skin a cat tutorials

MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT:

CREATE EYE-POPPINGEFFECTS USING AVIARY(WITHOUT PAYING FOR

PHOTOSHOP !)

Meowza Katz

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More Than One Way to Skin a Cat:

Create Eye-Popping Effects Using Aviary

(Without Paying for Photoshop®!)

Meowza Katz

Publisher and General Manager, Course

Technology PTR:

Stacy L. Hiquet

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Sarah Panella

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Heather Talbot

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Jordan Casey

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Printed in the United States of America1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 10 09

eISBN-10: 1-59863-707-X

A special thanks to my family: Shaena, Mama, Didi, Obs, Sach, Steve,Akemi, and Panda.

Thank you, Mama and Obs, for everything you’ve given me growing up.

Especially flower okaki.

Thank you, Didi, for being the first to support me when I decided to quitmy old job and go for art.

I’d like to dedicate this book to my sweetii, Brandi, whom I met just as Ibegan writing this. Whenever I’m standing in a store and see this bookon a shelf, I’ll be thinking of the first time I saw you and how my wholelife changed from the moment I saw just the top of your head at thegrand court. Love you! Muah!

Dedication

To the Aviary staff: Avi, Iz, Michael G., Ari, Mario, Mo, Gabriele,Andrea, Alessandro, Maudie, Sumul, Gila, Amira, and the rest of thewonderful folks, advisors, partners, and birds at Aviary. It goes withoutsaying that this book would not have existed without the megalomaniacaldedication of every single one of you.

To the book staff: Lisa, Jenny, Megan, and all those at CourseTechnology. A huge thanks (in English this time, Lisa!) for giving us atAviary a chance to spread our voice.

To friends who have dealt with my increasing descent into insanity while Iwrote this book: Tammy “Nickname Still Pending” V., Chris “TheNigerian Nightmare” G., David “David Lopez” Lopez.

To the Aviary community. Aviary wouldn’t be what it is today without thehelp and enthusiasm of every member constantly testing, creating, andpushing the suite to its absolute limits. And then pushing it some more.

To those people I failed to mention, your name was just too hard to spell!

Acknowledgments

Meowza Katz is a self-taught graphic artist, illustrator, and popcorneater from Vancouver, BC, Canada, who went full-time as a freelanceartist in 2004. After finding success in greeting card design, he had hisfirst public art show in Spokane, Washington, where a number of his multimedia pieces were exhibited before going full-time as Artist inResidence for Aviary, Inc. His work has been featured in media all overthe world, ranging from greeting card illustration, to company branding,to magazine cover art. He’s won numerous awards and accolades(including the “Grand Jury” award) on the highly popular Photoshop contest website, Worth1000.com. His personal work can be found on his website, www.meowza.org. And he also likes colorful pants.

About the Author

www.meowza.org

Introduction .........................................x

Phoenix Basics.....................................1Phoenix Tools ........................................................................2Understanding Layers .............................................................6Making Selections................................................................10

Basic Tutorials....................................15Casting Shadows.................................................................16Matching Shadows ..............................................................20Matching Lighting ................................................................24Background Cloning.............................................................28Layer Masks ........................................................................32Three Ways of Color Replacement .........................................36Precision Selection ...............................................................40Lighting Effects.....................................................................44Surface Reflections ...............................................................48Motion Blur .........................................................................52Perspective Sign...................................................................56Changing Skin Color............................................................60Creating Lightning................................................................64

Contents

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Contents

More Than One Way to Skin a Cat: Create Eye-Popping Effects Using Aviary

viii

Foggy Day ..........................................................................68Snowy Day .........................................................................72Rainy Day...........................................................................76Flood..................................................................................80Day to Night .......................................................................84In the Clouds .......................................................................90Behind Glass.......................................................................94Tattoo Art ............................................................................98Graffiti..............................................................................102Face Swap........................................................................106Liquify—Melting.................................................................110Liquify—Displacement ........................................................114Liquify—Texturizing ............................................................118Clowning Around ..............................................................122Coloring Line Art ...............................................................126

Sprucing Up Photography ................131Enhancing Saturation .........................................................132Borders.............................................................................134Dodge & Burn ...................................................................140Compositional Cropping.....................................................144Cross Processing................................................................148Selective Desaturation ........................................................152Selective Inversion..............................................................156Aging a Photo ...................................................................160Photo Retouching ...............................................................164Coloring Hair ....................................................................170Enhancing Eyes .................................................................174Warhol-izing .....................................................................178Turning a Photo into a Comic Book Panel..............................182Miniaturizing.....................................................................186

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Contents

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Fun with Phoenix .............................191Lemon Car ........................................................................192Chocolate .........................................................................198Aliens!..............................................................................202Aging a Person..................................................................208Animal Hybrids..................................................................214Edible Architecture .............................................................218Gender Bending ................................................................224Flying Cars .......................................................................230Toiletbot ............................................................................236Inanimate Objects..............................................................242Unzipped..........................................................................246Fire! .................................................................................252Water...............................................................................256S-s-smokin’ ........................................................................260Chrome ............................................................................264Stone................................................................................268Canvas Earth.....................................................................272Robot Frog ........................................................................278Animal Dress-Up ................................................................282Creating an MP3 Player .....................................................288Anatomy Scramble.............................................................294Creating a Sea Monster......................................................298Cyborg.............................................................................304Dragons............................................................................310

Index ..............................................317

4


x

For years, as a digital artist, I felt almost as if I belonged to an exclusive,secret club.

In this club, we all watched each others’ backs (as long as we weren’tvying for the same design jobs). We felt smug in the sense that we’dovercome the barrier to entry, and laughed as our non-art savvy friendswere impressed with our three-minute image manipulation of their headimposed on a lingerie model’s body. We loved creating and alteringimages as we saw fit, and in a sense, changed the course of history toour liking. We loved making you laugh, making you cry, and making youangry with the images we created. We loved that you didn’t know whatwe knew.

With this club came thousands of dollars in membership costs in thename of software prices.

When I first heard of the plans for the Aviary suite, I was immediatelyfloored by the sheer ambition of the project. As an avid enthusiast ofAdobe Photoshop, I was very interested to see how the idea of abrowser-based image editor, which costs a fraction of its desktop prede-cessor, would come to fruition, and what the benefits would actually be.

Not only Aviary’s affordability, but the stripped-down nature of the pro-gram, with the software including just the most important tools and fea-tures commonly used by artists compared to its desktop predecessor,created an unparalleled low barrier to entry for the casual creator and thenew artist who wants to dive into this world without the demanding initialinvestment. All of a sudden, the world finally had a place where anyonewith an internet connection could create. When I saw the community andcollaborative aspect for the suite, I began realizing the future for thispiece of software. In essence, the door to our secret club was opened.

When I was asked to write Aviary’s first tutorial book, I was honored, to say the least. I was given this powerful new toy and set out to createimages that I felt anyone can follow along and do just as well. As muchas I loved being a part of the exclusive club, I get an enormous sense of

Introduction

Introduction

xi

pride watching a new artist take a technique I taught him and apply it tohis own images. And I’m left to wonder where I would be in art had Ihad the opportunity to dissect works of digital art I admired during mydays starting off in the industry.

So with that said, welcome to Aviary’s first book, More Than One Wayto Skin a Cat.

The book is divided into four parts, plus a CD. The first section deals with“Phoenix Basics,” explaining the various tools, layering system, and fea-tures you’ll need to familiarize yourself with to execute the tutorials.

The second section is full of “Basic Tutorials” that a beginner could easilypick up and follow. These tutorials include simple effects such as coloriz-ing, face swapping, creating lighting and shadows, and more. They illus-trate a sample of the basic effects one can create within Aviary.

The third section is “Sprucing Up Photography.” From helpful tips involv-ing retouching skin and cross-processing your images, to more fun effectssuch as turning a photograph into a comic book panel or a Warholimage, this chapter deals with all sorts of neat ideas to enhance that oldpicture in the shoebox gathering dust in the back of your... harddrive!

And finally, the last section, “Fun with Phoenix,” is chock full of tutorials thatshow just a fraction of the kind of work you can create by putting togetherall the knowledge gathered within the early chapters of the book.

The included CD has all the source images needed to complete all thetutorials within the book. But for added fun, try applying the same tech-niques to your own personal photographs and show them to your familyand friends. The CD also comes packed with a coupon for a free one-year membership to Aviary, allowing unlimited use of Phoenix, and alsoaccess to all the layered image files online to dissect at your whimthrough the Tutorials section on the site.

So whatever your skill level is in art, I hope there’s something to learn inthis book for everyone. And everyone finally has somewhere where theycan let their potential soar. Because when the world is creating, we dosome amazing things.

So welcome to the book. And more importantly, welcome to the club.

Just remember to take your shoes off at the door.

Meowza Katzproud member of the Earth

1Phoenix BasicsIf you’ve used photo editing programsbefore, working with Phoenix will feelfamiliar. If you don’t have experience, noworries. This section introduces you to thePhoenix tools and key features used innearly every photo editing technique. Takea quick tour of the Phoenix essentials now.


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Phoenix Tools

Phoenix comes equipped withmany of the necessary toolsneeded for most all imagemanipulating. Before startingwith any of the tutorials in thisbook, it’s a good idea to famil-iarize yourself with the maintools.

All the tools are located on theleft-hand side of the workspace.To select a tool for use, simplyclick on the icon for the tool youneed.

Clicking on some of the toolsopens a window or palette asshown here, where you caneither select other tools in thattoolset or choose settings for thetool you clicked.

So, let’s get acquainted withsome of these tools you’ll beusing, shall we?

Transformation Tool—The TransformationTool basically moves entire layers, or selectedareas of your image, within the canvas at atime. With the Transformation Tool selected, youcan drag the objects on your working canvasvery easily. This tool also enables you to resizethe selected object. Drag one of the “handles”on the bounding box around your selection toresize as needed. Then, simply double-clickwithin your selection to confirm your transformation.

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Distortion Tool—The next tool down is theDistortion Tool. Click the Distortion Tool icon,and handles appear on the corners of yourimage. Simply drag any of these boxes to skewthe object, and then double-click in the selectionto finish the change. The Distortion Tool makes itextremely easy to warp the perspective of yourimages.

Magic Wand—The Magic Wand Tool enablesyou to make selections based on color. Afteryou click the Magic Wand Tool, clicking anarea in your image selects all the surroundingpixels of similar color range. When you selectthe Magic Wand Tool, you’ll see a window popup beside the tool. Here, you can adjust theTolerance setting of the tool. The higher the tol-erance, the larger the range of colors selectedbecomes, down to a tolerance of 1, which willonly select surrounding areas with the exactsame color value of the pixel you clicked on.You also can choose to set Contiguous on or off.Unchecking this check box enables the MagicWand to select colors within the entire image,whether joined to the point you initially clickedor not.

Lasso Selection—This tool enables you tomake freehand selections in your image bydragging around the portion you want to select.To close your selection, simply release themouse button. You can press Shift while drag-ging to add to the selection, or Alt while drag-ging to delete an area from the selection. Whenyou click the Lasso Selection tool, you’ll noticethere’s also an option to use the PolygonalSelection Tool. This tool is similar, except thatyou create selections with straight lines. Theselection grows, adding corners with each click.

Rectangular Selection—Like the other selec-tion tools, the Rectangular Selection Toolenables you to select and isolate regions of yourimage to alter. By dragging the tool on yourimage, you can make a rectangular selection.Holding Ctrl while you drag enables you tomake a perfectly constrained square selection.You also have the option of using the EllipticalSelection Tool, which works the same as theRectangular Selection Tool, except it enablesyou to create elliptical and circular selections.


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Rectangular Shape—The next toolset holds aselection of shape drawing tools. Click theRectangular Shape Tool, and then drag to drawa rectangular shape on your canvas. This tool’soptions also enable you to round the corners ofyour square to your liking, if needed, and toselect a line weight. After clicking this tool, youalso can select one of the other shape drawingtools: Elliptical Shape Tool, Line Tool, and cus-tomizable Gear Shape, Star Shape, andPolygon Shape Tools.

Paint Bucket—The Paint Bucket Tool enablesyou to easily fill your image, or a selected areain your image, with the foreground color by sim-ply clicking the tool on the canvas. By selectingthe Gradient Tool from the same toolset, youcan fill your image with a gradient color blendfrom the selected foreground color to theselected background color. You can set the fore-ground color by using the Eye Dropper Tool,which is also on this same toolset. Simply selectthis tool, and click on the portion of your imageyou want to sample your color from. This willselect the color of the pixel you clicked on, andset it as your foreground color.

Paintbrush Tool—You could also paint spe-cific areas of your image freehanded with thePaintbrush Tool. With this tool selected, draganywhere on your canvas to paint with the cur-rent foreground color. The options also allowyou to adjust the Alpha, Size, and Hardness ofyour brush to your liking by increasing ordecreasing the amount in the tools options.There’s also a Shape Brush Tool that enablesyou to paint with any of the included customshapes. The Eraser Tool is also located amongthese tools. It works similarly to the Paintbrush,except it removes pixels from your imageinstead of adding them.

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Smudge Tool—The Smudge Tool simulatesdragging your finger through the image, smudg-ing pixels in the direction you drag. This toolcomes in handy when trying to distort elementsto contour along warped paths. Also located inthis toolset are the Blur and Sharpen Tools.What these tools basically do is apply a blurredor sharpened effect to the area in your imageyou click with the respective tool selected.

Liquify Tool—The Liquify Tool is similar to theSmudge Tool, in that the tool is used primarilyby dragging from a starting point in your imageto make the selected pixels conform to the paththat you drag along. This tool especially comesin handy when trying to make subtle changes toelements in your image. For example, you coulduse the tool to enlarge or shrink facial featuresin a portrait. The Clone Stamp Tool enables youto duplicate a part of the existing image.Shift+click to establish an anchor point in thearea to clone, and then drag to create the duplicate.

Text—The Text tool is just as it sounds. It allowsyou to insert text into your document. Select thetool and the desired settings (Font, Size, and soon), click the location where you want the textto appear, and type the text with your key-board. You can select between any of theincluded fonts within the program itself, with theoptions of changing the text size, colors, bold,underline, and so on.

Selecting Colors—Below the tools in the bottom-left corner of your workspace, you’llnotice two boxes, each filled with a color. Theseindicate the current foreground and backgroundcolors. The box on top is the foreground color,and the bottom or back box is the backgroundcolor. Clicking the arrow icon to the top-right ofthis figure quickly inverts the color choices, mak-ing your background color your new foregroundcolor. In order to change your foreground andbackground colors, simply click on the corre-sponding box. In the Select Color dialog box,select a color using the large color box and/orslider bar, or by inputting the Hex or RGB valueof the color of your choice itself, provided youhave the information of the color you seek.


6

Understanding Layers

Layers enable you to combinemultiple images into one com-posite. You retain the ability toedit and alter images independ-ently of each other to create thefinal piece. This tutorial willcover the basic use of layers andsome of the various functionsthat can be applied to them.

To understand how layers work,imagine them as clear acetatesheets stacked on top of eachother. In the example image atleft, I started with the back-ground image of the city skyline.Then I imported the figure of theman on top of it on a new clearplastic sheet. Let’s go further in-depth to working with layersnow.

Source Images: “Above the City” by Barsik, “Happy businessman” by Lise Gagne

1. First, I started by creating a new document. Iselected Load Existing File on Phoenix’s splashpage, and then proceeded to upload my back-ground image when prompted. This automati-cally inserted my background image onto anew layer.

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2. Next, I imported the image of the manholding the umbrella. I selected File > Import.On the My Computer tab of the ResourceBrowser window, I clicked the browse button,selected the image of the man, and clicked OKto upload the image to my current document.When the file was uploaded to Phoenix, it automatically set it on a new layer above mybackground layer.

3. With the figure on a new layer, I was ableto position him on the canvas without disturbingmy original background layer. I lowered theumbrella man layer’s alpha (opacity) to 50% bysliding the Alpha slider on the Layers sidebarhalfway down. This enabled me to see the origi-nal background at the same time, helping meaccurately position the figure to my liking. I thenselected the Transformation Tool and draggedmy figure where I wanted him. I double-clickedin the center of my selection to confirm themove. I then set the umbrella man layer’s Alphaback to 100% on the Layers sidebar.

NoteFor organizational purposes, it also helps to name your layers as you go. By double-clicking the layer in the Layers sidebar, typinga new name, and pressing Enter, you canchange the layer name or label. In the caseof this example, I decided to name myuploaded image as simply “Background.”

4. I then needed to remove the sky portion ofmy umbrella man layer to make him appear tobe placed on the background layer. I did thiswith a layer mask. With my umbrella man layerselected, I clicked drop-down list arrow for theoptions button in the Layers sidebar andselected the Mask Layer option. Initially, thisoption made my entire layer invisible. By select-ing the Paintbrush Tool and painting on theMask layer with white set as my foregroundcolor, I was able to “draw” back in the parts Iwanted to keep. I did this roughly at first, as Iknew I would be fine-tuning it next.

5. To clean the edges, I selected the EraserTool, set the Hardness value to 90, and simplydragged around my figure to erase the rest ofthe unnecessary remnants on the layer’s mask.

6. Working with layers also enables you toadd certain adjustment edits and effects on lay-ers independently of each other. In this image, Iwanted to brighten the initial background layer.First, I selected the background layer in theLayers sidebar. I then selected Image >Brightness & Contrast and slid the Brightnessslider in the Brightness and Contrast dialog boxabout 10 points to the right. I clicked OK to con-firm the change.


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7. You also can create new blank layers thatyou can draw on or add a number of othereffects to. I wanted to lighten the buildings in theBackground layer even further, but I didn’t wantto disturb the sky this time. To do this, I first cre-ated a new blank layer by selecting the NewLayer button in the bottom-left corner of theLayers sidebar. Using the Paintbrush Tool set towhite and a Hardness of 10%, I painted overthe buildings completely. I then lowered thislayer’s alpha setting to 15% to get a subtle hazyeffect over the buildings.

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8. You can go on to add further effects andfilters to layers. I wanted to slightly blur thebackground of this image to create a slightsense of depth. I selected my background layeronce again, and clicked the Layer Filters icon atthe bottom of the Layers sidebar. The LayerFilters dialog box appeared, offering a numberof filters I could add to my layer. I clicked theBlur check box to check it. Then I was able toadjust exactly how much blur I wanted to applyby specifying horizontal (blur X) and vertical(blur Y) parameters. You can enter a value from1-255 in each of those text boxes, with 255being the strongest blur. In this case, I wanted tokeep the effect minimal and entered 2 in boththe blur X and blur Y text boxes. I then clickedOK to apply the effect.

NoteBy selecting File > Export Image, you canexport a flattened version of your creation toyour computer. In the pop-up menu, select thefile type you want to save your image as,and click Save. It will prompt you to select alocation to save the image to, and allow youto name the file at the same time. Then clickSave, and your image will now be exportedto your computer.

NoteLayers can be rearranged on the Layers side-bar at any time. To do so, select the layer youwant to move on the Layers sidebar and sim-ply drag it where you want. To delete a layer,select the layer you want to remove and clickthe Drop Layer icon on the bottom of theLayers sidebar.


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Making Selections

Making selections is a nec-essary part of any selectiveimage editing, such as whenyou’re trying to apply effects tocertain areas of an image. Inthis tutorial, I’ll be showing youhow, using a few different selec-tion tools in Phoenix, I was ableto add a neat out of boundseffect to a picture of a frog.

Source Image: “Red Eye Frog” by Jan Pietruszka

1. First, I wanted to start by isolating the frogfrom its background. I duplicated the originalimage layer, and then hid the original by click-ing its eye icon, leaving the duplicate layer visi-ble. I clicked the duplicate layer in the Layerssidebar. Then, I selected the Magic Wand Tool,set at a Tolerance level of 40, and simplyclicked on an area of the background of theduplicate layer. The Magic Wand selected alladjoining pixels close in tonal proximity to thearea clicked based on the amount of tolerancechosen in the Magic Wand’s settings.

2. I noticed a lot of the background stillremained deselected. I kept the Magic WandTool selected, but this time I held Shift as Iclicked (Shift+click) on the remaining areas.Using Shift+click enabled me to add to my cur-rent selection and isolate the entire background.With the entire background selected, I choseEdit > Cut to delete the selection. Then I choseSelect > Select None to make sure to removemy prior selection.

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3. I still wanted to isolate the frog on its ownlayer. For areas that contain similar tones or forareas with complex backgrounds, I found it eas-ier to use the Lasso Tool. With the Lasso Toolselected, I dragged around the frog to make arough freehand selection.

4. I didn’t need it to be perfect for now, as Iwould go in and fine-tune it later. With my frogselected, I chose Edit > Copy, then Edit > Paste.This pasted the selected frog onto a new layer,and I chose Select > Select None to remove myprior selection.

5. Next, I wanted to cut out a selection for thebackground. I went back to my original frogimage layer, clicking the eye icon to redisplay itand then clicking the layer itself to make sure itwas selected. I selected the RectangularSelection Tool. I held down the Ctrl key as Idragged to make the selection. Doing soallowed me to select a perfectly constrainedsquare.

6. With the portion of background selected, Ipressed Edit > Copy, then Edit > Paste to pastemy selection into a new layer. I clicked the eyeicon for the original layer to hide it. I thenmoved the new layer with the cropped back-ground area behind (below) the layer with theisolated frog.

7. I wanted to add a white border around thebackground selection to give the appearance ofthe background being a photograph. So, Iselected the layer with the cropped backgroundarea. Using the Magic Wand Tool, I clicked thetransparent area of the background squarelayer. I then chose Select > Invert Selection tocreate a selection around my backgroundsquare. I added a new layer and made surethat it was selected, and then I used the PaintBucket Tool to fill this selection in white afterselecting white as the foreground color. This willbe the basis for the frame, and this layer mustappear in front of (above) the layer with thebackground selection.

8. Using the Rectangular Selection Tool, Ithen selected a section of the frame to removeon the layer with the white frame “base” I justcreated. I dragged a square marquee in themiddle of the white frame base. Then I choseEdit > Cut to remove the middle, leaving mewith a white border around the background.


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9. I then created a new layer underneath(behind) all my previous layers. I filled this layerin using the Paint Bucket Tool with a light tancolor. This added a larger frame around thewhite frame created in the preceding two steps.

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10. To fine-tune the rest of the image, Iwanted to clean the edges of the exposed por-tion of the frog. Using the Eraser Tool set at80% Hardness and 100% Alpha, I simplydragged around the frog on the layer where Icopied it to soften the edges.

11. Finally, I wanted to set a shadow aroundthe area of the image framed in white. Iselected the layer with the background squarein the layers list. I clicked the Layer Filters iconat the bottom of the layers palette. This openedthe Layers Filter dialog box, which offers variouseffect options available to apply to a selectedlayer. I checked the box next to the Shadowoption. This brought up the drop shadowoptions for the selected layer. I set the alpha set-ting to 0.4 to lessen the effect, then set the bluramount to 7 for both the X and Y variables.When I was satisfied with the shadow, I clickedOK. Then, I finished it off by doing the same forthe frog layer.

2Basic Tutorials


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Casting Shadows

One of the most importantsteps in compositing an imagefrom multiple sources is creatingbelievable shadows for yourimported elements. Shadowsmake the elements appear to sitin their new environment morerealistically and prevent the finalimage from looking like a simple“copy and paste” job. This tuto-rial will shed some light (pardonthe pun) on the basics of creat-ing simple cast shadows in animage.

Source Image: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by Don Bayley

2. To create the shadow, I needed to dupli-cate the shape of the guitar player. A simpleway to create this selection was to first extractthe figure. I used the Lasso Tool and made arough selection of the guitar player, chose Edit> Copy to copy the selection, and then choseEdit > Paste to paste the copied selection onto a new layer above the original imagelayer. I then pressed Ctrl+D to remove the selection marquee.

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1. The first, and most important, step is to deter-mine where the light source is coming from inthe image. You can do this by studying the exist-ing light and shadows in the source image. Inthis case, I noticed a strong light hitting the gui-tar player from the front right, judging by theharsh light on the right side of his face. So Iknew I wanted to cast a strong shadow going inthe same direction, back and to the left awayfrom our figure.

TipYou can use the View menu to zoom in or outas you work, or press Ctrl+ + or Ctrl+ -. Youalso can press Ctrl+Tab to hide and displaythe sidebars to adjust your workspace.

NoteWhen extracting elements, I often create anew layer below the layer with the figure Iwant to extract, then fill this layer with a solidcontrasting color. This enables me to easilysee what portions of the image I’m removingand prevents me from accidentally erasing aportion I want to keep. In this case, I filled anew layer below the layer with the guitarplayer with red so I could easily see anyremaining gray background areas.

3. To finish this selection, I used the EraserTool set at 90% hardness, and simply erased theremaining background area from the layer withthe copied figure.

4. With my figure extracted on a new layer, Ithen needed to create a selection around him. Idid this by clicking the Magic Wand Tool on thetransparent portion on this layer. This selectedthe entire outside area around him. To addadditional areas to the selection, I pressed andheld the Shift key while clicking. I did this inareas such as the space between the guitarist’sright arm and body, or anywhere else that myinitial Magic Wand selection failed to capture.Then, I chose Select > Invert Selection. Thisinverted the selection to create a marqueearound the guitar player. With the figure stillselected, I created a new layer above this layer,selected the Paint Bucket Tool and a black fore-ground color, and clicked within the selectionmarquee to fill it with black on the new layer.This will be the base for the shadow.

5. Next, I needed to skew the shadow to fitthe ground’s plane in the original image in thedirection of our determined light source. Leavingthe layer with the black shadow figure selected,I clicked the Distortion Tool. This automaticallyplaced a bounding box with handles on the cor-ners around the current layer—in this case, thebase shadow. I dragged the top boxes downand to the left until the shadow was positionedalong the path I determined. Then I dragged thebase shadow layer on the Layers sidebar belowthe layer of the extracted guitar player. Thisplaced the shadow behind the figure in theimage. I also applied a slight blur to this layerby clicking the Layer Filters button on the Layerssidebar, clicking the Blur check box to check it,and leaving the Blur X and Blur Y settings at4%. I clicked OK to apply the filter.

6. As shadows move farther away from thefigure, they tend to grow lighter. One way youcan achieve this effect in an image shadow isby using the Gradient Tool. I started by creatinga selection around the shadow. Again, I did thisby using the Magic Wand Tool and selectingthe transparent area of the shadow layer, theninverting the selection. I then created a newlayer below the extracted figure layer. To applythe gradient, I first set the foreground color toblack, and the background color to white. Idragged the tool across the shadow selectionon the new layer starting at the head of theshadow, and releasing at the base near thefeet. I then set this layer’s blend mode to“Overlay” on the layer palette and dropped theAlpha channel to 34%.


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NoteIf you find you’re getting jagged edges with this method, simply takethe Eraser Tool set at a low hardness (0-10%), and drag along theedges of your selection to clean it up.

7. With the shadow still selected, I created another new layer belowthe extracted figure layer. As shadows are strongest directly where thefigure meets the surface, I selected the Paintbrush Tool set at 0% hard-ness and 15% Alpha, and I painted in the area near the foot to makethat area darkest in tone. Leaving the shadow selected ensured that thestrokes would stay within the shadow area and not overpaint the back-ground.

8. And finally, I added a shadow above the shoe itself to adddimension to the image. I created a new layer above the extracted gui-tar player on the Layers sidebar. I selected the extracted guitar playerlayer first and clicked Select > Selection from Layer. I then selected mynew layer on the Layer sidebar and selected the Paintbrush Tool withthe Hardness set to 0, Alpha set to 12, and black set as my foregroundcolor. I painted over the shoe to darken it to make it appear as if itwere in the shadow as well, completing the image.


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Matching Shadows

One of the most importantaspects of putting together pho-torealistic compositions from mul-tiple source images is to matchthe lighting and shadows of theimported elements with their newenvironment. In this tutorial, I’llshow how to add a cheese-burger image to a quiet streetenvironment and apply ashadow that mimics an existingshadow in the original image.

Source Images: “single car on autobahn” by Manfred Steinbach, “Cheeseburger” byKelly Cline

1. First, I uploaded my image of a car on astreet. I chose this background because there’s alot of space at the top for me to import a newimage into, and the car itself has a very distinctshadow that will help illustrate the point of mim-icking shadows even better.

2. Next, I chose File > Import, and importedthe image of a cheeseburger. Doing soimported the burger onto a new layer above theoriginal street layer. Using the TransformationTool, I dragged the cheeseburger to center it inthe open area in front of the car, double-clickingin the burger to finish the move.

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3. I needed to get rid of the white back-ground surrounding the cheeseburger on itslayer. I clicked the Magic Wand Tool, set itsTolerance to 3, clicked the white background onthe cheeseburger layer to select much of it, andthen pressed Delete to delete it. I then selectedthe Eraser Tool, changed its Hardness optionsetting to 85%, and dragged along the edges ofthe burger to erase the rest of the backgroundand isolate the burger.

4. To create the basis for the shadow, Ineeded to make a selection around the burgerfirst. With the burger isolated on its own layeralready, I took the Magic Wand Tool andclicked anywhere on the transparent area of theburger layer. This selected the blank area sur-rounding the burger. I then chose Select > InvertSelection to select the burger itself. I created anew layer by clicking the New Layer icon onthe Layers sidebar, and filled the burger selec-tion on that layer in black with the Paint BucketTool. I then chose Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee.

NoteDon’t forget that you can click the close (X)button on the options box for the current toolto close the options while you work.


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5. Here’s where the mimicking fun comes intoplay! With the filled shadow layer still selected,I selected the Distortion Tool. By observing thevisual cue provided by the car’s shadow, I couldsee which direction the light comes from in thepicture, and which way the burger shadowshould flow. Copying the direction of the car’sshadow, I dragged the handles around myshadow selection to line up parallel to the car’sshadow. I dragged the upper two handles downand to the right to flip the shadow and establishthe angle. I then dragged what used to be thebottom handles up and to the left to stretch theshadow all the way to the bottom of the burger.Happy with the shadow’s placement, I double-clicked the shadow to finish the changes anddragged the shadow layer below the burger’slayer in the Layers sidebar. In the Layers side-bar, I also changed the shadow layer’s Alphaon setting to 47%. I used the Eraser Tool toclean off any jagged edges that may haveappeared after I distorted the shadow.

6. Noticing that the car’s shadow faded to alighter tone farther from the car, I wanted toapply the same effect to the cheeseburger’sshadow. Using the Magic Wand, I clicked on thecheeseburger’s shadow on the shadow layer. Icreated a new layer by clicking the New Layerbutton on the Layers sidebar, and applied a gra-dient to it by first selecting the Gradient Fill Tool.I set black as my start color (leftmost slider arrow)and white as my end color (rightmost sliderarrow), and then dragged the tool across theshadow selection starting from the base of theburger to the right end of the shadow. I changedthis layer’s blend mode setting to Overlay andlowered the Alpha to 25% on the Layers sidebar.I then chose Select > Select None.

7. The car’s shadow also seemed to have a bluehue to it. In order to mimic this shadow as accu-rately possible, I wanted to apply the same colorsaturation to the cheeseburger’s shadow. Iselected the original image layer, selected theEye Dropper Tool, and clicked the tool within thecar’s shadow. This sampled some of the blue tonefor me and set it as my new foreground color.

8. I selected the burger’s base shadow layerin the Layers sidebar. Using the Magic WandTool, I clicked inside the shadow again to selectit. I created a new layer, moved it above theshadow and the gradient layers, and filled theselection with the blue color I sampled from thecar’s shadow in Step 7 using the Paint BucketTool. I changed this layer’s blend mode settingto Overlay and dropped the Alpha to 54% onthe Layers sidebar.

NoteBecause there are a number of slight variations of blue within the car’s shadow, the level of Alphayou set for your saturation layer may vary from my example. If you notice a lack of saturation inyour attempt, you can simply open the Image > Hue & Saturation menu and raise the amount ofblue in your shadow by sliding the Saturation slider to the right to your liking. It may take a bit ofeyeball work, but just use the surrounding shadows as a cue on how much saturation to apply.

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9. Shadows are strongest directly where theymeet the object casting the shadow. So I madesure the cheeseburger’s shadow was stillselected, and created a new layer and posi-tioned it below the blue saturation layer I justcreated. I clicked the Restore Colors icon next tothe color icons below the tools to reset to thedefault colors, with black as the foregroundcolor. I selected the Paintbrush Tool, set it to 0%Hardness and 10% Alpha in its options, and Ipainted in the area below the cheeseburger onthe new layer to strengthen the shadow there.

10. I wanted to darken the backside of thecheeseburger, where the light wouldn’t directlybe hitting it. I clicked the burger layer in theLayers sidebar. I then selected the burger itselfagain by using the Magic Wand and selectingthe transparent portion of the layer, and thenchoosing Select > Invert Selection to isolate thecheeseburger. I created a new layer above thecheeseburger layer and using the PaintbrushTool set at 0% Hardness and 10% Alpha, Ilightly painted the area of the burger that wouldbe hiding in the shadows with black to create aslight shadowed effect.

11. And finally, noticing that the top of the carwas illuminated by the sun, I created a newlayer on top of the cheeseburger-shading layer.I changed the foreground color to white by double-clicking the foreground color box, andchanging the R, G, and B values in the ColorPicker dialog box to 255 and clicking OK. Ithen used the Paintbrush Tool and lightly paintedthe top of the bun to highlight it. I then set thislayer’s blend mode to Overlay.


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Matching Lighting

The core of creating believ-able compositions that involvethe blending of two or moreimages is to match the tone andlighting of one image to theother. In this tutorial, I’m going toimport a picture of an elephantinto an image of a living room,which has its own distinct light.I’m going to attempt to match theroom’s lighting and apply it tothe imported elephant.

Source Images: “Lounge room interior” by Auris, “Elephant sitting down with feet up” byScott Hirko, “Sitting elephant” by Tristan de Haas

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1. I began with the background image of theliving room. I chose File > Import and importedthe image of the elephant onto its own layer.Using the Lasso Selection Tool, I roughlyselected the elephant from its original back-ground and pasted him onto a new layer usingEdit > Copy and Edit > Paste. I chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.In the Layers sidebar, I clicked the Eye icon forboth the living room layer and the original ele-phant layer to hide them. Then, using the EraserTool set at 90% Hardness, I erased the remain-ing background area to finish extracting the ele-phant. Finally, I clicked the box for the Eye iconfor the living room layer to redisplay it.

2. I lowered the Alpha setting in the Layerssidebar of the elephant’s layer to 50% temporar-ily. Using the Transformation Tool, I dragged theelephant in position to sit on the sofa. Then,with the Eraser Tool, I erased the portions of theelephant overlapping the armrest and table, as Iwanted those elements to appear to be overlap-ping the elephant in the image.

