10 Things You Can Do in Photoshop

In this post i will be talking about ten basic things you can do in Photoshop to make your photos more impressive to look at for this example i will be using the same picture ten times but will alter it in a different way and will show you a finished result.

Here is the example photo: (Unedited)

1.Brightness & Contrast

The first thing i will be changing in this photo is the brightness and contrast witch can be found by going to Image>Adjustments>Brightness & Contrast.

As you can see below the brightness and contrast option has come up next to the side of the photo to change the settings of the brightness and contrast simply move the sliders from one side to another.

This is a close up of the sliders have preview selected so you can see the effect of the changes in actual time so you don't have to repeat these steps again.

As you can see by the sliders below i have changed the settings to brightness 64 and contrast 56 with preview selected.

below is the result due to the changes in brightness and contrast.

As you can see the photo has become more bright and looks more appealing due to its radiance of the photo and how it comes off the screen to the eyes of the viewer.

2.Lighting Effects

The original photo is lacking something called lighting effects what i mean by this is that it casts a shadow but is very faint and dose not look that impressive. 

Using a lighting effect filter will bright a sense of light direction to the photo and cast artificial light which will make the photo look more eye catching due to the direction of the light.

To get to this option simply go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects.

As you can see below the photo has become black but has a small ball of light pointing in the opposite direction in where we want it to go.

Do not worry though as the dots indicated around the oval shape rotate and expand the light so we can point it in the direction we want it to go.

As you can see the light is now facing the way i would like it to go but the photo is still to dark to change the radius of the light in this photo simply go to the circle in the center with the white circular bar and move the white bar around or use the options to the right of you.

As you can see due to the direction of the light it gives it more ambiance to the photo as it shows the direction of the lighting it gives the model more of an appearance as the background fades away in the back making you focus only on the model.

3.Desaturation

Desaturation is a basic option that can be accessed in two ways all this changes is that it takes all the colours away from the photo to leave it as a black and white photo a quick short cut so you don't have to use more complicated options.

To simply change the photo to black and white use

CMD+Shift+U if your on a mac

CTRL+Shift+u Windows 

This will change the photo to black and white the quickest way.

The other option is

Image>Adjustments>Desaturate

Below is the desaturated image.

4.Hue & Saturation

To make your photo look funny or odd using this tool can help as you are apple to completely be change the colour to something completely ridiculous.

For example in the movie "Avatar" the aliens are blue so i will be making this character blue by using Hue & Saturation.

This option can be found by going to Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation.

When you have selected this option three sliders will appear we will use only two the lightness one does not really matter as we are not focusing on this.

I change the sliders to +180 and +20 this made my character turn blue below this image will show the character as a blue character.

5.Overlay Images

This technique is a very helpful one if you want to bring out your photos or to use depth or texturing in the photo to make them have a feel or theme to them what this means is putting photos on top of one another to create a better impression.

I will use the following photos below.

To overlay images open the photos in separate tabs drag them over and put them on top of the photo like show shown below.

On the right side there is an option that says "Normal" click on this and select "Overlay".

You can change the mode to what you desire to see what you think will look good below shows the finished product with the three photos.

As you can see it makes the photo appear different it can also link to a theme and will make it look old or like it is on a piece of paper this can be done in many different ways such as some other examples i have done below.

All photos above have been done by using this technique.

6. 3D TEXT

In this step i will teach you something different i will teach you how to make eye catching 3D text i will not be using the model photo i will simply type a word and make the text appear 3D.

Using the text tool on the left.

I will type the word of a youtube channel i watch Called Tron-ops

I typed the word but it wasn't visible as the text was white on a clear background.

I added a stroke effect/outline to do this i went to Layer>Layer Style>Stroke

This is what the text looks like so far.

As you can see very basic next we want to convert this into a shape to do this go to Type>Convert Shape.

