Here’s a quick tip which is very useful for those occasions when you want to make a fairly complicated selection in Photoshop.

Hi everyone, 



2. The first thing to do is to create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Do this by clicking on the little CND icon at the foot of the Layers palette and choosing from the list. Next select 'Blues' from the pop-up menu in the ensuing dialogue box. Click in the blue of the sky and an eye-dropper icon will appear enabling you to fine tune the areas of the sky that you wish to change. Now drag the Hue and Saturation sliders until you get the colour that you want.



3. As is usual when creating an adjustment layer, a layer mask is automatically created. For the majority of the time this is perfectly adequate for masking purposes. However, in an image like this one, creating straight edges with a brush would prove difficult. Instead, we're going to mask out the building by creating a vector mask. Do this by clicking on the Add Vector Mask button at the foot of the layers palette. Now choose the pen tool and begin drawing around the building. As you draw, the red of the sky will begin to appear.



4. Draw around the building carefully to complete the mask. Close the path by clicking on the original anchor point that you drew. Hit Apple-H to hide the mask so that you can get a better look at what you have done.



5. Now you're at liberty to adjust the colour of the skies however you like. You do this by double clicking on the leftmost icon in the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and changing the settings. How about green skies?



6. Or an electric blue? The sky's the limit... (aaargghhh!!)

We had a very nice email from a gentleman in Morocco of all places asking how to create a stone effect for logos in Photoshop. Here goes nothing...



1. Create yourself a new Photoshop document. 72dpi for web or 300dpi for print. Select Filter>Render>clouds.



2. Select the Channels Palette and hit the New button to create a new channel. Select this channel and apply Filter>Render>Difference Clouds. Now add a little noise to this channel using Filter>Noise>Add Noise. The more noise you add the rougher the stone texture will become.



3. Select Filter>Render>Lighting Effects and make sure that the Texture channel is the additional channel you created earlier. Here you can be a little creative and spontaneous. Change the settings to create a stone texture. Here are the ones we used:



4. Select the type tool and add the words for your logo. Now unlock the Background layer (alt-double click it) and move this layer above the type layer. Finally alt-click between the layers to create a clipping mask.



5. Add a layer style (click the little 'F' button at the foot of the layers palette.) For our logo we used bevel and emboss with an Inner Bevel and the Chisel Hard technique. We also added a drop shadow which, we always believe, is the easiest way to hide bad design!

Don't get the idea that I'm obsessed with flowers but here's another flower exercise for your pleasure. Ever need to quickly recolour an image or part of an image?

I can remember years ago doing really stupid things like trying to make a selection in an image before attempting to adjust colours. Naturally, you don't have to do this. Here watcha do:

1. Open your image and head over to Image> Adjustments> Replace Colour. Select the Eyedropper tool and begin clicking in the parts of the image that you'd like to change.



2. There's really nothing to this. Click on the colour to the right of the Hue/Sauration/Brightness sliders and select yourself a new colour. Here's where you can play about with the fuzziness slider to control how much of the image is affected by your selection. Now you can either select the Eyedropper icon with the '+' next to it or simply hold down Shift to keep adding to your selection. If you make a mistake and want to remove from your selection simply hold down the alt key.

Going...



Going...



...Gone. Now feel free to recolour your flower to whatever colour you like. Blue anyone?



Orange anyone?



Short and sweet, I admit. But occasionally useful. A bit like myself.

Even though I'm a huge fan of Adobe Illustrator that doesn't mean that I'm not equally fond of its big pixel-based brother Photoshop. Photoshop, as everyone knows, is a huge package. When it comes to imagery there really is nothing that you cannot do with what still remains Adobe's flagship program. But where, for my money, it really excels is when it comes to editing images.

In this example I'm starting off with the type of photo that a lot of us have produced in a drunken stupor during our holidays. This was taken on a weekend break in Barcelona. I was using a handheld camera and was forced to make a decision: do I expose for the foreground or do I expose for the skies? In this case I chose to expose for the beautiful night sky, knowing that when I was back in front of my Mac, Photoshop would do the rest.

Here's the original. In pre-digital days I might have been tempted to throw this in the bin.



1. I'm going to begin by using the Magic Wand tool to select the foreground. As selections go this is a relatively simple one to make. Move the default tolerance in the Control Panel up a notch or two and then hold down the Shift key and keep clicking until you get as much as the foreground selected as you can.

At this point it's always wise to enter Quick Mask mode (hit the 'Q' key to do this) and choose yourself a medium sized Brush and, painting in white, begin painting out the bits of the selection that you missed. Vary the brush and its opacity as you do so. When I do this I will from time to time hit the 'Q' key to exit Quick Mask mode and see how my selection is coming along.



2. Now it's time to refine the selection. Hold down Command-spacebar and drag a marquee around a portion of the horizon to zoom into it. Now take the brush down in size (hitting the square brackets allow you to do this) and feather its edges a little (hitting shift-square brackets will allow you to do this) turn on Airbrush mode in the Control Panel and begin painting in the subtler parts of the horizon that your selection has so far missed. When You're happy hit 'Q' to exit Quick Mask mode.



