Inhoudsopgave van June 2017 - Practical Photoshop

1 PROBLEM: SENSOR MARKS SOLUTION: SPOT REMOVAL IN CAMERA RAW There are a couple of tools for fixing sensor marks. Photoshop’s Spot Healing brush is ideal. A quick dab over the area and the mark will be gone. However, if a whole set of photos are plagued by a recurring mark, use the Spot Removal Tool in Camera Raw. Open a set of photos into Camera Raw (select them in Adobe Bridge then right-click and select Open In Camera Raw). Fix the mark on one image with the Spot Removal tool, then click the top-left flyout menu. Choose Select All, then Sync Settings. 2 PROBLEM: WONKY HORIZONS SOLUTION: STRAIGHTEN TOOL IN CROP TOOL SETTINGS In Camera Raw, grab the Crop tool and rotate the crop box slightly until the horizon…

1 PROBLEM: SP OTS AND MARKS SOLUTION: PHOTOSHOP’S HEALING TOOLS To remove spots, blemishes and stray hairs from the face, you can use Photoshop’s array of healing tools. The Spot Healing Brush is the easiest of them all – simply paint over the area to fix the problem. It only slips up when the bad area is surrounded by fine detail or texture, or if it’s too close to the edges of the image. In these cases you might be better off using either the Healing Brush or the Patch tool, which both allow you to target a nearby source – either by Alt-clicking or drawing a rough selection. 2 PROBLEM EYE BAGS SOLUTION: THE CLONE TOOL The easiest way to tone down bags under the eyes is to use…

01 STURDY TRIPOD The shots you need for this effect must be in perfect alignment, so use a tripod throughout. Get down low to emphasize the gap between subject and ground. 02 STABLE SUPPORT Your subject should be perched atop a support in a light, floaty pose. We used a foldable workbench with our model, but a stool, stepladder or chair could work well. 03 BACKLIGHTING Moody lighting and the night setting boost atmosphere. As well as the headlights, we used two flashguns; one behind to the right, and another to the left. 04 EMPTY SPACE You also need a shot of the empty scene, without the subject or support. The camera exposure and focal point should stay consistent over both frames. 01 COPY OVER THE LAYER Open the images…

WATCH THE VIDEO http://tiny.cc/het9ky PROBLEM: SKY IS DULL AND CLOUDLESS SOLUTION: DROP IN A NEW SKY A Photoshop tutorial about how to replace a sky in a landscape scene is bound to provoke the odd negative reaction. Isn’t that just cheating? Surely it’s better to capture everything in-camera? Isn’t that what landscape photography is all about – the challenge of being in a beautiful spot at the perfect moment, and the thrill when something magical happens? All this is true, but sometimes you’re simply not able to wait around for the perfect moment. Landscape pros will revisit the same scene over and again, but most of us don’t have the freedom to do this. So if you come across a great landscape that’s let down by a featureless sky, this…

WATCH THE VIDEO http://tiny.cc/oft9ky PLUG-IN EFFECTS There are several great plug-ins out there for one?click retro or analog effects. DxO FilmPack (from £59, pictured) offers a range of presets that replicate old films; each is tailored to reproduce the exact grain and color characteristics of the original. Alternatively, Alien Skin Exposure ($149) gives you lots of fun effects, including vintage and modern looks. Another contender, VSCO , offers various film packs for $59. There’s also Google’s excellent Nik Collection (free) which includes Analog Efex Pro. DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT FILES HERE http://tiny.cc/dop9ky ON YOUR PC OR MAC 01 CREATE A LETTERBOX BORDER Make a new layer then grab the Rectangular Marquee tool. Hold Shift and drag boxes over the top and bottom. Go to Edit > Fill, set Contents: Black and…

WATCH THE VIDEO http://tiny.cc/cgt9ky The blur effect we’ll add makes it look as if everything is in miniature; this works best on a wide scene shot from above. Make a duplicate of the background layer [1] with Ctrl/Cmd+J. Right-click it and choose Convert To Smart Object, then go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt- Shift. In the dialog, position the sharp area [2] over the ground, then drag the lines to fine-tune the blur transition area above and below [3] and the blurred areas [4]. Use the pin to adjust the blur strength. Next, boost the tones. Add a Levels Layer [5] (Layer > New Adjustment Layer), but don’t change any settings. Instead, change the Blend Mode [6] to Overlay to punch up the saturation and contrast. If it’s…

Photoshop has many types of layers and adjustment layers available, but there are six that you’ll find you need to use again and again. Learning how they should be used may seem a little daunting for beginners, but once you’ve got to grips with them, you’ll find they play a part in the creative process of almost every image you make. 01 LEVELS This should be the first layer you add to an image, because it fundamentally alters the tonal range of the entire image. Create a Levels Adjustment Layer, drag the Black Point slider inwards until it touches the lefthand edge of the histogram, and drag the White Point slider inwards to the right-hand edge. This remaps the tones of the image to make more of the available tonal…

BEFORE 1 SENSOR MARKS Dust on the sensor can show up on every frame you take, especially with landscapes, where narrow apertures like f/16 tend to show up the problem 2 WONKY HORIZON Even when you use a tripod and a spirit level, horizons can still need correcting, especially if there’s an obvious horizon line like sea in the frame. 3 TOO DARK Here, exposing for the sky has left the rocks far too dark and lacking in detail or texture- these are the main focus of the image, and they’re disappointingly dull. AFTER WATCH THE VIDEO http://tiny.cc/ret9ky 4 COLOR CAST Shooting at dusk can often leave colors looking too blue, especially if you’ve left white balance to auto, or used an ND filter to elongate the shutter speed. 5…

01 SELECT THE CAR Press Ctrl/Cmd+J twice to make two copies of your layer. Paint over the car with the Quick Selection tool to select it, then click the Add Mask icon in the Layers panel to convert this to a layer mask. Ctrl/Cmd-click the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel to load the selection, then go to Select > Invert to switch the selection to the backdrop. 02 BLUR THE BACKDROP Highlight the middle layer, then go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Path Blur. Drag a line along the direction of travel; use the Speed and Taper sliders to control the blur. Click OK then press Ctrl/Cmd+D to deselect. Go to the top layer then choose Filter > Blur Gallery > Spin Blur. Make two circular spin blur…

PROJECT INFO You’ll learn How to make your subject float with layer mask skills You’ll need Tripod • Sturdy platform • Lights (optional) It’ll take One hour This is one of those photo tricks that makes viewers think: “How did they do that?” The answer is surprisingly simple and, like all the best Photoshop techniques, the real skill begins in-camera. To create a seemingly levitating figure, you capture two different versions of the scene – one with the person perched on a stable support within a scene, and the other of the empty scene. Both versions need to be perfectly aligned. Then you piece it together in Photoshop, which is a relatively straightforward job – even for a complete novice. The real skill is in crafting atmosphere around the effect.…

The image-editing process begins as soon as you’ve transferred your photos from your memory card to your computer. 1 The first stage is to begin sifting through your pictures to discover which are the keepers. The image organizer that comes with Photoshop is ideal for this task. Adobe Bridge has controls for keywording, rating and filtering your images, and there are handy tools for batch renaming files, creating panoramic stitches, making contact sheets and more. Launch Adobe Bridge and navigate to a folder containing new images. Use the cursor keys to quickly flick through the images and click below a thumbnail to add a star rating, or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd/Ctrl+1-5. You can then filter your images by the star rating to group the ones you want to work…