3. I then set the elephant layer’s Alpha backto 100%. Noticing that the original backgroundhad an orange tint to it, I needed to match thistone with the elephant. With the elephant layerselected, I chose Select > Selection from Layer,and this created a selection around the isolatedelephant. I clicked the New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar to create a new layer above theelephant layer. I clicked the Foreground ColorPicker box, entered DBA12C in the HEX textbox of the Color Picker dialog box, and thenclicked OK. I then used the Paint Bucket Tool tofill the selection with the specified orange color.Note that you could also use the Eye DropperTool to sample an orange color from the livingroom image layer, but be sure to reselect thenewest layer before filling the selection. I thenchose Select > Select None.

4. I set the elephant fill layer’s blend mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar to give the ele-phant the orange tone I desired. This caused amore harsh tone than I wanted, so I lowered theAlpha setting for the layer to 80% to help lessenthe effect until I was happy with the tone of theelephant against the original background.

5. Next I needed to add highlights and shad-ows to the elephant to match the lighting andthe shadows in the original background. As thelights were coming down on the elephant fromabove, I wanted to add highlighting to the topof the elephant where the light would hit it. Iselected the elephant layer and chose Select >Selection from Layer. I clicked the New Layericon on the Layers sidebar to create a new layerabove the elephant. I set the foreground color towhite by clicking the Foreground Color Pickerbox, entering 255 for the R, G, and B values inthe Color Picker dialog box, and clicking OK.Using the Paintbrush Tool set to 0% Hardnessand 10% Alpha, I painted lightly on the areason top of the elephant’s head and trunk to cre-ate a highlighted effect, as if the lights abovewere hitting these exposed areas. I then set thislayer’s blend mode to Overlay in the Layerssidebar.

6. I continued this process over the rest of thesurface of the elephant where there were exist-ing highlights to strengthen these areas andlighten the general look of the elephant to suitthe indoor lit surroundings.

7. Next, I wanted to deepen the elephant’sshadows, as lightening the elephant tended tomake the figure flat looking. I created a newlayer for the surface shadows by clicking theNew Layer icon on the Layers sidebar. I set theforeground color to black by clicking the RestoreColors button by the color selection boxes. Withthe selection around the elephant still active, Iselected the Paintbrush Tool, set its Alpha settingto 8% in the tool options, and painted in theareas that needed shading, such as the areasunder the elephant’s neck and arms to deepenthese areas. I then set this layer’s blend mode toMultiply in the Layers sidebar.

8. With the lighting and shadows applied onthe elephant, I still needed to situate him into theenvironment. To do so, I added shadowsaround the figure to sit him on the sofa better. Ichose Select > Select None to deselect the ele-phant. I clicked the New Layer icon to create anew layer and dragged the new layer belowthe extracted elephant’s layer. With the EyeDropper Tool, I selected a dark reddish tonefrom an area of the shadows under the sofa onthe original living room layer. Then I reselectedthe newest layer in the Layers sidebar. Using thePaintbrush Tool set to 10 Alpha, 20 Size, and 0Hardness, I painted in shadows behind the ele-phant on the couch.


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9. Then I did the same under the elephant’s legto create the effect of his leg casting a shadowover the couch in these areas as well.

10. I noticed there was a subtle reflection ofthe back of the sofa on the wall. To situate theelephant into this new environment accurately, Iwanted to cast a slight reflection of the elephantonto the wall as well. I selected the layer withthe extracted elephant. Using the LassoSelection Tool, I made a rough selection aroundthe back of the elephant and copied and pastedthis selection onto a new layer (Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste). I then selected Edit > Transform >Flip Horizontal to mirror the segment for thereflection. Then I dragged this layer below theoriginal elephant’s layer.

11. I then set this layer’s blend mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar and used theEraser Tool to erase the portions that were over-lapping the couch’s reflection and the pictureframe in the background.

12. Finally, I imported an elephant friend intothe image and used the same steps as for thefirst elephant to blend him into his surroundingsand complete the image!


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Background Cloning

One of the most importanttechniques in image manipula-tion, whether it be for creativepurposes or for photographyretouching is effectively cloningout undesirable elements in animage. In this tutorial, I’ll showhow to remove this woman fromthe photograph and insert herback in as a ghostly apparitionfor effect.

Source Image: “Stormy Weather” by Quavondo Nguyen

1. To create our ghostly apparition, first Ineeded to remove the woman from the image. Istarted with the sky portion on the image. Usingthe Lasso Selection Tool, I selected a portion ofthe clouds in the sky, copied it (Edit > Copy),then pasted it (Edit > Paste) onto a new layer.

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2. I selected the new layer in the Layers side-bar and chose Select > Select None to removethe selection marquee. Using the TransformationTool, I moved the copied portion of the sky tocover the woman, resizing it as needed andpressing Enter to finish the transformation. Usingthe Eraser Tool with the Hardness set to 0, I soft-ened the edges to blend it into the original sky. Icontinued this process until the woman andumbrella were completely covered in the skyportion of the image. Using darker areas of thesky to overlap darker areas of the original sky,and lighter areas of the sky for lighter areas ofthe original, will create a smoother blend whensoftening the edges.

3. I continued this same process for the grassand the mountains, copying a patch of eachfrom the original layer and pasting it to its ownlayer. I made sure the horizon line of the pastedsegments aligned properly with the horizon ofthe original background layer.

4. Cloning the dark foreground grass areatook a little more work than the rest of the back-ground, since there weren’t any large, unob-structed segments I could cover a lot of spacewith at one time. Using the Lasso Selection Tool,I selected small sections of the exposed fore-ground grass on the original layer and pastedthem just as I did earlier with the rest of thebackground.

5. I completed the same process for the streetportion of the image until the woman was com-pletely covered and my background was madeclear. At this point, the background cloningprocess was complete.

6. To create the ghostly woman effect, first Ihid all the pasted layers by clicking the Eye iconfor each layer in the Layers sidebar so I couldsee the woman again. I then used the LassoSelection Tool to make a selection around thewoman on the original image layer, and pastedher onto a new layer and dragged the layerwith the copy to the top of the Layers sidebar.Then I chose Select > Select None. Using theEraser Tool, I extracted the woman from theselection until she was isolated on her ownlayer. I then redisplayed the hidden layers byclicking the Eye icon box for each layer.


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NoteI then merged the grass layers in order tokeep my Layers sidebar clean and organ-ized. To do so, I selected all the grass layerson the Layers sidebar while holding down theCtrl key. With the layers I wanted to mergeselected, I selected Layer > Merge Layers.

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7. To create the ghostly effect, I lowered the Alpha setting for the layerwith the pasted extracted woman to 29% in the Layers sidebar. I thenwanted to apply a subtle glow around her to enhance the effect, so Iclicked the Layer Filters icon in the Layers sidebar. I clicked the Glowcheck box in the list of filters. I didn’t want to overdo the effect, so I setthe Glow’s Alpha to 0.5 strength, set the quality to High, and entered ablur strength of 20 in both the Blur X and Blur Y text boxes, and set theColor to white. I clicked OK to apply the filter.

8. I then decided I still wanted the ghostly figure to cast a shadow. I copied the shadow from the original layer and pasted it onto a newlayer and used the Eraser Tool to blend the shadow back in. I draggedthe shadow layer below the layer with the extracted ghostly woman inthe Layers sidebar.


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Layer Masks

One of the handiest featuresin Phoenix is the ability to applymasks to layers. What thisenables you to do is hide andreveal selected layer areas non-destructively. This is incrediblyconvenient because it means youcan “draw” back in areas of lay-ers you may have accidentallyremoved earlier, as erased por-tions of the image are nevercompletely deleted. They are justhidden behind, well, the mask!

Source Images: “grass in woman’s hands” by Dodz Larysa, “Sports – Golf” by Lugo Graphics

1. In this example, I opened an image of awoman holding a patch of grass in Phoenix. Iused the File > Import command to add theimage of a miniature golfer on a new layer.Because the image of the golfer was larger thanmy working canvas, I was prompted to resizethe imported image. I selected Resize Image,which resized the golfer image to fit within mycanvas. With the new layer with the golferselected in the Layers sidebar, I lowered thelayer’s Alpha setting to 50 so I could have bet-ter visibility in positioning the golfer. I then usedthe Transformation Tool to resize and positionthe golfer on top of the patch of grass, pressingEnter when I was satisfied with the size andposition. Finally, I returned the golfer layer’sAlpha setting to 100 and chose Select > SelectNone.

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2. Then, I applied a Layer Mask to the golferlayer. With the golfer layer still selected, Iclicked the Options button drop-down list arrowin the Layers sidebar and clicked Mask Layer.This immediately hid the entire layer. But don’tworry, the image wasn’t gone! Using thePaintbrush Tool with the foreground color set toblack (click the Restore Colors button and thecolor selection boxes if needed), I painted thegolfer back in on the mask layer by simplyroughly painting in the area where he was.

3. Then I used the Eraser Tool on the masklayer to remove the excess areas around thegolfer, just as I would normally do when extract-ing a figure on a layer. The Mask came inhandy immensely though; if you erased a por-tion of the golfer and decided you later wantedto add it back into the image, all you wouldhave to do is take the Paintbrush and paint overthe accidentally removed portion to reveal thesection of the image hidden by the Mask.

4. I was happy with the placement of the golfer at this stage, but inorder to sit him better onto his new surface, I needed to add a shadow.I selected the original layer with the woman and created a new layerabove it by clicking the New Layer button in the Layers sidebar anddragged the layer below the layer with the golfer. And using thePaintbrush Tool set at 10% Hardness and 25% Alpha and the fore-ground color still set to black, I drew in the shadow across the surfacefor the golfer by hand.

5. Next, I wanted to make some of the grass overlap the golfer’s feetand shadow to integrate him into the scene more convincingly. I usedthe Lasso Selection Tool and selected the area of grass from the originallayer with the woman, selecting the area covering the golfer’s feet andthe shadows I just created. I then chose Edit > Copy and then Edit >Paste to create a new layer from within this selection. I dragged thislayer to the top of the Layers sidebar. I also chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee.


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6. Then I applied the Mask Layer choice from the Layers sidebarOptions drop-down list to this grass layer. Just as with the golfer layer,this immediately made the pasted grass disappear. Then, using thePaintbrush Tool set at a very small size, I painted some of the grassaround his feet and shadow to reveal blades of grass.

7. And finally, I added a bit of a blur to the woman’s head in thebackground to make the golfer stand out more in the image. I selectedthe original layer with the woman in the Layers sidebar. I made a selec-tion around the woman’s head using the Lasso Selection Tool andcopied and pasted it onto a new layer (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste),leaving the new layer positioned just above the original layer in theLayers sidebar. Then I clicked the Layer Filters icon in the Layers side-bar. I clicked the Blur option to check it in the Layer Filters dialog box,entered 5 as both the Blur X and Blur Y settings, set the Quality to High,and clicked OK. Finally, I chose Select > Select None to remove theselection marquee.


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Three Ways of ColorReplacement

In this tutorial, I’m going toshow three different ways toreplace the color of an object.Changing colors enables you tonot only enhance images, butalso to inject unexpected punchinto your Phoenix creations. Inthis case, you can make a lus-cious cluster of grapes look morelike a sweet bunch of gumballs.

Source Image: “Grape 1” by Samuel Rosa

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1. First, I started by simply adjusting an object’shue. I used the Lasso Selection tool to roughlyselect the element to adjust in the image. In thiscase, I wanted to replace the color of one of thegrapes. I selected the Lasso Tool and draggedaround the grape, finishing where I started to“close the loop.”

2. Then, I copied the selection (Edit > Copy)and pasted it onto a new layer (Edit > Paste).Pasting the grape copy to its own layer enabledme to change its color there without altering thegrape on the original image layer.

3. To change the color by adjusting the hue ofthe selection, I used the Hue & Saturation dialogbox. After verifying that the new layer wasselected in the Layers sidebar, I selected Image> Hue & Saturation. I moved the Hue slider by84 points to the right, giving the selection amagenta tone, and clicked OK. I then choseSelect > Select None to remove the selectionmarquee.

4. To clean the edges of the colored grape, Isimply selected the Eraser Tool, changed theSize setting to 60 and the Hardness setting to80, and erased the excess areas around the col-ored grape on the colored grape’s layer, leav-ing the newly colored grape intact.

5. The second method to change a selection’scolor involves level adjustment. As I did previ-ously, I isolated a grape by selecting it on theoriginal image layer with the Lasso SelectionTool, and then copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted(Edit > Paste) it onto a new layer. I removed theselection marquee with Select > Select Noneand made sure the new layer was selected.

6. Then, with the new layer selected in the Layers sidebar, I selected Image > Levels. The AdjustLevels dialog box previews the selection at the right. I wanted to give the selected grape a greentone, so I selected Blue from the Channel drop-down list at the top of the dialog box. To drop someof the blue from the selection, thus making it appear greener, I dragged the midtone slider to the farright.

7. Next, I selected the Green channel from the Channel drop-down list. This time, I moved the mid-tone slider slightly to the left to raise the level of green in the selection. When I was happy with thenew color, I clicked OK.


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NotePlaying around with levels requires more trial and error than the previous method of changing thehue, as you’ll never have the same result with two different images using the exact same tech-nique. But with some experimenting, using levels will give you greater control over the tonalranges in a selection more than simply adjusting the entire hue of an image.

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8. Then, I simply deleted the excess areasoutside the green grape on its layer with theEraser Tool, as in step 4.

9. Phoenix’s handy, built-in Color ReplacementTool enables you to paint one color overanother. I wanted to change the color of one ofthe grapes to an orange hue. I first selected theoriginal layer in the Layers sidebar, and thenselected the Color Replacement Tool. Then Ineeded to select the color I wanted to replace. Iset the background color to the blue tone fromthe grapes by selecting the Eye Dropper Tooland clicking on the surface of one of thegrapes. The background color determines thecolor that will be removed once I paint over itwith the Color Replacement Tool.

10. Next, I changed the foreground color to orange. To do so, I clicked the ForegroundColor box in the Color Replacement Tools options, selected the desired orange color in theColor Picker dialog box, and clicked OK.

11. Then, it was simply a matter of dragging onthe grape to recolor on the original image layer.The Color Replacement Tool located the areaswithin the range of the blue background color Iselected, and replaced the colors with theorange tone I selected for the foreground.

12. From there, I used my favorite method,creating layers as needed, to complete the restof the grapes!

Eye Dropper Tool


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Precision Selection

We’ve already covered the Magic WandTool and its ability to select portions ofimages with similar colors. However, the toolcan also be used to create simple selectionsaround complex elements in your image.How? We trick the Magic Wand! Here’s aneat little trick that allows you to create selec-tions around your elements very quickly.

Source Images: “Apples at the Cottage” by MentalArt, “Nerd Dinner”by Ryan J. Lane

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1. I started with an image of a bowl of apples I wanted to extract fromits background. I needed to create a selection around this bowl. Istarted by clicking the New Layer icon on the Layers sidebar to createa new layer above my original layer. I then selected the EllipticalShape Tool, set the foreground color to a bright green, and dragged todraw a circle roughly the same size of one of the apples.

2. Next, I reduced the Alpha setting for the layer with the green cir-cle to 50% on the Layers sidebar so that I could see the apple’s outlinethrough the green circle. I clicked the Distortion Tool, dragged handlesas needed to reshape the circle to match the apple’s proportions, andthen pressed Enter (you can also double-click within the selection box)to apply the changes. When I was happy with the size and shape ofthe green circle, I set the Alpha level on the layer back to 100%.

3. I repeated the process described in steps 2and 3 for each element I wanted to extract fromthe original image. I created a new layer foreach of the apples and the bowl, until everypart that I wanted to keep was covered.

4. Next, I merged the layers with all the ellipti-cal shapes. I pressed and held Ctrl on the key-board as I clicked each layer with an ellipticalshape on the Layers sidebar. Then, I pressed theOptions drop-down list arrow at the bottom ofthe Layers sidebar and clicked Merge Layers.This combined the selected layers into a singlelayer.

5. With my elliptical shape layers all mergedonto one layer, I selected this new layer in theLayers sidebar. Then, I selected the MagicWand Tool and clicked anywhere within thegreen area to create a selection covering theapples and bowl.


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6. I clicked the Eye icon beside the merged elliptical shape layer inthe Layers sidebar to hide the layer. I then clicked the original appleslayer in the Layers sidebar to select that layer. This placed the selectionmarquee around the bowl and apples.

7. I copied and pasted the selection onto a new layer (Edit > Copyand Edit > Paste), leaving the clean extracted bowl of apples. Usingthe Eraser Tool set at 85% Hardness, I refined any rough edges thatremained. I imported a new background image (File > Import),dragged the layer with the imported image below the layer with theextracted bowl of apples in the Layers sidebar, and situated the bowl ofapples on the table shown in the imported image using theTransformation Tool.


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Lighting Effects

In this tutorial, I’ll show youhow to add a bit of dramaticlighting punch to any of yourphotographs. With just theGradient Tool and a few layerblend modes, you’ll be able toadd “artificial lighting” to anyphotograph in no time.

Source Image: “Graveyard Scenic” by tepic

1. The first thing to do was to determine thelight source of the image. In this case, the redcandleholder held by the cherub was the obvi-ous choice.

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2. I wanted to enhance the light first and castsome glow on the cherub. I accomplished thiswith the Gradient Tool. First, I created a newlayer to hold the gradient by clicking the NewLayer button in the Layers sidebar. I selected theGradient Tool and then chose Radial from theGradient Type drop-down list in the GradientTool options. This setting creates a gradient thatradiates from a central point you specify.Changing the leftmost color on the GradientTool option slider sets the center color and willdisperse from that color toward the rightmostcolor. I wanted to set the center color as awhite, the highlight color. I double-clicked theleftmost slider arrow in the Gradient Tool optionto open the Color Picker dialog box. I madesure that the R, G, and B values were all set to255, and then clicked OK. Then, I double-clicked the rightmost slider arrow, entered#7F7F7F in the HEX text box to specify a mid-tone gray, and clicked OK.

3. With the gradient type and colors nowselected, I dragged the Gradient Tool across thenew layer, starting from the center of the redcandleholder and dragging to the upper-left cor-ner. This specified the diameter of the gradienton the new layer.

NoteYou can use the slider above the image work-space to zoom an image to a comfortableworking size.

4. I then set the blend mode for the gradientlayer by choosing Overlay from the Blend Modedrop-down list on the Layers sidebar. This cre-ated a highlighted effect using the white areasof the gradient. The midtone gray I selecteddoes not show up with the Overlay Blend Modeselected, leaving a clean highlighted effect.

5. To create the effect of a shaded areabehind the cherub, I used a similar process. Thistime, after creating a new layer with the NewLayer button on the Layers sidebar and selectingthe Gradient Tool, I set the Gradient Type toLinear in the Gradient Tool options. The Linearsetting creates a straight gradient that dispersesfrom the leftmost color selected to the rightmost.By double-clicking the left slider arrow in theoptions and using the Color Picker dialog box, Iset the leftmost color to black (R 0, G 0, and B0), and clicked OK. I left the rightmost color setto the previously specified midgray. I thendragged the Gradient Tool left to right acrossthe new layer to create the linear gradient.

6. I set the linear gradient layer’s Blend Modeto Overlay, as well, using the Blend Mode drop-down list and lowered the layer’s Alpha level to35% on the Layers sidebar. This enhanced thesubtle shaded area around the back of thecherub, helping to create contrast against thebrightness of the candle area.


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7. Another important aspect of creating light-ing and shadows is saturating them with thecolor of the source light and reflected light. Inthis case, the lit candleholder probably wouldcast a red reflection on the statue. I created ared glow effect the same way I created the pre-vious lighting effects. I created a new layer andselected the Gradient Tool. This time, I selecteda red tone for the leftmost color for the gradientby double-clicking the left arrow slider, choosinga red color in the Color Picker dialog box, andclicking OK. I left the rightmost color of the gra-dient set to the midtone gray. I selected Radialfrom the Gradient Type drop-down list, and thendragged from the candleholder toward theupper-left corner of the new layer to create ared gradient.

8. I set the red gradient layer’s Blend Modeto Overlay, as well, using the Blend Mode drop-down list on the Layers sidebar. With theOverlay mode applied, the gray tones fail toshow up and just the red cast light effectappears on the cherub figure.

9. And finally, I created another layer with theNew Layer button on the Layers sidebar andadded a smaller white to gray gradient on thelayer right over the candleholder itself to createthe illusion of a candle illuminating within. (Iselected the Gradient Tool; changed the left gra-dient color to white by changing the R, G, andB values in the Color Picker dialog box all to255; and dragged on the new layer.) I set thislayer’s Blend Mode setting to Hardlight and low-ered the Alpha to 90% using the Layers sidebar.From here, you can continue to add or removeOverlay highlight and shadow layers depend-ing on your own personal preference.


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Surface Reflections

Creating reflections may seemlike an easy image-editing taskupon first glance. Simply copyyour image, then flip it vertically,right? That idea may work onimages with elements sitting ona flat plane, but what happenswhen the image has any sort ofdepth and perspective or doesn’tsit on a single plane? As you’llsee in this tutorial, the seeminglysimple task of creating a mir-rored effect can be quite a challenge.

Source Image: “Indian Water Dragon” by Global Photographers

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4. The reflection should appear underneaththe original lizard in the image. There are acouple of ways to accomplish this. I did it theeasy way by selecting the Eraser Tool set to100% Alpha and simply erasing the parts of thereflection that were overlapping the originallizard, creating the illusion that the lizard sits ontop of the reflection.

5. Next, I needed to align the reflection of thearms to appear directly under the originallizard’s front feet. Because of the multiple planesof depth in this image, I needed to create thearm reflections on a separate new layer. Withthe Lasso Tool I made a rough selection aroundboth of the figure’s arms on the original lizardlayer. I selected one arm with the Lasso Tool,then while holding down the Shift key, I made aselection around the other arm to add the sec-ond selection to the first. I copied (Edit > Copy)and pasted (Edit > Paste) this onto a new layer,and then dragged the layer above the one withthe reflection of the body.

NoteIf you need to add more space at the bottomof an image in a case like this, you canincrease the canvas size by selecting Image> Canvas Resize and enter the desired can-vas Height and Width. Uncheck theConstrain Proportion check box to resize justone dimension. Click Apply to finish resizingthe canvas.

1. First, I needed to create open space on thebottom half of the source image to make roomfor the reflection. I selected the TransformationTool, dragged the lizard to the top half of theexisting canvas, and pressed Enter. This leftmost of the bottom half of the image empty andavailable to hold the reflection. Select white asthe foreground color, select the Paint BucketTool, and click the transparent area below thelizard image to fill it with white, making thebackground complete.

2. Because the lizard isn’t resting flat on thesurface, there are several different points ofdepth on this image, so simply copying and flip-ping the figure to create the reflection would notwork. In order to accomplish a convincingreflection, I needed to assemble the reflection insections. I started with the head and body of thefigure. Using the Lasso Tool, I created a roughselection around the head and body of thelizard, copied it (Edit > Copy), and then pastedit (Edit > Paste) onto a new layer.

3. I needed to reverse the copied selection tocreate a mirror effect. To do this, I made surethe layer with the copy was selected, and then Ichose Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Then, Iselected the Transformation Tool and draggedthis inverted copy to sit directly below the origi-nal lizard on the canvas. I then chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.

6. Just as I did with the reflection of thelizard’s head and torso, I flipped the layer withthe copied arms vertically using Edit >Transform > Flip Vertical. I chose Select > SelectNone to remove the selection marquee. Thenwith the Transformation Tool, I aligned theinverted arms to sit directly below the figure’sfront feet on the canvas. I then erased the areasoverlapping the original figure with the EraserTool set at 100% Alpha. Then, I reduced theEraser Tool’s Hardness to 10% and made a softerase around the edge where the arms’ reflec-tions met the body’s reflection to create a softblend.

7. I noticed there were some remnants of thelizard’s original reflection on parts of the whitesurface in the original image, in an area whereI wanted to add in the lizard’s back leg reflec-tions. To remove these, I selected the originallayer and clicked the New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar to create a new layer directlyabove the original layer. I selected thePaintbrush Tool with white set as the foregroundcolor and painted over the areas where theoriginal reflections were.


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8. Once the white surface was clear, I contin-ued the reflection process. Using the samemethod as before, I continued on with thelizard’s back legs. I selected the back legs onthe original layer using the Lasso Tool, copiedand pasted them onto a new layer, flipped themvertically, and then used the Eraser Tool to cleanthe edges.

9. For the lizard’s tail, I noticed a simple verti-cal flip was not going to do the trick since itwas on an angle and would not align properlythat way. As with the other segments, I selectedthe tail on the original layer and copied it ontoa new layer. With the tail reflection layer as myactive layer, I selected the Transformation Tool,which enables you to move a selection androtate the selection around a center point. I thenhovered the mouse slightly outside one of thecorner points until the curved arrow mousepointer appeared. I dragged to rotate the tail inthe appropriate direction to align along thesame angle as the lizard’s original tail. Ipressed the Enter key to confirm the changes.Then, I used the Eraser Tool to clean the edges.

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10. Once I had my reflection layers posi-tioned correctly, I held down the Ctrl key whileclicking each reflection layer in the Layers side-bar. This selected all the layers. I clicked theOptions drop-down list arrow on the Layers side-bar, and clicked Merge Layers. Because thiswasn’t supposed to be a direct mirror surfacebut rather a reflection on a shiny surface, Iwanted to lower the opacity of the reflection.On the Layers sidebar, I changed the Alpha set-ting of the merged reflection layer to 48%. Withthe reflection layer still selected, I clicked theLayer Filters icon at the bottom of the Layerssidebar. I clicked the Blur check box to check it,entered 2 on both the Blur X and Blur Y textboxes, and clicked OK to apply the blur.

11. Reflections often tend to grow lighter andmore diffuse farther away from the subject cast-ing them. In order to achieve this effect for ourreflection, I first needed to select the entirereflection. I selected the merged selection layerin the Layers sidebar. I selected the MagicWand Tool, and on my merged reflection layer Iclicked the transparent portion. Then I choseSelect > Invert Selection to select the reflectionrather than the transparency. I created a newlayer above the reflection layer by clicking theNew Layer icon on the Layers sidebar andselected the new layer. I selected the GradientFill Tool, left the default white (left slider arrow)and black (right slider arrow) gradient colorsselected, and filled the selection on the newlayer with a gradient. I dragged from the lower-right toward the upper-left to place the whitetones in the gradient on the end of the reflectionthat is farthest from the figure. I set this layer’sBlend Mode to Add and reduced its Alpha to16 in the Layers palette, creating a gradualtransition from darker to light on the reflection.

12. Finally, I wanted to fade the ends of thereflections farthest from the figure even further. Icreated a new layer (New Layer icon in theLayers sidebar) above the gradient layer. Iselected the Paintbrush Tool set at 0% Hardnessand 10% Alpha, and set the foreground color towhite (click the Switch Between Foreground andBackground Colors bent double arrow near thecolor boxes to reverse the default colors andmake white the foreground color). I then paintedover the ends of the reflections to fade them intothe white background even further.


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Motion Blur

Motion blur is an effectoften applied to sports images toevoke a sense of speed. In thistutorial, I’ll take two images ofsnowboarders soaring in differ-ent directions and show how toapply a motion blur effect tothem to enhance the appear-ance of motion.

Source Images: “Dangerous Jump” by barsik, “Snowboarder – Winter Sports” by EricLimon

1. I started with an image of a snowboarderaccelerating horizontally. I loved the originalphotograph but I wanted to apply a motion blureffect to the image to further enhance the actionin this shot.

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NoteIt might help to disable the background layerwhen extracting elements in your images. Todo so, click the Eye icon next to the layer youwant to make invisible on the Layers sidebar.This will hide the layer in your workspace. Tomake this layer visible again, simply click thebox on the left of the layer you want to makevisible to bring the Eye icon back up, andyour layer back to the workspace.

3. Next, with the snowboarder extracted onhis own layer, I wanted to remove him from thebackground layer. I hid the layer with theextracted snowboarder, and then I made a copyof my background layer, as I’ll need the pre-served original background later on. I did thisby first selecting the background layer. I thenclicked the Options button drop-down list arrowon the Layers sidebar and clicked DuplicateLayer. I then made the original backgroundlayer invisible for the time being. I reselected theduplicated background layer, and then used theRectangular Selection Tool to select a clear por-tion of the sky and copied and pasted it onto anew layer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. Iwould later use this selection to cover up thesnowboarder.

2. Because I would be blurring just the back-ground, I first needed to extract the figure fromthe image. I used the Lasso Tool to make arough selection around the snowboarder, andthen I copied and pasted this selection onto anew layer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. Ithen chose Select > Select None to remove theselection marquee. Using the Eraser Tool set at100% Alpha, I cleaned off the edges so onlymy snowboarder remained.

4. Using the Transformation Tool, I moved thecopied sky layer over to cover the snowboarder,dragging the handles as needed to resize thecopied sky area to cover any remaining parts ofthe snowboarder. Then, using the Eraser Tool setat 0% Hardness, I erased and softened theedges of this sky portion to blend into the origi-nal sky better, making sure not to expose thesnowboarder. This doesn’t need to be done per-fectly, as minor imperfections in blending will allbut disappear once we apply the blur effect tothe background.

5. Next, I merged the layer(s) with the skyportions used to cover the snowboarder with thecopy of the original background. I held downCtrl and clicked the background and sky portionlayers on the Layers sidebar. (Holding down Ctrlwhile clicking layers enables you to select multi-ple layers simultaneously.) With these layersselected, I clicked the Options drop-down listarrow on the Layers sidebar and clicked MergeLayers. Then I could apply the motion blur to thislayer, which I left selected. I clicked the LayerFilters icon on the Layers sidebar and clickedthe Blur check box in the Layer Filters dialogbox. I set the Blur X strength to 10, the amountof horizontal blur I wanted. Then I set the Blur Ystrength to 0, since I didn’t need any verticalblur for the motion effect. I set the Quality toHigh, then clicked OK to apply the blur.

6. I wanted to re-add some of the unblurredsnow around the snowboarder. First, I hid theblurred layer. I redisplayed the original back-ground layer and selected the layer. Using theLasso Tool, I made a rough selection around thesnow below the snowboarder and pasted itonto a new layer with Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste. I dragged the newly pasted layer to thetop of the list in the Layers sidebar and hid theoriginal background layer again.

7. I redisplayed the layers with the blur andthe isolated snowboarder. I then selected thelayer with the snow selection copied in step 6.To blend the snow into the rest of the image, Iselected the Eraser Tool set at 0% Hardness anderased the edges to soften them.


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8. You can use the same process outlined insteps 1 through 7 to apply a vertical motion blureffect. So, after saving I opened another photoof a snowboarder who appeared to be jumpingupward in the image.

9. I used the same steps as for the previousimage. The exception was that I reversed thestrength for the two axes when specifying theBlur options, setting the Blur X strength to 0, andsetting the Blur Y strength to 10. This created avertical blur effect to my background instead,giving the appearance of the motion blur run-ning in an upward direction.


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Perspective Sign

The Distortion Tool is animportant feature of Phoenix thatenables you to scale and skewan object to fit the perspective ofa new background you want toincorporate the object into. Forexample, in this tutorial, I’ll showyou how to take a one-dimen-sional poster and easily inte-grate it into the natural setting ofa bus stop.

Source Images: “Bus stop billboard” by Zoom Studio, “Aviary - Phoenix”by Meowza Katz

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1. I started with a specific image to use as the poster, so I needed tolocate a source background image with an area to hold the poster thatwas roughly the same proportions as the source poster image.Choosing a background with different proportions would create the riskof skewing the poster image undesirably. I opened the source back-ground image in Phoenix.

2. To import the source poster image, I selected File > Import and thisprompted me to upload a new picture. I selected my Aviary posterimage file and clicked OK. When the upload was complete, the posterimage was automatically placed on a new layer above the backgroundimage.

3. To distort the poster so it fit the perspectiveof the white bus stop sign area, I selected theposter layer in the Layers sidebar and thenselected the Distortion Tool. Four handles or con-trol points appeared around the poster image,one on each corner. I dragged these corners totheir respective counterparts on the original busstop sign, so that the top-left handle on theAviary image lined up with the top-left corner ofthe bus stop, and so on. I pressed the Enter keyto finish the selection.

4. I was happy with the general placement ofthe poster, but I wanted to situate it into its envi-ronment even better, so I pretended this posterwas protected by a sheet of glass. To create areflection of the bus stop roof on the glass overthe poster, I selected the original bus stop layerin the Layers sidebar and then used the LassoTool to create a rough selection around the over-hang end of the roof. I chose Edit > Copy, thenEdit > Paste. This copied the selection onto anew layer, which I dragged above the other lay-ers in the Layers sidebar. I then chose Select >Select None.

5. To reverse the glass to make it more suit-able for a reflection, I made sure that the newlayer was selected in the Layers sidebar, then Ichose Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Then,with the Transformation Tool, I dragged thisselection down to position it over the poster. Iopened the Blend Mode drop-down list on theLayers sidebar and clicked Screen. Finally, Iused the Eraser Tool to remove the parts of thelayer outside the poster area, which wouldn’t bereflected on the glass in a real setting.


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6. To further integrate this poster into the bus stop sign area, Iwanted to add a little bit of shadow along the edges of the poster. Iclicked the poster layer again in the Layers sidebar. I then clicked theMagic Wand Tool on the transparent area surroundings of the poster.Then, I chose Select > Invert Selection to select only the poster on thelayer. I clicked the New Layer button on the Layers sidebar to create anew layer above the poster’s and made sure that the layer wasselected. I selected the Line Tool and changed its Line Weight to 7 pix-els and the foreground color to black in the tool options, and then Idragged along the right and bottom edges of the poster. This created ashadowy effect giving the appearance of sinking the poster deeper intothe bus stop sign. I lowered the Alpha of this layer to 50% in the Layerssidebar so it wasn’t overly dark and chose Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee.

7. And finally, I wanted to add a subtle reflection of the sidewalk ontothe poster. Again, I used the Lasso tool to select a nearby area of side-walk on the original bus stop layer, copied the selection to its ownlayer, and dragged the layer above the poster layer. I flipped the selec-tion vertically, then used the Distortion Tool to change the perspective ofthe selection to a vertical reflection of the rest of the sidewalk. In theLayers sidebar, I changed the layer Blend Mode to Lighten and loweredthe Alpha to 50% to make the reflection more subtle. I then erased theportions of this selection that weren’t on the poster.


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Changing Skin Color

Whether altering a person’sskin color to situate him in a newenvironment better, or to com-pletely change the person’sracial appearance, recoloringskin tones is a fun and challeng-ing step in photo manipulation.In this tutorial, I’ll go the dra-matic route of altering awoman’s race completely foreffect.Source Images: “Pretty Lady with Madonna Lily” by neoblues

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1. First, I wanted to extract the areas of theimage I wanted to recolor. In this case, thatmeant selecting all the exposed skin in thesource image. Using the Lasso Tool, I roughlyselected the figure from the image and copied(Edit > Copy) and pasted it (Edit > Paste) onto a new layer. I chose Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee, and I hid theoriginal layer by clicking its Eye icon in theLayers sidebar. Then, I selected the new layerand used the Eraser Tool to clean off the remain-ing white edges, leaving just the skin portion.

