Table of contents for No. 148 in Photoshop Creative

Filters tend to have a bad reputation among digital artists, as admittedly Photoshop boasts far more complex features. However, you might be surprised to learn that many of the most impressive-looking pieces of digital art have used filters in one way or another. This issue’s opening feature looks at the ways filters can be used for creative effects, whether it’s to make final enhancements or totally transform an image. Turn to p18 and discover their full potential. If you’d rather learn how to get even more from layers and masks, there is plenty in the way of step-by-step tutorials inside. Create fantasy effects, add drama to compositions, retouch portrait shots and much more. There is also an advanced guide on using Photoshop with third-party programs, as more and more of…

Anthony Mwangi www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/Antodezigns Image of the issue I used a drawing of a woman as a base for this work. I used fish references to draw a few fish, duplicated several layers, and used Puppet Warp to copy them across. I used the Oil Paint filter for a wet feel. Emad Helail www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/emad%20helail This image was composited with leaf stock photos, and colour correction was used to blend the image together. The finishing touches were made to the image with the help of filters. David Zuker www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/davidzuker I created this image with Photoshop and Google’s Nik software; 95% is made with collage and photomanipulation techniques, with 5% of the work being digital airbrushing. Anders Wik www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/WikMedia With a copy of the original image, I used tools like Clone Stamp and…

Morning rituals 08:45 While browsing tech and design blogs, I outline the day’s design and management priorities before getting to work with the first of many coffees and zoning out with retrowave music. Team briefing 10:00 We each provide an overview of our work in progress, any new developments, pitches, proposals and projects that need scheduling, or where input is needed from others – generally sweating about how we’ll fit it all in. Get cracking! 10:30 Working as a team or solo, the nature of work is fluid and the perfectly planned day rapidly deviates to accommodate urgent requests, unexpected deadlines and those pesky amends. Working on multiple projects means priorities are juggled during the day. It rarely goes to plan. Client meetings 12:00 Designers meet directly with clients to…

Essentials Works with What you’ll learn How to use layers, create brushes and use layer masks Time taken 2hours Expert Vicki-Lea Boulter “The idea behind this image is to encourage children to explore their imagination through play. “I am a creative portrait photographer from Devon. I make images mostly of women and children that express their personalities through artistic storytelling. I use Photoshop to layer my art, photographs and other mediums, fusing several ideas to form one concept.” The idea behind this image is to create a fantasy composite child’s portrait that captures the imagination and ideas of children in a picture, using layers, masks and brushes (plus a little bit of magic!). By building up the layers, we will not only create a more exciting image than using a…

Essentials Works with What you’ll learn How to retouch colour corrections without damaging skin textures Time taken 1hour Expert John Ross “If you can master frequency separation, you can make your adjustments more seamless than ever. “With 20 years’ experience in the field, I educate photographers and retouchers by expanding their knowledge through my website www.TheArtofRetouching.com. I also carry out comprehensive live classes in New Haven, Connecticut.” Nothing is more breathtaking than the natural beauty of an image. While it’s your job as the retoucher to tone down blemishes, removing the imperfections completely makes your image look dull and fake. So how do you determine if you’re on the right track with your colour and texture corrections, and how do you know if you’ve gone too far? Achieving subtle adjustments…

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR Illustrator is the go-to tool for drawing intricate and complex vectors that have a myriad of potential uses. Vectors can be imported into Photoshop to add texture, lighting effects and so on, or to incorporate them into mixed-media designs. ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS After Effects is Adobe’s package for creating high-end motion graphics and visual effects. It works seamlessly with Photoshop, plus layers, styles, masks and so on all translate well from one to another. MAXON CINEMA 4D A popular choice for creating advanced 3D graphics, Cinema 4D is a good program for those new to 3D design as well as professionals in the field. It is common for renders to be taken into Photoshop for post-production. PIXOLOGIC ZBRUSH ZBrush is the tool of choice for digital sculpting and…

The third-party plug-in market is exploding with options to help expand and enhance the capabilities of Photoshop. Using Photoshop in combination with these can result in new functionality that can take your work to the next level. Here are five plug-ins that are worth a look at, and they’re all available for free on this issue’s FileSilo: 1. GrutBrushes These Photoshop brushes are realistic and responsive, which gives a natural painting experience if you want to replicate traditional media quickly and easily. 2. GlamourGlow Lite www.pixnub.com Add quick glamour effects to photos, with a choice of style and customisation options. A great way to quickly edit photos without having to do it manually. 3. Layrs Control http://madebyvadim.com/layrs/ This is a great addition to any busy artist’s toolset! The Layrs Extension…

ADD CONTRAST Use the Levels panel (Cmd/ Ctrl+L) to improve the contrast and tone in your finished image. SHARPEN As a finishing touch, hit Cmd/Ctrl+Alt/Opt+Shift+E, go to Filter>Other>High Pass, choose 5px and set to Overlay to sharpen. Brushes are perhaps where you can be most creative with Elements. Most associated with digital painting and artwork, it is true that you can build a whole image from scratch just by using brushes to paint, but this is by no means the only use of the tool. Brushes can embellish any kind of photo by adding colour and excitement on new layers. There are all kinds of effects that you can coax from brushes by altering the Brush Settings, and adding clipping masks and using Gaussian Blur, you can really take brushes…

