to black then select the eraser tool  . 

Step 5: Reveal Layer 1

Carefully erase the open areas of skin where there is little to no detail to reveal the blurred image underneath. Try to avoid creases and hairs, as well as the lips and eyes.

The final before and after shot:

I hope you’ve enjoyed this one. It is one of my favorite techniques.