PHOTOSHOP

This model was shot for a magazine cover. We needed to make her more obviously blonde, adjust her eye colour to fit with the other cover colours, and brighten up her lips. We did this very quickly, using the techniques described opposite

ONE CLICK FIX

Practise with the Pen tool much of the time it's quicker to cut out by hand and then smudge a mask than it is to use the Extract or Colour Range tools

Fast facial retouching

NEW SERIES! Each issue, Chris Stocker reveals quick ways you can improve any digital image in Photoshop. This month: faces

CONTACT US!

CHRIS STOCKER
editor.dcm@futurenet.co.uk

HAIR
APPLY A COLOUR CURVE

Here we paint over the hair and apply a colour curve to give our model a new look

Double-click the Quick Mask icon and set it to the selected area at 100 per cent. Choose Quick Mask (Q), a black brush (D) and start to paint over the hair with the brush. Use a white brush to make a hole in the mask on the forehead (see red circle).

01

PAINT THE HAIR

Come out of Quick mask (Q) and you will notice that the mask has become a selection. Choose Window8Layers and from the bottom of the layers palette curves. A mask will be created automatically from the selection. Select Channel8RGB8Red.

02

APPLY COLOUR CURVE LAYER

With only the red channel selected, click the middle of the curve and a point will appear. Type 55 into Input and 39 into the Output field. Click on Channel8Red and change to blue. Click again and enter Input 50, Output 59, then OK.

03

CHANGE THE COLOUR

EYES
QUICK MASKS

With the clever use of a Quick mask we can change the colour of the eyes, too

Go into Quick mask (Q) and select one eye using the Elliptical Marquee tool. Drag to fit the eye and hit D to default the swatch to black and white.

01

SELECT THE EYES

Use Alt Delete to fill. Repeat with the other eye, then deselect the selection using Command D. Remove excess Mask using the white brush. Press the X key to flip the brush from black to white.

02

REFINE THE MASK

Come out of Quick mask and, from the Layers palette, select Hue/Saturation. Click Colorise and set Hue to 202 and Saturation to 56 per cent. You may want to experiment with other colours, too.

03

ADD COLOUR

LIPS
DRAWING PATHS

By drawing a path around the mouth its then a simple step to play with the colour

Check the Path and not the shape layer is active in the top tool bar. Go to Window, select Paths. Select the Path tool and draw a path around the mouth. Check the path is active in the top tool bar.

01

DRAW A PATH

Click in the path and click on the first point made to make one sealed shape. From the Paths palette (with the path still selected), click the Load path as selection icon from the bottom of the palette.

02

MAKE IT A SELECTION

From the Layers palette, choose Colour Balance. Drag the magenta green slider down to -50 and the yellow blue to +10 and press OK. Try playing around with your own settings to colour this image. DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE 063

03

COLOUR THE LIPS

PHOTOSHOP DANCING PIXIES

From pixels to pixies

With Photoshop and a digital camera, Karen Spychalski shows you how to conjure up a magical world of dancing pixies!
DANCING PIXIES

KEY DETAILS

2 2

SKILL LEVEL

90

TIME TO COMPLETE

MINSPERIMAGE

NEXT MONTH
How to mimic Photoshop plugins worth 100s for free!

nspired by my three-year-old niece and her vivid imagination, I set out to create a picture book for her. In this book she is the central character, meeting magical creatures along the way. I asked my family to pose in costumes and, using my digital camera and a bit of Photoshop magic, I conjured up a world of pixies, giants and wizards. Once Id decided on the theme, I started to collect macro shots from nature. Most digital cameras have a good close-focusing capability that enables you to fill the frame with leaves, toadstools, butterflies and so on.

Tools of the trade

Back at home, I put together the image. A favourite tool for this kind of project is the Free Transform tool in Photoshop. This enables you to adjust the size of subjects so that they fit in their new macro setting. By shrinking your subject or making it giant size, you can create your own, fantasy world: put wings on tiny horses, make houses nestled in trees and have fairies flying on leaves. For this image, I duplicated the pixie, attached wings, then brought the picture alive with movement using Motion Blur settings and added masses of autumnal-colour leaves with the Paint Brush tool.

FILES ON CD
Sky.psd, PixieWings.psd, Pixies.psd

EXPERT TIP
KAREN SPYCHALSKIS CLEANING TIP

MAGNIFIER TOOL
When working with Layers, the Magnifier tool is a real asset. There can be rough edges or spots not visible when working in the regular screen mode. These flaws will show up when you print your work, though. To keep your work clean, choose the Magnifier tool, then take a look at every inch of your work.

Now its your turn

This project was great fun to create, and has become a real family treasure. Its easy to copy the images are on this months coverdisc. Once youve completed this pixie image, why not develop your own, original fantasy image using the skills and techniques that youve learnt?

IN DETAIL
[1] COLOURFUL SKY
The sky is a genuine photograph, tweaked to boost the colours.

[2] MOTION BLUR

Photoshops Blur tool enables you to add fake motion effects to static images.

[3] PIXIE WINGS

These pixie wings are based on a photograph of a normal leaf.

2 3

[4] A MASS OF LEAVES

The twirling leaves on the ground are created with a Photoshop brush.

CONTACT US!

