Lessfeet

Here is a recently restored photo that I have been working on. A lot of what was wrong with this photo was not fixed by Photoshop. It was very stained and very dirty. I had to remove the dirt covering the picture first. If you Google cleaning photos it will tell you much better techniques to do this. I was doing this for free so I did not want to spend any money so I used alcohol. I stared in a corner of the photo to see if there was any problems before using it before cleaning the entire photo. After cleaning the picture and scanning it into Photoshop as a color image I then used a “Hue and Saturation adjustment layer” to to take out the yellow cast. I used a second “Hue and Saturation” adjustment layer to adjust the the lightness of the yellow around the wheel area to remove a big yellow blotch. I fixed the contrast and brightness with a “Levels adjustment layer”. Then used the “Clone Stamp Tool” and finally the “Healing Brush Tool” to take out smudges, and scratches. That’s it! More Photoshop tips!

In April I submitted a post about creating a selection using the “Pin Tool” in Photoshop. Since I made that post I found a great tutorial on this subject. If you are Photoshop user this is a must learn skill.

After you close the path you must turn the path into a selection. Click on the paths pallet at the bottom of the pallet click “Load Path As Selection”. Now you have a selection.

This technigue works well with objects with defined edges. There are other techniques for hair and other things with less defined edges.

Just like on the previous PhotoShop tip I use the “Pen Tool” to select the subject (fireplug in this case). Invert the selection. Open “Hue and Saturation”. I reduce “Saturation” to -100. This photo has a second “saturation layer” that brightens the yellows in the leaves in the foreground making them brighter and reduced the greens and blues in the background to darken the foliage.

This is a photo taken with my new Canon 50D but what I am most excited about is the Photoshop skill the I perfected. You see this photograph had terrible clutter in the background. (I think there was even a guy with his finger in his nose back there. Otherwise it is a great picture.) The cure of course is you select the background and then blur it. The question is, “How do I make an accurate selection?”. The answer is “the Magic Wand Tool”. Just kidding! The correct tool to use is the “Pen Tool”. If you practice with the “Pin Tool” you can make a very accurate selection. It is very difficult to get use to and you kinda just have to figuer it out. Here are is a tutorial that will try to explain it.

Windows Live Photo Gallery is a program included in the new Windows Live Essentials a suite of great products offered free from Microsoft for download. WL Photo Gallery imports all of your photos then you can make adjustments to them. (crop, adjust brightness, color etc.) You can stitch photos together to create great panoramas, tag them and upload them to the internet to share with other online.

Oct 21, 2008

Change Eye Color

Bare Basics of GIMP and Brushes/Filters

Create an oilpainting from a photo.

Making a pencil drawing from a photo.

Create Lightsaber Effects

Photoshop Express – Edit, manage and share photos online.