2. I wanted to change her skin color to adarker tone, so I needed to first remove some ofthe pinkish hue from her skin and drop the satu-ration level slightly. With the layer holding theextracted figure selected, I chose Image > Hue& Saturation to open the Hue & Saturation dia-log box. I moved the Hue slider to the right tochange the setting to 15, and dropped theSaturation to a setting of -30 by moving theslider to the left. I then clicked OK to close thedialog box, and redisplayed the original layerby clicking its Eye icon in the Layers sidebar.

3. To darken her skin and give it some newcolor, I created a new layer above the layerwith the extracted figure by selecting that toplayer in the Layers sidebar and clicking theNew Layer button at the bottom of the sidebar. I selected a darker skintone as the foregroundcolor using the foreground color box below thetools. I then used the Paintbrush Tool set at100% Alpha and 100% Hardness to paint overher skin in a darker tone.

4. I set the Blend Mode drop-down list settingfor the layer with the painted skin tone toMultiply and lowered the Alpha of this layer to70% on the Layers sidebar. Then, using theEraser Tool set at 100% Alpha and 85%Hardness, I removed all the excess areas notdirectly on my figure’s skin.

5. This darkened the figure’s skin tone, but lefta flat appearance to her. In order to fix thisproblem, I needed to blow out the highlightssome more. I did this by selecting my originalimage layer again. I then clicked the Optionsbutton drop-down list arrow on the Layers side-bar and chose Duplicate Layer. I dragged theduplicated layer to the top of the list of layers inthe Layers sidebar. With the duplicated (top)layer selected, I chose Image > Levels. In theLevels dialog box, I slid the Midtone slider (themiddle slider under the Input Levels diagram) tothe right to about the 185 mark to deepen thedark areas of the image, then slid the Highlightslider (slider on the furthest right) to the left toaround the 225 mark to blow out the highlightsin the image. (This also readjusted the Midtonesetting slightly.) I then clicked OK to apply thechanges. I then dropped the Contrast on thelayer by about 15 points (Image > Brightness &Contrast) and dropped the Saturation by 60(Image > Hue & Saturation), and applied theHardlight Blend Mode to this layer with anAlpha setting of 55% using the Layers sidebar.

6. To further accentuate the highlights, Iadded another new layer using the New Layerbutton on the Layers sidebar. I then set the fore-ground color to white and used the PaintbrushTool with the Hardness set to 0 and Alpha set to10% to paint over the existing highlights inareas such as around the figure’s cheek andneck, over her lip, lightly on her cheeks, and onthe tip of her nose. I set this layer’s Blend Modeto Overlay on the Layers sidebar.


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7. I wanted to bring back some of the pink tone from her original lipcolor back into the image as well. I selected my original image layeragain, made a rough selection around her mouth with the Lasso Tool,and then copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste) this selectiononto a new layer. I removed the selection marquee (Select > SelectNone), and then I dragged this lip layer to the top of the list in theLayers sidebar. Using the Eraser Tool set at 50% Hardness on the liplayer, I refined the edges of her lips by erasing any areas of skinaround them. I then set this layer’s Alpha to 30% in the Layers sidebar,and this gave my figure’s lips a pink hue. I then applied the sameprocess to her eyelids.

8. At this point, I could’ve called the image complete. But for anadded element, I clicked the Options button drop-down list arrow onthe Layers sidebar and selected the Flatten Layers option. This mergedmy entire image into a single layer. I removed the white backgroundfrom this merged layer with the Eraser Tool. I selected File > Import andimported another source file to serve as the new background. Idragged the layer holding the imported image below my merged layerin the Layers sidebar. I then clicked the Layer Filters button on theLayers sidebar, clicked Blur to check it, applied a slight blur of 5 points to both the Blur X and Blur Y axes to add a sense of depth, and clicked OK.

NoteWhen importing an image into an existing document of smaller size,you’ll be prompted to resize the image to continue. Selecting ResizeImage will resize the imported image to fit in your current workingcanvas. Selecting Resize Canvas will increase the canvas size to thesize of the larger imported image. And selecting Crop Image won’tchange the size of either the imported image or the canvas. It will,however, crop the imported image to fit the current canvas size.

NoteIf you want to flatten the layers in your image but are afraid to loseyour layered working file, flatten your image, press Select > SelectAll, and then Edit > Copy. This copies the flattened layer onto yourclipboard. Then, click the Undo button or choose Edit > Undo toreturn to the full layered image. You can then use Edit > Paste topaste the copied flattened image onto a new layer over the rest of the document. This inserts the flattened layer to work on, whilemaintaining all the layers underneath.


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Creating Lightning

How lightning forms innature is still a matter of debatein the scientific community.Personally, I think it all beginswith the Paintbrush Tool. In thistutorial, I’ll show how to easilyturn a photo of an ordinarynight sky into an electrifyinglightning storm.

Source Image: “Shining Moon, Church, City Lights” by Don Bayley

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1. First, I created a new layer by clicking the New Layer button on theLayers sidebar so I could draw in some lightning bolts by hand. Iselected the Paintbrush Tool and set the brush Size to 3 in the tooloptions. I wanted the edges slightly softened, so I adjusted the brushHardness setting to 90%. I set the foreground color to white by clickingthe foreground color box in the tool options and using the Color Pickerdialog box to choose white (R, G, and B values all set to 255). I madesure that the new layer was selected, and painted in a few lightningbolts.

2. Looking at photos of actual lightning, I noticed lightning is neveruniversally one thickness throughout the bolt. So I drew in additionallightning bolts of varying sizes around the initial strokes on the samelayer, alternating between a size 1 and 2 Paintbrush.


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3. I wanted to fade the lightning in some of the areas, giving theappearance that portions of the lightning were partially hidden behindclouds. I selected the Eraser Tool and set 0% Hardness and 20% Alphain the tool options. Working on the layer with the drawn lightning, Iclicked the tool sporadically on random areas of the lightning to give ita diffused look in those areas, as shown by the yellow orb, the EraserTool, in the figure above.

4. I then wanted to create a slight glow effect around the lightning. Todo this, I clicked the Layer Filters icon on the bottom of the Layerspalette with my lightning layer selected. This opened the Layer Filtersdialog box. I clicked the Glow check box to check it, enabling a num-ber of customizable options for the Glow filter. I set the Alpha to 0.7,changed the Quality drop-down list setting to High, gave the glow theStrength of 2, and blurred it by entering 12 points in both the Blur Xand Blur Y text boxes. I then changed the color to a blue tone using theColor drop-down palette to help the glow blend into the night sky. Iclicked OK, applying a nice subtle glow around the lightning.

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5. Next, I added highlights around the clouds where the lightningwas originating from. I created a new layer by clicking the New Layerbutton on the Layers sidebar, and then I dragged the new layer belowthe lightning layer in the sidebar. I then made sure white was still set asthe foreground color. I selected the Paintbrush Tool, specified at 0%Hardness and 5% Alpha in the tool options, and painted on the newlayer around the sky near the top of the lightning bolts. Then, I openedthe Blend Mode drop-down list on the Layers sidebar and clickedOverlay. To strengthen the highlight directly where the lightning touchesthe sky, I created another new layer below the lightning bolt layer andpainted with the Paintbrush tool around the tops of the lightning bolts,with the foreground color still set to white.

6. To enhance the effect further, I added a layer with gradient light-ing effect to the sky. I clicked the New Layer button in the Layers side-bar, and then dragged the new layer to the top of the list. I selected theGradient Fill Tool, left the slider arrows set to white on the left andblack on the right of the Gradient scale (double-click a slider arrow toopen the Color Picker dialog box to change a gradient color), andselected Radial from the Gradient Type drop-down list in the tooloptions. Starting from a point in the upper-right area of the new layer, Idragged the tool diagonally toward the upper-left corner to create thegradient. Then, I applied the Overlay Blend Mode to this layer and setits Alpha to 30% using the Layers sidebar.


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Foggy Day

Fog is often a desired effect incinema. It has the ability to adda spooky element to a setting.Fog effects also can be appliedto photography to change aphoto’s mood. In this tutorial, I’llshow you how to create a fogeffect on a cemetery scene,adding an eerie mood to theimage.

Source Images: “Cemetery path, Unitarian Church” by Brian Nolan, “Smoke”by Hermann Danzmayr

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1. There are a few points to keep in mind whencreating a foggy image. First, fog usually makesthe elements it covers more desaturated. So thefirst thing I wanted to do with this image wasdrop some of the color. I chose Image > Hue &Saturation. In the Hue and Saturation dialogbox, I dragged the Saturation slider to the left to-40, and then clicked OK.

2. In real photos of heavy fog, backgroundelements become increasingly less and less visi-ble the farther they are from the camera. Aneasy way to pull off this effect convincingly is toapply a gradient to the image. I clicked theNew Layer button in the Layers sidebar to cre-ate a new layer above the original layer. Iselected the Gradient Fill Tool, left the defaultwhite to black gradient specified (double-click aslider arrow to open the Color Picker dialogbox and change the color), and made sure thatLinear was selected as the Gradient Type settingin the tool options. I then dragged from upper-left to lower-right. Next I opened the BlendMode drop-down list on the Layers sidebar andclicked Screen so that only the light tones of thegradient would be visible. I also changed thelayer’s Alpha setting in the Layers sidebar to80%.

3. I wanted the foreground elementsunfogged to enhance the depth of the image. Idid this by simply erasing the areas of the gradi-ent layer covering the foreground tombstones.Using the Eraser Tool set at 40% Hardness, Idragged on the tombstones right on the gradi-ent layer to delete those portions of the gradientlayer.

4. Next, I wanted the top portion of the imagecompletely covered in fog. I first set the fore-ground color to white. (You can click the SwitchBetween Foreground and Background Colorsbent arrow to flip the default colors.) Using thePaintbrush Tool set at 0% Hardness, I simplypainted in the sky area of the gradient layer inwhite. If you notice visible edges on the areasyou painted in, simply add a bit of blur to thelayer to smooth it out. For this image, I clickedthe Layer Filters icon on the Layers sidebar andclicked Blur in the Layer Filters dialog box. Ithen entered 15 blur in both the Blur X and BlurY text boxes, chose High from the Quality drop-down list, and clicked OK.

5. Fog that’s closer to the camera is moredefined than the fog that’s farther away. Oneway to achieve this effect is to simply paint inthe foreground fog by hand. An even easierway is to use a source image of smoke. So Ichose File > Import and uploaded an image ofsmoke to the document using the ResourceBrowser. The imported image appeared on anew layer.

6. I then desaturated the smoke image layerby choosing Image > Desaturate with the layerstill selected. Then I clicked the TransformationTool, dragged the right handles to stretch theimage horizontally, and double-clicked theimage to finish the transformation. I also usedthe Transformation Tool to move the smokeimage to the bottom of the image area. Thisgave the appearance of the smoke dispersingacross the ground level in the image fore-ground. When I was happy with its placement, Ipressed the Enter key to confirm the transforma-tion. I applied a bit of blur to this layer (as instep 4), with a strength of 7 for both the Blur Xand Blur Y settings. Then I applied the ScreenBlend Mode to this layer and dropped thelayer’s Alpha to 40% in the Layers sidebar.


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7. Still wanting to keep my foreground rela-tively uncovered by the fog, I selected the EraserTool set at 0% Hardness and simply erased theportions of the smoke layer covering the fore-ground tombstones.

8. And finally, it was time to add a few finaltouches to the image. I clicked New Layer in theLayers sidebar to create a new layer above theothers. I changed the foreground color to white(double-click the foreground color box belowthe tools; specify 255 for the R, G, and B valuesin the Color Picker dialog box; then click OK),and then filled the entire new layer white withthe Paint Bucket Tool. Then I dropped this layer’sAlpha setting in the Layers sidebar to 20%. Thisgave the entire image more of a hazy effect Idesired.

9. I also wanted the entire image to possessmore of a monotone feel to it. So I createdanother new layer (New Layer button on theLayers sidebar) and filled this layer in with anavy blue tone. To choose the color, I clickedthe foreground color box below the tools,entered 0020a2 in the HEX text box, andclicked OK. I then used the Paint Bucket Tool tofill the new layer with the blue color. I openedthe Blend Mode drop-down list and clickedOverlay and then adjusted the layer’s Alpha to10%, both in the Layers sidebar. This gave theimage a subtle blue hue to it throughout.


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Snowy Day

Another neat effect you canapply to photos rather simply isthe appearance of snow. Aswith anything, there are severalways of accomplishing the sameend result. In this tutorial, I’mgoing to show you a quick wayto make any scene look as if it’samidst a snowstorm in just a feweasy steps.

Source Images: “Barbary macaque, Gibraltar” by Stephan Hoerold, “Icicle”by Griszka Niewiadomski

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1. As snow tends to lighten the environment itsurrounds, I wanted to brighten the overall lookof the image and drop some of the saturation.After opening the original image, I chose Image> Brightness & Contrast. In the Brightness andContrast dialog box, I raised the Brightness set-ting to 50 and lowered the Contrast setting to -15, and then clicked OK. Then I chose Image >Hue & Saturation. In the Hue and Saturationdialog box, I dragged the Saturation slider leftto set its level to -70, and then clicked OK. Thisbrightened and dulled the scene a bit, whichgave me a good point to start from.

2. I still wanted to create a hazy look to theentire image. So I created a new layer by click-ing the New Layer icon in the Layers sidebar,making sure the layer was above the originalimage layer. I selected white as the foregroundcolor (click the Restore Colors and then SwitchBetween Foreground and Background Colorsbuttons by the Color selection boxes) and filledthe new layer with white using the Paint BucketTool. Then I lowered the Alpha setting for thislayer to 15% in the Layers sidebar.

3. Often times, snowy images tend to have ablue tint to them. I wanted to apply that samelook to my image. I created another new layerby clicking the New Layer icon on the Layerssidebar. I clicked the Restore Colors button,clicked the Foreground Color selection box,entered 4BA3DD in the HEX text box to choosea blue foreground color, and clicked OK. I usedthe Paint Bucket Tool to fill the new layer withthe specified light blue. I then applied theOverlay Blend Mode and changed the Alphasetting of this layer to 65% in the Layers sidebar.

4. With the mood of the image set, it was timeto bring in the actual snow. This could be donein any number of ways. I could simply draw inthe flakes by hand using the Paintbrush Tool, butthere are easier ways. I found a picture of ran-dom white splatters across a black surface andimported this image using the File > Import com-mand. Because the imported image was largerthan the canvas, I was prompted to resize theimage. I clicked Resize Image to shrink theimported image to fit my canvas. I selected theTransformation Tool, dragged the bottom centerhandle straight down to have the snow layer fillthe whole canvas, and pressed Enter. I set thesnow layer’s Blend Mode to Screen, so only thewhites of the layer were visible, giving a greatbase for snow.

5. I wanted to give the snow a bit of a motionblur to create the appearance that the flakeswere actually falling and not just suspended inmid air. With the snow layer still selected, Iclicked the Layer Filters button in the Layers side-bar and clicked Blur to check it in the LayerFilters dialog box. I set the Quality of the blur toHigh, and entered 10 in the Blur X and Blur Ytext boxes. I clicked OK to apply the blur effectto the snow layer.

6. I then merged the snow layer with a blanknew layer to rasterize it (See Note) when I washappy with the blur. Then, using the Transfor-mation Tool, I rotated the layer and thendragged the top and side handles to make sure the snow filled the whole image, finallypressing Enter to create the appearance that the snow was blowing at an angle.


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NoteIf you want to commit to a particular layer fil-ter and make it a permanent fixture to yourlayer, there’s a simple way to do so. First,create a blank new layer. Then Ctrl+click thelayer with the filter on it and the new blanklayer in the Layers sidebar. Then, click theOptions button drop-down list arrow andclick Merge Layers. This procedure rasterizesthe filter on the newly merged layer, makingit editable like any normal layer. This tech-nique can be used in conjunction with any ofthe layer filters.

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7. To fill the image with more snow, I simplyduplicated the snow layer several times(Options button drop-down list arrow in theLayers sidebar and then Duplicate layer) andused the Transformation Tool to arrange the lay-ers in different positions on the image. I alsoresized the snow layer copies to varyingdegrees to create flakes that appear smaller togive the image a sense of depth.

8. I clicked the New Layer icon in the Layerssidebar to create a new layer above the origi-nal layer and set the foreground color to whiteusing the Foreground Color selection box.Working on the new layer, I selected the ShapeBrush Tool, and chose the brush with the splat-tered look (Brush 4). With white as my fore-ground color, I clicked the tool on various partsof the top of the monkey’s head and back tomake it look as if snow had fallen and stuck tothe figure.

9. And as a final optional touch, I added ici-cles to the bottom of the monkey’s chin for evenfurther effect. I imported an image of icicles (File> Import), and erased out as much of the sur-rounding background as I could from this layer,leaving my icicles intact. Using the Transfor-mation Tool, I resized the icicles to fit propor-tionately under the monkey’s face. In the Layerssidebar, I changed the layer’s Blend Mode set-ting to Screen and lowered the Alpha to 81%,achieving the look I desired.


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Rainy Day

I personally love the rain. I lovethe sense of freshness as theshowers wash away the citygrime to start anew. But anyphotographer knows that a sureway to ruin his camera is toleave it sitting in the rain. Sohow do we get that beautiful pic-ture of the rain-covered streetwithout endangering our cam-era? Easy! We wait for the rainsto die down, then take our pho-tograph, and then add in therain later in Phoenix!

Source Image: “Off to kindergarten” by Ingvald Kaldhussæter

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1. First, I wanted to set a darker mood in theoriginal photograph. After opening the image in Phoenix, I chose Image > Hue & Saturation,and lowered the Saturation to -35, lowered theBrightness to -15, and clicked OK. This createda gloomier tone, which was more suitable for arain-covered scene.

2. To set the scene, I wanted to create theappearance that the ground was covered inrain. To do so, I needed to create reflections. I used the Lasso Selection Tool, and roughlyselected the girl from the original image andcopied and pasted her onto a new layer withEdit > Copy and Edit > Paste. I chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.Using the Eraser Tool, I removed the remainingbackground to extract the figure on its ownlayer. (I temporarily hid the original layer byclicking its Eye icon to create this screen shot.)

3. With the layer with the extracted girl stillselected, I then chose Edit > Transform > FlipVertical to flip the layer. Then, using theTransformation Tool, I dragged the selectionunder the girl down to create the illusion of thereflection below her image on the original layer,pressing Enter to finish the move. I then loweredthe Alpha setting for this reflection layer to 50%in the Layers sidebar.

4. Next, I flattened the image by selectingLayer > Flatten Layers. I wanted to add someblur to the ground around the girl’s feet. Iselected the Blur Tool and dragged the groundto soften the appearance.

5. To add to the effect, I created ripplesaround the base of the girl’s feet on the ground.Using the Liquify Tool set with the Pressure of 2 and a Size of 20, I dragged the tool in semi-circles around the girl’s feet starting with theouter left side and dragging around the girl’sfoot to the right side to create the appearanceof ripples. Using the Liquify Tool set at a largersize, I also displaced the rest of the reflectionsslightly to create a light wave effect on thewater.

6. I repeated the overall process to createreflections of the trees in the background, creat-ing subtle reflections of the distant trees on thesurface of the ground. I copied and extractedthem to their own layer, and flipped them. Then,I clicked the Layer Filters icon on the Layers side-bar and applied a Blur to the trees. I set the BlurX value to 15, the Blur Y value to 4, andpressed OK to apply the blur to the layer.

7. To create the rain, I first created a newlayer by clicking the New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar and dragging the layer to thetop of the list in the Layers sidebar. I set white as the foreground color by clicking the RestoreColors button and then clicking the SwitchBetween Foreground and Background Colorsbutton. I then selected the Shape Brush Tool,selected the splattered brush (Brush 4) in thetool’s options, and chose a brush size over 100.I created a series of splatters across the top ofthe canvas on the new layer.

8. I then selected the Transformation Tool anddragged the bottom center handle down to thebottom of the canvas to stretch the splattereddrawing layer; then I pressed Enter to confirmthe transformation.


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9. I wanted the rain to fall at an angle, so Iselected the Transformation Tool again, movedthe mouse pointer just below and to the right ofthe lower-left handle, and dragged to the left toskew the selection. I then dragged the upper-leftand lower-right handles diagonally to resize theselection so the rain would fill the image. Ipressed Enter to confirm this transformation. Ithen lowered the Alpha setting for this layer to15% on the Layers sidebar.

10. Next, I wanted to add a slight blue tint tothe image. To do this, I created a new layer byclicking the New Layer icon on the Layers side-bar. I selected a blue foreground color andfilled the layer using the Paint Bucket Tool. I setthis layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and loweredthe Alpha to 10%.

11. And finally, I selected the Liquify Tool againand dragged across the surface of the originalimage some more to add a few more ripples tothe ground to make it appear as if rain werefalling and plopping on the ground.


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Flood

Creating realistic water reflec-tions is a difficult challenge. Notonly do you need to copy thecontent to create the reflections,but you also must set the color,tone, and displacement to trulygive it the liquid appearance. Inthis tutorial, I’ll show you a fewof the key techniques for creat-ing realistic water reflectionsusing this image of a storefrontI’m gonna set amidst a flood.

Source Image: “Victorian English Shop” by Stephen Geer

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1. Because of the multiple planes of perspective(the sides of the buildings) in the image, Ineeded to assemble the water reflection onewall at a time. I started with the front wall of theforeground building. Using the PolygonalSelection Tool, I made a selection around thefront wall (including a small portion of thewoman in the lower-left corner), copied thisselection (Edit > Copy), then pasted it onto anew layer (Edit > Paste). I chose Select > SelectNone to remove the selection marquee.

2. With the new layer selected in the Layerssidebar, I chose Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical.I realized right away that a simple vertical flipwasn’t going to give a convincing reflection. Iselected the Transformation Tool, dragged thebuilding copy down in front of the originalbuilding, then dragged just below the upper-right selection handle to align the bricks on thefront face of the wall to fit parallel to the brickson the original wall, pressing Enter to finish thetransformation when I was satisfied with thealignment.

3. I noticed that the short wall on the side ofthe protruding windows still didn’t align prop-erly. Still working on the reflection layer, I usedthe Polygonal Selection Tool to select the shortwall. Then I used the Transformation Tool tochange the angle of the reflection (again drag-ging an area between handles) and line thewall up parallel to the short wall in the originalimage, pressing Enter to finish the transforma-tion.

4. Then I needed to trim the reflection down tothe water line. I first hid the reflection layer byclicking its Eye icon in the Layers sidebar, but Ileft the layer selected. Using the PolygonalSelection Tool, I made a selection around thebase of the original house. I clicked the box forthe Eye icon to redisplay the selection layer andthen chose Edit > Delete to delete the areadirectly covering the base of the house from thereflection layer.

5. I then repeated the overall process outlinedin steps 1 through 4, creating a reflection layerfor each face of each building, making sure toplace the buildings further back in the imagelower on the Layers sidebar but above the origi-nal building layer. (Also make sure to reselectthe original layer so that you don’t copy andpaste blank areas from another layer.) I didn’tworry about overlapping the woman in the fore-ground at this point, as I planned to add herback in later on. I made sure to choose Select >Select None to remove any remaining selectionmarquee.

6. After I assembled the rest of the reflectionlayers, it was safe to merge those layers intoone. Holding down the Ctrl key, I clicked eachof the reflection layers on the Layers sidebar,and then clicked the Options drop-down listarrow and selected Merge Layers.

7. I wanted to darken and dull the reflection alittle more in comparison to the original image. Iselected the merged reflection layer and choseImage > Brightness & Contrast. In the Brightnessand Contrast dialog box, I dragged theBrightness slider left to set it to -27, anddragged the Contrast slider left to set it to -47. I then clicked OK to apply the changes.

8. I also wanted to add a slight blue tone tothe reflection to make it look more like water.With my reflection layer still selected in theLayers sidebar, I chose Select > Selection fromLayer to make a selection around the entirereflection. I created a new layer above thereflection layer by clicking the New Layer iconon the Layers sidebar and filled this selectionwith blue after setting the foreground color toblue and selecting the Paint Bucket Tool. In theLayers sidebar, I set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay and set the Alpha to 16%. I choseSelect > Select None to be sure to remove theselection marquee.


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NoteMake sure that the reflections are positionedso that they fill all of the foreground; youdon’t want to have to go back and fill missingspaces in later steps.

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9. Now it was time to bring the woman backinto the image. Hiding the other layers andselecting the original image layer, I made arough selection around the woman using theLasso Selection Tool and pasted her onto a newlayer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. I choseSelect > Select None to remove the selectionmarquee. Using the Eraser Tool, I finishedextracting her from the background on the newlayer.

10. I dragged the layer with the copiedwoman to the top of the list in the Layers side-bar. Using the Eraser Tool, I erased the lowerportions of her legs to make them look like theywere under water.

11. Realizing the woman needs a reflection her-self, I simply duplicated the layer with thewoman on it by clicking the Options drop-downlist arrow on the Layers sidebar and clickingDuplicate Layer. I dragged the copied layerbelow the blue overlay layer to give the samesaturation to the woman’s reflection. I thenchose Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip thelayer vertically, used the Transformation Tool tomove the reflection in position and adjust theshape so the ends of the legs matched up, andthen used the Eraser Tool to clean the areaaround the base of the legs.

12. Then I wanted to add a few ripples andimperfections to the water surface. I merged themain reflection layer with the woman’s reflectionlayer using the process described in step 6.Then, using the Liquify Tool set at a low Pressureof 1and a Size of 23, I simply dragged on thereflection layer to create my ripples in the water.

NoteIn my working file, I left unmerged copies ofmy reflection layers available to examine theprocess involved in that further. These layersare not necessary for the final image.


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Day to Night

There are several ways toturn a daytime photo of a houseinto a nighttime scene. The leasttechnically challenging methodwould be to sit outside the samehouse in the same position witha camera for 12 hours and snapa photograph in both day andnight settings. But for those with-out the spare 12 hours a day,there’s a quicker way to achievethis same effect right in the com-fort of the indoors usingPhoenix.

Source Image: “Model Home III” by jhorrocks

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1. First, I extracted the foreground. I copied theoriginal image layer in the Layers sidebar first,as we’ll need the original later. To copy thelayer, I selected the layer in the sidebar, clickedthe Options drop-down list arrow, and clickedDuplicate Layer. With the copied layer selected,I used the Polygonal Selection Tool to select theangular outlines of the house and foreground.With the house and rest of the foregroundselected, I copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted(Edit > Paste) this selection onto a new layer.After selecting the new layer in the Layers side-bar, I chose Select > Select None and then usedthe Eraser Tool to clean off any of the remainingedges that needed extracting.

TipHolding Shift while making a selection willadd to the current selection if one was pres-ent initially. This makes it easier because youcan make selections in segments instead oftrying to get it all in one shot. This works withany of the selection tools, so feel free to usewhat works best for you.

2. Next, I wanted to create a darker nightsky. I clicked the New Layer icon on the Layerssidebar, then dragged the new layer below myextracted house layer in the Layers sidebar. Inext selected the new layer and filled it with agradient. I selected the Gradient Fill Tool andchose Radial from the Gradient Type drop-downlist in the tool’s options. Then, by double-clickingthe arrow sliders to open the Color Picker dia-log box, I set the leftmost color to a dark shadeof blue (Hex value #0D3499) and the rightcolor to an even darker shade (#000050), click-ing OK to finish each color selection. I draggedthe tool from a point just above the peak of theroof towards the edge of the image until I wasleft with a night sky gradient I was happy with.

3. I then needed to darken the extractedhouse foreground layer to match the night sky. Iselected the extracted house layer in the Layerssidebar. I chose Image > Brightness & Contrastto open the Brightness and Contrast dialog box.I lowered the Brightness to -100 and loweredthe Contrast to -70 using the sliders, and clickedOK. I then chose Image > Hue & Saturationmenu and used the sliders in the Hue andSaturation dialog box to drop the Saturationlevel to -70 and dropped the Brightness on thismenu to -40, clicking OK to finish.

4. I wanted to add a blue tone to the house.With the extracted house layer selected, I choseSelect > Selection from Layer. This automaticallyselected all the content on the extracted houselayer. I created a new layer above the extractedhouse layer by clicking the New Layer icon onthe Layers sidebar. With the new layer selected,I then filled the selection with a dark blue usingthe Paint Bucket Tool. In the Layers sidebar, Ichanged this layer’s Blend Mode setting toOverlay and dropped the Alpha to 70%.Finally, I chose Select > Select None to removethe selection marquee.

5. The house looked lonely in this state, so Idecided to add a suggestion of the presence ofpeople by lighting up the windows. Using thePolygonal Selection Tool, I made a selectionaround the glass panes of one of the windows,pressing and holding the Shift key as I selectedeach subsequent pane of glass. The RectangularSelection Tool can also be used in this case, ifyou find it easier. I then clicked the New Layericon on the Layers sidebar to create a newlayer, dragged it above the blue blend layer onthe Layers sidebar, and filled the selection witha yellow tone on the new layer using the PaintBucket Tool. I then chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee. I repeated thisprocess to light several of the other windows ofthe house.

6. I then selected each yellow window layerand added a slight blur. First I clicked the LayerFilter icon on the Layers sidebar. In the LayerFilters dialog box, I clicked the Blur check boxto check it, entered a strength of 2 in both theBlur X and Blur Y axes text boxes, and selectedHigh from the Quality drop-down list. I alsowanted to apply a glowing effect around thewindow panes. With the Layer Filters dialogbox still open, I clicked the Glow check box tocheck it. I set the Glow’s Strength to 2, entered12 in the Blur X text box, and entered 17 in theBlur Y text box. I changed the color to a yellow-ish orange tone. Finally, I clicked OK to applythe blur and glow. I repeated the process toapply a blur and glow to each of the other yel-low window layers.


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NoteIt might help to hide the gradient and blueblend layers during this step in order to moreclearly see the windows while you work.

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7. I wanted to create the effect of the light fromthe windows casting a glow on the lawn below.I copied each of the window glow layers ontonew layers by using the Duplicate Layer choicefrom the Options drop-down in the Layers side-bar. I then dragged the copied layers below theoriginal layers in the sidebar. I selected theTransformation Tool, dragged each copied win-dow glow to the general position where Iwanted it to appear (the porch roof or frontlawn), and pressed Enter to finish the change.Then, using the Distortion Tool, I added theproper perspective effect to each copy by drag-ging the bottom two handles further out to theproper angle to make it appear as if the lightwas emanating from the windows, and then Ipressed Enter to finish.

8. I clicked Select > Selection from Layer onthis layer. With this area still as my currentselection, I selected the original image from theLayers palette. I copied this area and pasted itonto a new layer and dragged it to the top ofthe palette. This created the effect of the win-dow casting light on the ground. I set this layer’sAlpha to 50%, and using the Eraser Tool set to0% Hardness, I lightly dispersed the light tofade further from the original window. I choseSelect > Select None to remove the selectionmarquee.

9. In order to light up the streetlight, I createda new layer by clicking the New Layer icon onthe Layers sidebar, set white as the foregroundcolor using the color boxes below the tools(click a box, specify the color in the Color Pickerdialog box, and then click OK), and paintedover the lamp with the Paintbrush Tool. With thenew layer still selected, I then clicked the LayerFilters icon on the Layers sidebar. In the LayerFilters dialog box, I clicked the Glow check box to check it. I changed the Alpha level to0.95, entered a Strength of 2, and set the Blur Xand Blur Y values to 30. I then changed theGlow’s color to a yellowish orange color, andclicked OK.


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10. I then created a new layer (New Layer icon) and, using theElliptical Shape Tool, I drew a circle. (White should still be selected asthe foreground color.) I selected the Transformation Tool and draggedthe circle over the streetlight, pressing Enter to the finish the change. Iclicked the Layer Filters icon on the Layers sidebar, and clicked the Blurcheck box in the Layer Filters dialog box to check it. I changed the BlurX and Blur Y values to 88 and clicked OK. Finally, I lowered the Alphasetting for the layer to 72% using the setting on the Layers sidebar.

11. And just as I did for the glow on the ground from the windows, Iselected the original image layer, used the Elliptical Selection Tool toselect the area directly surrounding the streetlight, and copied andpasted the selection to a new layer with the Copy and Paste commandson the Edit menu. I dragged this layer into position under the layerwhere I created the light glow, softened the selection’s edges using theEraser Tool, and set the layer’s Alpha to 50% in the Layers sidebar. Ithen chose Select > Select None to remove the selection marquee.

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12. And to finish the effect, I wanted to add stars and a moon to thenight sky. I created a new layer for the moon using the New Layer iconon the Layers sidebar. Using the Paintbrush Tool with the foregroundcolor still set to white, I drew a circle for the moon. Using the EraserTool set to a large diameter, I clicked on a portion of the circle to createa crescent shape. I applied a slight glow around the moon, starting byclicking the Layer Filters icon and then clicking Blur to check it. Ichanged both the Blur X and Blur Y settings to 22, set the color to alight blue tone, and clicked OK.

13. And for the stars, I just created another layer and painted themin with the Paintbrush Tool of varying sizes, finally setting this layer’sAlpha to 40% to complete the night sky effect.


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In the Clouds

Most of us can rememberspending afternoons as childrenlooking up at the clouds andseeing all sorts of things, frompeople, to trains, to dragons,with our visions limited only byhow far our imagination couldtake us. In this tutorial, we’regonna go back to our childhoodand put our dreams and imagi-nation back in the clouds wherethey belong.Source Images: “Sky” by Airyelf, “Eternal Dream” by Portugal2004

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1. In this example, I’m going to attempt toplace this statue of a woman into the clouds. Forthe sake of brevity, I’ll explain how I assembledher arm and hand, as the same method can beapplied to the rest of the image to complete thepiece. I started by loading up the image of thesky, then I imported the image of the statue ontoits own layer using the File > Import command.Using the Transformation Tool, I dragged thestatue layer roughly where I wanted it in thecomposition and pressed Enter to apply thechange.

2. I then set this layer’s Blend Mode to Screenin the Layers sidebar. This gave me the base formy clouds I’ll work around. Using the Transfor-mation Tool, I then resized the figure to a size Ifelt fit the composition well, and pressed Enter toconfirm the decision.

3. Now came the hard part. To assemble theactual figure from portions of the clouds, Iworked in many segments. For example, Istarted with the shoulder area of the figure.Looking at the contour of the figure’s shoulder, I tried to find an area of the clouds that closelyresembled the shape of the shoulder. Workingon the original clouds layer, I selected the area I wanted with the Lasso Selection Tool. I thencopied (Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste)this portion of the clouds onto a new layer, butkept my statue’s Screen layer on the top layer.

4. Using the statue as a guide but workingwith the newly pasted layer selected, I used theTransformation Tool to resize and rotate mycopied cloud segment to fit the direction andshape of my original figure’s shoulder, pressingEnter to finish the change. Then, using theEraser Tool set at 0 Hardness, I softened theedges of the pasted selection to help them blendbetter into the scene.