KAREN SPYCHALSKI
www.dcmag.co.uk

064

DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE

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STAGE 1
MAKING THE MOST OF THE MOTION BLUR TOOL

ONE CLICK FIXES

New in Photoshop 7, the Healing brush allows smoother blending, matching the texture and tone of a correct area to the area to be fixed

There are many options when creating a drop shadow (opacity, width, position, colour). Experiment with the choices to create the most realistic effect

The Motion Blur tool enables you to make a static image come alive with movement. It can be used on the entire image or just on selected aspects of it.

01

OPEN THE SKY.PSD FILE

Open the Sky.psd background Layer and then the Pixies.psd. Using the Move tool, drag Pixie One onto the sky background. This is the first pixie in the dance sequence all the other pixies will be layered on top of Pixie One. Apply Motion Blur as below.

You can find the Motion Blur tool by going to Filter8Blur8Motion Blur. Set it to 47. Drag Pixie Two onto the background and position her in front and to the right of Pixie One. Repeat the Motion Blur technique from step one.

02

USE MOTION BLUR

Drag Pixie One from Pixie.psd onto the background and rename it Pixie Three. Place her in front and to the right of Pixie Two. Using the Lasso tool, select her head and right arm, Motion Blur to 95, Deselect, Lasso her extended arm and dress, set Motion blur to 18 and Deselect.

03

PIXIE THREE

EXPERT TIP
KAREN SPYCHALSKIS BRUSHWORK

04 IN FOCUS THE ILLUSION OF MOVEMENT

BRUSH SELECTION
Photoshop is a wonderland of opportunity. Its fun to explore its various tools and brushes (available in the Tool Options bar). Its worth spending some time working with all the individual brushes. Play around with different sizes, shapes and opacity.

Pixie Four
Drag Pixie Two from Pixie.psd onto background and rename it Pixie Four. Position this new Layer on top of Pixie Three. Using the Motion Blur tool, blur the whole body (39). With the Lasso tool, select just the dress, set the Motion Blur to 92 and Deselect CREATING MOVEMENT By selecting separate parts of the pixie and applying different Motion Blur settings, you can make a static group of images come alive with movement. UNSUNG HERO In order to get the right composition, you often need to reposition different Layers. The Move tool is an indispensable tool and will help you organise your image.

Drag Pixie One onto background and rename it Pixie Five. Position this Layer on top and to the right of Pixie Four. Using the Lasso tool, select the full body and head leaving the extended arm free. Motion blur (67), Deselect, Lasso the arm and Motion blur (32).

05

PIXIE FIVE

06

PIXIE SIX

Apply Motion Blur to the dress (32). Use the Blur tool to clean up any rough edges. You can set the Blur tool to 100% and go over each Layer where the Lasso might have left a distinctive line.

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PHOTOSHOP DANCING PIXIES

STAGE 2
TAKE FLIGHT

FURTHER INFORMATION

www.digitalphotocontest.com This contest site features ten daily winners in different categories (one digital art). Let this site and its photographers be an inspiration for you

Now its time to learn how to change an everyday leaf into magical pixie wings.

There are just a few steps to colour your image, and once youve mastered the technique you can experiment with different colours of your own. To begin colouring the wings, Invert the image (Image8Adjustment8Invert.), then Equalize it (Image8Adjustment8Equalize).

07

OPEN PIXIEWINGS.PSD

Next, go to Image8Adjustment8Channel Mixer. Here you can adjust the three (red, green, blue) different Source Channels and the three (red, green, blue) Output Channels. Using the Mixer gives you a wide range of colour options.

08

CHANNEL MIXER

Set the leaf to red (Ctrl+1). Set the slides to +200 (red), +104 (green), -154 (blue). Use the pull-down menu to change the Output Channel to green (Ctrl+2). Adjust the slide to -164 (red), +96 (green), -30 (blue). Change the Output Channel to blue (Ctrl+3). Adjust slide to +30 (red), 0 (green), +100 (blue).

09

SET THE LEAF COLOURS

EXPLAINED

12 IN FOCUS FINISHING TOUCHES

BLUR TOOL
Use the Blur tool to soften rough edges or specific parts of a photo. This tool, like most Photoshop tools, can be set to different levels of pressure from the Tool Options bar. Also from the same palette as the Blur tool is the smudge tool. This is useful when you want to smear one colour into another. The amount of surface you can smudge depends on the size and softness of the brush.

Blowing leaves
Select the Paint Brush tool. On the Tool Options bar, pull down the brush choices. Youll see brushes in various sizes and shapes. Choose the brush that looks like a maple leaf. Set the brush size to 45 with 100% opacity PAINT ANYWHERE It doesnt take a steady hand the brush blows leaves in a random pattern when you drag the mouse and release. Try half circles with the mouse and continue painting until it looks alive with leaves. AUTUMN COLOURS You can pick any colour for your leaves. Weve chosen to use an autumn palette. Choose a dark orange colour for the foreground and a light orange for the background colour.

When youre happy with the colour, change the opacity of leaf to 68% and drag it onto the sky background. Use the Free Transform to size the wings. Duplicate this Layer until you have all the wings you need.

10

DUPLICATE THE WINGS

Layer the wings in among pixie Layers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Make use of Skew, Distort, Rotate and Flip Horizontal when youre working with individual wings. Apply Motion Blur to some of the wings. Note: the object here is to create a sense of movement.

11

LAYER THE WINGS

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DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE