Practical Photoshop February 2022

“Welcome to issue 131 of Practical Photoshop! If you enjoy the issue, why not subscribe and get a whole year for just $19.99?” How often do you look at other people’s images and ask, ‘How do I make my photo look like that?’ This issue we explain how to recreate a range of popular tonal effects and tricks, from retro treatments to punchy black-and-white. Elsewhere, learn how to create light-painted portraits like the cover image. james.paterson@futurenet.com www.digitalcameraworld.com Editor James Paterson Art Editor Rosie Webber Production Editor Richard Hill Content Director Chris George Senior Art Editor Warren Brown DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT FILES To download this issue’s files, type the following link into your web browser on your PC or Mac: https://bit.ly/pho_131 FIND US HERE… http://bit.ly/practweet http://bit.ly/pracface Also available on: http://bit.ly/pp_pocketmags http://bit.ly/pp_app_store http://bit.ly/zinio_pp…

Natural lens flare occurs when sunlight – or another source of strong, hard light – directly shines on the front element of a camera lens. Photographers are often at pains to prevent flare, either by using a lens hood, or shielding the front of the lens with a hand. But the slight softness, specular highlights and color shifts that are characteristic of lens flare can be great for enhancing a scene. You don’t necessarily need to wait until the sun is in the perfect position in order to create intentional flares. With a few simple skills in Photoshop, you can make your own gorgeous, realistic flare effects. Our starting point is the Lens Flare Filter in Photoshop. It’s not bad for a simple effect, but the flares it creates tend to look…

If you want to make a composite from two or more images, there are two stages to carry out. First, there’s the task of cutting out and piecing the images together. Second, there’s the challenge of making the images look like they belong together. The first stage has been made much less arduous in recent editions of Photoshop, with commands like Select Subject and Remove Background. Now the second stage has become easier, too, thanks to Photoshop’s new Harmonization Filter. It matches the colors, tones and feel of one layer with another, analyzing the content of your image using artificial intelligence and making changes based on what it finds. All you need to do is cut out an object or person and place it on a different background, then run the filter…

Light painting isn’t a technique you’d normally associate with portraiture, but you can create fantastically surreal people photos with a few simple skills. You don’t need lots of gear for this, either: just a tripod, a dark room, a willing subject and a torch or other light-emitting device to ‘paint’ with. When it comes to choosing a light source for your painting, there are all sorts of torches, light wands and dedicated tools to choose from. But one of the most interesting is a fiber-optic brush. This is a technique inspired by the portraits of Gunnar Heilmann, who uses a fiber-optic light brush to incredible effect. The fibers split the beam from a normal torch into lots of tiny points of light, which look wonderful when brushed and flicked over the…

1 TRIPOD Whether you’re light painting a person or any other object, you need to use an exposure that lasts at least a few seconds in order to give yourself time to move the torch through the scene. A tripod is vital to keep the camera still throughout the long exposure. 2 SELF-TIMER Keep in mind that any stray light from the fiber-optic brush will show up in your exposure, so be in position with the brush on the face before you press the shutter. If you’re shooting this alone, use the camera’s self-timer or a wireless release to trigger the shutter. 3 FIBER-OPTIC BRUSH You can use any kind of torch for light painting, but a fiber-optic brush lets you create a wonderful array of glowing dots and lines over your portrait. As previously…

01 TORCH AND BRUSH Our fiber-optic brush works in combination with a normal torch. The torch is attached to the end of the brush. (We used a makeshift cardboard tube to connect the two together and make it easier to handle.) The fibers split the beam into many tiny points of light that dance and move as you flick the brush around the surface. 02 COLOR THE LIGHT To add even more variety to the effect, you can add different colors to your fiber-optic brush by using pieces of colored tape or gel. We taped these to the rear of the brush for our photo shoot. Experiment with various different colors, and try using two colors at once by taping each over one half of the beam. 03 USE MANUAL EXPOSURE The best camera settings…