5. I continued copying, pasting, and trans-forming selections from the original cloud layeronto new layers until the main part of the fig-ure’s arm was complete. Then I merged thecloud segments for the arm together by pressingand holding the Ctrl key while clicking the cloudlayers I wanted to merge in the Layers sidebar. Iclicked the Options drop-down list arrow andclicked Merge Layers. Because I wanted theclouds to overlay only the highlighted areas ofthe figure, I erased portions of the clouds toexpose the sky in the figure’s shadowed sections.

6. Next, I assembled the figure’s hand.Because I wanted to keep the details of thehand, I kept all the fingers isolated. To do this, Ineeded to find an area in the original cloudsthat most closely resembled the shape of the fin-gers. I selected this area with the LassoSelection Tool and copied it onto a new layer.

7. Then I continued the same process as I didfor the arm, using the Transformation Tool to sit-uate each segment onto the desired finger area,making sure I left the sliver of sky between thefingers visible to keep each finger isolated. Ithen merged the finger layers together asbefore.

8. After the arm and hand were complete, I needed to soften some of the graininess stillapparent from the statue’s stone texture. Usingthe Liquify Tool set at 2 for Pressure and a Sizeof 20, I dragged the tool in circles directly onthe statue layer to soften the edges of the statueto blend it better with the clouds, and blur thevisible grain.


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9. On the left is what my figure looked likeafter I had completed this same process for therest of the statue. I could leave it at this, but Iwanted to add a little more pop to the image.

10. I wanted to slightly darken the shadedareas of the figure a little more. So I selected thePaintbrush Tool with black set as the foregroundcolor (clicking the Restore Colors button near thecolor boxes below the tools quickly resets theforeground color to black). In the tool’s options,I set the Alpha to 12% and the Hardness to 0. Ithen painted the desired areas to darken themon a new layer (New Layer icon) above thestatue’s Screen layer. Then I set this layer’sBlend Mode to Overlay and dropped thislayer’s Alpha to 33% in the Layers sidebar.

11. Then, I selected white for my foregroundcolor (if you reset the colors as noted in the pre-vious step, you can simply click the SwitchBetween Foreground and Background Colorsbutton). On a new layer (New Layer icon), andwith the Paintbrush Tool still selected, I paintedin the edges of the clouds to enhance the bright-ness of these areas to create a stronger high-lighted effect.

12. I noticed that my figure was now coveringmost of the sunrays that were peeking out frombehind the clouds in the original image. For afinal effect, I wanted to bring these rays backinto the image to create the appearance theywere emerging from behind my newly createdcloud figure. Using the Lasso Selection Tool, Icreated a rough selection of the rays from theoriginal clouds layer, and pasted it onto a newlayer behind my cloud layers (just above theoriginal cloud layer in the Layers sidebar).Using the Transformation Tool, I dragged thisselection to the right so the rays appear to beemerging from behind the cloud figure. Thenusing the Eraser Tool set at 0 Hardness, I soft-ened the edges to blend into the original sky.


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Behind Glass

How did that ship get insidethe bottle? It’s a fascinating ques-tion that has delighted curiouskids for generations. Lucky forus, placing the subject of aphoto behind glass is much eas-ier than building a ship in a bot-tle, as you’ll see in this tutorial.

Source Images: “Snow Globe” by Jim Larkin, “Arts & Crafts Snowman” by Jim Jurica

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1. I started with the image of the snow globefor the background. Then, I imported the imageof the snowman figure I wanted to encapsulatein the globe using the File > Import command.The snowman appeared on a new layer. Afterselecting the Transformation Tool, I dragged thesnowman over the snow globe and roughlypositioned him where I liked. Then I pressedEnter on the keyboard to confirm the new position.

2. Next, I extracted the snowman from hisoriginal background. I clicked the Eye iconbeside the snow globe layer in the Layers side-bar to hide the snow globe for the time being. Ithen clicked the snowman layer to reselect it.Using the Eraser Tool set at 90% Hardness and100% Alpha, I dragged on the sky around thesnowman to remove it. I also dragged on thesnow in the lower corners to round them off sothey would fit inside the globe.

3. After the figure was extracted, it was timeto set it behind the glass. I redisplayed the snowglobe layer by clicking the box for its Eye iconin the Layers sidebar and made sure that thelayer was selected. Using the Lasso SelectionTool, I selected the glass portion of the snowglobe on the original snow globe layer. I copiedand pasted (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste) thisselection onto a new layer and then removedthe selection marquee (Select > Select None).Then, I pasted the copied layer twice more so Ihad three copies, and dragged all three copiesabove the layer with the extracted snowman. Ithen hid the lower two of the duplicates tem-porarily by clicking the Eye icon beside each.On my visible glass copy layer, I set the Alphato 26%. This provided the basis for the glasseffect over our figure by creating a hazy lookover it.

4. Next, I enabled the second of my threeglass copy layers by clicking the box for its Eye icon on the Layers sidebar. I changed thislayer’s Blend Mode setting to Multiply and setthe Alpha to 42%. The Multiply Blend Modetook the dark tones from the glass and subtlylaid them over the figure underneath.

5. I redisplayed the third of the glass copylayers by clicking the box for its Eye icon on theLayers sidebar. I set the layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay and changed the Alpha setting to 61%.This had the opposite effect of the MultiplyBlend Mode applied in the previous step,pulling out the shine from the glass image andlaying it over the snowman.

6. I wanted to add more glare to the glass. Idid this manually with the Gradient Tool. First, Icreated a new layer by clicking the New Layerbutton in the Layers sidebar and then I draggedthe new layer above the glass copy layers. Withthe new layer selected, I made a circular selec-tion slightly smaller than the size of the snowglobe using the Elliptical Selection Tool. Iselected the Gradient Fill Tool with white set asthe left slider arrow color and black set as theright slider arrow color (the defaults). I draggedfrom the top down over the circular selection tofill it with white at the top gradating to black atthe bottom. I then set this layer’s Blend Mode toScreen in the Layers sidebar. This only left thewhite portions visible, creating a smooth glareeffect. I then set the layer’s Alpha to 65%.


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7. I wanted to add a bit of saturation to the glare. With the ellipticalselection still selected, I created a new layer above my glare layer byclicking the New Layer icon. Using the Eye Dropper Tool, I selected thelight brown tone from the glass area (not the wood area) in the originalsnow globe layer, selecting the layer before clicking a brown area toset the color as the foreground color. Then, I reselected the newestlayer by clicking it, selected the Paint Bucket Tool, and then clicked inthe selection on the new layer to fill it. I set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay and set the Alpha to 55%. I then chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee.

8. Finally, I wanted to surround the snowman with flakes of fallingsnow. I added a new layer, selected the Paintbrush Tool, and set its sizeto 3 and the foreground color to white. (You can switch the foregroundand background colors to quickly set the foreground color to white.) Ithen simply drew in some snow dots over the figure. I duplicated thislayer by clicking the Options button drop-down list arrow in the Layerssidebar and then clicking Duplicate Layer. I then reselected the layerwhere I drew the snowflakes (it should be second in the Layers sidebarlist), and chose Image > Invert Colors to make the snowflakes black.Then I selected the Transformation Tool and dragged the layer with theinverted snowflakes down slightly so the black flakes appear as shad-ows below the white flakes, adding a sense of depth. Finally, I set theAlpha for the layer with the snowflake shadows to 15%.


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Tattoo Art

Tattoo Art can be some of themost beautiful art you’ll find any-where. With the entire humanbody as a walking canvas, somecall it the truest form of art imag-inable. But tattoos can be costly,not to mention permanent. In thistutorial, I’m going to show howto apply a tattoo to your skinusing Phoenix before you goand shell out all that cash (andflesh) for a real one.

Source Images: “Back in Shape” by PeskyMonkey, “Egyptian pharaoh miniature” byMmedia Multimedia, “Egyptian papyrus detail” by Jose I. Soto

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1. For this image, I decided to go with anEgyptian themed set of tattoos for the figure, theoriginal image of a fighter that I opened inPhoenix. First, I found a nice straightforwardperspective image of the Sphinx and imported itusing the File > Import command. Because thephoto of the fighter was taken with the samesymmetrical perspective, I thought the Sphinxwould be a good fit to tattoo on the figure’sback.

2. I first placed the image of the Sphinxroughly where I would eventually want it. To doso, I first lowered the Sphinx layer’s Alpha to50% in the Layers sidebar so I could also seethe original image underneath and align theSphinx properly in the center. Using theTransformation Tool, I then was able to drag theSphinx to an area I was happy with and toresize the Sphinx to my liking. I pressed Enter toapply the changes. I then reset the Sphinxlayer’s Alpha setting to 100 in the Layers sidebar.

3. I wanted to remove the background fromthe Sphinx tattoo image, as I wanted the Sphinxto be isolated. The background didn’t need tobe removed perfectly, as I would be applying alayer Blend Mode to this image in the next step,which would hide the rest. So I selected theMagic Wand Tool set at 32 Tolerance, andclicked in the white area surrounding theSphinx. I chose Edit > Cut to remove theselected white background and then Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.

4. With the Sphinx layer still selected, Iopened the Blend Mode drop-down list on theLayers sidebar and clicked Multiply. Thisblended the image of the Sphinx onto the fig-ure, while retaining the shadows and texture ofthe fighter’s original skin. I noticed that thiscaused the Sphinx to look a little too dark andoversaturated. I chose the Image > Hue &Saturation menu, dragged the Saturation sliderleft to -42 in the Hue and Saturation dialog box,and then clicked OK. I then chose Image >Brightness & Contrast, dragged the Brightnessslider right to a setting of 32, dragged theContrast slider right to a setting of 11, andclicked OK. I then was happy with the look ofthe tattoo.

5. Next, I wanted to add some hieroglyphicart to the fighter’s arms. I used File > Import toimport a Papyrus image. Using the LassoSelection Tool, I made a rough selection aroundone of the figures in this glyph on its originallayer, and used Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste topaste it onto a new layer. I then clicked the Eyeicon beside the original Papyrus layer in theLayers sidebar to hide that until later. I thenclicked the extracted glyph layer in the Layerssidebar to reselect that layer.

6. Using the Transformation Tool, I rotated thefigure from the glyph and aligned it to fit thedirection of the fighter’s left arm. When I washappy with the general placement, I pressedEnter to confirm the transformation.


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7. I applied the Multiply Blend Mode to thislayer as well and lowered the Alpha to 90% inthe Layers sidebar. Also finding this portionlooking too dark on the figure, I chose Image >Brightness & Contrast. I specified 48 forBrightness and 16 for Contrast and clicked OK.I then chose Image > Hue & Saturation, loweredthe Saturation to -35, and clicked OK. I wantedto displace the tattoo to fit the contour of the fig-ure’s arm a little better, as it still appeared a lit-tle flat. I selected the Liquify Tool, set its Pressureto 1 and the Size to 139 in the tool options,and lightly dragged down the edges of the fig-ure to create the illusion the tattoo was wrap-ping around the figure’s arm.

8. Using the same methods as I did with thetattoo on the figure’s left arm, I redisplayed theoriginal Papyrus layer by clicking its Eye iconbox in the Layers sidebar. I then selected theother glyph figure, and copied and pasted it toits own layer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste.I then clicked the Eye icon for the Papyrus layerto hide it again. Working on the new glyphlayer, I rotated and changed settings for thelayer to apply the tattoo to the figure’s rightarm, as shown in steps 6 and 7.

9. And finally, I felt like I lost a little of theshine from the figure’s original skin once it wascovered by the tattoos. I created a new layer byclicking the New Layer icon in the Layers side-bar, and dragged the new layer to the top ofthe list. I set the foreground color to white. I thenselected the Paintbrush Tool, set it to 0%Hardness and 8% Alpha in the tool options,and lightly painted in highlights over the tattoosin the areas that were no longer visible with thetattoos covering them. This helped give theimage a little more depth and rounded out the arms.


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Graffiti

Under the cover of dark, the entireworld becomes a blank canvas forgraffiti artists the world over. Frombridges to alleyways, no space is offlimits to these artists. In this tutorial,I’m going to show how, usingPhoenix, you could do the unexpectedand cover the interior of a kitchenwith spray paint. And you won’t evenneed to get your hands dirty.

Source Images: “Grunge Kitchen 4” Shaun L., “Berlin Street Art” by RichardKershaw, “Graffiti” by xbauerx, “Monster King” by Berkeley Robinson, “Graffiti 4”by Alejandro González G., “Graffiti” by Bianca de Blok, “Urban Tex Churs” byJason Antony, “Soul Taggin 1” by Jason Cross, “Stop Bomb” by Bonifacio Pontonio

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1. The first thing I needed to do was find anunlikely scene to cover in graffiti, so I decidedto tag a kitchen. I chose an image of a rundownkitchen to create the illusion that this kitchen wasabandoned and overtaken by vandals.

2. The next step was to locate source imagesof graffiti. I wanted to find sources of varioussizes that would fit into the different surfacesizes I would cover with graffiti. I used the File >Import command to import the first graffitisource image into a new layer in the document.

3. Noticing that this graffiti source image wassimilar in proportion to the closest cabinet door,I decided to apply the source image to thatarea. I needed to skew it to fit the perspective ofthe cabinet. First, I lowered the Alpha setting forthis graffiti source layer to 50% in the Layerssidebar so I could see the cabinet to which Ineeded to align the graffiti source image. Afterclicking the Distortion Tool, I aligned the cornerhandles with the four corners of the cabinet to fitthe perspective of the original photo.

4. I wanted the original cabinet’s texture toshow through, so I applied the Multiply BlendMode to this graffiti layer and increased theAlpha to 75%.

5. Next, I imported my second graffiti sourceimage with File > Import. I noticed this piecewas tall rather than wide. So I located a sectionof my image would fit best in. To do so, I low-ered the Alpha setting for the second graffitisource layer to 50% in the Layers sidebar so Icould see through the image.

6. Noticing that the furthest cabinet was rela-tively similar in proportion to the second graffitisource image, I decided to apply the source tothat area. Again, with the Distortion Toolselected, I aligned the corners of the secondgraffiti image on its layer with the corners of thecabinet. I set this layer’s Alpha to Multiply andreset the Alpha to 93%.

7. I also wanted to cover the walls in the back-ground with graffiti as well. So I imported mythird graffiti source image into the documentand aligned it against the back wall as I didwith the other pieces, using the techniques pre-sented in the earlier steps.

8. The graffiti in the third source image wascovering some items I wanted exposed—forexample, the mirror, sink, and the cabinet.Using the Polygonal Selection Tool, I made aselection around the elements I wanted exposedon the third image’s layer and chose Edit > Cutto remove each area. I chose Select > SelectNone after cutting the last selection. Using theEraser Tool set to 95% Hardness, I fine-tunedand erased any portions I may have missed andany round corners the Polygonal Selection Toolcouldn’t select until I was left with the graffiti sit-ting comfortably on just the exposed wallpaperarea. I then set this layer’s Blend Mode to HardLight and set the Alpha to 77% in the Layerssidebar.


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9. I imported my fourth graffiti image into thedocument and aligned it to the nearest set ofdrawers using the Distortion Tool as before.

10. Applying the Multiply Blend Mode pullsout the dark colors of the layer and hides thelighter tones. Because I wanted the lighter tonedfigure of the fourth graffiti source image toremain prominent, I decided to apply theOverlay Blend Mode to this layer instead of the Multiply as I did in the upper cabinets.This way, the cartoon figure remained visible,yet the wood texture from the original image still showed through giving me the effect Idesired. I changed the Alpha of this layer to 74%.

11. Using these same techniques, I finished therest of the image by importing in appropriatelyproportioned graffiti sources and applying themto the remaining areas I wanted to cover.


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Face Swap

One of the first things a lot ofpeople do when starting to learnimage manipulation is a simpleface swap. How would yourhead look on Angelina Jolie’sbody? How would you look asone of the 12 disciples inLeonardo Da Vinci’s “The LastSupper”? In this tutorial, I’ll showyou the basic steps in the simpleface swap. And in no time,you’ll be putting yourself in anyimage you like, whether you’rewelcome or not!

Source Images: “Beauty in Petals” by Aldra, “Confident standing portrait of ahandsome student” by Yuri Arcurs

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1. I started with these two images. Selecting appropriate source images is probably the most important part of the process. Choosing two images wherethe perspectives match and have generally the same lighting will make the process a whole lot easier.

2. I wanted to blend the young man’s faceonto the woman’s body. I started by opening theimage of the woman in Phoenix. I then choseFile > Import and uploaded the image of theman into the same document. I selected the manlayer and used the Lasso Selection Tool to makea rough selection around the man’s face. Icopied this selection (Edit > Copy) and pasted it(Edit > Paste) onto a new layer. I chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee. Ithen clicked the Eye icon next to the originallayer with the man on it on the Layers sidebar tomake the layer invisible, since I wouldn’t beneeding it anymore.

3. Next, it was time to align the man’s face tothe woman’s body. First, I clicked the man facelayer in the Layers sidebar and lowered thelayer’s Alpha setting to 50%. This enabled meto see the woman’s face in the background as aguide for positioning the man’s face on top.Using the Transformation Tool, I resized androtated the man’s face to align with thewoman’s face using her facial features as aguideline. I lined it up so that the man’s eyeswere directly over the woman’s, the man’s nosealigned with the woman’s, and so on. When Iwas happy with the placement, I pressed Enterand confirmed the transformation. I then set theman face layer’s Alpha back to 100%.

4. Blending the man’s face into the woman’shead on the original layer was the next step.Making sure the man’s face layer was stillselected, I selected the Eraser Tool and in thetool’s options adjusted the Hardness to 0, set thesize to 130, and the Alpha to 25%. I thenlightly clicked around the edges of the face toget a soft blend between the two images, mak-ing sure to preserve the man’s main facial fea-tures: his eyes, nose, and mouth.


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5. Next, it came time to adjust the tone of theimage. I noticed the man’s face was lit morebrightly than the woman’s, so I needed todarken it slightly. With the man’s face layer stillselected, I chose the Image > Brightness &Contrast command. In the Brightness andContrast dialog box, I dragged the Brightnessslider left to a setting of -30, and dragged theContrast slider right to 11. I clicked OK to applythe change. The face still didn’t look right, asthe man’s complexion was more of an orangecolor, whereas the woman’s skin tone leanedmore toward pink. I fixed this by choosingImage > Hue & Saturation and moving the Hue slider to the left by -10 to give the man’sface a more pink appearance as well. The pinktone was still a little too deeply saturated incomparison to the woman’s, so with the Hueand Saturation dialog box still open, I slid the Saturation slider left to -10, as well, andclicked OK.

6. Then I needed to match the sharpness ofboth images. With the image of the man show-ing softer features, I needed to apply a slightsharpening to him. I did this by copying theman’s face layer by clicking the Options drop-down arrow in the Layers sidebar and thenclicking Duplicate Layer. With the new layerselected, I chose Filters > Sharpen. I loweredthis layer’s Alpha to 50% in the Layers sidebarto alleviate some of the sharpening effect the fil-ter caused.

7. And finally, I wanted to darken some of theshadows around the man’s face in areas thatwere darker on the original woman’s face. I cre-ated a new layer by clicking the New Layericon on the Layers sidebar. I selected thePaintbrush Tool and set the Hardness to 0% andset the Alpha to 15%. With black as my fore-ground color (click the Restore Colors button bythe color boxes below the tools to reset black asthe foreground color if needed), I simplypainted in the areas around the man’s nose andaround his lips to darken these areas. I set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay in the Layerssidebar to give a nice saturated darker shadowaround these areas.

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Liquify—Melting

Personally, I’m not a big fanof the summer. I swear, I couldmelt just standing still outside inthe sun. No, I’d rather sit here inmy air-conditioned studio andmake the rest of the worldaround me melt. In this tutorial,I’m going to show how to do justthat, and melt this poor, unsus-pecting frog.

Source Image: “Frog” by an Jan Pietruszka

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1. To create the appearance that the frog wasmelting, I wanted to create a series of dripsflowing from the frog. I first made a duplicate ofmy original layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer), incase I made a mistake and wanted to go backto the original layer and start over. Using theLiquify Tool set at 5 Pressure, I dragged the toolto roughly create a drip flowing from the tip ofone of the frog’s fingers. I dragged this portionto flow down the leaf.

2. To add some more realism to this effect, Iwanted to add a blob to the end of the drip.With the Liquify Tool still selected, I dragged thetool in a circular shape toward the end of thedrip to expand this area, creating the look of ablob.

3. Then I continued the same process for therest of the frog’s fingers, making sure to takegravity into account and dragging the drips toflow down the contours of the leaves. For thedrips further back in the image, I lowered thePressure of the Liquify Tool to 4 to lower theamount of drip distance.

4. Next, I created the appearance that thefrog’s eyes were melting. Still with the LiquifyTool selected, I started near the bottom of theeye and dragged past the perimeter of the eyeto create the drips from the eyes. Following thecurves of the frog’s surface, I dragged theLiquify Tool so these drips flowed according tothe contours of the frog’s face.

5. And again for the drips on the frog’s back,I dragged the Liquify Tool, this time with thePressure setting lowered to 3. I dragged subtledrips along the surface of the frog’s skin. Istarted with a lighter area of the skin anddragged down along the curve of the frog. Icontinued this process until I was satisfied withthe number of drips around the frog.

6. I then wanted to add some depth to thedrips, as they still had a flat appearance tothem. I did this by creating a new layer (NewLayer icon on the Layers sidebar) to add shad-ows and highlights to the drips. I selected thePaintbrush Tool and chose 10% Hardness and15% Alpha in the tool options. I also set blackas the foreground color (click the Restore Colorsbutton by the color selection boxes, if needed).With the new layer selected in the Layers side-bar, I painted around the edges of the drips.This created the appearance of shadows andmade the drips appear more prominent. I setthis layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and loweredthe Alpha to 75% in the Layers sidebar to keepthe shadows saturated with the frog’s originalcolor.


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7. To create the highlights, I created a new layer (New Layer icon)and selected white as my foreground color (Switch BetweenForeground and Background Colors button near the color selectionboxes). With the Paintbrush Tool still selected, I roughly painted in thehighlights on the drips on the opposite edge of the shadows.

8. I then selected the Eraser Tool and set it to 50% Hardness. Ierased the excess of the painted highlights and this formed the high-lights to fit the shape of the path of the drips.


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Liquify—Displacement

There are plenty of uses forthe Liquify Tool. In this tutorial,I’ll show how you can use a sub-tle approach to displace objectsin order to situate them over thecurves and contours of the wrin-kles in a person’s clothing.Source Image: “Plain white T shirt” by Sue Colvil

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1. In this first example, I wanted to simply placethe Aviary logo on the woman’s shirt. Afteropening the original image, I used the File >Import command to import the logo onto a newlayer. Working on the new layer, I selected theTransformation Tool, resized the logo, anddragged it into roughly the position I wanted,pressing Enter to finish my change.

2. I realized the woman was not directly fac-ing forward to the camera, so the logo didn’t sitproperly. I selected the Distortion Tool andskewed the logo to an angle by dragging thecorner handle boxes until the logo was at theshape and angle I desired. I pressed Enter toapply the change.

3. With the logo layer still selected, I thenopened the Blend Mode drop-down list in theLayers sidebar and clicked Multiply. This madethe texture of the shirt visible through the logolayer. I noticed the logo was still too clean look-ing, as it sat over the wrinkles of the shirt uncon-vincingly. This is where the Liquify Tool cameinto play. I selected the Liquify Tool andchanged its Pressure setting to 2 and set theSize to 21 in the tool options. I lightly draggedthe tool on the wrinkles on my logo layer.Dragging along the contours of the wrinkle linesgave a much more realistic look to the distor-tion. This created a wavy effect, as if the logowere rolling directly over the wrinkles. I thenused the Eraser Tool to smooth out any edgesthat may have gone blurry during the liquifyingprocess.

4. Next, I needed to apply lighting effects tothe logo. I made a selection around the logo byselecting the Magic Wand Tool, setting theTolerance to 60, and clicking within the Aviaryletters on the logo layer. I pressed and heldShift, and then clicked again in the dot of theeye to add it to the selection. I then clicked theNew Layer icon on the Layers sidebar to createa new layer. I used the Gradient Fill Tool toapply a gradient across the selection on thenew layer, leaving the default colors selected(white for left slider, black for right slider) anddragging from right to left on the layer. In theLayers sidebar, I selected Screen from the BlendMode drop-down list and lowered the Alpha to50% so that only the light portions of the gradi-ent appear, giving the lighting effect over the let-ters I wanted.

5. I created a new layer and painted over thesleeve and collar areas on new separate layersin the same blue as my original logo (I selectedthe Eye Dropper tool and clicked in the letterson the logo layer to select the right color), then I applied the Multiply Blend Mode to this layerin the Layers sidebar. This added matching trimto the shirt, making it look more interesting thanthe original plain white T-shirt.

6. And finally, I added a lighting effect overthe entire image. I copied the original layer,and dragged the layer copy to the top of the listin the Layers sidebar. I opened the Blend Modedrop-down list in the Layers sidebar and clickedHard Light, and lowered the Alpha to 25%. Theimage was complete.


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7. This technique can also be applied to full-scale images over an undulating surface area.In this case, I used the File > Import command to import an image of the Phoenix andHummingbird on a new layer.

8. Again, using the Distortion Tool, I roughlyskewed the painting to the perspective of theoriginal image, pressing Enter to apply mychange.

9. I applied the Multiply Blend Mode to thislayer in the Layers sidebar. Then, using theLiquify Tool, I dragged the areas around thewrinkles again to make the imported imageappear as if it were curving to the contours ofthe shirt.

10. Using the Eraser Tool, I erased the partsof the painting that were exposed past the shirtin the layer with the imported image. Then, I didas I did in step 6: I copied the original imagelayer, moved it to the top of the list over top ofthe painting layer, and applied the Hard LightBlend Mode to give it the extra boost of lightingeffect.


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Liquify—Texturizing

Ah, the many uses of theLiquify Tool. We’ve already seenhow it can be applied toreshape and form anything fromsubtle effects to extreme cases.You also can use it to texturizeand add interesting patterns tonearly any figure, as I’ll show inthis tutorial, applying the flag ofthe United States of Americaonto the back of a Ladybird(Johnson?).

Source Image: “Ladybird” by Serdar Yagci, “Architectural Mix 3” by Benjamin Earwicker

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1. First, I needed to get rid of the original spotson the ladybug in the original image by paint-ing the orange color of the ladybug’s shell rightover the spots. Using the Eye Dropper Tool, Isampled the orange colors from directly aroundthe spot I was to paint over on the originallayer. Then I clicked the New Layer icon in theLayers sidebar to create a new layer. Using thePaintbrush Tool, I simply painted over the spotswith the brush’s Hardness set to 0 to create asoft blend into the original image. I had to workback and forth between the layers and tools,selecting various shades of orange on the origi-nal layer with the Eye Dropper Tool and paint-ing them on the new layer with the PaintbrushTool.

2. When the spots were covered, I flattenedthe image by clicking the Options button drop-down list arrow in the Layers sidebar and click-ing Flatten Layers. Next, I wanted to desaturatethe shell so that I could apply the colors of theflag onto it. Using the Lasso Selection Tool, Iroughly selected the shell and copied andpasted it onto a new layer (Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste). Then I chose Image > Desaturate,followed by Select > Select None. Using theEraser Tool, I erased around the shell to leaveonly the actual shell desaturated.

3. Next, I imported the image of theAmerican flag onto a new layer using the File >Import command. I set the layer’s Alpha to 50%so that I could see the ladybug. Using theTransformation Tool, I rotated the flag and posi-tioned it in the area I wanted it over my lady-bug, pressing Enter to finish the transformation.

4. Using the Liquify Tool, I dragged the stripesto fit the contours of the ladybug’s shell. Byusing the tool set to 200 Size, I dragged nearthe center of the stripe and dragged up and tothe right along the ladybug’s back to create theround contour.

5. Using the Eraser Tool, I then removed theedges of the flag, leaving only the portiondirectly over the ladybug’s shell. I then choseImage > Hue & Saturation, and in the Hue andSaturation dialog box dragged the Saturationslider left to -14 and dragged the Brightnessslider right to 15. I clicked OK to apply thechange.

6. I wanted to bring in some of the originalhighlights and shadows from the ladybug thatare less prominent in the image since coveringthem with the flag. So I duplicated the desatu-rated shell layer by clicking the Options buttondrop-down list arrow in the Layers sidebar andclicking Duplicate layer. I dragged the newlayer to the top of the list in the Layers sidebar,above the flag layer. I set this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay and this exposed the originalhighlights on top of the shell.


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7. I wanted to change the background to ablue tint, as I would be importing a new back-ground image. So I made a rough selectionaround the exposed background areas originalimage, and used Edit > Copy and Edit > Pasteto paste the selection onto a new layer. With thenew layer selected, I chose Image > Hue &Saturation, dragged the Hue slider to the rightto 154, dragged Saturation setting to the rightto 14, and clicked OK. Then I applied the HardLight Blend Mode to this layer in the Layers sidebar.

8. Next I chose File > Import and importedan image of the Capitol building onto a newlayer. I positioned the Capitol building imageon its layer with the Transformation Tool, press-ing Enter to finish the transformation.

9. I brightened the Capitol building layer tomatch my ladybug’s sky by opening theBrightness & Contrast menu from the Image taband setting the Brightness to 65 and theContrast to -12. I then pressed OK to confirmthe adjustment. Then, using the Eraser Tool set at0 Hardness, I erased the hard edges to create asmooth blend. Then I clicked the Layer Filtersicon on the Layers sidebar. I clicked Blur in theLayer Filters dialog box to check it, entered 10for both the Blur X and Blur Y settings, andclicked OK.

10. And finally, I selected the areas of thestem that the ladybug was crawling on andcopied them onto a new layer with Edit > Copyand Edit > Paste. Then I clicked the Layer Filtersicon on the Layers sidebar. I clicked Blur in theLayer Filters dialog box to check it, entered 5for both the Blur X and Blur Y settings, andclicked OK. This created a less harsh blendfrom the stem to the sky.


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Clowning Around

I’m sure we all have one: thatundeniable uncle who’s gener-ally regarded as the family“clown.” In this tutorial, I’mgoing to give this special man inour life the make-up he was bornto wear. That’s right, we’regoing to make him an actualclown. The techniques presentedhere are not exclusive to crazyuncles, as they can be appliedto a photo of nearly anyone.

Source Image: “old man making a face” by Bela Tibor Kozma

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1. First I wanted to lay a white foundation covering most of the man’s face. I made arough selection around his face with the LassoSelection Tool, and then copied and pasted thisselection onto a new layer with Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste. I chose Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee.

2. To make this section white, I needed todrop most of the original skin color. With thenew layer still selected, I chose Image > Hue &Saturation. In the Hue and Saturation dialogbox, I dragged the Saturation slider left to lowerthe Saturation level to -85 and then clicked OK.This left just a hint of color in his face to main-tain some realism, as no white make-up willmake a person completely white.

3. I was happy with the saturation level, but Iwanted the selection noticeably lighter. So Ichose the Image > Brightness & Contrast menu.In the Brightness and Contrast dialog box, Idragged the Brightness slider right to a settingof 50, and dragged the Contrast slider left to-11 until I was happy with the look of the white

paint. I then clicked OK to apply the change.

4. I didn’t want the make-up to cover theman’s eyes and mouth area, so I used theEraser Tool to erase these areas on the copiedlayer, exposing the man’s eyes and tongue fromthe original layer beneath. I then dragged theEraser around the figure’s head as well toremove any excess areas that weren’t directlypart of his face.

5. I wanted to add blue patches around thefigure’s eyes next. I clicked the original layer inthe Layers sidebar, and then I roughly selectedthe areas around his eyes with the LassoSelection Tool. To make the second selection, Ipressed and held the Shift key while draggingon the image. With both areas selected, I thencopied and pasted (Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste) the selection onto a new layer. I thendragged the new layer above the original andwhite paint layers in the Layers sidebar. I choseSelect > Select None to remove the selectionmarquee.

6. To change the color of the areas aroundthe eyes on the newest layer, I made sure thelayer was still selected in the Layers sidebar. Ithen chose Image > Hue & Saturation. In theHue and Saturation dialog box, I dragged theHue slider to the right until I was happy with thetone for this segment of paint, about 170. I thenlowered the Saturation by dragging its slider leftto -11 to lessen the color a tad. I clicked OK toapply the changes.

7. As I did earlier on the white paint layer, Iremoved the areas within the figure’s eyes onthis layer with the Eraser Tool. Using the EraserTool set at 90% Hardness, I also shaped thepatches around his eyes by erasing around theedges until I was satisfied with the shape of thesegments.

8. I then wanted to create the appearance ofa black outline around the make-up. With theblue eye make-up layer still selected, I choseSelect > Selection from Layer to do just that—create a selection around my active layer. Iclicked the New Layer icon in the Layers side-bar to create a new layer, and then draggedthe new layer below the eye make-up layer.Then I chose Select > Modify > Expand, entered2 in the Selection Expand text box, and clickedOK to expand the selection by 2 pixels. Iclicked OK to finish applying the modification.


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9. I filled this selection on my new layer withblack using the Paint Bucket Tool. (Click theRestore Colors button by the color selectionboxes to reset the foreground color to blackquickly.) As the black was too stark in contrastto the image, I lowered the layer’s Alpha to70% in the Layers sidebar. I then added a slightblur to it. I clicked the Layer Filters icon in theLayers sidebar. I clicked Blur to check it in theLayer Filters dialog box. I then entered 2 in theBlur X and the Blur Y text boxes and clickedOK. I chose Select > Select None to remove theselection marquee. Then, using the Eraser Toolset at 0 Hardness, I cleaned off any areas of theoutline that may have looked jagged or off.

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10. Next, I wanted to add a spot of redmake-up to the man’s nose. Using the samemethod I used to create the eye make-up, Iselected the original layer in the Layers sidebar,selected the area I wanted with the LassoSelection Tool, copied and pasted it onto a newlayer, and then dragged the new layer to thetop of the list in the Layers sidebar. Because the skin already had a pink complexion to it, Ididn’t need to alter the color too much. Instead,I chose Image > Brightness & Contrast, used thesliders to lower the Brightness by -23 and raisethe Contrast by 11, and clicked OK. This gavethe nose a red color. Then I applied an outlineto this area just as I did with the blue areaaround the eyes, using the techniques coveredin steps 8 and 9. I used Select > Select Nonewhen finished to remove the selection marquee.

11. Then, starting from the original layer, I usedthe same methods to color the area around thefigure’s mouth. This time, after selecting Image >Hue & Saturation, I dragged the Hue slider tothe right to 63 to give the segment a greencolor, and then clicked OK. I applied an outlineto this section as well. And finally, I erased thetongue area on this layer using the Eraser Tooland then chose Select > Select None.

12. And finally, I added a single tear downthe clown’s cheek using the same methods usedin the rest of the image. Just for dramatic effect!


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Coloring Line Art

Not only is Phoenix useful increating photorealistic images,but you also can use it to havefun colorizing line drawings. Inthis tutorial, I’ll show you a sim-ple way to use the tools and fea-tures in Phoenix to color a linedrawing of his feathered friend,the toucan.

Source Image: “Just Follow My Hues” by Meowza Katz

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1. The first thing I did was set the line artlayer’s Blend Mode setting in the Layers sidebarto Multiply. This preserves the black outlines sothat color layers are added below the originallayer; the outlines will always remain on topand the white areas will appear invisible. Iselected the blank layer below the outline layer.(You could click the New Layer button to add anew layer and then drag it below the originallayer, if needed.) I then selected white as theforeground color and used the Paint Bucket Toolto fill the transparent layer with white.

2. Next, I selected the Paintbrush Tool. In thetool’s options, I clicked the upper Color selec-tion box to open the Color Picker dialog box. Islid the top slider (H) to select the hue I wanted,and then used the other controls in the dialogbox to fine tune the color. Once I had the color Iwanted, I clicked OK.

3. To start laying down a coloring for a por-tion of the image, I created a new layer directlybelow the original outlines layer by clicking theNew Layer icon in the Layers sidebar and thendragging the new layer into position. With thenew layer selected, I used the Paintbrush Tool topaint each of the sections that I wanted to fillwith the current foreground color. I thenchanged foreground colors as needed to paintthe various sections. By painting segments onnew layers instead of directly on the line artlayer, I’m able to go back and make edits andadjustments to these sections without destroyingthe original line art.

NotePhoenix is set to JPEG as its default File Type.Because the line art was a GIF image, I hadto specify this when uploading my image bychanging the Files of Type option to “gif(*.gif)” in the file uploading prompt.

4. At this point, you could call the image com-plete with the base colors down. But I likeadding a few effects to line art colorizations tomake them more interesting. First, I wanted toadd a light source to this image, in this case,the sun. Using the Magic Wand Tool, I selectedthe sky portion between the trees on my basecolor layer. With this selection isolated, I cre-ated a new layer. I then selected the GradientFill Tool, specified a yellow hue for the leftarrow slider and orange for the right arrowslider, and changed the Gradient Type toRadial. I then dragged on the selection, startingfrom the point where I wanted the sun toappear. This added the appearance of lightfrom the sun. I then chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee.

5. To add the sun itself, I created a new layerand positioned it above the layer where I justadded the glow. I set the foreground color towhite. I selected the Paintbrush Tool, set it to 0%Hardness and 60 pixels for Size, and then sim-ply painted in the sun by clicking once in themiddle of the gradient glow created in the previ-ous step.

6. Next, I added some highlights to the sur-rounding elements. Again, using the MagicWand Tool, I selected segments of my imagethat I wanted to edit on the base color layer. Forexample, I selected the tree. I then created anew layer for the highlights. I used the EyeDropper Tool to select the yellow color from thesun gradient on its layer, making that color theforeground color. I then reselected the new layerin the Layers sidebar, and using the PaintbrushTool set at 0% Hardness, I painted highlights onthe branches of the trees on the areas adjacentto the gradient. The selection marquee pre-vented the highlights from painting overunwanted areas. When I was finished addinghighlights to an area, I chose Select > SelectNone.

7. Another way to increase the lighting effectof the sun was by playing with layer BlendModes. I created another new layer and left theyellow foreground color selected. I then selectedthe Elliptical Shape Tool and drew a circle, hold-ing down Shift as I dragged to draw a perfectlyconstrained circle over the sky and sun. I clickedthe Layer Filters icon in the Layers sidebar,clicked the Blur check box to check it, entered50 in both the Blur X and Blur Y text boxes, andclicked OK. I then chose the Overlay BlendMode and set the Alpha to 70% for the layer inthe Layers sidebar. This furthered the glow effectover the surrounding elements of the sun.


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8. I added gradients to other areas in theimage to make it appear more dimensional. Icreated a new layer above the base colorslayer to hold the gradients. I then returned to thebase color layer, and used the Magic WandTool to select the colored area to which Iwanted to apply the gradient. I reselected thegradients layer and selected the Gradient FillTool. In the tool’s options, I specified a color asclose as possible to the color I selected on thebase colors layer for the left color arrow sliderand chose a slightly darker version of the samecolor for the right color arrow slider. I thendragged over the selection to apply the gradi-ent. I continued this process until the rest of thecolored areas in the image (except for the sky)had a gradient effect.

9. I also added a gradient effect to the skyusing layer Blend Modes. I selected the seg-ments that made up the sky in my base colorlayer. Then on a new layer added just abovethe base colors layer, I created a white to blackgradient from top to bottom with the GradientTool. I set this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlayand it gave the background sky a nice subtlegradient effect.

10. To add further shading, I created a newlayer above the layer containing the color gradi-ents created in step 8, and painted in somedarker areas with the Paintbrush Tool on the bot-tom portion of the toucan’s body, beak, andbelow its eye.

11. I clicked the Layer Filters icon in the Layerssidebar, clicked the Blur check box to check it,entered 15 in both the Blur X and Blur Y textboxes, and clicked OK. I then set the Alpha to20% for the layer in the Layers sidebar. Thisgave a nice shading effect to add some finaldepth to the figure.

3Sprucing UpPhotography


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Enhancing Saturation

Enhancing saturation is onesure fire way to get people tonotice your photographs.Selectively increasing the satura-tion around focal elements inyour images can give theseareas the needed punch to reallyleave a vibrant mark on theviewer. In this quick tutorial, I’llbe taking a seductive photo of acherry and bumping up thevibrancy in the image with just afew easy steps.

Source Image: “Bite Me!” by spxChrome

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1. First, I wanted to raise the overall contrast inthe image. I chose Image > Brightness &Contrast. In the Brightness and Contrast dialogbox, I lowered the Brightness setting to -12 andraised the Contrast to 9. I clicked OK to confirmthe changes, which gave the image a slightboost in contrast.

2. To brighten the teeth, I made a rough selec-tion around the teeth with the Lasso SelectionTool (using Shift+drag to select the second set ofteeth) and copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted(Edit > Paste) this selection onto a new layer,then chose Select > Select None to remove theselection marquee. With the copied teeth layerselected, I chose Image > Hue & Saturation. Inthe dialog box, I lowered the Saturation settingto -40, raised the Brightness slightly to 4, andclicked OK.

3. Using the Eraser Tool set with 100 Size, 48Hardness, and 70 Alpha, I erased any area ofthe lips and cherry on the copied layer that hap-pened to get desaturated in the process, leavingjust the teeth exposed.

4. And to increase the vibrancy in the cherry, Iselected the original image layer in the Layerssidebar. Using the Lasso Selection Tool, Iselected the cherry and pasted it onto a newlayer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. I choseImage > Hue & Saturation. This time, I loweredthe Hue to -6, raised the Saturation to 12, andlowered the Brightness to -12, clicking OK toapply the changes. This gave the cherry a verybright red color that I desired.

5. And finally, I bumped up the Saturation inthe original background layer some more. Iselected the green background area directlybehind the cherry using the Lasso Selection Tooland pasted it onto a new layer (Edit > Copyand Edit > Paste). I chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee. I then choseImage > Hue & Saturation, changed theSaturation setting to 21, and clicked OK. Thisapplied a more saturated green hue to the area,giving great contrast to the red in the cherry soit popped even further. I was finished. By selec-tively increasing and decreasing the saturationlevels in certain parts of your photographs, youcan quickly make the important elements in yourpictures stand out.


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Borders

You can choose to add a bor-der to a photograph for a num-ber of reasons, and thepossibilities for the types of bor-ders you can add are endless.The right border can add a cer-tain class or element to animage, making importantaspects of an image stand out oradding more mood to a picture.In this tutorial, I’ll show you howto create several different stylesof borders and touch on why toapply certain borders to images.

Source Images: “bw-toddler1” by canadian,”bride and groom share a kiss” by Alex Ustin, “Call Center Stress” by Photoganda Inc., “Vintage Paper” by Cornelius


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1. Simple Border: The easiest border to cre-ate is a thin, single-colored border. To do this, Ichose Select > Select All to create a selectionaround the entire photograph in Phoenix. Then Ichose Select > Modify > Border, which openedthe Selection Border dialog box, where I couldenter a width. I entered 2 and clicked OK toconfirm the size. The selection around the entireimage was transformed into a 2-pixel wideselection border surrounding my image. (Zoomin to 140% or so to see the selection border bet-ter.) I clicked the Restore Colors button near thecolor selection boxes to reset the foregroundcolor to black, and then used the Paint BucketFill Tool to fill the 2-pixel selection around myimage to create the simple 2-pixel border. I thenchose Select > Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee. This type of simple border iseffective to use on images with a lot of surround-ing white to help delineate the image withoutobstructing the focal point of the photo.

2. Simple Thick Border: To create athicker, single-colored border, simply input ahigher number (up to 20) after choosing Select> Modify > Border and click OK. Then proceedwith filling the border as in Step 1. A thickerborder more prominently delineates the photo-graph from its surroundings, especially if thephotograph is to be placed on a wall or a web-site with a white background.

3. 2-Color Border: To create a duotoneborder, I first created a 20-pixel black borderaround the image just as I did for the ThickBorder, but I created a new layer above thephoto before filling the selection to create theborder on its own layer. I then chose Select >Select None. To create the thin white borderinside, I selected the Magic Wand Tool andclicked in the transparent portion inside theblack border on its layer. Then, I chose Select >Modify > Border, entered 4 for the thickness ofthe inside border, and clicked OK. I selectedwhite as the foreground color, used the PaintBucket Tool to fill the smaller border with white,and then chose Select > Select None to removethe selection marquee. This created a two-colorborder. This technique is particularly effectivebecause not only does the black outline delin-eate the light portions of the image, but the thinwhite border also isolates the dark elementswithin the image as well.


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4. Multi-Colored Border: You’re not lim-ited to strictly black and white borders.Sometimes, sampling a color from the imageand incorporating it into a border frame createsa beautiful effect while not distracting from thephotograph. In this example, I sampled someblue from the baby’s eyes using the EyeDropper Tool and used that color to fill a borderstripe. I created the various elements of the bor-der just as for the 2-Color Border in Step 3,adjusting the size and tone of each concentriclayer of the frame, working from the outside in.

5. Next, I’ll show a couple of stylized bordersyou could apply to a photo like this weddingphotograph. Wedding photographs usuallyrequire a certain sense of elegance. Keep thenature of the original photo in mind when select-ing borders for the image.

6. Feathered Border: First, I wanted toapply a feathered border to the image. Thistype of stylized border helps to create a soft,dream-like quality to images, which would be aperfect effect for the wedding photograph. I firstclicked the New Layer icon on the Layers paletteto create a new layer above the photo. I filledthe new layer with white using the Paint BucketTool. I created another new layer, and selectedblack as the foreground color. I selected theRectangular Shape Tool and set CornerRounding to 80 in the tool’s options. I draggedon the newest layer to create a rounded rectan-gle, leaving a white border around the image.


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7. With the rounded black rectangle layerselected, I chose Select > Selection from Layer. Ithen clicked the white fill layer in the Layerssidebar and selected Edit > Cut to cut therounded rectangle shape out of the white fill. Ithen deleted my black rectangle layer by click-ing it and clicking the Drop Layers icon in theLayers sidebar, and chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee. I selected thewhite border layer in the Layers sidebar, andthen clicked the Layer Filters icon. I clicked theBlur check box to check it, entered 20 in boththe Blur X and Blur Y text boxes, and clickedOK. I duplicated this layer, reopened the LayerFilters dialog box, clicked Blur, set the duplicatelayer’s Blur strength to 40 for both Blur X andBlur Y, and clicked OK. I then duplicated boththe 20 strength and 40 strength blurred layersto enhance the white fill around the image. Youcan duplicate these layers as much as you wantand increase/decrease the amount of blur toapply the exact amount of feathered effectaround your image that you wish.

8. Floating Border: Another effect we canapply to an image is a floating effect. This reallymakes an image stand out, as it gives theappearance the photograph is elevated off thescreen or page. To do this, I first flattened thewedding photograph with the feathered border.I then selected the Rectangular Selection Tooland created a selection around the photograph,and copied and pasted this onto a new layer.

9. With the copied layer selected from theLayers sidebar, I clicked the Layer Filters iconin the Layers sidebar. I clicked the Shadowcheck box to check it in the Layer Filters dia-log box. I lowered the Alpha setting to 0.5 tosubdue the shadow so it wouldn’t be over-powering. I then entered 10 in both the BlurX and Blur Y text boxes, changed theDistance to 5, and clicked OK.


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10. Finally, I’m going to show how to lend adarker mood to an image via the border youcreate. Using this image of a screamingwoman, I’m gonna apply borders to comple-ment her frustrated mood.

11. Vignette border: First, I’m going to showhow to create a dark vignette border around thefigure. I used the same technique as for thefeathered effect on the wedding photograph,but I started by creating a new layer and fillingit with black instead of white. I then createdanother new layer, set the foreground color towhite, and used the Rectangle Tool to draw arounded rectangle. I chose Select > SelectionFrom Layer, clicked the black fill layer in theLayers sidebar, and used Edit > Cut to removethe rectangle. Finally, I deleted the white rectan-gle layer and chose Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee.

12. Applying the same Blur as in Step 7, Iwas able to create a nice vignette effect aroundthe photograph. What this does is isolate thewoman in the image even further, emphasizingher feeling of being trapped, which I felt fromthe original image.


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13. Grunge border: And finally, I’ll showhow to apply a grunge border around theimage. Grunge borders are most effective whenapplied to images that you want to have anaged or a rough look. I used the same imagefrom the previous border tutorial for this one, asthe figure in the image showed a sense ofanger, which would lend perfectly to the rawstyle of the grunge border. So first I imported animage of old weathered paper using the File >Import command.

14. I inverted this layer (Image > InvertColors) and desaturated it (Image > Desaturate).I then chose Image > Brightness & Contrast,lowered the Brightness to -45 and raised theContrast by 45, and clicked OK.

15. I then applied the Screen layer BlendMode to this layer in the Layers sidebar. Thisgave me a grungy border around the image,giving it the raw, gritty feel I felt complementsthe original photo very well. And that was it. Anumber of ways to enhance your images withappropriate borders!


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Dodge & Burn

“Dodging” and “burning” animage sounds like a dangerouspractice just in name alone. Butthese techniques enable you toenhance an image rather thandestroy it. Dodging enables youto lighten overly dark areas inthe image, while burningenables you to darken toneswhere needed. In this tutorial, I’llshow how to apply these effectsto a portrait for dramatic effect.This method can be applied toany number of images to makethem pop.

Source Image: “Senior” by Jordan Chesbrough


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1. The first thing I did was to darken and addoverall contrast to the image to create a moredynamic appearance to start with. I choseImage > Brightness & Contrast, and in theBrightness and Contrast dialog box, I draggedthe Brightness slider left to -18 and the Contrastslider right to 12. I clicked OK to finish thechange.

2. I opted not to use the Dodge/Burn Tool in Phoenix and rather went the manual route.First, I wanted to burn (darken) the originalshadows on the figure. I did this by creating anew layer (New Layer icon on the Layers side-bar) above the original layer and filling it with a midtone gray (HEX #7F7F7F in the SelectColor dialog box opened by double-clicking theForeground color selection box) using the PaintBucket Tool. I set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar, making the grayno longer visible.

3. I clicked the Restore Colors button by thecolor selection boxes to reset the foregroundcolor to black. Then, I selected the PaintbrushTool and set its Hardness to 0 and Alpha to10% in the tool options. I then painted on thegray overlay layer. I painted over the areas thatwere already shaded in the original image. Thisincreased the depth of the original shadows byburning these areas rather than painting in anynew shadows. What this essentially does isenhance the dark or shadowed areas in theimage.

4. When I set this layer’s Blend Mode back toNormal in the Layers sidebar, I could seeexactly where I painted on the figure toenhance the shadows, as shown in the imageaccompanying this step. After I finished examin-ing my painting, I reset the layer’s Blend Modeto Overlay.


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5. To dodge (lighten) areas in the image, Iagain created a new layer by clicking the NewLayer icon on the Layers sidebar. I filled the newlayer with the same midtone gray (HEX#7F7F7F in the Select Color dialog box openedby double-clicking the Foreground color selec-tion box) using the Paint Bucket Tool, then setthe layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay in the Layerssidebar. This time I selected white as the fore-ground color (click the Restore Colors buttonand then the Switch Between Foreground andBackground Colors button) and painted over theexisting light areas in the figure, such as the tipof his nose and cheekbone with the PaintbrushTool set to 10% Alpha and 0 Hardness.

6. When I set this layer’s Blend Mode toNormal in the Layers sidebar, I could seeexactly where I painted the figure to enhancethe highlights, as shown above. After I finishedexamining my painting, I reset the layer’s BlendMode to Overlay.

7. When I was content with the amount ofdodge and burn applied, I flattened the imageinto a single working layer by clicking theOptions button drop-down list arrow in theLayers sidebar and clicking Flatten Layers. Asthis technique frequently bumps up the satura-tion level, I wanted to lower it back down. Withthe image flattened, I chose Image > Hue &Saturation. In the Hue and Saturation dialogbox, I dragged the Hue slider to the right to 11and moved the Saturation slider left to -17 toalleviate some of the image’s pink tint, andclicked OK.


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8. To enhance the mood of the image evenfurther, I wanted to apply a subtle gradient light-ing effect to the image. I created a new layer(New Layer icon in the Layers sidebar) andselected the Gradient Fill Tool. In the tool’soptions, I chose Radial as the Gradient Typeand left the default white (left) and black (right)colors selected. I dragged from the center of theimage diagonally to a corner to create the gra-dient on the layer.

9. I selected the Overlay Blend Mode for thislayer in the Layers sidebar. I noticed it createdmore of a harsh effect than I wanted. So, withthe gradient layer still selected in the Layerssidebar, I chose Image > Brightness & Contrast,raised the Brightness to 52 and dropped theContrast to -67, and clicked OK.

10. And finally, I added a bit more of a yel-low tone to the whole image. I created a newlayer and filled it with a dark yellow browncolor (double-click the Foreground color selec-tion box, set the HEX to #807900, and clickOK) using the Paint Bucket Tool. I then chose theOverlay Blend Mode for this layer and loweredthe Alpha for the layer to 18% in the Layerssidebar, and the image was complete. This is avery quick method to add pop to any of yourportraits!


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Compositional Cropping

Cropping is a fairly simpleprocess. You simply select a sec-tion of your image and isolate it. But trying to figure out whenand where and how much tocrop your image can be adaunting task, and is often left to the tastes of each individualcreator. In this section, I’ll goover a few different ways tocrop images and give my ownreasons why I decided to cropthem the way I did.

Source Images: “Blonde in Blue Dress” by Fidelio Photography, “I can’t believe it!” byAndrés Peiró Palmer, “Red Rose” by Rob Hunt, “Ladybug in a twig 01” by arlindo71


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1. The most obvious reason to crop a photograph is toremove distracting elements within the image. For this firstimage, I wanted to isolate the woman for a nice clean por-trait photograph.

2. Using the Rectangular Selection Tool, I made a selection around my figure inthe image. When I was happy with the selection, I selected Image > CropSelection, and I was left with just my cropped figure. By doing this, I eliminated theexcess background and all focus in the picture is directed on the woman now.

3. Sometimes, you might have a photographwith emotions you really want to emphasize. Asfor the case of my next image, I wanted toenhance the dramatic effect of the screamingwoman.

4. Again, I used the Rectangular Selection Tool and drew a rectangle framing the woman’s faceand cropped to the selection using Image > Crop Selection. You can see that this instantly brings astronger sense that the danger, which has the woman terrified, is drawing near. This is an old cine-matic trick that can be applied to photographs to emphasize the emotion within them.


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5. Sometimes you’ll have a great photograph,but something about it looks really bland andyou can’t quite put your finger on why. Forexample, I found this gorgeous image of a redrose, but the composition was lacking. Often,simply moving the image so it’s not sittingdirectly in the center of your composition, oftenreferred to as the “Rule of thirds” in photogra-phy, can add that needed kick. So in this exam-ple, I’m going to enlarge the canvas and sit therose low on the image to create a sombermood.

6. The original image was 849 × 565 pixels.With this image open in Phoenix, I selectedImage > Canvas Resize. I unchecked theConstrain Proportion check box, as I didn’t wantmy new composition to retain the proportions ofthe original image. I entered 1200 in the Widthtext box and 1600 in Height text box in theResize Canvas dialog box, and clicked Apply.

7. With the rose layer still selected in theLayers sidebar, I selected the TransformationTool and dragged the image to the lower-leftarea of the composition, pressing Enter to finishthe move. I then set the foreground color towhite, selected the Paint Bucket Tool, and filledthe transparent area on the layer with white. Iadded a border to the image and I was done.This was a nice way to add a whole new moodto the image, by simply moving the subject mat-ter away from the center.


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8. There’ll be times when you have an imagethat’s cropped to your liking, and the subject sitsjust as you want in the image, but you still thinkthat you can improve the composition. It may beyou’ve been looking at your image for too longand need a fresh new look at it for your ownpersonal sake.

9. In the case of this image, I decided to rotatethe image clockwise by 90 degrees. To do so, Ichose Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CW. Doingthis gave a whole new look to the image. Theladybug was no longer walking casually acrossthe branch, but rather now appeared to bestruggling up the branch on her way to loftiergoals. With my image rotated, I selected theRectangular Selection Tool, made a selection,and cropped the image down a tad more usingImage > Crop Selection.

10. I added a subtle dark green border tocomplement the image and I was done.Sometimes when you want a whole new per-spective on an image, you do just that. Changethe perspective! And there you have it, a num-ber of ways to crop all sorts of images toenhance their mood or emphasize certain por-tions of your photographs.


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Cross Processing

In traditional film photography,cross processing involves inten-tionally processing color film inchemicals intended for a differ-ent kind of film. This basicallycreates wild, unnatural colorsand images generally high incontrast. This photographic stylewas highly popular in the1980s. Digital photo manipula-tion allows today’s digital pho-tographers to recreate similareffects, and I’ll show you how tomimic this developing style rightin Phoenix.

Source Images: “Cowgirl in the Heat” by Alexander Hafemann, “Instant Film Border”by sx70


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2. I needed to adjust the Levels in the image,so I chose Image > Levels to open the AdjustLevels dialog box. I opened the Channel drop-down list and clicked Red so I could adjust thelevels for the red channel first. I wanted to blowout the red in the highlights some more. UnderInput Levels I dragged the black (left) slider tothe right to the 20 mark, slid the white (far right)slider to the left to the 240 mark, and slid themidtone (middle) slider to the 123 mark.

3. I then selected Green from the Channeldrop-down list and applied the same InputLevels settings (20 black/left, 124 midtone/mid-dle, 240 white/right) to increase the greenwithin the highlights as well.

4. I selected Blue from the Channel drop-downlist. Under Input Levels, I left the black (left) andwhite (right) sliders as they were, and just slidthe midtone slider to the left to the 105 mark.This increased the amount of blue overall in theimage, especially in the shadows. As cross-processed images tend to have a lot of blues intheir shadows, this effect would work particu-larly well here.

1. Finding the right image thatwill work with this effect is thefirst step. Fashion portraits tendto work the best, in my opin-ion, for subject matter. So Ichose this picture of a girldressed up in western garband large sunglasses, as it wasreminiscent of a dated stylethat will lend to the nostalgicfeeling typically associatedwith cross-processed images.


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5. I clicked OK to apply the Levels settings,and the image appearance changed as shownin the picture for this step. I chose Image > Hue& Saturation. In the Hue and Saturation dialogbox, I dragged both the Hue and Saturationsliders to the left to -12. I clicked OK to applythe changes. I chose Image > Brightness &Contrast, lowered the Brightness setting to -15and raised the Contrast to 8, and then clickedOK. This gave the entire image a really bluelook, a good starting point.

6. I wanted to bring back more yellow intothis image, so I created a new layer (New Layericon on the Layers sidebar). With the new layerselected, I clicked the Foreground color selec-tion box, entered BDBD00 in the HEX text boxof the Select Color dialog box, and clicked OKto specify a mustard yellow foreground color.Then I selected the Paint Bucket Tool and filledthe new layer with the color. In the Layers side-bar, I set the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay andlowered the Alpha to 25%. Choose Image >Hue & Saturation and play around with the Hueand Saturation levels to fine tune the layer’scolor level if you’re not happy with the look ofyour image at this point.

7. Next, I wanted to increase the amount ofgreen in the image just a tad more as well. So Icreated another new layer (New Layer icon onthe Layers sidebar) and filled it with a greentone (HEX 639026 in the Select Color dialogbox) using the Paint Bucket Tool; I set this layer’sBlend Mode to Overlay and lowered the Alphato 30%.

8. And just to bring back some of the blue inthe shadows I lost, I created another new layer(New Layer icon on the Layers sidebar) andfilled it with blue (HEX 00A0D4 in the SelectColor dialog box) using the Paint Bucket Tool; Iset this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay, as well. Ilowered the Alpha for this layer to 43%.


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9. Then, I wanted to apply a vignette effect tothe image. I created a new layer by clicking theNew Layer icon on the Layers sidebar. I selectedthe Gradient Fill Tool, chose Radial from theGradient Type drop-down list in the tool options,and left the default white (left) and black (right)gradient colors selected. Working on the newestlayer, I dragged diagonally from the middletowards a corner to create the radial gradient. Iset this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and low-ered the Alpha halfway to 50% in the Layerssidebar.

10. When I was happy with the look, I flat-tened the entire image by clicking the Optionsbutton drop-down list arrow and clicking FlattenLayers. Noticing the image was still a tad on theblue side, I chose Image > Hue & Saturation,slid the Hue slider to the left to -10, and clickedOK. Remember, cross processing tends to createwild unexpected colors, so specific colors arenot required. Achieving the look you want is allpersonal preference.

11. And finally, for an added effect, I added anold film border around the image. I found a pic-ture of an old film border and imported it into itsown layer using the File > Import command.

12. I set the frame layer’s Blend Mode toMultiply in the Layers sidebar so that the photo-graph showed through the white portion of theframe. I noticed this left a lot of the photo out-side of the frame exposed as well. I simply tookthe Rectangular Selection Tool and selected theportion of the photograph visible within theframe and selected Select > Select Inverse, thencut this portion out (Edit > Cut) to remove theunwanted area, and my image was done!


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Selective Desaturation

Selective desaturation, you’ll learn, is one of the easiest tech-niques to grasp in photo manipulation. Removing the color fromsome parts of the image while leaving other areas fully coloredcan produce some of the most stunning effects in photographs.In this tutorial, I’ll show two ways selective desaturation can beused to produce two very different looking images.

Source Images: “Healthy Elegance” by Ink Studios, “Young artist” by Two Humans


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1. The first reason to use selective desaturationis to make certain elements in a photographpop. For example, in this example image, Iwanted to make the apple that the woman iscarrying the focal point of the image. By desatu-rating everything but the apple, the viewer’seyes will automatically be drawn to the vibrancyof the apple.

2. To achieve this effect, I simply made arough selection around the apple using theLasso Selection Tool and pasted it onto a newlayer (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste). I thenchose Select > Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee.

3. I then selected the original image layer inthe Layers sidebar and chose Image >Desaturate. This transformed the original imageto grayscale while leaving the copied applelayer above it in full color. I then increased thecontrast of the original image layer by choosingImage > Brightness & Contrast, lowering theBrightness to -6 and raising the Contrast to 15,and clicking OK.

4. I then selected the copied apple layer in theLayers sidebar and used the Eraser Tool to erasethe colored areas around the apple on theapple layer, leaving a clean green apple. I waspleased with the general image composition,but I wanted to make the image pop even fur-ther. So I decided to make the apple red, amore vibrant color to the eyes. I selected theColor Replacement Tool. I used the color selec-tion boxes in the tool’s options to select red asthe foreground color and green as the back-ground color. (I used the Pick Color button in theSelect Color dialog box to sample the greenfrom the original apple.) I then used the ColorReplacement Tool set to 220 Tolerance to paintover the apple directly on the apple layer, easilyconverting the apple to the red tone. The imagewas complete!


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5. Not only does this technique work for mak-ing focal elements in your images pop, but youcan also integrate the effect into your images aswell. For example, in this second exampleimage, I wanted to make it look as if the boylived in a black and white world, and it was upto him to provide color to the world once againthrough the magic of his paint!

6. Just as I did with the previous image, Iselected the sun that the boy was painting andpasted it onto a new layer. I then desaturatedthe original layer with Image > Desaturate.

7. Using the Eraser Tool, I selected the paintedsun layer and proceeded to erase around thebrush and erased the majority of the upper por-tion of the sun to make it appear as if thoseareas were yet to be painted so that this photolooked like it was taken right in the middle ofthe painting process.


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8. I then erased the rest of the surrounding elements around the sunto leave a partially painted sun until I was left with what you seeabove.

9. And finally, I selected the yellow paint area within the cup that theboy is holding from the original image layer and pasted it onto a newlayer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. This gave the appearance thatthe boy was actually dipping from his cup of yellow paint and apply-ing it to his image. With just a few simple steps, you can see howselective desaturation can also aid as a story-telling tool when usedproperly.


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Selective Inversion

Selective inversion is the process of inverting the colors inselect portions of an image for effect or to enhance the mood ofan image. In this tutorial, I’ll be showing two ways to use theprocess of selective inversion for two different effects.

Source Images: “Red wine” by Plainview, “beez attack” by Roel Dillen


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1. You can use selective inversion to add anextra interesting element to a photograph. Inthis example, I’ve applied the effect to an imageof a wine glass to enhance the symmetry of thepicture. First, I wanted to create a black borderaround the image as an added element to theimage. I created a new layer by clicking theNew Layer icon on the Layers sidebar. I choseSelect > Select All to make a selection aroundthe entire image. Then I chose Select > Modify> Border, entered 20 in the Selection Bordertext box, and clicked OK. I made sure thatblack was selected as the foreground color(click the Restore Colors button), selected thePaint Bucket tool, and clicked in the selection. Ithen chose Select > Select None to remove theselection marquee. This created a 20-pixelblack border around the image.

2. I created a new layer by clicking the NewLayer icon in the Layers sidebar. I then used theRectangular Selection Tool to make a selectionaround the entire left half of the image. Usingthe Paint Bucket Tool, I filled this entire selectionin black. (The foreground color should still beset to black.)

3. When I set this layer’s Blend Mode toInvert, this inverted the color of everythingdirectly below the rectangular fill, creating thesimple selective inversion effect I desired.

4. Finally, I selected the original layer againand raised its contrast. I chose Image >Brightness & Contrast, lowered the Brightness to-15 and raised the Contrast to 15, and clickedOK. The first example of selective inversion wasdone.


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5. The technique also could be used toenhance certain portions of an image. I wantedto emphasize the subjects, the bee and theflower, in this picture.

6. On a new layer (New Layer icon in theLayers sidebar), I first created a black squareover the bee by selecting the Rectangular ShapeTool with the foreground color set to black(Restore Colors button) and dragging a squarecovering the bee.

7. Then, I chose Select > Selection from Layerto create a selection around the square fill. Ichose Select > Modify > Border, entered 20 in the Selection Border text box, and clicked OK to create a 20-pixel selection around thesquare fill.

8. I then filled this border in with white. Withthe 20-pixel border area still selected, I createda new layer by clicking the New Layer icon. Iselected the Paint Bucket Tool and set my fore-ground color to white (click Restore Colors, andthen click Switch Between Foreground andBackground Colors). I clicked inside the borderselection to fill this area, and then chose Select> Select None.


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9. I needed to create a black border aroundthe square now. I made a selection from thelayer with the white square border using Select> Selection From Layer. I then chose Select >Modify > Border, entered 10 in the SelectionBorder text box, and then clicked OK to createa 10-pixel border selection this time. I clickedthe New Layer icon in the Layers sidebar to cre-ate another new layer. I then clicked the RestoreColors button to reset the foreground color toblack, and used the Paint Bucket Tool to fillthe10-pixel border selection with black this time.Finally, I chose Select > Select None to removethe selection marquee.

10. I then selected the white border layeragain. I chose Select > Selection from Layer toselect the white contents. I then chose Edit > Cutto remove this selected area from the square so that the image content below could showthrough. I then deleted the white border layer. I then merged the square and the black borderlayers. I did so by Ctrl+clicking each layer inthe Layers palette. Then, I clicked the Optionbutton drop-down list arrow in the Layers side-bar and clicked Merge Layers. I then repeatedthis procedure to create a frame around thefront of the flower as well.

11. I wanted to invert the colors in the back-ground and leave the area of the bee andflower intact. With the layer with my blacksquares selected, I clicked Select > Selectionfrom Layer to make a selection around the beeand flower frames. I then selected my originalimage layer in the Layers sidebar and copiedand pasted (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste) thisselection onto a new layer. I then deleted theblack borders layer. I selected the originalimage layer again and chose Image > InvertColors. I then chose Image > Brightness &Contrast, raised the Contrast to 33, and clicked OK.

12. And finally, I wanted to add a subtleshadow behind my bee and flower layer. So Iselected the layer with my bee and flower andselected the Layer Filters icon on the bottom ofthe Layers sidebar. I clicked the Shadow checkbox to check it in the Layer Filters dialog box. Ilowered the Alpha setting for the shadow to0.75, raised the quality setting for the Shadowto High, raised the amount of blur to 6 in boththe Blur X and Blur Y text boxes, and clickedOK. This showed another way to use selectiveinversion to not only take a normal image andadd unexpected interest to it, but also toenhance the existing action in the image.


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Aging a Photo

Here’s a neat effect to makeany of your personal photo-graphs look aged and dam-aged. In this tutorial, I’ll betaking a portrait of a dog on afence and make it appear as ifit’s been sitting up in my leakyattic for the last thirty years.Source Images: “Cocker” by Joan Vicent Cantó, “Very Old Paper” by Daniel Mogford


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1. The first thing I wanted to do was lower thesaturation level of the original image that Iopened, as older images tend to lose a lot oftheir color as they age. I chose Image >Brightness & Contrast, dragged the Brightnessslider right to 37, dragged the Contrast sliderleft to -16, and clicked OK. I then chose Image> Hue & Saturation menu, dragged theSaturation left to -70, and clicked OK.

2. I then wanted to apply a yellowish tint tothe entire image. I created a new layer by click-ing the New Layer icon on the Layers sidebar. Ithen clicked the Foreground color selection box,entered D89B13 (mustard yellow) in the HEXtext box, and clicked OK. I used the PaintBucket Tool to fill the new layer with the mustardyellow color. I set the mustard layer’s BlendMode to Overlay and lowered the Alpha to48% in the Layers sidebar. This gave the imagea sepia look that older photos tend to have.

3. Next, I wanted to give the image some tex-ture. So I took a scanned image of old paperand imported it into the document using the File> Import command.

4. I duplicated this layer by clicking theOptions button drop-down list arrow in theLayers sidebar and clicking Duplicate Layer. Iset the duplicate layer’s Blend Mode to Overlayand the original layer’s Blend Mode to Multiplyin the Layers sidebar. This made the imageappear a little too dark, so with the Multiplylayer still selected, I chose Image > Brightness &Contrast, changed the Brightness to 19, theContrast to 21, and clicked OK.


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5. Then, it was time to add some damagingeffects to the photograph. I imported a photo ofa damaged wall using File > Import.

6. First, I desaturated the wall image on itsnew layer (Image > Desaturate). I then set thelayer’s Blend Mode to Screen in the Layers side-bar. As the Screen Blend Mode only makes thelighter portions of a layer visible, I needed tolower the brightness of this layer. I chose Image> Brightness & Contrast, lowered the Brightnessto -91 and raised the Contrast to 53 by drag-ging the sliders, and clicked OK. This added anice weathered look to the image.

7. And one more damaging effect I wanted toapply to this image was the appearance of hav-ing been damaged by water over time. So Itook an image of coffee stains on a piece ofpaper and imported it onto a layer using File >Import.

8. I set this stain layer’s Blend Mode toMultiply in the Layers sidebar. I then choseImage > Brightness & Contrast, changed theBrightness to 10, and clicked OK. I wanted tooffset the stains slightly to make it appear as ifonly the left side of the image has been affectedby the water damage. Making the damage lessuniform in the image will create a more realisticappearance. So I selected the TransformationTool and rotated the stain and dragged it so thatthe left side of the image was most affected bythe damage, and pressed Enter to finish thechange.


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9. Finally, I wanted to set the whole image ontop of a weathered piece of paper. I flattenedthe entire image first. I then found an image ofa damaged piece of cardstock and imported itusing File > Import.

10. I then dragged the merged dog layerabove the cardstock layer in the Layers sidebar.I temporarily hid the merged dog layer by click-ing its Eye icon in the Layers sidebar. Using theMagic Wand Tool, I selected the outer whitebackground on the cardstock layer. With thisarea selected, I redisplayed the merged doglayer by clicking the box for its Eye icon, andselected the layer. I then chose Edit > Cut toremove this area from my image, making thephoto the shape of the cardstock. I then choseSelect > Select None to remove the selectionmarquee.

11. I then duplicated the cardstock layer twiceto get two more working copies of this layer,and desaturated them (Image > Desaturate). Tomake each duplication, I selected the cardstocklayer, clicked the Options button drop-down listarrow in the Layers sidebar, and clickedDuplicate Layer. I moved both of the new layersabove the merged dog layer in the Layers side-bar. I set the top cardstock copy layer’s BlendMode to Overlay and Alpha to 45 in the Layerssidebar. With the layer still selected, I choseImage > Brightness & Constrast, dragged theBrightness slider right to 30, and clicked OK. Ithen selected the second cardstock copy layer inthe Layers sidebar and set its Blend Mode toMultiply. This added the cardstock’s original tex-ture to the dog portrait to situate it onto thepaper better.

12. And lastly, I selected the Eraser Tool andset its Hardness to 0 and Alpha to 25% in thetool options. I dragged the Eraser Tool aroundthe edges of the merged dog layer to create asmoother blend onto the card.


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Photo Retouching

Photo retouching is the fineand sometimes controversial artof refining images; retouching isoften associated with mediapublications glorifying celebri-ties. That doesn’t mean you can’tuse similar techniques to touchup your own photos! After all,we’re all stars in someone’seyes. In this tutorial, I’ll be show-ing you general tips for remov-ing wrinkles and blemishes fromyour photographs to make themready for your first magazinespread!

Source Image: “Forty something no makeup” by juanmonino


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1. First I wanted to generally smooth out theskin of the figure to remove most of the surfaceblemishes. I clicked the New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar to create a new layer above theoriginal image layer. Then, I selected thePaintbrush Tool and set the Hardness to 0 andset the Alpha to 10% in the tool’s options. Iclicked the foreground color selection box in thePaintbrush Tool options to open the Color Pickerdialog box. I clicked the Pick Color (EyeDropper) button in the dialog box, and then Isampled a color from the original image layerby clicking on the figure’s cheek area, which I’llbe smoothing first. I clicked OK to confirm thecolor selection, and I proceeded to paint on thenew layer to build up color around her cheekarea, smoothing out the skin in the process.

2. Because removing wrinkles is a huge partof the retouching process, I wanted to removethe wrinkles under the woman’s eyes particu-larly in this step. So I proceeded to continuepainting around this area to cover the wrinklesthere. Not sticking to just my first selected color,I occasionally used the Foreground color selec-tion box and the Pick Color button to selectvarying shades of skin color from the area Iwould be painting on for a more natural, realis-tic look.

3. I continued this same process over the fig-ure’s forehead to smooth out the blemishesaround the area. Make sure to retain theimage’s original highlights and shaded areasby sampling the colors within the highlights andshadows, respectively, and painting in theseareas with these tones. To keep the skin lookingnatural, it’s a good idea not to go too far withthe painting. Leaving traces of some of thepores and other natural elements visible on theskin creates a more natural look.


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4. I did the same around the figure’s bodyarea to remove her aging spots. It’s good prac-tice to frequently disable and enable yourpainted layer to make sure you’re coloring con-sistent to the colors and contours of the originalimage.

5. When I was finished with this process, Iwas left with a painted layer that looked likethis. Notice I never painted solidly with a singlecolor, as I wanted the original woman’s skin tex-ture to show through to some extent still. Whatthis does is give the woman’s skin an overallsmoother look, which I was after.

6. Next, I flattened the painted layer with myoriginal image layer by clicking the drop-downlist arrow on the Options button in the Layerssidebar and clicking Flatten Layers. I then dupli-cated this layer by clicking the Options buttondrop-down list arrow and clicking DuplicateLayer. With the duplicated layer selected, Iclicked the Layer Filters icon in the Layers side-bar. I clicked the Blur check box to check it,entered 3 for both the Blur X and Blur Y settings,and clicked OK. Using the Eraser Tool, I thenerased the eyes, nose, hair, mouth, and imagebackground to expose these features from myunblurred layer directly beneath. The blurredlayer smoothed out the remaining blemishes onthe skin even further, giving the figure an evenmore smoothed out appearance overall.


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7. I wanted to add more life to the womannow. So I subtly added some make-up effects toher. I created a new layer and used thePaintbrush Tool set at 0 Hardness and 20%Alpha and painted in a pinkish hue over hereyes to simulate eye shadow. I then set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and this addedthe pinkish tone to her skin that made her lookmore vibrant around the eyes.

8. Then, I did the same around her lips, giv-ing the impression she had just applied a freshcoat of lipstick.

9. I wanted to lighten and add more color toher hair, as well. Similar to the technique weused for the eyes and lips, I created a new layerby clicking the New Layer icon in the Layerssidebar, selected an orange foreground colorusing the Foreground color selection box, androughly painted over her hair with thePaintbrush Tool. I changed this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar, givingthe figure’s hair the color and tone I wanted.You could always go on to adjust the hair colorto your liking by opening the Hue andSaturation dialog box and playing around withthe Hue slider to see the variations of hair coloryou could apply, and adjusting the brightnessslider to increase the amount you want applied.


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10. I selected white as the foreground color (click the Restore Colorsbutton and then the Switch Between Foreground and BackgroundColors button). I created a new layer by clicking the New Layer icon inthe Layers sidebar. I then selected the Paintbrush Tool and painted overher eyes on the new layer. I set the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay, aswell, in the Layers sidebar. Then I added a shine to the eyes by creat-ing another new layer and painting over the existing highlights of thewoman’s eyes with the Paintbrush Tool and set this layer’s Blend Modeto Overlay as well, and lowered the layer’s Alpha to 56%.

11. To make the eyes even stronger, I decided to apply some mascarato the figure’s eyelashes. Now obviously there is no Mascara Tool inPhoenix! But by creating another new layer (New Layer icon), settingthe foreground color to black (Restore Colors button), painting over herlashes with the Paintbrush Tool, and setting the layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar, I was able to darken the lashes aroundher eyes, making her irises pop even more.


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12. I wanted to add a rosy glow to thewoman’s cheekbones to further accentuate theyouthful look we’re striving for in this image. SoI created a new layer (New Layer icon) for thecheeks, selected a rose foreground color, andused the Paintbrush Tool to paint her cheekboneareas lightly. I then applied the, you guessed it,Overlay Blend Mode to this layer in the Layerssidebar to give the cheeks the subtle pink hue Idesired.

13. And to enhance the overall appeal of thephoto even further, I wanted to brighten thebackground. So I selected the merged layer andmade a selection around the entire backgroundarea (Select > Select All) and copied andpasted it onto a new layer. I then chose Image >Hue & Saturation, changed the Saturation set-ting to 53 and the Brightness to 15, and clickedOK to create a lighter more colorful backgroundfor the figure. I then used the Eraser Tool toerase the woman from the copied backgroundlayer so the figure would show through.

14. Finally, I added a Radial Gradient on anew layer to create a slight vignette effect tofocus the composition on the woman’s face. Icreated the new layer, selected the Gradient FillTool, and selected Radial from the Gradienttype drop-down list in the tool’s options. I alsoleft the default white and black gradient colorsselected. I dragged diagonally from the middleto a corner of the new layer to create the gradi-ent. I lowered this layer’s Alpha to 30% and setthe layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay in the Layerssidebar. And that was it! A retouched photoready for the cover of a glamour magazine.(Although I personally think she was just asbeautiful before.)


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Coloring Hair

Getting your hair coloredcould be a time-consumingprocess. Booking an appoint-ment with your hairdresser, coor-dinating your schedule withtheirs, not to mention the costassociated with it these days. Sobefore you spend all that timeand money, why not give yourhair a test run first? In this tuto-rial, I’ll show a quick and simpleway to color your hair inPhoenix, and you don’t evenneed an appointment.

Source Image: “Manifesto” by Katja De Bruijn


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1. I decided to color the woman’s hair in afunky blue/purple and gold streaked color. Ofcourse, you could easily use the same techniqueto color her hair any myriad of more naturalhair colors, but I went with a blue/purple for thesake of dramatic effect. First, I created a newlayer. Then, I set the foreground color to a deepblue and selected the Paintbrush Tool. I draggedthe Paintbrush to paint over the woman’s hair.Don’t worry if you paint too far outside the con-fines of her hair for now. Just make sure to leavethe roots of her hair, where it joins her fore-head, exposed.

2. I then switched to the Shape Brush Tooland selected the splatter-shaped brush (Brush 4).With this brush selected, I zoomed into theimage 150% and drew in the roots of her hair,still working on the layer where I painted blueearlier. Using this brush creates a more naturalblend as the appearance of the splatter beginsto look like hairs as I drag it across the canvas.

3. Then, I set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay. If you were unhappy with the color ofthe figure’s hair at this point, you could chooseImage > Hue & Saturation and slide the Hueslider around to see a variation of alternate col-ors you could apply instead.

4. Noticing that the color blended into thehead a little roughly around the edges still, Idecided to clean it up a bit. I selected the EraserTool set to 0 Hardness, and carefully softenedthe edges to blend them better.


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5. To add the gold streaks, I simply selectedmy original image layer again. Using the LassoSelection Tool, I selected portions of her hairroughly where the streaks will go. I copied theselection and pasted it onto a new layer (Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste) and dragged this layerto the top of the Layers sidebar.

6. Then, using the Eraser Tool set to 150 Size,0 Hardness, and 23% Alpha, I erased portionsof the hair to leave several dispersed goldstreaks. Make sure to follow the contours of thehair during this stage, as it’ll create a muchmore natural appearance.

7. With the hair colored now, I wanted toadjust the color of the woman’s make-up tomatch her new ‘do better. In the original imagelayer, I made a rough selection around thewoman’s cheeks using the Lasso Selection Tool(press Shift while dragging to make the secondselection), then copied and pasted this onto anew layer. I selected Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee. I decided to giveher cheeks a purple tint to match the purple inher hair. So with my copied cheek layerselected, I chose Image > Hue & Saturation, slidthe Hue slider left to -46, and clicked OK toapply the color I desired. I then took a softEraser Tool and cleaned the edges of my selec-tion to blend her new cheeks into her facecleaner.

NoteAlternately, you can use the Feather feature toblend the cheeks back onto the face. Withthe woman’s cheeks selected, choose Select> Modify > Feather, input a Value of 25, andpress OK. Then, copy (Edit > Copy) andpaste (Edit > Paste) the feathered selectiononto a new layer and delete your first cheekslayer, for a quicker alternate technique.


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8. I also wanted to re-color her lips in a pur-ple tone to match her hair as well. Again, Iselected the Lasso Selection Tool and made arough selection around the woman’s mouth onthe original layer, and then copied it andpasted it onto a new layer. I chose Select >Select None and left the pasted layer selected. I chose Image > Hue and Saturation. I draggedthe Hue slider to -63 to give a purple color, lowered the Saturation to -42 to subdue itslightly, and then clicked OK. I also choseImage > Brightness & Contrast, raised theBrightness to 12, and clicked OK.

9. Then I selected the Eraser Tool and simplyerased out the area around her lips and insideher mouth leaving only her purple lips intact.

10. And finally, I wanted to color her eyesbrown to go together with the gold in her hair.So I created a new layer and selected a darkbrown as the foreground color. On the newlayer, I painted over her irises using thePaintbrush Tool. I set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay, and her eyes were colored brown assimple as that. And then I was done! A quickand easy makeover, and you don’t even needto leave a tip.


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Enhancing Eyes

Eyes are the most strikingthing we notice about a personwhen we see them, whether it bein person or in photographs.Although enhancing your eyescould be a costly and dangerousprocess in real life, it’s actually asimple and painless proceduredigitally! Using a couple blendmodes, I’ll show how to makeyour eyes POP in photographs!

Source Image: “Chocaholic” by Nuno Silva


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1. First I selected the Lasso Selection Tool andmade a selection around the figure’s eyes in thephoto I opened. (I pressed and held Shift whileselecting the second eye to add it to the selec-tion.) I then copied this selection and pasted itonto a new layer with Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste. I then chose Select > Select None.Initially, I just wanted to raise the overall bright-ness of the eyes. So, with the copied eye layerselected, I chose Image > Brightness & Contrast.In the Brightness and Contrast dialog box, Iraised the Brightness to 11 and the Contrast to36, and clicked OK.

2. Then, I selected the Eraser Tool and work-ing on the eye copy layer, erased the areas Ididn’t need brightened, leaving just the white,iris, and pupil area on the copied layer. At thispoint, I decided to raise the Saturation of theiris, as well. So I chose Image > Hue &Saturation, raised the Saturation setting to 12,and clicked OK.

3. To make the iris stand out even more, Idecided to draw a dark outline around theedges. I created a new layer (New Layer iconon the Layers sidebar) and clicked the RestoreColors button by the color selection boxes toreset the foreground color to black. I thenselected the Paintbrush Tool, set the Size to 7and Hardness to 50, and roughly painted adark outline around the iris of each eye. Itappeared overdone at first, but I simply set thelayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and lowered theAlpha to 40% in the Layers sidebar, leaving anice subtle darkening of the iris’ outline.


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4. To complement the outline, I decided to strengthen the highlightswithin the iris, as well. I created another new layer at this point with theNew Layer icon. I selected the Paintbrush Tool, set the Hardness to 0,and set the foreground color to white by clicking the Switch BetweenForeground and Background Colors button near the color selection but-tons. I proceeded to paint with this brush on the new layer inside theiris. When I set this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and lowered theAlpha to 50% in the Layers sidebar, the painting nicely popped out theexisting highlights in the iris.

5. If you look at the photo, you’ll notice that there’s a circular whitehighlight on the pupil of each eye. I created a new layer and used thePaintbrush Tool, set to 100 Hardness and 13 Size, on that layer to adda big white circle on each of the round highlights. I set this layer’sBlend Mode to Overlay, as well. This made the existing highlights standout even more, giving a brighter all-around appearance to the subject’sirises.


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6. You also can paint in additional highlight spots on the subject’seyes to enhance the effect even further. I did just that by creating a newlayer and using the Paintbrush set to 80% Hardness. I simply painted ina small spot of glare near the bottom right of each iris with white.

7. And finally, to complement the new enhanced eyes even further, Iselected the original image layer and darkened and raised the overallcontrast of the image. I chose Image > Brightness & Contrast. In theBrightness and Contrast dialog box, I lowered the Brightness setting to -8 and raised the Contrast to 16, and then clicked OK. And that was it, a very simple way to enhance the eyes of the subject in anyphotograph!


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Warhol-izing

Simplifying lines and workingwith generally flat colorsbecame a trademark in manyimages created by AndyWarhol. Love his art or hate it,there’s no denying his style oftaking iconic persons andimagery and simplifying theirform still manages to captivateobservers daily. In this tutorial,I’m going to show how to takean ordinary portrait of yourself,or a loved one, and make it lookas if it were an Andy Warhol...original.Source Image: “amazing beauty portraits” by TriggerPhoto


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1. The first thing I did after opening the exam-ple image of a young woman was to desaturatethe entire image by choosing Image >Desaturate. This converted the image tograyscale. There are several ways to simplifythe lines within the image. One quick and sim-ple way to do so was to apply a filter. I choseFilters > WebSafe, and it applied a simplifyingeffect to the picture, giving me the rough outlinelook that would be a great starting point for thistechnique.

2. Next, I wanted to emphasize the highlightsin the image slightly. So I raised the contrast inthe image by selecting Image > Brightness &Contrast menu, raising the Contrast setting to34, and clicking OK. This turned a lot of thegrays within the image into solid whites, creat-ing a more dynamic looking image overall.

3. I then set this layer’s Blend Mode toMultiply in the Layers sidebar. This effectivelymade the white areas transparent. I then cre-ated a new layer by clicking the New Layericon in the Layers sidebar, and then draggedthe new layer below the image layer. With thenew blank layer selected, I set white as the fore-ground color by clicking the Restore Colors but-ton and then clicking the Switch BetweenForeground and Background Colors button. Iselected the Paint Bucket Tool and clicked thenew layer to fill it so the transparent areas onthe image layer appeared white. I clicked theNew Layer icon to create another new layerabove the white fill layer, and below my layerwith the young woman, for my coloring layer. Iclicked the Restore Colors button, and thenclicked the Foreground color selection box andchose a yellow gold color using the Select Colordialog box. Using the Paintbrush Tool, I pro-ceeded to paint the woman’s hair area on thenew layer.

TipRemember, this doesn’t need to be done per-fectly. In fact, slight errors in coloring, goingover the lines and such, tends to add to therough, raw mood typically associated with aWarhol image.


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4. I continued this same process throughoutthe rest of the image, coloring in other areas ofthe woman’s figure and background on thecolor layer. Using solid colors, I tried to keepthe total number of colors used to a minimum toemphasize the simplicity.

5. The background was bothering me, asthere were remnants of a sectioned wall remain-ing. Using the Eraser Tool, I simply erased thedistracting background from the layer with thewoman. This gave me a nice, solid-coloredbackground.

6. With my entire image colored in, it wassafe to flatten the image. So I simply choseFlatten Image from the Options button drop-down list on the Layers sidebar. Next, I selectedImage > Canvas Resize and selected newdimensions for my image. I unchecked theConstrain Proportion check box in the ResizeCanvas dialog box and entered new canvasdimensions: 1200 for Width and 1600 forHeight. I then clicked Apply. I then selected theTransformation Tool, selected the layer with thewoman in the Layers sidebar, and resized theimage of the woman to fill the top left-hand cor-ner of the canvas. (Change the image zoom to30% or less with the zoom slider to see whatyou’re doing.) Holding the Shift key while resiz-ing the image enabled me to maintain the origi-nal image’s proportions. I pressed Enter toapply the new size.


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7. I then made three duplicates of this layer (Options button drop-down list > Duplicate Layer), selected each layer in the Layers sidebar,and used the Transformation Tool to assemble them in a 2 x 2 grid asshown. I pressed Enter to apply each transformation.

8. And finally, to apply the various color schemes for each of theother images, I selected each layer separately and chose Image > Hue & Saturation. By sliding the Hue slider and then clicking OK, Iapplied a different variation to each image. When I was happy withthe variations, my image was almost complete. To finish the composi-tion, I selected the Rectangular Selection Tool, made a selection aroundthe entire image but left out any remaining white background remnants.I then chose Image > Crop Selection, and my image was complete! Aninstant art classic.


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Turning a Photo into aComic Book Panel

Most of the time, a digitalphoto artist strives at realism inhis or her creations. But in thiscase, I’m going to do the exactopposite by taking a photo of aman and turning it into an imagethat looks as if it were pulledright out of the pages of a comicbook. For this example, I used astock image of a man holding agun for dramatic effect. But formore fun, try this technique onyour own personal photos offriends and family, and watchthem marvel (pardon the pun) atseeing themselves as the star oftheir own comic book!

Source Image: “Underworld” by Mark Stout


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1. In comics, the process is often to sketch theidea, ink the outlines, then color it. In our case,our photograph already serves as the initialsketch, so it’s up to us to find a way to ink it.After I opened the original image file inPhoenix, I made a copy of the original photolayer by clicking the Options button drop-downarrow on the Layers sidebar and clickingDuplicate Layer, as I would be needing the orig-inal image later on. I wanted to remove all thecolor on the copied layer, and I did this byselecting Image > Desaturate. Then, to make thephoto look as if it were hand drawn in ink, Iremoved all gray tones so that the image waspurely black and white tones. I achieved thislook by choosing Image > Brightness &Contrast, raising the Contrast setting to 100,and changing the Brightness to -40. (With theContrast raised all the way, moving theBrightness slider enables you to adjust howmuch of the image detail to preserve.) I clickedOK, applying the settings to keep much of thegrittiness from the original image.

2. I was happy with the overall look of theeffect, but I wanted to delineate the figure fromthe background a little more. With the fore-ground color set to black (Restore Colors button), I selected the Paintbrush Tool and set itsSize to 4 in the tool’s options. I then drew anoutline around the figure’s face to set him apartfrom the background. I also drew in strongerdefining lines around his nose and under hiseyes to strengthen these areas to give it more ofa hand-drawn inked appearance.

3. I set the black and white layer’s BlendMode to Overlay. This preserved the black out-lines of the image, while the original imagelayer underneath showed through the white por-tions of the copied layer. As comics tend to usebright, exaggerated tones, I selected the origi-nal image layer in the Layers sidebar. I choseImage > Brightness & Contrast, raised theContrast to 42 and lowered the Brightness to -12, and clicked OK. This colored the figurewith heavily saturated oranges, which I desired.


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4. The background was left with a bright yel-low look. I wanted to give the background amore contrasted tone so the figure would standout against it. I copied the original layer (clickthe Options button drop-down list arrow in theLayers sidebar and click Duplicate Layer). Withthe new layer copy selected, I chose Image >Hue & Saturation. I slid the Hue slider to the leftto -138 to give a purple tone, and clicked OK.This was a nice color to offset the yellows andoranges in the figure’s skin.

5. Then it was simply a matter of using theEraser Tool to erase the purple-toned areas inthe figure’s face on the new layer to expose theoriginal orange tones from the layer under-neath.

6. Next, I imported an image of a halftonepattern using File > Import. As this halftone pat-tern was a GIF file, I had to specify this whenuploading my file by changing the Files of Typeoption to “gif (*.gif)” on the image uploadingprompt. I set this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlayin the Layers sidebar. This created the coarsehalftone (dot print) appearance generally asso-ciated with the four-color printing process forcomics.

7. I created a border around the image tomake it look even more as if it were a panelfrom a comic book. I chose Select > Select All tocreate a selection around the perimeter of thecanvas. Then, I chose Select > Modify > Border,entered 10 in the Selection Border text box, andclicked OK to create the 10-pixel selectionaround the canvas. On a new layer created byclicking the New Layer icon on the Layers side-bar, I filled this selection with black (whichshould still be set as the foreground color) usingthe Paint Bucket Tool. I then chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.


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8. At this point, we could call the image com-plete. But for added effect, I wanted to add apaper texture to the image to make it look as ifit were ripped right out of a page of an oldcomic book. I flattened the entire image byclicking the drop-down list arrow for the Optionsbutton in the Layers sidebar and then clickingFlatten Layers. I then used File > Import toimport an image of paper texture as the toplayer.

9. I made two duplicates of the paper texturelayer (Options button drop-down list arrow >Duplicate Layer) so I had three to work with. Imoved the first paper texture layer below theflattened comic layer in the Layers sidebar; I setthe comic layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply andlowered the Alpha to 91%. I left the secondpaper texture layer above the comic layer in theLayers sidebar and set the layer’s Blend Modeto Multiply. I then chose Image > Brightness &Contrast, lowered the Brightness to -38, raisedthe Contrast to 70, and clicked OK. For thethird paper texture layer, I also left it positionedabove the comic layer in the Layers sidebar andset the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay. I thenchose Image > Brightness & Contrast, loweredthe Brightness to -61, raised the Contrast to 42,and clicked OK. I further chose Image > Hue &Saturation, lowered the Saturation to -70, andclicked OK. This gave the image a nice papertextured look.

10. Finally, I made a duplicate of the flat-tened comic layer (Options button drop-downlist arrow > Duplicate Layer) and moved it to thetop of the list in the Layers sidebar. I set thiscopied layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and low-ered the Alpha to 35%, and the image wascomplete!


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Miniaturizing

Another neat effect you canapply to an image is to take aneveryday scene and make itappear as if it were a miniaturemodel. The idea is to fool themind into thinking it’s looking ata macro image with very littleeffort on your part, mainly selective blurring.

Source Image: “Prague in Winter – central market place” by Bennewitz


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1. First, I wanted to create a blur behind thecentral object, focusing on the central buildingsin the composition. I used the RectangularSelection Tool to make a selection around thetop half of the image, and I copied and pastedit (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste) onto a newlayer. With the new layers selected, I clicked theLayer Filters icon on the bottom of the Layerssidebar to open the Layer Filters dialog box. Iclicked the Blur check box to check it, and thenentered 20 in both the Blur X and the Blur Y textboxes. I clicked OK to apply the blur. I wantedto edit this blurred layer still, so I created a newlayer by clicking the New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar, left it blank, and Merged it withthe blurred layer to rasterize the layer filter. (Tomerge the layers, Ctrl+click each layer in theLayers sidebar, click the Options button drop-down list arrow, and click Merge Layers.)

2. I wanted the central and top buildings inthe image to be focused, so I needed to removethe blur surrounding these areas. Using theEraser Tool set at 85% Hardness, I simplyerased on the blurred layer, uncovering the cen-tral buildings. Using the Polygonal SelectionTool, I was able to easily make angular selec-tions around the straight edges of the buildingand remove these segments with Edit > Cutrather than using the Eraser Tool to do all of myextracting.

3. When I blurred the top half of the image inStep 1, it left a dark glow in the sky around mytop buildings, which I wanted to remove bypainting over it. First, I made a selection aroundthe blurred layer (Select > Selection from Layer).To paint over these areas, I first needed tochoose an appropriate hue. With the EyeDropper Tool selected, I clicked on a surround-ing area of the sky to sample the color of thesky. Then, I selected the Paintbrush Tool set at 0Hardness and painted over these dark glowsaround the top towers with my sampled skycolor to remove them.


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4. Noticing a few jagged edges, I went on to clean the edges of the blur layer a bit moreby using the Eraser Tool set to 75% Hardnessand dragging along the rough edges to softenthem up.

5. Next, it was time to apply a blur to theforeground. Blurring both the foreground andbackground and leaving the center in focustricks the eye into seeing a depth of field thatwas non-existent in the original image, creatingthe macro illusion. As I did earlier with the back-ground, I selected the foreground elements onthe original image layer using the LassoSelection Tool, and copied and pasted this area onto a new layer with Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste.

6. With this new layer selected, I againclicked the Layer Filters icon in the Layers side-bar. I clicked the Blur check box to check it,entered 15 in both the Blur X and Blur Y textboxes, and clicked OK. I clicked the New Layericon to create a new, blank layer, selected itand the copied foreground layer by Ctrl+click-ing each layer in the Layers sidebar, andclicked the Options button drop-down list arrowand then Merge Layers to rasterize the blureffect. Then, using the Eraser Tool set to 0Hardness and 20% Alpha, I erased the edgesof the foreground blur layer to soften the effectaround the edges for a cleaner blend.


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7. I added a subtle blur to the original imagelayer, as well, to soften the overall look of thecentral buildings. I didn’t want to risk losing theblur effect I had created on the background andforeground, so I only applied a subtle blur to thecentral buildings. I selected the original imagelayer, clicked the Layer Filters icon, clicked theBlur check box, entered 1 for both the Blur Xand Blur Y settings, and clicked OK.

8. I was happy with the overall look of theimage, but I wanted to make the elements lookeven more like toys. As toys tend to often bedeeply saturated in exaggerated colors, Iwanted to apply that effect to my image, aswell. At this point, I flattened the entire imageby clicking the Options button drop-down listarrow in the Layers sidebar and clicking FlattenLayers. I then chose Image > Brightness &Contrast, raised the Contrast setting to 5, andclicked OK. I then chose Image > Hue &Saturation, raised the Saturation setting to 16,and clicked OK.

9. And finally, for an optional effect, I broughtthe whole thing together by applying a slightgreen cast over the entire image. I created anew layer by clicking the New Layer icon in theLayers sidebar. I clicked the Foreground colorselection box, entered 438F00 in the HEX textbox, and clicked OK. I then used the PaintBucket Tool to fill the layer with the dark greencolor. Finally, I set the layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar, finishing theimage!

NoteTo flatten your image into one working layerwhile maintaining all the layers in the docu-ment, flatten the layers (Layer > FlattenLayers) to merge the entire image. Select theentire image (Select > Select All), then copythis layer (Edit > Copy). Then, click the Undobutton twice to revert the image back into itslayered format. Then you can paste the flat-tened image you copied earlier (Edit > Paste)and it will paste the flattened version of theimage onto a new layer, leaving all your pre-vious working layers intact.

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Lemon Car

In this tutorial, I’ll be referringto previous tutorials found in theBasic Tutorials section of thisbook. Combining several of theprevious techniques, includingColor Replacement, BackgroundCloning, and Casting Shadows,I’ll be turning a red car into areal lemon of an automobile.

Source Images: “Classic Car” by B3UK, “Lemon” by Kati Neudert

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1. The first thing was to locate the sourceimages. I found a picture of a cute little red car Ifigured would work nicely, so I started my com-position by opening this image.

2. Then, I needed to find a picture of a lemonwith a perspective similar to that of the car. Ifound this image of a lemon that would suit thecar pretty well, so I imported this source imagefile into my document as well (File > Import).

3. With the lemon layer selected, I chose theEraser Tool and dragged outside the lemon toextract it from its white background. Then, usingthe Transformation Tool, I rotated and resizedthe lemon to align with the size and perspectiveof the car on its layer. When I was happy withthe lemon’s placement in the image, I pressedEnter to confirm the transformation.


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4. Next, I needed to hide any remnants of thecar that the lemon failed to cover. I copied (Edit> Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste) clean areasof the road from the original layer, and pastedthem onto a new layer directly above the origi-nal layer. Then, using the Transformation Tool, I moved these segments to cover the exposedcar remnants. Then I merged all my clone layersinto one by holding down the Ctrl key andselecting all the clone layers on the Layers sidebar. Then I chose Layer > Merge Layers to merge them. (Refer to “Background Cloning”in the Basic Tutorials section for more in-depthinformation.)

5. And when the cloning was complete, I wasleft with a clean extracted lemon sitting on theroad like this.

6. To make the lemon look like an automo-bile, it was all a matter of incorporating some ofthe elements of the original car onto the lemon.So I started with the tires. Working on the origi-nal layer, I made a selection around the frontright tire with the Lasso Selection Tool andcopied and pasted it onto a new layer (Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste). I dragged this tire layerabove the lemon on the Layers sidebar. I thenused the Transformation Tool to position the tireso it sits along the bottom edge of the lemon.

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7. To extract the tire cleanly, refer to the“Precision Selection” tutorial from the BasicTutorials section of this book. I used the samemethod found in that tutorial to extract the tirecleanly on this layer. I did this by creating anew layer and selecting the Elliptical Shape Toolto create a circle. Then, using the DistortionTool, I resized the circle to cover the tire andany portions of the image I wanted to remainintact.

8. I then selected the elliptically drawn layer(Select > Selection from Layer), then selected theinverse of the selection (Select > InvertSelection). I hid the layer with the drawn circleand clicked the copied tire layer on the Layerssidebar. With the Eraser Tool, I simply erasedaround the tires within the selection, leaving theactual tires intact. (Refer to “Precision Selection”in the Basic Tutorials section for more in-depthinformation.)

9. Next, it was time to incorporate the backtire onto the lemon. After selecting the originallayer in the Layers sidebar, I made a selectionaround the back tire roughly with the LassoSelection Tool and copied it onto a new layer(Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste). I dragged thecopied tire above the lemon layer on the Layerssidebar. I then used the Transformation Tool toresize and position the tire to sit along the backof the lemon and pressed Enter when I washappy with the tire’s position on the lemon.


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10. I wanted to recolor the red fender abovethe back tire to a lemony yellow. For this, Iselected the Color Replacement Tool. I selectedred as my background color, and selected yel-low for my foreground color. Then I paintedover the rear tire layer with the Color Replace-ment Tool to simply change the red to yellow. I then used the Eraser Tool to extract the tirecleanly. (Refer to “Color Replacement” in theBasic Tutorials section for more in-depth information.)

11. For the tire on the left side of the car, Imade a duplicate of my front driver’s side tireon the original layer. I dragged the copied tirebelow the lemon layer on the Layers sidebar.Using the Transformation Tool, I repositioned thetire to sit below the other side of the lemon carand pressed Enter when I was pleased with thepositioning.

12. Next, I copied the windshield from theoriginal layer and pasted it onto a new layerabove the lemon layer. Using the Eraser Tool, Iextracted the windshield. I then used theTransformation Tool to resize the windshield tofit the lemon and pressed Enter to confirm theresizing.

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13. To make it appear as if the windshieldwere inset into the lemon better, I decided toadd a slight shadow on the lemon in a stripabove the top of the windshield. I created anew layer (New Layer icon) and dragged itdirectly below the windshield layer on theLayers sidebar. I selected the Paintbrush Tooland set the Hardness to 10 and set the fore-ground color to black (Restore Colors button). Ipainted above the top of the windshield to cre-ate a slight shadow to imply depth, then low-ered the layer’s Alpha to 40% in the Layerssidebar.

14. I repeated the process of copying andpasting elements from the original car layer toadd in the side windows, door, and headlighton the car until I was satisfied with the look ofthe lemon car.

15. And finally, I added a shadow to the bot-tom of the car just as I did in the “CastingShadows” tutorial from the Basic Tutorials sec-tion. I added in a layer for the shadow belowthe lemon layer, and then using a blackPaintbrush Tool, painted in the shadow. I thenlowered the Alpha for the shadow layer to 73%in the Layers sidebar. I added a blue tint to theshadow by creating another shadow layer, thistime using a dark blue (#10154C) instead ofblack, and setting the layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay.


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Chocolate

As with other techniques,there are plenty of different waysto go about creating chocolate.But for those of you who are likeme and just don’t have the timeto harvest cacao seeds in thisday and age, I’m going to showhow we can create everyone’sfavorite food right here inPhoenix. The techniques I use inthis image can be applied tomany different types of imagesthat involve melting or generalliquifying and smudging.

Source Image: “Artemis” by diane39

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1. The first, and most important, step is findinga good source image. Although, realistically,any image would work, I prefer sticking toimages like these with very well defined ridgesand strong contrasting lights and shadows. Thiswill greatly help in the process and make for amore interesting picture overall.

2. With a source image selected, it was timeto have some fun. First, I desaturated the entireimage (Image > Desaturate).

3. The fun part for me is creating all the drips,so I decided to do that step next. I looked forany protruding areas first, such as the nose andchin, and laid down the thickest drips there. Iselected the Liquify Tool, set the Size to 29, andset the Pressure to 4. I decided to start on thenose first. I dragged the Liquify Tool in a down-ward motion starting from the tip of the nosedirectly on the desaturated layer to create theshape and length of the drip.

4. For a more realistic drip, I created a slightblob at the end of the drip. With the Liquify Toolstill selected, I dragged the Tool in a small circu-lar motion to create the bulbous end to the drip.


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5. I repeated this process throughout the restof the image, creating drips in and around theridges of the figure. For a more realistic effect,all the drips shouldn’t fall perfectly vertically. Beaware of the contours of your figure, andsmudge your drips so that they flow accordinglyby dragging the Liquify Tool to flow around therounded surface of the cheek, etc.

6. Next, it was time to colorize the chocolate.To give the statue a brown tone, I started by cre-ating a new layer (New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar). Then I selected the PaintbrushTool and set its foreground color to a browntone by clicking the Foreground color selectionbox in the tool options, entering 5E2E00 in theHEX dialog box, and clicking OK. I thenpainted this tone over the entire figure on thenew layer.

7. I set this layer’s Blend Mode to Hardlight inthe Layers sidebar, and it gave the figure alovely brown hue. Remember, you don’t need toget the color perfect on the first shot. You canalways go ahead and adjust the Hue andSaturation levels once the figure is covered andyou can see exactly how the Hardlight BlendMode affects the image.

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8. At this point, the figure was already look-ing tasty. But I wanted to make the image popeven further. So the next step was increasing thehighlights on the figure to make it extra shiny. Icreated a new layer (New Layer icon) andselected the Paintbrush Tool. I set the PaintbrushTool’s Alpha to 24%, the Hardness to 10, andselected white as the foreground color in thetool’s options. I looked for the existing lightestareas on the figure and along the newly createddrips and painted over these areas with thePaintbrush. When I set the layer’s Blend Modeto Overlay, it nicely enhanced the highlightedareas while maintaining the chocolate’s satura-tion. You can do all the highlights on one layerif you’re feeling adventurous. I prefer to do thehighlights on several layers just as a precaution.

9. I repeated the overall process to enhancethe shadows in the figure. I created a new layer(New Layer icon) and changed the PaintbrushTool’s foreground color to black in the tool’soptions (Restore Colors button). I painted overthe existing dark areas of the figure so thatwhen I set the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay aswell, it enhanced the shadows of the image andcreated a nice contrast with the highlights.

10. And finally, I decided to blow out thehighlights even further. I created a new layer(New Layer icon) and set the Paintbrush Tool’sforeground color back to white. I looked for thebrightest points in the image and painted insmall overblown highlighted spots in the middleof those key highlighted areas, and the imagewas complete.


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Aliens!

They’re here! In this tutorial,I’ll be showing you how to givea lizard-like appearance to aperson by applying a scaly tex-ture to her skin, primarily byusing the Overlay Blend Mode.Overlay? More like ReptilianOverLORD Blend Mode!

Source Images: “Chocolate” by Aldra, “Anger Management” by FotoIE

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1. I started with a base image of a femalemodel covered in chocolate because I figured,“Hey, aliens would probably love chocolate,too.”

2. First thing I wanted to do was to make themodel bald. I imported an image of a bald maninto the document (File > Import). Using theLasso Selection Tool, I made a selection aroundthe man’s head, and I copied (Edit > Copy) andpasted (Edit > Paste) it onto a new layer. I thenremoved the selection marquee (Select > SelectNone) and hid the bald man layer by clickingits Eye icon in the Layers sidebar.

3. I then selected the Transformation Tool andresized and moved the copied selection to fitthe proportion of the woman’s head. I pressedEnter to confirm the transformation.

4. Noticing that the head was a little too darkfor the rest of the figure, I chose Image >Brightness & Contrast, and raised the Brightnessto 59 and lowered the Contrast to -24, thenclicked OK to apply the changes. I then selectedthe Eraser Tool to erase the surrounding ele-ments around the head. I set the Eraser Tool’sHardness to 0 and erased the bottom area ofthe head layer to blend it into the woman’s fore-head better.


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5. To add further definition to the woman’sface, I repeated the process of selecting, copy-ing, pasting, and manipulating segments tocover other facial features, redisplaying andhiding the bald man layer as needed. I selectedthe portion underneath the man’s left eye, andcopy and pasted this onto a new layer (Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste). I removed the selectionmarquee (Select > Select None). Then, I choseImage > Brightness & Contrast, and raised theBrightness of this segment to 44 and loweredthe Contrast to -23, and pressed OK to applythe change.

6. With the new layer selected, I used theDistortion Tool to warp the selection to align tothe woman’s face. I then pressed Enter to con-firm the transformation.

7. I repeated the overall process to cover themodel’s other facial features, such as the eye-brow ridge and nose.

NoteRather than simply creating an image of aperson with scales, I wanted to give the fig-ure less of a human look. I created a verybroad distortion of the nose on the figure tocreate the illusion of an absent nose on thefigure, creating a more stereotypically alienlook.

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8. Next it was time to add the reptilian tex-ture to the model’s skin. I imported a sourceimage of a lizard (File > Import). I made aselection around a portion of the lizard’s scalesand copied and pasted it onto a new layer (Edit> Copy and Edit > Paste). I then chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marqueeand clicked the Eye icon for the lizard layer tohide it.

9. Using the Distortion Tool, I transformed thecopied segment to align with the shape of thewoman’s face, then pressed Enter to apply thedistortion.

10. I applied the Overlay Blend Mode to thereptilian texture layer in the Layers sidebar.Doing so textured the woman’s skin while main-taining the color of the original skin tone.


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11. I repeated the process of copying, pasting,and editing segments from the lizard layer(redisplaying and hiding the lizard layer asneeded) to texture the rest of the woman’s head.I used the Eraser Tool set to 0 Hardness to softenthe edges of the copied segments to blend theminto the woman’s head more cleanly.

12. Next, I wanted to fill the eyes in black. Icreated a new layer (New Layer icon) andselected the Paintbrush Tool, with black set asthe foreground color (Restore Colors button inthe tool’s options). I painted over the model’seyes, covering them entirely in black. I then cre-ated another layer and changed the PaintbrushTool’s foreground color to white (SwitchBetween Foreground and Background Colorsbutton in the tool’s options) and added a couplehighlights by clicking in the middle of each eyeto create a white spot. I clicked twice on eacheye to create the spot lit effect.

13. Next, I wanted to give the entire figure agreenish tint. I created a new layer (New Layericon) and dragged it to the top of the list in theLayers sidebar. I selected the Paintbrush Tooland set the foreground color to a dark greencolor (click the Foreground color selection box,enter 568F35 in the # text box, and click OK).On the new layer, I painted over any exposedareas of the alien’s skin.

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14. I set the green layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay, and lowered the layer’s Alpha to 55%in the Layers sidebar. This gave the alien’s skina nice green hue throughout, which reallyenhanced the lizard-like appearance of the figure.

15. For final touches, I added some strongershadows and highlights to the figure. I createda new layer and dragged it below the greenoverlay layer in the Layers sidebar. I selectedthe Paintbrush Tool and set black as the fore-ground color by clicking the Restore Colors but-ton in the tool’s options. Working on the newlayer, I painted around the figure’s eyes andnose area, etc. I lowered the Alpha of the layerto 75% in the Layers sidebar.

16. I then created another new layer to addsome highlights and made sure it was above theshadows layer in the Layers sidebar. I set thePaintbrush Tool’s foreground color to white thistime (click the Switch Between Foreground andBackground Colors button in the tool’s options)and painted spots over the figure’s forehead tocreate a more rounded three-dimensional look.The image was complete.


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Aging a Person

There are any number ofways to manipulate a photo of aperson to make them look older.In this tutorial, I’ll be attemptingto age an image of a youngmale by applying segments froma source image of an old man,while still trying to maintain thelook and structure of the originalboy.Source Images: “Newsy series” by Upheaval Design, “senior man” by scorpion56

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1. Gravity sets in with age, and I decided toemulate that effect first. After opening the sourceimage of the boy, I selected the Liquify Tool setto 200 Size and dragged down on areas of theboy’s stomach. This added mass and a down-ward pulling to simulate the losing battleagainst gravity.

2. To provide source material to age the fig-ure’s skin, I imported the source image of theold man using File > Import. Selecting a suitablesource image is crucial in this step, making surethe perspective of the face is similar to that ofthe original person’s, and making sure that thegeneral lighting in the images match as well. Ithen started by selecting the old man’s fore-head, and copying (Edit > Copy) and pasting(Edit > Paste) it onto a new layer. I then hid thelayer with the old man image by clicking theEye icon beside it in the Layers sidebar.

3. Using the Distortion Tool, I transformed thecopied segment to align with the original boy’shead. I pressed Enter on the keyboard when Iwas happy with the alignment of the segment.


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4. I realized that the old man’s skin tone wasa little too orange compared to the boy’s. To fixthis, I chose Image > Hue & Saturation, set theHue to -7 and lowered the Saturation to -30,then clicked OK to apply the color adjustment.

5. I then selected the Eraser Tool and set theHardness to 0. I erased around the edges of thissegment to soften them, thus blending the seg-ment into the boy’s original face more cleanly.

6. I repeated the process outlined in Steps 2through 5 to cover other areas of the boy’s face,redisplaying and hiding the layer with as manyimages as needed. I next selected the old man’sright eyebrow with the Lasso Selection Tool andpasted it onto a new layer with Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste.

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7. As I did with the forehead, I opened theHue and Saturation dialog box (Image > Hue &Saturation), adjusted the Hue to the left to -7and lowered the Saturation to -30, and clickedOK. Using the Distortion Tool, I aligned this seg-ment above the boy’s eye and pressed Enter toconfirm the distortion.

8. I continued this process until most of theboy’s face was re-assembled with segmentsfrom the old man’s face and I was left withsomething like this.

9. Next, I wanted to lower the saturation in the boy’s lips because they looked too brightbeside the older skin. I selected the originallayer in the Layers sidebar. Using the LassoSelection Tool, I made a selection around theboy’s lips and copied and pasted it onto a newlayer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. I choseImage > Hue & Saturation, changed the Hue to10 and lowered the Saturation to -47, andclicked OK to confirm the change.


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10. As I did earlier for the facial features ofthe figure, I copied the neck from the old mansource layer and pasted it onto a new layerusing Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. I then usedthe Distortion Tool to line up the neck with theboy’s. I opened the Hue and Saturation dialogbox and adjusted the Hue to the left to -9, low-ered the Saturation by -27, and clicked OK toapply the adjustment.

11. I wanted to bring the glasses from the origi-nal boy image layer back onto the figure’s face.I hid all the layers for the time being (click theEye icon beside each layer in the Layers side-bar) to see the original layer. Using the LassoSelection Tool, I made a selection around theboy’s glasses in the original layer and pastedthis onto a new layer with Edit > Copy and Edit> Paste.

12. I dragged the glasses layer to the top ofthe list in the Layers sidebar and then redis-played the other layers by clicking their Eyeicon boxes. Using the Eraser Tool set to 90%Hardness, I erased the inside of the glasses toexpose the boy’s eyes.

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13. To add a tint to the glasses, I created anew layer underneath the glasses layer by click-ing the New Layer icon on the Layers sidebarand then dragging the layer into position. Withthe new layer selected, I selected the PaintbrushTool. In the tool’s options, I clicked theForeground color selection box, entered403046 in the # text box in the Color Pickerdialog box, and then clicked OK to specify adark muted purple tone. I then painted insidethe glasses, over the lens area. I set this layer’sBlend Mode to Multiply and lowered its Alphato 30% on the Layers sidebar to create a slightdarker cast on the glasses.

14. And finally, I needed to paint back inshadows for the glasses. I created a new layerunderneath the glasses layer and selected thePaintbrush Tool. I set the foreground color toblack (click the Restore Colors button in thetool’s options) and set the Hardness to 10. Ipainted underneath the glasses to create simu-lated shadows for the spectacles.

15. I lowered the layer’s Alpha to 67% andselected the Eraser Tool to erase any excessshadows where I may have gone overboard tocomplete the image.


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Animal Hybrids

Have you ever wonderedwhat it would look like if two ofyour favorite species of animalsmated? Well if you’re like meand always longed for the daywhen you could create your ownabominations of the animal king-dom, you’re in luck. In this tuto-rial, I’ll be showing you how tocreate a hybrid of a parrot anda squirrel. The same methodscan be applied to create endlesscombinations of animals. Happyabominating!

Source Images: “Squirrel - Lude” by jlola, “Blue-and-yellow Macaw - Ara ararauna” by Global Photographers

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1. The first, and most important, step is tolocate your source images. Finding images withsimilar perspective and general lighting is ofutmost importance.

2. I started by opening the image of the squir-rel, and then I imported the second image of theparrot’s head (File > Import). With the parrotlayer selected, I chose the Transformation Tooland rotated and resized the parrot head to fiton the squirrel’s body, pressing Enter to finishthe transformation.

3. Next, I decided to lower the saturation ofthe image. I chose Image > Hue & Saturation,lowered the Saturation to -20, and clicked OKto confirm the adjustment. Using the Eraser Tool,I erased around the edges of the parrot head toextract it from its original background.

4. The squirrel’s ears were still showing frombehind the parrot’s head. First, I hid the parrot’shead layer for the time being by clicking its Eyeicon in the Layers sidebar. I selected the EyeDropper Tool and sampled some color from thebackground around the squirrel’s ear. I thenselected the Paintbrush Tool and, working on the squirrel layer, painted over the ear with thesampled color to hide the ear. I then clicked the Eye icon box beside the parrot head layer in the Layers sidebar to redisplay the layer.


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5. Next, it was time to add color to the squir-rel’s body. I wanted to color the squirrel’s backin a blue color similar to that on top of the par-rot’s head. I clicked the New Layer icon in theLayers sidebar and dragged the new layerbelow the parrot head layer in the Layers side-bar. With the Paintbrush Tool selected, I set ablue tone as the foreground color (click theForeground color selection box in the tool’soptions, enter 4096C6 in the # text box, andclick OK). I then used the Paintbrush Tool topaint the color on the squirrel’s body on the newlayer.

6. I then set the color layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar. This gave thesquirrel’s body the bluish tint I desired.

7. I wanted to extend the yellow area on theparrot’s head into the body as well, so I createda new layer and also made sure it was belowthe parrot layer in the Layers sidebar. With thePaintbrush Tool still selected, I changed the fore-ground color to yellow. On the new layer, Idragged the Paintbrush down starting from theyellow area of the parrot’s head, then extendingdown over the top of his front leg. Then I set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay in the Layerssidebar.

8. I also wanted to blend some of the blackstripes from the parrot’s head into the rest of thefigure. I created another new layer above theparrot layer and selected the Paintbrush Tool. Iset black as the foreground color in the tool’soptions by clicking the Restore Colors buttonand painted in stripes by hand where the par-rot’s white neck met the squirrel’s now-yellow furto blend the head and body together more uni-formly. I then set this layer’s Alpha to 76% onthe Layers sidebar.

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9. To make the parrot’s neck appear to havemore of the texture of fur, I created a new layerwith the New Layer icon, being sure to positionthe layer above the parrot layer in the Layerssidebar. Choosing a small brush size, I then sim-ply drew in small vertical dashes in the whiteneck area, to the right of the beak. I set thislayer’s Alpha to 12% on the Layers sidebar tocreate the textured effect.

10. I wanted to strengthen the shadows in thefigure. I created a new layer (New Layer icon)and selected the Paintbrush Tool. I made surethe foreground color was still set to black andlowered the Hardness to 0 in the tool’s options.I painted around the figure’s limbs and underhis belly. I set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar, darkening theshaded areas even further.

11. And I also wanted to enhance the high-lights on the figure. I created another new layer(New Layer icon). With the Paintbrush Tool stillselected, I set the foreground color to white inthe tool’s options and then painted on top of theparrot’s head and beak and arms to increasethe existing highlights in these areas.

12. And finally, I wanted to sharpen the entire image. First, I flattened all the layers(Layer > Flatten Layers). I duplicated the flat-tened layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer), thenapplied the Sharpen filter to it (Filters >Sharpen). Changing the Alpha level of the layer helps me distribute the amount of sharpening I want to add to the image. For this particular image, I set the sharpened layer’s Alpha to 84% in the Layers sidebar.


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Edible Architecture

Throughout fairy tale lore, there’vebeen many tales of fantastical beingsinhabiting homes made out of allsorts of edible goods including any-thing from gingerbread houses tomushroom abodes. In this tutorial, I’mgoing to bring a fairy tale to life andcreate a home made from a mush-room. The same methods can beused to apply this effect to any num-ber of objects, edible or not.

Source Images: “Mushroom”by FotoDesign, “Roof TopTraditional Style” by JacobH., “Sweet Home #2” byWolverine Enterprises, “RedRoof and Brick SmokeStack” by Majoros Laszlo,“Smoke” by HermannDanzmayr.

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1. The first thing I did was to locate the basesource image I’d be using for the image. I chosethis picture of a mushroom because it was anice clean image, the surrounding grass madethe mushroom appear to have a yard, and thesurface of the object was clear enough for meto add a door and windows to make this mush-room look like an actual house.

2. I wanted to add a door to this mushroomfirst. I located a source image of a cottage witha door similar in perspective to that of my mush-room and imported it with File > Import. I usedthe Lasso Selection Tool to make a rough selec-tion around the door of the cottage and I copied(Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste) it onto anew layer.

3. I then hid the cottage image layer by click-ing its Eye icon in the Layers sidebar, as I onlyneeded the copied door. With the door layerselected, I chose the Distortion Tool to warp thesegment’s perspective to align with the mush-room base. I then pressed Enter to confirm thetransformation.


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4. To remove the surrounding elements toextract the door by itself cleanly, I used theEraser Tool and simply dragged around thedoorframe to remove the background on thedoor layer. I also erased some of the bottom ofthe door to make it appear as if it were behindthe grassy area in front of it.

5. To add a shadow for the door, I created anew layer (New Layer icon) and dragged itbelow the door layer in the Layers sidebar list. Iselected the Paintbrush Tool, set the Hardness to0 and the Alpha to 15%, and set the fore-ground color to black by clicking the RestoreColors button, all in the tool’s options. I thenpainted the shadow on the mushroom stemalong the left side of the door.

6. Noticing that the existing shadows on themushroom in the original image had a slightbrown tone to them, I wanted to mimic the tint inthe shadow I just drew in. So I created a newlayer above my shadow layer by clicking theNew Layer icon on the Layers sidebar and drag-ging the layer into position. I selected a browntone (click the Foreground color selection box,enter BA742C in the # text box, and click OK)for the foreground color with the Paintbrush Toolstill selected. On the new layer, I painted overthe previous shadow in brown. I then set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and lowered theAlpha for the layer to 28% in the Layers side-bar. This gave the shadow the brown tint Idesired.

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7. Next, I wanted to give the doorframe a bitof saturation as well. So I selected the doorlayer and clicked the New Layer icon to createa new layer above the door layer. On the newlayer, I painted over the door frame in the still-selected brown tone using the Paintbrush Tool,and set the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay andlowered the layer’s Alpha to 91% in the Layerssidebar.

8. I wanted to add more house-like featuresonto the mushroom, so I decided to give theplace a chimney next. I imported an image of achimney into the document (File > Import). Usingthe Lasso Selection Tool, I made a selectionaround the chimney, and then I copied andpasted it onto a new layer with Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste.

9. I then selected the Transformation Tool andresized and positioned the chimney to sit atopthe mushroom roof of the house, then pressedEnter to confirm the move. I selected the EraserTool to remove the blue sky surrounding thechimney on its layer. I then erased along thebase to make it appear as if the chimney werelocated on the back slope of the mushroom“roof” in the image.


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10. To add smoke to the chimney, I importeda source image of smoke into the document (File> Import). Using the Distortion Tool, I warpedthe smoke to look as if it were spewing from thetop of the chimney. Using the Eraser Tool, Ierased out any areas of the smoke that I didn’twant in my final image.

11. When I set the smoke layer’s Blend Modeto Screen in the Layers sidebar, only the smokeshowed through on the image, as the ScreenBlend Mode keeps all dark tones invisible, suchas the black background of the smoke layer.

12. Next I wanted to add a dormer windowto the top of the house. First, I imported animage of a nice window that was along thedesired perspective (File > Import). As I did forthe door and chimney, I used the LassoSelection Tool to select the window and thencopied and pasted it onto a new layer with Edit> Copy and Edit > Paste. I chose Select > SelectNone to remove the selection marquee, hid theoriginal window layer by clicking its Eye icon,and reselected the copied window.

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13. I selected the Transformation Tool toresize the window to fit the proportions of therest of the house, then pressed Enter to confirmthe transformation. Then I used the Eraser Toolto finish extracting the window from its originalsurroundings.

14. I wanted to add a shadow for the win-dow. I created a new layer below my windowby clicking the New Layer icon and then drag-ging the new layer below the window layer inthe Layers sidebar. I selected the PaintbrushTool, and in the tool’s options set Hardness to 0,Alpha to 15%, and the foreground color toblack (Restore Colors button). On the new layer,I darkened the area to the left of the window tocreate the shadow.

15. I wanted to extend a mushroom type roofto this dormer window as well. So I selected theleft edge of the mushroom cap on the originallayer and pasted it onto a new layer with Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste. I dragged the new layerwith the copied segment above the windowlayer on the Layers sidebar. I used the EraserTool to extract the mushroom top and used theTransformation Tool to drag and resize the seg-ment to sit on top of the window to complete themushroom house.


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Gender Bending

Have you ever wondered whatyou’d look like as the opposite genderbut just couldn’t afford the costly oper-ation? Well, maybe you haven’t. But itdoes make for an interesting picture!In this tutorial, learn how to take aphoto of a beautiful woman and turnher into a studly biker dude!

Source Images: “Shine” by Katja De Bruijn, “Biker Portrait” “Strange BeardedMan Smiling” by Michael DeLeon

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1. First, I wanted to slightly change thewoman’s facial structure. I enlarged her jaw togive it more of a manly look. To do so, I made aselection around her jaw, copied it (Edit >Copy), and pasted it (Edit > Paste) onto a newlayer. I chose Select > Select None to removethe selection marquee. Then, using the DistortionTool, I pulled the bottom two boxes slightly out-wards to create a more square jaw line andpressed Enter to finish the change.

2. Next, I imported source images of a bikerand an image of a middle-aged man fromwhich I would be copying elements for the fig-ure. I opened File > Import, and first uploadedthe biker image using the Resource Browser dia-log box. I followed the same procedure toinclude the source image of the middle-agedman. I hid the middle-aged man’s layer, as I didn’t need it at this time. I did want to take thebandana from the biker image and integrate itonto my figure. With the biker’s layer selected, I made a selection around his hair and ban-dana and pasted it onto two new layers withEdit > Copy and then Edit > Paste twice. Iselected Select > Select None to remove theselection marquee. I made one of the bandanalayers invisible for the time being by clicking itsEye icon in the Layers sidebar. On my visiblecopy, I selected the Transformation Tool, alignedthis selection to situate on the woman’s head,and pressed Enter to finish the transformation.

3. Then, I selected the Eraser Tool set to 80%Hardness and erased the edges of this layer sothat only the hair and bandana remainedextracted.

NoteWhen you import an image into a documentwith a smaller canvas size than that of theimage you are importing, you’ll be promptedto either resize the imported image, resizethe canvas to fit your imported image, orcrop your imported image to fit the canvas. Inmy case with this image, I chose ResizeImage to fit my source images into my document.


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4. I lost a lot of the stray individual hairsaround her head during the extracting step. Imade my other bandana layer visible by click-ing the box for its Eye icon. I set this layer’sBlend Mode to Screen so that the light-coloredhairs showed up again without obstructing thebackground. With the screen bandana layer stillselected, I chose Image > Brightness & Contrast,lowered the Brightness to -83 and raised theContrast by 22, and clicked OK. I then draggedthis layer below the bandana layer on theLayers sidebar.

5. Next, it was time to rough up and wrinklethe woman’s skin. I started by adding wrinklesunder the woman’s eyes. First, I clicked the eyeicon box next to my middle-aged man’s layer tomake it visible again. I selected the wrinkledarea underneath the man’s left eye, copied it(Edit > Copy), and pasted it onto a new layer(Edit > Paste). I then hid the man’s layer again.Using the Distortion Tool, I aligned the copiedsegment to fit under the woman’s eye, pressingEnter to finish the change. I then set the wrinklelayer’s Blend Mode to Multiply. I noticed thiscreated too dark of an effect, so I chose Image> Brightness & Contrast, raised the Brightness to64 and Contrast to 3, and clicked OK. I thenrepeated the same process to apply the sameeffect below the figure’s right eye. When bothsides were done, I merged both the wrinkle layers of the left and the right eyes into one byholding Ctrl and clicking both wrinkle layers in the Layers sidebar and selecting Layer >Merge Layers. Doing so simplifies the work-space, making an image with many layersmuch easier to work with.

6. I repeated the process noted in step 5 tofurrow the area above her eyebrows and fore-head. I copied the segments from the bikerimage layer and pasted them onto new layers. I used the Transformation Tool to align thecopied area. I left the Blend Mode for this layerset to Normal. I did need to adjust the color tomatch the woman’s skin tone, though. I choseImage > Hue & Saturation. I lowered the Hue to -10, raised the Saturation to 12, raised theBrightness to 4, and then clicked OK. I thenused a soft Eraser Tool to clean the rough edgesto create a smoother blend into the woman’sskin.

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7. Next, I wanted to replace the woman’s fineeyebrows with the thicker, bushier set from mymiddle-aged man source image. Just as I didearlier, I simply copied the brow area from themale source image and pasted it onto a newlayer. I chose Select > Select None to removethe selection marquee. I then used theTransformation Tool to align the pasted selectionproperly to the woman’s face, pressing Enter tofinish. I then created a new layer (New Layericon) and painted in a shadow underneath thebandana to create a deeper more realisticeffect.

8. I continued the process, taking appropri-ate segments from the male sources to roughlytexturize the woman’s nose and cheekboneareas.

9. Next, I wanted to give the woman the mus-tache from the biker image. I copied and pastedthe mustache from the biker image onto a newlayer and aligned it with the woman’s faceusing the Transformation Tool. I dragged thislayer to the top of the Layers sidebar. I had touse the Eraser Tool set to 0 Hardness to softlyblend the mustache onto the woman’s face with-out leaving hard edges to create the illusion it’sbeing dispersed onto her face. I chose Image >Brightness & Contrast, raised the Brightness set-ting to 8 and the Contrast to 6, and clicked OK.


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10. I wanted to add a slight shadow under-neath the mustache. I selected the Eye DropperTool and selected a reddish skin tone from theshadow under her neck on the original imagelayer. Then, I created a new layer underneaththe mustache layer and drew in a soft shadowusing the Paintbrush Tool set at 0 Hardness.When I was happy with the shadow, I mergedthe shadow with the mustache layer in theLayers sidebar.

11. I copied the vest and chest area from thebiker image and pasted them onto new layers. Iwanted to apply the new garb onto my woman,but I wanted her to maintain her originalphysique. So, using the Distortion Tool, I resizedthe chest and the clothing layers to fit on thewoman’s original size, pressing Enter to finishthe change. Not to obstruct any of the wrinklesand mustache I applied to the woman, Idragged the chest and clothing layers under-neath the other layers containing the facial editson the Layers sidebar.

12. Next, I needed to remove the lipstick fromthe woman’s original lips. I made a selectionaround the woman’s mouth on the originalimage layer, and copied and pasted it onto anew layer. I chose Image > Hue & Saturationmenu, changed the Hue to 12, lowered theSaturation to -57, raised the Brightness to 15,and clicked OK to give the lips a more muted,natural look.

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13. Noticing that there were remnants of hairstill left on the vest I had added, I decided tolengthen her... er... his hair. I copied a sectionof the biker’s hair and pasted it onto a newlayer to create the appearance of longer hairextending down to the figure’s shoulders, thendid the same for the other side. I applied theScreen Blend Mode to these layers in the Layerssidebar. I then dragged both of these layers tosit on top of my bandana layer in the Layerssidebar.

14. To enhance the image even further, Idecided to increase the contrast of the existinghighlights and shadows in the picture. I createda new layer for shadows. I selected thePaintbrush set to 0 Hardness,10% Alpha, andset black as my foreground color. I paintedaround the figure’s eyes, nose, and anywhereelse shadows already occurred, then set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay. And I did thesame for the highlights, except set thePaintbrush’s foreground color to white and cre-ated a new layer and painted over the existinghighlights on the woman’s face. I also set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay.

15. And finally, I brought the whole imagetogether even further by creating a subtle aquacast over the entire image. First, I created a newlayer (New Layer icon) and, using the PaintBucket Tool, I filled the entire layer with white. Iset this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay, and low-ered the layer’s Alpha to 12% in the Layers side-bar. This brightened the image slightly overall. Ithen created a new layer, and filled it entirelywith a muted blue tone (HEX #618484 in theSelect Color dialog box). I set this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay as well, and lowered thelayer’s Alpha to 70% to complete the image.


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Flying Cars

All throughout our childhoodwe were promised flying cars inthe future. We’d hear about themin school, we’d read about themin works of fiction depicting thefuture of our civilization, andwe’d see them in movies. Sowe’re all left to wonder, whereare these flying cars? In this tuto-rial, I’ll show you how to createyour own flying car, as we justdon’t have the time to sit aroundand wait in this modern age.

Source Images: “Rush Hour in New York City” by nicolecioe, “Red Sports Car”by Mark Evans

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1. I started with the scene of a New York trafficjam photographed from above. I also locatedan image of a sports car and uploaded it to thedocument (File > Import).

2. Using the Eraser Tool, I erased around thebackground of the car image to extract the auto-mobile. Then, I selected the Transformation Tooland repositioned and resized the car to make itappear as if it were hovering over the city. Ipressed Enter to confirm the move.

3. Next, I wanted to add thrusters to the sideof the car. I created these segments fromscratch. I first sampled some red from the origi-nal car using the Eye Dropper Tool. Then I cre-ated a new layer by clicking the New Layericon. Using the Elliptical Shape Tool, I drew acircle on the new layer. Then I chose theDistortion Tool and arranged it so that the per-spective lined up with the angled perspective ofthe car, finally pressing Enter to confirm thewarp.

4. I wanted to cut off the rounded bottom ofthe thruster. Using the Elliptical Selection Tool, Imade a circular selection around the thrusterleaving the bottom portion unselected (extend-ing beyond the selection). I then inverted theselection (Select > Invert Selection) and choseEdit > Cut to remove the bottom of the segment.


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5. To create the shine on the thruster, I firstduplicated the thrust panel layer (Layer >Duplicate Layer) making sure the new layer wasabove the thruster layer. I changed the color ofthis duplicated layer to white by choosingImage > Hue & Saturation, lowering theSaturation level to 0 and setting the Brightnessto 100, and then clicking OK. Then, using theDistortion Tool, I resized the layer to fit withinthe thruster. I pressed Enter to confirm thechange.

6. I selected the Eraser Tool, set the hardnessto 0, and lowered the Alpha to 20%. I slowlyerased the bottom of the shine layer to create agradient highlight on the thrust panel.

7. Next, I wanted to add a shadow along theleft side of the thruster panel. I selected thethruster’s layer, and made a selection around it(Select > Selection from Layer). I created a newlayer (New Layer icon) and made sure that itwas selected. I then chose the Paintbrush Toolagain and set the foreground color to black(Reset Colors button). I painted over the left sideof the thruster on the new layer and changed itsBlend Mode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar todarken the front-left portion of the panel.

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8. I created a slight reflection of the thrusteron the body of the car. I duplicated the originalthruster panel’s layer again and dragged theduplicated layer below the original thrusterlayer on the Layers sidebar. I offset the dupli-cated layer slightly to the top-left by using theTransformation Tool to drag the element, and setthe copy to white, and then using Image > Hue& Saturation again, lowering the Saturation to0, raising the Brightness to 100, and clickingOK. I then lowered the Alpha of this layer to14% to create the subtle reflection.

9. And I also created a shadow to the left ofthe thruster on the car’s body. I did this by firstselecting the car layer, then making a selectionaround it (Select > Selection from Layer). Then Icreated a new layer and moved it above thereflection layer and below the thruster layer inthe Layers sidebar. I selected the PaintbrushTool. I set the Paintbrush’s hardness to 0,and setblack as the foreground color. I painted in thearea directly to the left of the thruster to createthe shadow.

10. I then merged the layers that containedall the elements of the thruster. I clicked each ofthese layers on the Layers sidebar while holdingdown Ctrl on the keyboard. Then I merged thelayers by clicking Layer > Merge Layers. I dupli-cated the merged thrust and dragged the dupli-cated copy to sit along the back tire of the carusing the Transformation Tool. I pressed Enter toconfirm the move.


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11. I wanted to give the car a blue tone, as theentire background seemed to be cast in a slightblue hue. So I created a new layer (New Layericon) and dragged it to the top of the Layerssidebar. I selected the car layer and made aselection around it (Select > Selection fromLayer). Then, I selected the new layer and filledin this area with blue by clicking the Foregroundcolor selection box, entering 5182B7 in the #text box and clicking OK, selecting the PaintBucket Tool, and clicking in the selection. I thenmade a selection around each of the thrusters inthe same manner and filled these areas in onthe same layer. I set the blue fill’s layer BlendMode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar.

12. Next, I wanted to light up the car slightly.I imported a photograph of a neon light (File >Import). Using the Transformation Tool, I posi-tioned the neon light to sit directly on the head-light, then pressed Enter to confirm the move.

13. I set the light’s Blend Mode to Screen inthe Layers sidebar, then adjusted the brightness.I chose Image > Brightness & Contrast, loweredthe Brightness by -35 and raised the Contrast by29, and clicked OK. I duplicated this layer(Layer > Duplicate Layer) and dragged it to theother headlight on the left, and also appliedthem to the thruster panels.

14. To add to the effect that the car was actually in this environment, I decided to addreflections of the top of the buildings on thewindshield of the car. Hiding any layers thatwere in the way, I made a selection aroundsome protruding buildings on the original back-ground layer, and I copied and pasted theselection onto a new layer (Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste). I then redisplayed the hidden layers.

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15. I dragged the copied building layerabove the car’s color Overlay layer on theLayers sidebar. Using the Distortion Tool, Iwarped the copied layer to fit the slanted per-spective of the car’s windshield, then pressedEnter to confirm the change.