USE WHITE BACKGROUNDS Images with white backgrounds work best for this tutorial, as the Threshold adjustments do not interfere with the backdrop. APPLY TEXTURES Using paper or metal textures set to Multiply can help place your engraving, should you wish to take it further. Adjustment layers aren’t just for finishing off your image; they’re perfect for scattering through your working process to improve the individual layers. The better your individual layers look, the better the image will be as a whole, and that’s exactly how this tutorial comes together to create the perfect final image. The Threshold might seem a limited tool, as it only consists of the one slider to turn your images into black-and-white block colours. But it’s exactly the kind of adjustment that can be used throughout…

“For me, the best fonts are those that are expressive and detailed,” says Alejandro Solórzano. “Typography is not a math problem with one correct answer; it will always vary!” Alejandro is a celebrated type artist online with thousands of followers, but he’s completely self-taught. So how did he reach the level he is today, and how does Photoshop help? Why did you get into calligraphy? I started calligraphy two years ago. I bought a calligraphy marker with a square tip, then I downloaded some worksheets with basic exercises and strokes, which I started to practise every single day. Once I understood each letter structure and form, I changed the tool to a brush pen to start developing my own style. I didn’t study any graphic-design course, but I took some…

We challenged you with these In Issue 146, we challenged you to get creative with these four images. You were allowed to use any or all of the pictures, and whatever other resources you chose. Here’s what you created. Challenge entries The best entries and overall challenge winner 1 Trevor Budd The Power of a Lion’s Stare To create this abstract image, I mainly used blend modes, colour manipulation, multiple layers, scale and warp tools. Just the four images supplied for the challenge were used to make this artwork. 2 Corine Spring Pink Lion This image was created with all four of the pictures. Adjustment layers were used for both blending the lion and the image as a whole. 3 Joshua Mason The Lion Painting This purple lion painting was…

1. Get organised Groups are infinitely useful. You can add masks or layer styles to them, and they help with naming, organising and supplying tidy layered files. Found in your Layers palette, the filtering options, complete with an on/off toggle switch and the ability to find layers of a particular kind, will help you to stay on top of those complex projects. 2. Stay flexible Adjustment layers, masks, Smart Filters and Smart Objects should be a staple of every Photoshop designer’s toolkit. The ability to edit, discard and create variations of your image adjustments is key to a flexible project. 3. The Crop tool The trusty Crop tool in Photoshop CC allows for non-destructive cropping (by unchecking Delete Cropped Pixels), so your artwork remains outside the Artboard for repositioning. The…

Essentials Works with What you’ll learn How to use filters to create a Prisma-style portrait effect Time taken 2hours Expert Mark White “I love mobile technology, and edit all the photos on my phone with apps. Prisma is one of the most interesting apps on the market, because it creates amazing digital art effects. So this tutorial combined some of my personal favourites! “As senior staff writer on Photoshop Creative, I’ve learned all kinds of quick tips to help with even the most impressive-looking pictures.” You’ll find at least one filter useful for your project, no matter what you’re creating. Filters are often considered one-click options for basic effects, but they’re far more interesting. By layering filters, you can create something stunning; in this case, we’ve used so many…

01 Adjust temperature The Temperature adjustment is used in photography to correct white balance. But it is also good if you want to add warmth to your creative work. 02 Use the Distortion tool Make the subject pop out of the page by using the Distortion tool to create a bulge, bringing the subject out of the picture more. 03 Position the subject Be sure to position your subject between any raised areas on the cake, and add shadow from the raised area to make your image look more authentic. 04 Add movement We suggested using a Radial Blur for movement, but to make the flour look as though it’s coming out from your page, try using the Zoom Blur too.…

Essentials Works with What you’ll learn How to play with paint using layer masks, blend modes and the Liquify filter Time taken 2hours Expert Andre Villanueva “I crave the puzzle-play of piecing together a digital composition. Paint (whether it has been carefully applied, carelessly dripped or savagely tossed) is one of my absolute favourite elements to incorporate. “I discovered Photoshop when studying web design. I’m now art director for a tech company, soothing my inner instructor by sharing techniques with readers.” Ready for a splash-tastic good time? Tossed paint is perfect for adding colourful dynamism to an image. You’ll have plenty of creative ammunition as you mix a model with flowing colour and messy splats to produce beautiful chaos. There is an array of splats and splashes available, which you’ll…

One of the coolest tools in Photoshop Elements is the Refine Edge tool. You can use it to make complex selections like hair and fur simply by painting along the edges, while Elements gets busy automatically analysing the content to detect all the details. In this tutorial, you’ll get to grips with the Refine Edge command and learn new tricks for creating an amazing surreal artwork. You’ll start using the selection tools to isolate the subject, then open the Refine Edge dialog box to access the tools and commands to fine-tune all the details and extract the background, making the hair more realistic. Each image has its own sets of quirks; in some situations, you can just use the Smart Radius to grab all the details, but in others you…

“I started working in Photoshop when I was 12 years old,” Aly Bassam explains to us. “It was my hobby to manipulate my parents’ pictures, especially after having my brother’s work in his photography studio provide the inspiration.” Nowadays, Aly is developing his own artistic style that combines photomanipulation with double exposure. But what are his Photoshop secrets? We caught up with him for some of his tips and techniques. How do you start an image? I do not start sketching in a sketchbook as others do. In fact, I start by opening a blank art board, collecting my elements as a draft, and coming up with a good composition, then I start designing my work as I am planning. Sometimes it takes too much time to initially come up…

There’s nothing more inspiring than surfing the internet and seeing what other artists are creating, and we encourage you to do so. Here are some of our favourite pictures that caught our attention recently, from some of the world’s most exciting artists and designers. Kostis Keritis www.behance.net/ kostiskeritis This is just one piece of a larger collection called ‘Artifice Phase Two: Luminescent’. A group of artists all contributed a piece to this project, and this one in particular was created in Photoshop, using brushes, adjustments and colour control prominently. Manuel Peter www.manuel-peter.com The image was created with the open source software Blender. After rendering I brought it into Photoshop to add some dust layers and noise. Furthermore, I worked with colour curves to tweak the contrast and overall colour balance.…

Essentials Works with What you’ll learn Basic photo-blending techniques using layer masks and colours Time taken 3-5 hours Expert Igor Šćekić “When I was younger I used to play a game in my head – I would imagine two or more objects and visualise how they would look if they were connected in the same object. My discovery of Photoshop’s blending techniques means I can play that game in reality. “I am an illustrator and graphic designer who gets to use Photoshop every day while working on client projects, but also in my personal experiments.” Photomanipulation techniques are used to combine many different photos into one seamless composition. It is a common element in graphic-design tasks, and its usage can vary from simple tasks like changing colours and contrast in…

01 Create a new layer Create a new layer (Shift+Cmd/ Ctrl+N) on top of the layer stack. Name it Lens Flare. Change the blend mode to Screen, check ‘Fill with screen-neutral color (black)’ then click OK. 02 Apply the filter Now go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare. Set the Brightness to 60% and choose the Lens Type: 105mm Prime. Click in the preview window and position the light, then press OK. 03 Edit with Levels Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to rotate the image, and place it on top of the light reflector on the left. Press Cmd/Ctrl+L to open Levels and drag the slider to control the intensity of the light. 04 Duplicate the image Duplicate the image (Cmd/Ctrl+J). Now open the Free Transform tool (Cmd/Ctrl+T) and rotate the image. This time, place the…

01 Start liquifying Select the layer you want to use Liquify on. Go to Filter>Distort> Liquify. The Liquify tools are at the left. Use the Brush tool options at the right to customise brush size and pressure. 02 Use Liquify tools Use the Warp tool to push pixels as if they were goo. Rotate pixels with the Twirl tools. Pucker and Bloat, well, pucker and bloat pixels. 03 Use more tools Use Shift Pixels to move pixels to the left as you drag (hold Option/Alt to move right). Use Reconstruct to gradually reverse the gooey edits you’ve made. 04 Revert or confirm If you need to quickly revert back to the original state when you opened the Liquify dialog, click Revert. To accept your edits, click OK.…

There can be no doubt that Photoshop is a powerful tool, capable of creating so many different types of art spanning all genres. Combine it with other software programs, though, and the possibilities expand even more. These days many artists will use a combination of programs to achieve their desired outcome, playing each to their strengths perfectly. Photoshop and Illustrator is one example of the perfect marriage in software terms. Both being from the Adobe stable, they are like each other in many ways. They also integrate well, so artists can flip between them as needed. Other programs from the Creative Cloud suite work in the same way, with familiar interfaces and perfect interaction between each program, so whether you’re designing a website, building an illustration or creating animations, it’s…

THE CINEMA 4D RENDER I began by using primitive geometry to mark out the core elements of the bridge. Using noise displacement, I was able to create a realistic water surface. The idea behind creating this model was to capture a slice of my home town. PHOTOSHOP DETAILS I wanted to give extra detail and depth to the diorama. I added clouds, waves crashing into the feet of the bridge, a concrete texture on the bridge, and extra paint on the cargo ship, then created lamps along the road for atmosphere. FINAL TOUCHES IN PHOTOSHOP I then focused my attention on the final touches, such as colour grading and compositing my final image. I envisioned warm comforting colours, as I wanted to capture the feeling I get every time I…

HOW CAN THE PENCIL TOOL BE USED CREATIVELY? The Pencil tool (N) is similar to the Brush tool in Elements, only it just has the one setting: a 100% hard edge. While it’s mostly used for making preliminary sketches, like any tool, it can be used in other ways. To create a pencil-style image with the Pencil tool, open an existing portrait in Elements and create a new layer above it. Fill this layer with white, and set to 50% Opacity. This will act almost as a tracing layer; on a layer above this, use the Pencil to outline the subject, drawing over all of the darkest areas. Create a new layer above this and sketch over another shade in the image, before reducing the opacity accordingly. Build up your…