Photoshop

(Above) Here’s a behind-the-scene shot from Friday’s shoot.  This is a three-light shoot: Two 4-foot strip banks above (with Elinchrom strobes), and there’s one additional softbox in front (you can see the light-stand right behind my laptop) that’s putting some extra light on the engine — it was a little dark in there with just the two strobe directly above the bike.I asked my Creative Director Felix Nelson if I could shoot his Harley, but he was doing some serious tinkering with it at home and it wouldn’t be ready for days, so he suggested calling our guitar player (Felix is the bass player for Big Electric Cat), Tony Llanes since he builds custom choppers.He didn’t have one available, but his cousin had this “Big Dog!” chopper and he came rolling up on it Friday and I was like, “Oh Yeah baby!” Only had  1-1/2 hrs to light and shoot this and his buddy’s sports bike (the yellow one seen below), but I got it done in time to attend my son’s sports banquet that night, so it’s all good. :) Above: Shooting from down low with a 14-24mm lens. Above: More wide angle 14-24mm shots.Above: You can see the two extra backlights in this shot, used strickly to make the background solid white — even though they weren’t turned on for any of the shots I’ve shown so far. Above: Here’s what it looks like with the two background strobes turned on. You can see why I left them off for nearly the entire shoot — I think this particular bike, because of its color, looks better on the dark gray background. Above: The Sport Bike looks great on the solid white background, so here it look appropriate (so this is a five-light shoot: The same two strip-banks over head; the one small 27″ softbox in front aiming at the back half of the bike, and the two bare bulbs with reflectors to make the background solid white. Above: Here’s a view from the backside. Since I’m not shooting it straight on, the lighting definitely looks different (in fact, I had to brighten it in post to get it this bright). Above: Here’s Tony (lead guitar player for Big Electric Cat) posing on the Big Dog. I didn’t change the lighting — it’s just the lighting for the bike, so it’s not the greatest portrait lighting, but I think it’s still looks decent (but if I was lighting this as a portrait, I would have added two kicker lights in the back aiming at him. Anyway, there’s a quick look at the shoot. I’m doing a tutorial for the NAPP member Website on the retouching and finishing for getting rid of the apple-crate box the bike is sitting on, and on getting rid of some of the spots, specs, dust and junk. Hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday! :)

In this tutorial we will create a realistic rainbow and add it to our photo. This is an easy Photoshop tutorial, aimed at beginners with detailed explanations at each step. Final Image As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating: Step 1 Open file “Sky”. This will be our base image on top of which we will create a realistic rainbow. First let’s create a new layer by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N. Now select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and create a selection as shown in the image below. Step 2 Select the Gradient Tool (G) and click on the icon shown below to edit the gradient. The following window (called the Gradient Editor) will appear. The little arrowhead icons underneath are the colors that form the gradient. Click just below the gradient representation to add new colors. You can also click on the colors and move them around after you have created them. Double click the arrowhead icons to change the color. Add the colors shown below to your Gradient Editor window and click OK. They are in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, cyan. Make sure you still have the Gradient Tool selected. Click and drag in the selection while holding shift to create a gradient with the colors you chose previously. Press Ctrl + D to deselect the layer. Step 3 Make a duplicate layer (Ctrl + J) of the gradient layer just to have a backup in case something goes wrong. Turn off the visibility of the original gradient layer by clicking on the eye icon at the left of the layer in the layers palette. Select the Eraser Tool (E), select a soft round brush and erase the left and right edges of the gradient as shown in the image below. You could also use a Layer Mask to hide the unwanted parts of the gradient, but the Eraser Tool is simpler to use. Step 4 Now let’s add some blur in order to disperse the colors. Choose Blur > Gaussian Blur and enter a value of 20px. Make sure the layer is deselected (press Ctrl + D just to be sure) otherwise you’ll get unwanted effects. Step 5 We are almost ready with our rainbow. Let’s add some curvature to our rainbow. While on the gradient layer press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform. Right click on the gradient and from the drop down menu choose Warp. In order to bend it in a nice fashion choose from warp options (in the upper Options Bar) Arc and play a little with the Bend value until you obtain a nice curved rainbow. Press Enter after you’re done. Step 6 Let’s increase the size of our rainbow and position it a bit better. Press Ctrl + T to enter Free Transform and modify the size and position to make it look like mine in the image below. To symmetrically resize hold the Shift key while dragging on the corners. Step 7 It looks very nice now but the effect is still a bit strong. Change the blending mode to Color and lower the Opacity of our rainbow layer to 51% for a softer effect. Step 8 It looks nice enough as it is but I think that a bit of glow will make it look better. Duplicate the rainbow layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Double-click the layer to enter Advanced Blending options. Use the following settings: And We’re Done! Here’s how the final image should look. If you want a more artistic effect and not a realistic one then consider increasing the opacity of the rainbow layer and/or give the rainbow a bigger arc effect (Step 5).

You will learn how to create a water horse in Photoshop. The techniques are fairly simple so that you can apply the same idea to your future artwork with other effect such as fire effect. (View This Tutorial)

In this tutorial from PSDVault, you will learn the steps to Design “Dragon Mountain” Digital Art in Photoshop. This is a good example to show you a few simple methods to blending objects together in Photoshop, and edit them with various image adjustment tools. Read more at www.psdvault.com…

After hearing a lot of feedback about Adobe’s recent announcement that their Creative Suite software can no longer be purchased and is now available only by subscription, one thing I’ve noticed over and over is that most people are confused. I’m writing this post in an effort to share the facts so that each person can make an informed decision about how to proceed. In early May, Adobe announced the rise of the Creative Cloud and the end of the Creative Suite. To be eligible for upgrades, one must now subscribe monthly to the Creative Cloud and can no longer own the software. As soon as you sign up for a subscription, the software can be downloaded to your computer and runs directly from your hard drive. The software will continue to work even if you do not have an internet connection and will only expire if you fail to pay your monthly subscription fee or are offline for more than a month. How does this affect photographers? If you only use Photoshop and have no need for other Adobe software, in the past you paid approx. $180 every 18 months to upgrade to the newest version of Photoshop. Under the new subscription plan, existing customers who own Photoshop CS3 or later pay $9.99/month for Photoshop; thus, the new subscription plan costs approx. $180 per version which is consistent with the old pricing. I’ve heard the argument that Adobe may increase the price after one year. This is true, but keep in mind that Adobe has always had this option. I’ve also heard the argument that a subscription service does not allow a user to skip upgrades or to hang on to one version indefinitely. This is true. You no longer have these options. How does this affect folks who use more than Photoshop? There is good news for folks who use Photoshop as well as InDesign, Illustrator, or Adobe’s other offerings. In the past, it cost $785 or more to upgrade the entire Creative Suite. Over the course of 18 months (the typical period between upgrades), this tallies to approx. $44/month. Under the new Creative Cloud plan, the cost is either $19.99/month for current owners of CS6 ($360 per 18-month cycle) or $29.99/month for current owners of CS3 – CS5.5 ($540 per 18-month cycle). The math here is easy. If you use more than Photoshop, you save money over the old pricing. Where does Lightroom fit in? For the time being, if all you use is Photoshop and Lightroom, it makes the most sense to purchase the $9.99/month Single App (Photoshop) Creative Cloud subscription plan and continue to purchase the Lightroom upgrade for $79. If, however, you use Photoshop, Lightroom, and other Adobe software, then it makes sense to go with one of the plans listed in the previous paragraph. Now that you have the facts, here is a link to pricing for current owners of Adobe products.. The post How Adobe’s Creative Cloud Will Affect Existing Customers appeared first on Mark S. Johnson Photography.