Now that this step is done we want to change the perspective of the text so we can see the 3D coming off it to do this go to Edit>Transform>Perspective.

Once you have done this a box with markers will appear around it like so.

Drag the bottom right box in a downward direction this will then give the text depth which is what we are trying to create.

As you can see the text has no created a window into where we can imagine where the text will become 3D.

Next we are going to create the illusion of 3D simply get the "Move Tool" and hold ALT and move the text to the side keep doing this as it will copy the text layer multiple times. please turn the stroke effect off before doing this as it brings the illusion out more.

As the photos shows we are starting to get the whole 3D effect.

next find the first layer that was created on the layers tab and pull it towards the top.

Every other layer can be left where it is as they will be used in a moment.

Once that layer is at the top select all other layers apart from the original to do this click the bottom layer hold "Shift" and click the 2nd layer below the original layer then right click and select merge layers or create smart object.

Now that this is done click on the merged layer and go to layer style as we did before but click on gradient overlay.

Select the black and white gradient leave the the settings as they are unless you want to alter them to make it look different below is something like what you should have.

7.Invert

 A very simple photoshop technique is using the invert function this unlike saturation.

Inverts the colours you currently have to simply do this you either use 

Ctrl+I

or

CMD+I

In doing that your photo will look this.

8.Rain Effect

In this section i will show you how to make a rain effect in photo shop for this you will need the photo you are working with and a picture of water droplets such as the one below.

Drag the water droplets on top of the photo you are working with and keep it there for the time being.

Click on Filter>Blur>Motion Blur

Put the sliders to about minus fifty four then change the angle so you can put the rain in the direction you want it to be press OK.

Then overlay the image with any desired option i picked multiply and then played with the opacity factor and this is the result of a basic rain effect below the example is a piece of finished work i previously did before this.

9.Magnetic Lasso Tool

The ninth thing i will show you is using the magnetic lasso tool it is located third from the top hold down and click it on the side.

Watch this tool does is that you are able to trace around a picture and then cant move this section and put it elsewhere quite basic but if you want it to look perfect it is very time consuming.

The dotted lines indicate the area you have traced you can now move the item freely the next image below is the something i did with this model in full scale on a background i previously created all done using this technique.

10.Fade Out Effect

In this final example i will be using a different photo a photo of project almost finished all i need to do is fade out the photo now i could this by using the overlay feature and changing the opacity.

However what i am going to do is use the eraser tool and change the opacity of that and then use a smooth brush this will create a fade effect as i will show by the three photos below.

No Fade:

Slight Fade:

Full Fade:

As you can see the photo  starts to fade into the background giving it a more atmospheric touch up to the image it also brings it closer to the colour palette and links with the theme of the photo very well.

I hope what you have read has been informative for you and that this can help you in the future with your Photoshop experience.

Thank you very much for reading

The Expendables 3 Poster

The process for making this movie poster started when a select few students were put into different positions and given props in front of a green screen. we then added light sources to either the left or the right side of the individuals body to make one side dark and the other side lighter. The photos were a jpeg file format which you mainly find on cameras and is a good quality format to use for live action posters.










After the pictures were taken and uploaded i put these photos into photoshop i then started to cut around the students using the magnetic lasso tool. i did want to use magic wand tool and the select
colour feature however it did not give a satisfy result so i kept using the magnetic lasso tool. when the students were cut out i dragged and dropped all 10 students into a a big enough canvas for them all to fit into the frame.

After all 10 students were put into the photo i set each students brightness and contrast to a rate that matched so the poster would not look its best. i then change the size of the students having one student in the centre and having the rest at the sides gradually getting smaller and smaller. i then zoomed in with the magnifying glass and used the eraser tool to get rid of any ruff edges or used the blur tool for the edges that were not big enough to delete.

when the students were in the right position i then found a background image of a destroyed city and made this layer the bottom layer so it took over the blank white background. i cropped it into a size that fits into the image border.i then used the internet to get images of textured photos.

When these were downloaded i dragged and dropped these photos on top of the photo of the students and changed the layer setting to either soft light or overlay. when i was happy with the way the photos were arranged i darkened and lightened some of the textures and add filters once this was done i moved onto finding a font for the poster.

I went onto a font website called DAfonts.com and found a text called Broken Detroit.
http://www.dafont.com/broken-detroit.font

Once i found a text that suited the genre of the film i added this text to the poster and use this text as the main title text for the posters. when this text was in the correct place the "Layers" tab was selected then "Layer Style".  on the layer style options i selected a "Stroke" option which made a black out line round the text when this option was implemented the colour text was changed to white to make the text more visible and also more eye catching. With some text i used the opacity option i faded the text to make the poster more like its the original theme.

when all of the main editing was done for this poster it was time to make the poster seem more realistic to do this i used the internet to get the age certificate from the bbfc.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100225224907/gtawiki/images/5/5a/BBFC_18.png

Afterwards i was provided with a blurb for the poster where certain text should go on the posters such as directors names,tag lines,cast,crew and company who fund this movie. once all this text was written on and visible the final thing was to add the company logo of a famous movie company i used Paramount Pictures.

http://www.scifinow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Paramount+logo.jpg

Movie Posters

Genre: Horror -Slasher

The dark colour scheme and effects of a fog over a dark figure indicate the genre to be a dark horror movie. However with the appearance of a classic psychopathic killer with a machete and a hockey mask and the zombie like stance show it’s your typical classic slasher film.

The style of the text being bold and all caps makes it an impact to your eyes and with the text having cracks and stains have a dark swampy feel. With the red text indicates terror and blood which is the main features of a horror film which slasher fans look for the most.

Below the text indicates another film similar to this one with it being made by the same company shows that it will live up to its name as a horror movie to the audience.

The list of cast in this film show it is independently made it does not have A-list celebrities in it which shows that it’s not been tampered with and its quality will be more realistic to it not having well known celebrities involved.

However “Jared Padaleki” is a well know actor for supernatural which is a horror basted series with many different types of horror. He will be the only actor in it with a high knowledge of the horror franchise and people will know this if they like the genre of this movie and the TV that he is a main star in.

Genre: Action

The actors in this movie are well known actors in the movie franchise which shows to the audience that this movie has a lot of potential and good quality acting which will make the move to a memorable experience.

The effects on the poster showing debris from an explosion indicate the movie is an action packed movie with a lot to look forward also with a bazooka and other guns show there will be pursuits and violence which people who prefer this genre love to see.

The text on the poster is very elegant and well positioned which shows there will be some smart thought put into the move and maybe twist and plots that are unseen and it makes the movie look different to what you usually see in action movie. 

Also the movie is linked to another movie which the director of this movie made which was very successful and similar which makes this worth watching.

Genre: Horror -Slasher

The dark colours and use of lighting in this poster has a creepy effect as the light is being directed down to the tools that the murderer uses which makes the audience have a window to see just what there in for.

Looking at the objects and tools used in this image it shows just looking that this movie is very dark and links to the genre perfectly as it shows the audience whats coming what to expect and whats going to happen. 

Looking further at the text it looks worn and stretched and has a sort of skin texture which links to the tag line "Evil wears many faces" this gives the viewer the effect that this "Slasher" has a sick ritual involving other peoples and there skins more importantly there faces this could show a story line of a child deformity.

This poster is a teaser poster as it shows no actor or any sort of information about the company who made the movie or anything along those lines this gets the audience more hyped up for the movie by simply giving them a release date this will give the audience a movie to look forward to if they link themselves with liking these sort of movies.

The audience for this poster would be 18 and over its more linked to adults maybe not those of elderly age as it looks very violent and graphic so this would be suited to a younger adult audience from 18 and up the audience who watch this would have to have a very strong open mind and very strong heart.