3. Now that your selection is complete it's time to start using it. In the Layers palette create a Levels Adjustment layer (click on the little black and white circle) and a mask for your selection will automatically be created. Drag the grey point slider to the left to reveal the missing detail in the foreground.





4. Now that the foreground is more balanced it's time to address the oversaturation of colours that is often a by-product of what we've just done. In the Layers palette create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and click ok without making any changes. Hold down the alt key and drag the mask from the Levels Adjustment layer over the mask in the Hue/Saturation layer. This will copy the mask from the former layer to the latter. Now double-click on the Hue/Saturation icon and choose reds from the pop-up menu. Take down the saturation and adjust the hue slightly.



5. Now it's time to add a little colour to the skies. Create another Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and again click OK without changing any settings. Once again alt-drag the Levels Adjustments mask to the new layer then select Image> Adjustments> Invert (or Command-I) and once again double click on the Hue/Saturation icon to change the layers settings. This time choose Blues and/or Cyans from the pop-up menu and increase the Saturation a little.







6. If you feel like it you might even like to change the colour of the sky itself.

First of all, apologies for not updating this blog for two or three days. I've taken a weekend break with the family and the parents-in-law in rainy old Sussex. Another apology for the shortness of this forthcoming tutorial. I have about twenty minutes before we all sit down to lunch.

This little exercise will be familiar to long-term users of Photoshop but it may perhaps prove to be something of an eye-opener for beginners.

Whenever I train Photoshop, the ability to lose wrinkles and imperfections, etc. is something that trainees always ask for. In Photoshop there is a dazzling array of tools to help you do this. These include the Clone Stamp tool, the Healing Brush tool, the Patch tool, the Red-eye tool and the Spot Healing Brush tool. All of these tools have a time and place but if it's a quick fix that you're after the following will probably help.

1. Duplicate the Background layer of your file. Drag the layer on to the New button to do this.



2. Now go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur and blur the layer so that all the imperfections are gone.



3. Next in the Layers Palette click on the Add Layer Mask button (the grey one with the little circle in it) and make sure the mask is selected (it will have a black rectangle around it).



4. Now select the Brush tool and in the Control Panel lower the opacity, set the brush to airbrush mode and feather the edges of the brush. You're going to begin painting in the main areas of the picture (the eyes, the lips, etc.). Remember that the brush size can be controlled as you paint by using the square bracket keys. The hardness of the brush can be controlled by using Shift-Square Bracket.

As an example, check out the settings I have used below:



5. Use a fairly large brush and don't be too timid with your brushstrokes. Paint in black to reveal detail; if you make a mistake hit the 'X' key to switch foreground and background colours so that you can paint in white to remove your errors.

As you paint you will see the layer mask update in the Layers palette.



Here's the finished article and below is the original, complete with imperfections. At the foot of the page is the actual mask that I created while painting out the imperfections. The whole exercise took about four minutes.

Far better than paying through the nose for plastic surgery.

Here's a lesser-known feature of InDesign: the ability to take a clipping path and turn it into a picture frame.

1. A picture of my father-in-law. For those of you who tuned into my last blog, he's the one at who's house I stayed last rainy weekend. Nice place, actually. And proof that moving out of London can be a worthwhile thing to do. He's basically swapped a one-bedroom flat in Hampstead for a five-bedroom house in Sussex, complete with 1/2 acre of land and a swimming pool. Still, I digress...



2. The image is actually a Photoshop document with background removed. It's the way I like to work in InDesign. If I'm preparing a cut-out I will either remove the background in Photoshop or use a layer mask.

In this case I select Object> Clipping Path and choose Alpha Channel from the Type menu. Transparency is automatically selected. You might want to play with the Tolerance and/or Threshold but in this case I'm happy with what I've got.



3. At this point I'm able to use the Direct Selection tool to have a look at the clipping path. Just select it and click in the middle of the image.



4. Now for the interesting bit: simply right-click on the image and the following contextual menu will be revealed (if you don't have a three-button mouse or a Mighty Mouse, simply hold down the Control key and click on the image). It contains the command 'Convert Clipping Path To Frame'. This is interesting because this command is unavailable in any of the standard InDesign menus.



5. And here, with the stoke coloured and thickened up is your new frame.



6. Now you can remove the image and use the frame on its own if this takes your fancy.

Hiya,

First of all another of my customary apologies but it's been a pretty hectic and emotionally charged week for me. Far too hectic and emotionally charged to think about Adobe tutorials. If you're interested, as well as being overrun with work, I also found myself on the telephone speaking to my mother and father for the first time since 1998. It's a long story and I won't bore you with any details, suffice to say it's been a most unusual week.

Anyhow, Photoshop…

Ever visited an art gallery and tried to take a few shots of the paintings housed in it? The problem is that if you have a flash and stand right in from of the picture you end up with a photograph of a flash going off. The only solution to this is to take the picture at an angle and to let Photoshop strut its funky stuff.