Create an elegant shiny gold text effect using Layer Styles and Filters in Photoshop. Read more at TexTuts…

Learn how to create an amazing spring blossoms text effect in this Photoshop tutorial by TexTuts Read more at TexTuts…

I’ve heard of women pasting on a pretty face, but come on. This model seems a bit two-dimensional (literally), and something about how her neck and head fit together seems off. Trust me, I screwed the heads off a lot of action figures growing up. It was a troubled childhood. Thanks James for the find. The post Marie Claire Australia: Face Plant appeared first on PSD : Photoshop Disasters .

A few years ago, John Penn was invited to attend the Internet Crimes Against Children Conference and share his knowledge as a Photoshop engineer. The experience changed his life. Now he’s a Senior Solutions Architect helping law enforcement agencies around the world use Photoshop to combat the exploitation of children.

One of the most-effect ways to improve your concept art is to introduce motion into the scene. In this tutorial, we will show you how to create concept art for a zombie-themed video game. This piece will portray a couple of police officers fending off a hoard of zombies in the pouring rain. This tutorial also includes a stunning speed painting video, so make sure to watch it before you begin. Let’s get started!Speed Painting VideoBefore you begin, take a look at this stunning speed painting video that shows the entire process. Tutorial AssetsTo complete the tutorial, you will need the following assets:Fence brush packSci-fi Tech brush packStock Photo 11. Sketching it outStep 1Create a new document by going to File > New. The document can be any size you prefer. I typically use A4 at 300 dpi just in case I want to print it later. For this piece, I am going to paint it in landscape at a 16:9 ratio as if I am working on a rough storyboard for a film. Feel free to reduce the size or resolution if your computer is not powerful enough to work in these dimensions. Step 2Start by sketching out simple skeleton forms (As shown below). Get wild and don’t restrict yourself, explore and have fun at this stage, it opens up to a lot of possibilities when you’re doing this. If you already have a certain scene in mind, just jump in and start putting the lines in.You can use a default Photoshop chalk brush for the sketch, the brush you use doesn’t matter, just pick something you’re comfortable with and let it flow. After that you can also try sketching out the mass of your character (As shown below), by using simple lines to roughly draw out the figure, but always check the proportion and the anatomy, practice makes perfect!Then put in some rough lines so you have a better idea of what you’re going to paint, try not to go in to too much detail, just a rough sketch will do. If you’re going into the details at this stage, you’ll end up sub-consciously restricting yourself from further exploration of the painting, so try to avoid a super neat outline. Step 3Choose any brush and start sketching out the painting as shown below. Don’t restrain yourself too much at this stage, keep the flow going and loosen your hand a little. You can turn off the skeleton forms layer while you’re sketching. Once you’re finished sketching the focus point (In this case its the two guys with guns) of the painting, you can start sketching the rough background. 2. Bringing in the values.Step 1 Create a new layer under your sketch, and fill it with a Mid Tone Grey (#7d7d7d) as shown in the image. To fill the color, you can just use the shortcut Alt + Backspace with the color you have picked. Step 2Pick a default round brush or soft brush, and set the Brush mode to Multiply (as shown in image), the multiply mode makes the brush act like a coat of darker values and Darkens anywhere you paint. Roughly put in a few strokes on the two main characters to make them stand out from the background, use a Default Soft Airbrush to darken the top and bottom parts of the painting as well.Continue to darken the painting, plan a little ahead on where you want the focus point to be and where will the light be coming from, in this painting I’m thinking of doing a backlight for these two characters, so they should appear a little bit darker than the background since less light will shine on them. I’ve also roughly blocked out some values for the zombies in the background. Step 3Next, I’ll show you how to add in some fences. The fence shown below was created using a brush that you can download in the Tutorial Assets above. To create them, I created a new layer on top of the painting and duplicated it to create a seamless pattern. After you’re done piecing together the fence, set the layer’s Blending Mode to Multiply, and you’ll have something that looks like this:With the layer of t