As follows:

1. Select the Crop tool and draw a rough marquee around the image you wish to straighten.



2. In the Control panel at the top of the machine check 'Perspective'. You can now drag the four handles of your marquee to fit the image.



3. All you do now is hit return and hey presto! One magically straightened image. As simple as that.



PS. Sorry for the shortness of this little tip. I'm going to be making an effort to get back into the groove next week. As always comments most gratefully appreciated.

Vanishing Point was one of the most interesting additions to Photoshop CS2 and with CS3 it has become even more powerful. It is an incredibly powerful feature that is also very easy to use. In this exercise we are going to map a decal on to the side of a building. It should take you no more than two minutes to do.

1. Choose an image to map your logo or words on to. Make sure that you rasterize the logo document. Now copy its contents.



2. Filter> Vanishing Point and use the Plane tool to create a basic grid. The image I have chosen is ideal for this purpose as you can clearly see all edges of the the shape. Hit the X key to temporarily zoom into the image. You are aiming for the grid to be blue in colour. If the grid is yellow this means that there could be problems ahead. If it is red then it's a no no.



3. Now paste in your logo/decal and move it until it snaps to the plane. Reposition the logo to your satisfaction. In Vanishing Point its always worthwhile turning on heal to see if it helps your cause. There are two choices: Luminance or on. In this example I have used the former.



4. Now it's time to experiment with Layer Blending modes. These can be found in the drop-down menu in the layers palette. This is the effect if I choose the Darken Mode.



5. Here is the same image with the Multiply mode selected.


6. In the end I have opted for the Colour Dodge mode and taken the Opacity down a little.



So ends the first in a series of Vanishing Point tutorials. In the next I'll be showing you how to create more complicated grids and map objects around corners.

Hi there

Apologies again for the delay in posting. Two reasons for this, to be honest: one is that I'm really, really busy at the moment. The other is that I've been getting so little feedback for this blog (despite thousands of page loads) that I was beginning to get a little despondent.

This has changed recently, however, and I'd like to thank all the people that have sent messages of encouragement (and love!). It really helps, and makes you think that you're not typing into thin air.

Just about to sit down and watch a very exciting episode of 24. Only recently got into it and I have to admit that it's better than I expected. Riveting stuff. Before I do so I'd like to go through the steps required to make a photographic panorama. It's a little hobby of mine (in fact, here you can find several examples of my panoramas if you're at all interested: http://web.mac.com/truth42/iWeb/Truth42%20Site/Panoramas.html)

1. The first step I obviously can't show. It's me standing in the middle of a forest with my feet rooted to the spot, holding a camera and swivelling like some kind of demented lunatic. It's not a pretty sight, I can tell you, but fairly essential if you want to produce a 360º panorama. Seriously though, keep a steady hand and try to include a landmark or object that was in the previous shot as you swivel. This helps when you come to line up the images later on.

2. The first thing to do once you're sitting back at your computer is to open Photoshop (CS2 in this case) and select File> Automate> Photomerge.. You will then be prompted to locate the images that you wish to Photomerge. Find them.



3. Photomerge will then do its stuff. In reality it's really a giant glorifed Action. As you watch you will see Photomerge create new layers, cut and paste images from one layer to another and generally try to make an automated panorama. It never quite manages it, however. And 99 times out of 100 you'll have to do it yourself. Hence the following warning:




4. Now it's time to start dragging. This helps if you were a child with an unhealthy predilection for jigsaws. Even better if you're a weird adult with an unhealthy predilection for jigsaws. Photoshop in its wisdom does, however, try to help us a little. You'll notice that images will snap neatly together when you find two pieces that fit.



5. All done. You'll notice that idiot here has included a few superfluous shots. I always tend to do this when I'm shooting panoramas. They are 'just in case' shots. Before you click OK make sure that the Advanced Blending option is checked. Most important this.



6. After you click OK Photoshop will begin to bump and grind its way through what is a fairly arduous task. The end result is pretty impressive but a little work is still required.



7. The next thing to do is to use Photoshop's Crop tool to cut away the bits of the image that are no good. I'm assuming that you know how to use the Crop tool.



8. Now I need to do a little balancing of tones. The image is way too dark so I create a Levels Adjustment layer (select the little two-tone circle at the base of the Layers palette). These are the settings I'm using to lighten the image:



9. This is almost good but there is a problem to the right of the images. One of the shots I took is way too dark even for this Adjustment layer. To combat this I temporarily turn off this layer and create a second Levels Adjustment layer. For this layer I solely concentrate on the dark area. These are the setting I use:



10. Now it's time to merge the two adjustment layers. Make sure both are turned on and choose yourself a medium size brush and feather it slightly (the square brackets will allow you to intuitively change brush size; shift-square brackets will allow you to feather the brush). Make sure that black is your foreground colour (hit D to do this); set the opacity down a little and begin painting the background back in. The aim is to equalize the tones in the image as much as possible.



It's not a perfect solution but as solutions go it's not too bad. You may wish to tweak the tones by using a combination of the Dodge and Burn tools. Happy Photomerging!