16. Next, I added a motion blur to the back-ground. I selected the background layer in theLayers sidebar and then clicked the Layer Filtersbutton on the sidebar to open the Layer Filtersdialog box. I clicked the Blur check box tocheck it, changed the Quality to High, andentered 6 in the Blur X text box and 0 in the Blur Y text box. I clicked OK to apply the blur to the layer.

17. Finally, I applied a slight green tint overthe entire image to bring it all together. I cre-ated a new layer (New Layer icon) anddragged it to the top of the Layers sidebar. I setthe foreground color to an aqua green tone(click the Foreground color selection box, enter9CD4A5 in the # text box, and click OK). I setthe layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and loweredthe Alpha to 47% in the Layers sidebar, and myimage was complete.


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Toiletbot

Many people have a fear ofusing public restrooms. I, forone, refuse to use one under anycircumstances. You never knowwhat sort of evils lurk within thebowels of the public bathroom.In this tutorial, I’m going to showhow to create a real monsterusing items found around thebathroom. I’ll be showing howspending the time to find suit-able source images can greatlycut down on the actual worktime.

Source Images: “Men’s Room”by Bitfire, Inc., “WC Pan” byWebwise Studios, “DisabledToilet” by Show Me Scents,“Toilet in a hotel room” byLjupco Smokovski, “Bathroom”by annthphoto, “Brain control2” by Andreas G., “Empty ToiletRoll” by David G. Freund

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3. Then it came time to assemble the figure. Istarted with the body. I unhid one of the toiletsource image layers, the one I figured would fitbest within the sketch of the body. I selected theLasso Selection Tool, and then I made a roughselection around the toilet and copied andpasted it onto a new layer (Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste). I then re-hid the toilet source layer by clicking its Eye icon box in the Layerssidebar.

4. Then, I selected the Transformation Tooland resized and positioned the toilet to fit alongthe guidelines. I pressed Enter to confirm thechange.

1. The first thing I did was to open a background source image. I cre-ated a new layer above the original layer, selected the Paintbrush Tool,and set the foreground color to red. I drew in a rough basic outline forthe toilet creature.

2. The next step, and possibly the step which took the longest, was tohunt down all the source images needed to assemble the creature. Ilooked for images of toilets and sinks from different angles that wouldfit within the general outlines of the segments I roughly sketched in. Ithen uploaded all my source images to the document (File > Import). Ithen hid all the source layers until I needed them by clicking the Eyeicon beside each one.


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5. I selected the Eraser Tool and used it toerase the background around the toilet, leavingit cleanly extracted.

6. I repeated the process outlined in Steps 3through 5 to begin the shoulder segment of mycreature. The trick to locating the appropriatesource images of elements for the various seg-ments is to compare the perspective and angleof the elements to the area you want to copy thepiece onto.

7. As the shoulder on the figure’s right sidewas along the same perspective of the left shoul-der, I simply duplicated the layer holding the toi-let I had used for the left shoulder (Layer >Duplicate Layer) and dragged this layer belowthe body segment on the Layers sidebar. I thenused the Transformation Tool to drag the toiletsegment to the right shoulder area of the figureand pressed Enter when I was happy with theplacement.

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8. I then chose to use the source image of thesink to complete the figure’s right arm. It had along slender shape, which fit well with the origi-nal guideline sketch.

9. I selected the sink layer from the Layers side-bar and used the Transformation Tool to alignthe sink to fit under the figure’s shoulder, thenpressed Enter to confirm the move.

10. For the figure’s left hand, I used theimage of the toilet roll hook, as it made for aninteresting-looking hand for the creature.


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11. As I did with the other elements, I simplyextracted the toilet roll hook and moved it ontothe end of the figure’s left shoulder with theTransformation Tool to create the illusion thatthis was indeed the creature’s hand.

12. For the creature’s head, I found a sourceimage of an interesting piece of machinery. Itook the time to look for an image of this pieceof machine that resembled a figure’s faceinstead of trying to create a face for the figurefrom scratch. This is a good example of howtaking the time to look for appropriate sourceimages greatly helps reduce the actual time ittakes to make the image.

13. I flipped the image vertically (Edit >Transform > Flip Vertical). Then I used theTransformation Tool to resize and position thehead to sit on top of the figure where the headwould naturally go. Then I pressed Enter to con-firm the transformation. Next, I chose the EraserTool with the Hardness set to 90 and Size set to25 and erased around the head to remove thebackground surrounding the head.

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14. I wanted to give the head a blue tint, asthe rest of the image seemed to have a slightblue cast. So I created a new layer (New Layericon) over the layer with the head on it, andselected the Paintbrush Tool. I set the PaintbrushTool’s Hardness to 0, and set the foregroundcolor to a light blue and painted over the entirehead. I later set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay and lowered the layer’s Alpha to 66%in the Layers sidebar to apply the tint to thehead.

15. I finished assembling the figure by addingits legs, repeating the process used to create thefigure’s body and arms. When I was happywith the composition of the figure, I addedshadows in between each of the segments. I cre-ated a new layer on top of the Layers sidebarand selected the Paintbrush Tool. I set theHardness to 0 and set the foreground color toblack and lowered the Alpha to 12%. I thenpainted in between each of the segments todelineate them and add a sense of depth.

16. And finally, I wanted to create a slightreflection of the figure on the tiled floor. I set thePaintbrush Tool’s foreground color to white (clickRestore Colors and then Switch BetweenForeground and Background Colors). I createda new layer (New Layer icon) and dragged itdirectly above the original background layer.On the new layer I painted in a subtle shadowleading directly from the figure’s right foot tocreate the illusion of the reflection on the floor,and the image was done.


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Inanimate Objects

In the past, I often wondered if my toys cameto life when I turned out the lights at night.This irrational phobia always kept me up atnight imagining all my possessions springingto life and attacking me while I slept. Butenough about last week. In this tutorial, I’m going to address my fears head-on by creating one of the demons of my mind. After all, a creation can’t turn on his creator,can he? I’m assuming he can’t, anyways.

Source Images:“Baseball” by RobertBadgley, “Skull” by CyCampbell aka cycoze

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1. I started my document with the base imageof a baseball. I then imported the image of askull into the document with File > Import, whichplaced the second image on a new layer. Usingthe Lasso Selection Tool, I selected the frontfacial portion of the skull and copied andpasted this segment onto a new layer with Edit> Copy and Edit > Paste. I then clicked the Eyeicon beside the skull layer in the Layers sidebarto hide the skull layer and reselected the pastedlayer in the Layers sidebar. I chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.Using the Transformation Tool, I resized andmoved the face segment of the skull to alignwith the leftmost edge of the baseball, pressingEnter to finish the transformation.

2. With the pasted face layer still selected, Ichose Image > Brightness & Contrast, raised theBrightness by 6 and lowered the Contrast by -2,and clicked OK to suit the lighting of the origi-nal baseball image a little better. Then, usingthe Eraser Tool, I removed the remnants of origi-nal background from the skull face layer. I thenset the Eraser Tool’s hardness to 0 and softenedthe edges where the face met the baseball tocreate a smoother blend.

3. I repeated the process from steps 1 and 2,redisplaying and hiding the skull layer asneeded, to copy and paste the lower jaw of theskull onto a new layer and then blend it into thebaseball as well.

4. I repeated the process again for the closerhorn on the skull. I copied and pasted the hornsection onto a new layer. I noticed a crack onthe skull in front of the right horn (the skull’s left)and found it to align with the seam of the base-ball well. So I used the Transformation Tool toalign the crack to the seam.


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5. Using the Eraser Tool, I removed the sur-rounding elements to finish extracting the horn. Icarefully erased the areas to expose the stitch-ing of the baseball, yet made sure to keep thecrack from the skull layer.

6. Next, I added the farther horn from theskull image layer. As I did with the previous seg-ments, I redisplayed that layer, copied andpasted this area onto a new layer, and hid theskull layer. I used the Eraser Tool to extract thehorn cleanly. I added a slight blur to this layeras it appears farther away in the image. Iclicked the Layer Filters icon in the Layers side-bar and clicked the Blur check box. I entered 3in both the Blur X and Blur Y text boxes, set theQuality to High, and clicked OK.

7. The next step was to clean the overallblending of the skull sections into the baseball.For example, I didn’t like how the stitching ofthe baseball was covered by the skull’s face onthe brow area between the eye sockets. So, Iused the Eraser Tool to expose some of thestitches that went missing on the brow.

8. I noticed the lower jaw looked a little toobright. I wanted to add a shadow to the lowerportion of the jaw around the bottom. With thelower jaw layer selected, I chose Select >Selection from Layer to draw a selection mar-quee around the lower jaw. Then, I created anew layer (New Layer icon on the Layers side-bar) and painted an undershadow along thelower portion of the jaw using the PaintbrushTool set to black foreground color, 0 Hardness,and a low 10% Alpha. I then chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.

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9. For an added effect, I decided to includesome stitching along the chin of the figure.Using the Lasso Selection Tool, I selected a seg-ment of stitching from the original baseballlayer. Then, I copied and pasted this portiononto a new layer (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste)and moved this layer above the lower jaw layerin the list in the Layers sidebar. I selected theTransformation Tool and resized and alignedthis segment to lie across the jaw properly,pressing Enter to finish the transformation. Then,I selected the Eraser Tool, set the Hardness to 0and softened the edges to blend into the skull.

10. And for the finishing touches, I addedshadows for additional elements. I wanted toinclude a shadow on the area where the fronthorn meets the baseball, as well as where thehorn casts a shadow on the side of the base-ball. I created a new layer above the horn’slayer. Then, I selected the Eye Dropper Tool,selected the original baseball layer, and clickedto select a dark reddish tone to get an accuratecolor for the shadow. Reselecting the newshadow layer, I then used a soft Paintbrush Tooland painted in a shadow under the area wherethe horn joins the baseball on the new layer. Irepeated this process to add a shadow alongthe side of the baseball on a new layer, drag-ging this layer below the horn layer on theLayers sidebar. I set the layer’s Blend Mode toMultiply on the Layers sidebar.

11. Finally, I enhanced the existing shadowsaround the cracks of the skull as well. I createda new layer, moved it to the top of the list of lay-ers in the Layers sidebar, and painted in thedesired shadow areas with black. I then set theBlend Mode for all three shadow layers toMultiply and this created a more seamless blendbetween the elements.


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Unzipped

As the title of this book states, there’smore than one way to skin a cat. But Ipersonally find it most convenient (andleast messy) to do it with a zipper! In thistutorial, I’m gonna show how I pulled offthe unzipping effect of the cover imageto give this kitty a fresh new start on life.

Source Images:“Vic’s Cat” byOleksiy Petrenko,“Zipper” by mvp64

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1. I started by opening the image of the cat inPhoenix. Using the Lasso Selection Tool, I drewa selection around the top half (cat’s right) ofthe face and I copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted(Edit > Paste) this selection onto a new layer.

2. Working on the new layer, I selected theDistortion Tool and skewed this pasted segmentto line up to the cat’s face on an angle. When Iwas happy with the placement of the segment, Ipressed Enter to confirm the transformation. Thisbegan the process of “opening” up the figure’shead.

3. I returned to the original image layer andrepeated the process from Steps 1 and 2 on theopposite side of the cat’s face to open up thecat’s head on both sides.

4. I then selected the Eraser Tool set to 85Hardness and cleaned the edges on the pastedlayers for both the top and bottom halves of thecat’s head. I also used the Eraser Tool to erasethe cat’s eyes from the pasted segments.


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5. At this point, I decided to change the colorof the inner cat to help differentiate between thetwo. Selecting the original layer in the Layerssidebar, I made a selection around the cat’sentire face and neck using the Lasso SelectionTool, and then copied and pasted this selectiononto a new layer (Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste). I made sure the new layer was listedbelow the layers with the pasted face halves inthe list in the Layers sidebar. Then, using theTransformation Tool, I dragged the copied catslightly to the right to create more of an offsetfrom the face halves, pressing Enter to confirmthe move.

6. I wanted to give the inner kitten a graytone. With the inner cat’s head layer selected, Imade a selection around the eyes and nose ofthe cat with the Lasso Selection Tool. (Shift+Dragto make the second and third selections.)

7. I then inverted the selection (Select > InvertSelection), because I wanted to remove thecolor from everything but the kitten’s eyes andnose. To turn the kitten gray, I chose Image >Hue & Saturation. I then lowered the Saturationto -80 and clicked OK to confirm the adjust-ment.

8. The next step was to add some basicshadows on the cat’s face. I created a newlayer by clicking the New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar and made sure it was positionedjust above the inner cat layer on the Layers side-bar. I then took a soft black Paintbrush Tool setto 15% Alpha in the tool’s options and paintedover the edges and crevices on the new layer toenhance the shadows. I set this Layer’s Blendmode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar to givethe inner kitty a little more pop.

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9. With the Paintbrush Tool still selected, I cre-ated a new layer and darkened the shadowsdirectly below the edges of the face halves.

10. I wanted to give the inner kitty a slighthint of color for realism. I created a new layer(New Layer icon) just above the inner cat layer,and selected the Paintbrush Tool and chose atan color (HEX c09e01 selected using theForeground color selection box) and 20% Alphain the tool’s options. I then painted over the cat’sears on the new layer. I set this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay and lowered the layer’s Alphato 55% in the Layers sidebar. You can adjust theAlpha to your desired setting depending onhow much color you applied when painting the figure.

11. I noticed the whiskers from the originalimage layer were still showing. So I clicked theoriginal layer in the Layers sidebar (temporarilyhiding other layers first as needed), then withthe Lasso Selection Tool I made a selectionaround a clean segment of the floor. I copiedand pasted this segment onto a new layer justabove the original layer, used theTransformation Tool to move the segment tocover the exposed whiskers, and pressed OK.

12. To attach whiskers back onto the halvedsegment of the face, I selected the original layeragain (temporarily hiding other layers asneeded) and using the Lasso Selection Tool, Imade a selection around the original cat’swhiskers. I copied and pasted this selection ontoa new layer, then dragged this layer to layabove the cat’s halved face layer on the Layerssidebar. First, I desaturated the layer (Image >Desaturate), then I adjusted the contrast. I choseImage > Brightness & Contrast, lowered theBrightness to -70 and raised the Contrast to 70,and clicked OK. Using the Transformation Tool,I then dragged this selection to align with theexisting whisker remnants on the cat’s halvedface and pressed Enter. Finally, I set the layer’sBlend Mode to Screen in the Layers sidebar.


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13. Next, it was time to add the zipper. Iimported a file with an image of a zipper (File >Import). I selected the zipper’s slider first withthe Lasso Selection Tool and copied it onto anew layer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste.

14. Using the Transformation Tool, I rotatedand resized the zipper pull and placed it so thatit appeared over the person’s finger. I pressedEnter to confirm the move.

15. I did the same thing for the actual teeth ofthe zipper, taking small segments at a time andplacing them around the edge of the outer cat’sface, with emphasis on “small segments.”Especially when you’re following along themore curvy paths and using limited zippersources, though it may seem tedious, keepingyour segments small and numerous will leaveyou with complete control over these challeng-ing areas.

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16. I then selected the Eraser Tool set to 85%Hardness and erased carefully around the teethof the zipper to leave them extracted. I thenrepeated this process for both edges of the twosegments of the cat’s outer skin to complete thezipper portion of the image.

17. To place the finger back into the imageover the zipper’s slider, I hid layers as neededand selected the original layer again. I used theLasso Selection Tool to select the fingertip andpasted it onto a new layer with Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste. I dragged this layer above the zip-per pull layer in the Layers sidebar. I used theEraser Tool to erase around the finger to exposethe zipper pull underneath as needed.

18. I wanted to create a slight shadow under-neath the finger. I created a new layer under-neath the finger (New Layer icon) and selectedthe Paintbrush Tool. I selected a dark browntone as my foreground color (click the Fore-ground color selection box in the tool’s options,enter 6A4D04 in the HEX text of the SelectColor dialog box, and click OK). I set the Paintbrush Tool’s Hardness to 0 and painted in the shadow directly below the finger to set some depth to the section, and the imagewas complete.


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Fire!

In this tutorial, I’ll show how totake an image of fire andreshape the flames to create anyfigure imaginable. I couldn’tresist attempting to create aPhoenix in Aviary’s Phoenix. Itwas just too deliciously literal!Source Images: “Fire Eater 2” by Srabin, “Fire” by SCM Studios

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1. The first thing I did after uploading the initialfire breather photo was to create a new layerdirectly under the fire breather layer by clickingthe New Layer icon on the Layers sidebar andthen dragging the new layer below the firebreather layer in the Layers sidebar list. I set theforeground color to black by clicking the RestoreColors button, and then used the Paint BucketTool to fill the new layer with black. I reselectedthe fire breather layer in the Layers sidebar,used the Transformation Tool to drag the firebreather lower on the canvas to give me roomat the top to create a fiery figure, and thenpressed Enter to finish the transformation.

2. I wanted to increase the contrast on the firebreather image to darken the edges of thephoto to blend in with the black background filllayer I created. I chose Image > Brightness &Contrast, lowered the Brightness to -13 andraised the Contrast to 9, and then clicked OK.

3. Next, it was time to define the outline ofthe figure I would be turning into fire. So, I cre-ated a new layer by clicking the New Layericon, selected a red foreground color(Foreground color selection box) and thePaintbrush Tool, and roughly drew in the silhou-ette of the bird I wanted to create. I planned touse this outline as a rough guide for composit-ing the fiery Phoenix.

4. To assemble the figure, I needed to takeapart portions of the existing flames and applythem to form the figure I outlined. I did this inmany different parts, starting by selecting asmall portion of the existing flames on the origi-nal image layer, copying it and pasting it ontoa new layer, and choosing Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee. I then used theTransformation Tool to resize and rotate thecopied portions to fit within the outline.


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5. I imported another image of fire using theFile > Import command to provide more varia-tions of flames for the figure. I continued theprocess described in Step 4 until the bird wasroughly created. I didn’t worry too much aboutrough edges when blending the portions fornow, as those problems will be addressed later.Just composing the outline of the figure is impor-tant right now.

6. Adding bright white highlights in the mid-dle of fire creates a nice dramatic appearance.So I created a new layer (New Layer icon) anddragged it to the top of the list of layers in thefiery composition, selected the Paintbrush Tooland a white foreground color in the tool’soptions, and painted the middle of the Phoenixfigure. I set the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlayin the Layers sidebar to saturate the highlights.

7. Now it came time to smooth the blendsbetween fire segments. I selected all the layerswith segments of fire used to assemble thePhoenix by Ctrl+clicking each layer in theLayers sidebar, and merged them into one layerby clicking the Options button drop-down listarrow and clicking Merge Layers. I selected theLiquify Tool and dragged the tool across therough edges to blend them together. I alsodragged across the edges of the fire to createthe appearance of wild flames.

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8. I wanted to paint in some reddish smokebehind the newly assembled Phoenix. I createda new layer by clicking the New Layer icon,and dragged it below the fire layer in the Layerssidebar. I reselected the fire breather layer,selected the Eye Dropper Tool, clicked on thelayer to sample the red color around the origi-nal flames, reselected the new layer, andpainted in a similar smoky highlight effectbehind the Phoenix using the Paintbrush Tool setto 0 Hardness.

9. For added detail, I decided to give myPhoenix an eye. I copied a triangular segmentfrom the original flames on the fire breatherlayer and pasted it onto a new layer with Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste. I dragged this new layerto the top of the list in the Layers sidebar. Usingthe Transformation Tool, I dragged this pastedeye segment up to the head area of my Phoenixand rotated it so it resembled an eye, pressingEnter to finish the transformation. Then, using asoft Eraser Tool, I erased the edges to blend itinto the Phoenix’ head.

10. And finally, I created one more new layerat the top of the Layers sidebar (New Layericon) and filled the entire thing with a RadialGradient with white in the center radiating to agray. (Click the Gradient Fill tool, choose Radialfrom the Gradient Type drop-down list in thetool’s options, and drag diagonally from thecenter of the image.) I set this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar. Thisadded a nice subtle lighting effect by blowingout the highlights in the center of the image anddarkening the corners and edges, creating avignette effect.


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Water

We’ve all seen marvelous icesculptures before. It’s an incredi-bly difficult and unforgivingmedium to work in, as the win-dow of opportunity to work onany particular piece is hinderedby multiple factors including tem-perature and gravity. Since wearen’t limited by such forces ofnature in the digital world, let’stake it one step further and cre-ate a sculpture... out of water! In this tutorial, I’m going to do just that and take a splash of water and sculpt it into a dolphin.

Source Image: “Ice” by Irina Tischenko

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1. I started with the image of the splashingwater in a glass. I made a duplicate copy of theoriginal layer and then clicked the Eye iconbeside the duplicate layer in the Layers sidebarto hide the layer for now. I then resized the orig-inal image on its layer to about one quarter ofits original size using the Transformation Tool,dragged the selection to the lower-right cornerof the canvas, and pressed Enter to confirm thetransformation.

2. The next step was planning out the shapeof the splash. I decided to go with the figure ofa dolphin, but the possibilities here are limitless.But I find creating an image of an animal orobject with a very distinct silhouette greatlyhelps the recognition factor of the image. I cre-ated a new layer and roughly drew in the dol-phin shape with the Paintbrush Tool set to acontrasting red color.

3. After I was happy with the general outlineof the figure, it was time to start assembling it.First, I clicked the Eye icon box next to the dupli-cate of the original glass image to unhide thatlayer. On this layer, I selected a segment of thewater splash by using the Lasso Selection Tool. Ithen copied and pasted this splash onto a newlayer using Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste.

4. I hid the duplicate glass layer again fornow. Using the Transformation Tool, I rotated thecopied splash segment to align with the bottomtail area of the dolphin, then pressed Enter toconfirm the transformation. I set the layer’sBlend Mode to Multiply in the Layers sidebar. Iselected the Eraser Tool and erased portions ofthe splash that may have strewn past the outlinetoo much. Straying from your guidelines a littleis okay, but go too far and you risk losing shaperecognition for the figure.


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5. I repeated the process from steps 3 and 4to fill in the top outline of the figure. I set eachsplash segment layer’s Blend Mode to Multiplyin the Layers sidebar. This way, when I assem-bled the figure, the segments weren’t obstructedwith remnants of the white background foundon your pasted splash segments, and only thewater will be seen. Another good practice is toperiodically hide the guideline layer to see howthe figure stands on its own without it, redisplay-ing the guideline layer as needed.

6. To create the beak of the dolphin, I usedthe same process as for the dolphin’s body. Ihad to be sure to find an appropriate piece inthe water glass image to use for the beak, so Ichose the pointiest segment of the water’s splashthat I could find. I copied and pasted this seg-ment onto a new layer (Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste) just as I did for the rest of the body. I setthe layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply, as well. Iused the Transformation Tool to rotate and alignthis piece to sit directly where I drew in thebeak in the guideline and pressed Enter to con-firm this transformation.

7. I repeated the process of copying segmentsof water from the duplicate of the original layerto assemble the bottom of the dolphin figure. Itried to vary the sections of water as much pos-sible to avoid having an obvious “cloned” effecton the splashes.

8. Just as for the beak, I had to find a seg-ment in the glass of water image that mostresembled the triangular shape of the dorsal fin.I copied an appropriate section of the splashonto a new layer (Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste), aligned it to the dorsal fin area using theTransformation Tool, and set the layer’s BlendMode to Multiply. I also dragged this layerabove the other splash layers in the Layers side-bar. Where the dorsal fin portion overlappedthe dolphins’ back, the area appeared to be alittle jumbled. So I selected the splash layerwhich the dorsal fin was obstructing and usedthe Eraser Tool to erase out the areas directlyunder the dorsal fin to clean up the area.

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9. I repeated the same process as for the dor-sal fin to assemble the figure’s flippers. At thispoint, I also added a droplet on the figure’shead area to create a semblance of an eye. Idid this by selecting one of the larger dropsfrom the original image and copying (Edit >Copy) and pasting (Edit > Paste) it onto a newlayer above my water layers. Then I dragged itinto position using the Transformation Tool andpressed Enter to confirm the move. I then set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Multiply on the Layerssidebar. Then, I created a new layer directlybelow this eye layer and selected the PaintbrushTool with white set as my foreground color topaint within the perimeter of the eye.

10. To enhance the splashing effect even fur-ther, I decided to include some stray waterdroplets around the figure. I unhid the duplicateglass of water layer again and selected a fewof the airborne water droplets. I copied thisselection and pasted it onto a new layer (Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste) and hid the glass ofwater layer again. With the TransformationTool, I moved the pasted droplets to fall underthe dolphin’s beak. I repeated this process tocreate droplets of water floating around the fig-ure’s dorsal fin and flippers.

11. And finally, to make the figure pop evenmore, I decided to strengthen the outline of thefigure. I created a new layer (New Layer icon)and dragged it to the very top of the list in theLayers sidebar. I selected the Paintbrush with theHardness set to 10 and painted around the sil-houette of the figure with black set as the fore-ground color.

12. I set this outline layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay and lowered the Alpha to 70% in theLayers sidebar. This darkened the edge of thefigure, creating a more prominent silhouette ofthe dolphin.


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S-s-smokin’

In this tutorial, I’m going to create onesmokin’ woman using a few sourceimages and simple tools. So follow along,and I’ll try to share a few secrets intosome of the magic, without the smoke andmirrors. Well, maybe a little smoke.

Source Images: “Male portrait 5” by Valentin Casarsa, “Dancing Girl,”“Smoke” by pixelfactory

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3. Next, I imported a high contrast image ofa model (File > Import). Not only do the naturalstark shadows and highlights of this image lookgood, but hey, the contrast will do half the workfor us in the long run. First, I flipped the imageof the woman horizontally (Edit > Transform >Flip Horizontal).Using the Transformation Tool, Iresized and moved the figure to where I wantedthe smoke to flow and pressed Enter when I waspleased with the figure’s placement.

4. I then set this layer’s Blend Mode to Screenand lowered the Alpha to 82% in the Layerssidebar. This Blend Mode only allows the lightareas of the image to be visible, thus hiding theblack background of the image already creat-ing a semi-ghostly appearance.

5. Now that we have our basic compositionin place, it’s time to make the figure look morelike smoke. Using the Liquify Tool, I smudged theedges of the figure and pulled out trails to drawa smoky effect. I did that until I was left with awispy looking figure.

1. With the general idea already in my mind, Ineeded to find a suitable background image ofa smoker. The image I found turned out perfectbecause of the line of direction of the main fig-ure’s vision. He’s looking directly where Iplanned to place a smoky woman, creatingunity among our elements.

2. The first step was to remove most of thesmoke from the original image, as I would becreating other smoke later on. I started by creating a new layer (New Layer icon on theLayers sidebar). Reselecting the original layer, I selected the Clone Stamp Tool and Shift+clicked a clean area of the background to sample it. Then I reselected the new layer andpainted over the smoke covered areas with theselected sample. It didn’t need to be perfect atthis point, as most of it would be covered by theend anyways.


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6. Our lady could always be more smokin’.And what’s more smokin’ than, well, smoke? Iimported a source image of smoke into the doc-ument next using File > Import. Using the LassoSelection Tool, I selected some of the smoke onthe new layer and then copied and pasted thesegment onto a new layer using Edit > Copyand Edit > Paste. I then clicked the Eye iconbeside the imported smoke layer to hide thelayer and chose Select > Select None to removethe selection marquee.

7. Using the Transformation Tool, I moved thecopied smoke segment to cover one of thebrighter areas of the woman’s figure andpressed Enter to finish the transformation. I thenset the layer’s Blend Mode to Screen in theLayers sidebar.

8. I repeated this process to cover the rest ofthe figure, redisplaying and hiding the layerwith the imported smoke image as needed. I took a larger segment of the smoke and pastedit on the upper portion of the image with theTransformation Tool and pressed Enter to con-firm the move. I lowered the Alpha of this layerto 12%. This created a bit of a smoky mist in theair congested by the cigarette.

9. Now we’re getting somewhere! But I stillwanted to expose a few of the highlights of thesmoke a bit more. Just to give it that extra pop. Idid this by creating a new layer for highlights(New Layer icon in the Layers sidebar). Then Iselected the Paintbrush Tool and set the fore-ground color to white and Hardness set to 0 inthe tool’s options. On the new layer, I used thePaintbrush Tool to paint over the brightest areasof the figure.

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10. I then set this layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay. This bumped up the highlights in thesmoke, creating a more dramatic appearance.

11. I then created a new layer and set the fore-ground color to a light blue by clicking theForeground color selection box, entering49ABFF in the HEX text box of the Select Colordialog box, and clicking OK. I selected thePaint Bucket Tool and clicked the new layer tofill the entire layer with the light blue. I set thelayer’s Alpha to 28% in the Layers sidebar.

12. I set the blue fill layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay in the Layers sidebar, as well. Thisplaced a slight blue cast over the entire image,bringing the image together and also adding asomber mood, which I liked.

13. And finally, I wanted to saturate thesmoke just a little further. I created another newlayer (New Layer icon) and selected thePaintbrush Tool. I set the Paintbrush Tool’s fore-ground color to a blue tone (click theForeground color selection box, enter 38AFF0in the HEX text box, and click OK), set theHardness to 0, and lowered the Alpha to 50%in the tool’s options. On the new layer, I roughlypainted over the smoky figure with the bluetone.

14. I set this final layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay and lowered its Alpha to 50% in theLayers sidebar. This gave the smoke a nice sub-tle blue hue, which enhanced the mood of theimage, and my composition was complete.


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Chrome

Creating the appearance ofchrome is tricky business. Oftentimes, people just assume a mir-rored surface is gray and try towork around that. In this tutorial,I’ll show how to pull off a con-vincing chrome effect simply byusing portions of images to cre-ate the reflective look directly onan apple.Source Images: “Picking an Apple” by Elena Elisseeva, “Field” by Lise Gagne

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1. I started with the image of an apple. I chosethis image because I liked the fingers surround-ing the apple, which would allow me to createsuitable reflections enhancing the chrome effect.

2. Next, I uploaded an image of a field withFile > Import. This image would serve as thebase of my chrome apple.

3. I selected the Transformation Tool anddragged the field layer to cover the apple,pressing Enter to confirm the move. I thenselected the Eraser Tool and erased the edges ofthe field layer to leave an apple shaped portionof the field covering the fruit on the originallayer.

4. I then chose Select > Selection from Layerwith the field layer still selected, and then Iclicked the original apple layer in the Layerssidebar. I copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit> Paste) this selection onto a new layer, anddragged the newly copied layer above the fieldlayer on the Layers sidebar. I chose Image >Desaturate, leaving a grayscale apple layer ontop of the field layer.

5. I set this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay,and lowered the layer’s Alpha to 46% in theLayers sidebar. This applied some of the origi-nal apple’s highlights and shadows to the newapple.


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6. Next, I wanted to enhance the shadowsaround the apple to enhance the depth. Withthe apple selection still selected, I created a newlayer. I selected the Paintbrush Tool and set theforeground color to black (Restore Colors but-ton), set the Hardness to 0, and lowered theAlpha to 12%. On the new layer, I lightlypainted around the edges of the apple todarken them and create the deeper sense ofdepth.

7. The essence of chrome is in its reflections. Istarted by attempting to create a reflection forthe person’s thumb. After selecting the originallayer in the Layers sidebar, I chose the LassoSelection Tool and created a rough selectionaround the figure’s thumb. I copied and pastedthe thumb onto a new layer (Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste).

8. I selected Edit > Transform > FlipHorizontal to flip my copied thumb, creating amirror image of the original. I pressed Enter toconfirm the transformation.

9. I dragged the thumb reflection layer abovethe field layer, but below the shadow and over-lay layers, on the Layers sidebar. With theEraser Tool selected, I erased around the thumbin the thumb reflection layer to extract it from itsbackground.

10. I repeated the process to add reflectionsfor the finger on the right, and two leavesabove the apple. I wanted the palm of the fig-ure’s hand reflected on the bottom of the appleas well. With the Lasso Selection Tool selected, Imade a selection around a portion of the fig-ure’s palm on the original layer and copied itonto a new layer with Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste. Using the Transformation Tool, I draggedthe palm into position along the bottom of theapple.

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11. I then dragged this layer above the fieldlayer on the Layers sidebar. Using the EraserTool, I cleaned the edges of the layer to createthe palm’s reflection on the apple. I then usedthe Eraser Tool set at 0 Hardness and softenedthe edges of the thumb and finger reflection lay-ers to blend these into the palm reflection.

12. When I was happy with the reflections, it was time to create a surface shine on thechrome apple. I made a selection around theapple again by choosing Select > Selectionfrom Layer with the field layer selected. Then, I created a new layer (New Layer icon) anddragged it to the very top of the Layers sidebar.I selected the Gradient Fill Tool and draggedfrom top to bottom to create a gradient over the apple.

13. Using the Transformation Tool, I resizedthe gradient shine smaller to fit within the apple,but not completely covering it. I chose Image >Brightness & Contrast, lowered the Brightnessby -93 and raised the Contrast by 16, thenclicked OK. I set this layer’s Blend Mode toScreen, and lowered the layer’s Alpha to 52%.This gave me the shine I desired on the apple.

14. And finally, I wanted to blow out a couplehighlights near the top of the apple. I created anew layer (New Layer icon) and dragged it tothe top of the Layers sidebar. I selected thePaintbrush Tool. I set the foreground color towhite (Switch Between Foreground andBackground Colors button), and lowered thePaintbrush Hardness to 0. I then painted in acouple of highlight spots near the top-left part ofthe apple to blow out this area a little more,completing the image.


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Stone

In this tutorial, I’ll turn a photo-graph of a person into a memo-rial statue. But I’m going to takeit one step further and show asecond effect, making the modelin my image appear as if shewere a statue to begin with, anda make-up artist is painting fleshright onto the stone.

Source Images: “makeup and beauty treatment” by nitorphoto, “High quality marble”by scorpion26

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1. I only wanted the left side of the model’sface (viewer’s right) turned to stone. Using theLasso Selection Tool, I selected half of her faceand her neck and copied this segment onto anew layer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. Ithen selected Image > Desaturate to remove allcolor from the copied layer. This will be thebase of the statue portion of the image. I thenchose Select >Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee.

2. I wanted to remove the iris and pupil fromthe eye on this portion of the figure. Using theEye Dropper Tool, I sampled a gray tone fromthe desaturated portion of the face to set a grayforeground color. I selected the Paintbrush Toolwith the Hardness set to 10 and the Alpha set to30%. I painted the gray foreground color overthe pupil and iris directly on the desaturatedlayer.

3. Next, I wanted to add stone texture to thefigure’s face. To do so, I imported an imagewith marble texture onto a new layer on thedocument using File > Import. I selected thedesaturated face layer in the Layers sidebar andchose Select > Selection from Layer. With thisarea selected, I reselected the marble texturelayer in the Layers sidebar and copied thisselected area onto a new layer. I then set thenewest layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply to createthe marble texture effect on the woman’s faceand clicked the Eye icon beside the importedmarble image layer in the Layers sidebar tohide that layer. I chose Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee.

4. I wanted to make it look as if the skin wasbeing painted over the marble textured side ofthe woman’s face, so I needed to make theappearance of paint strokes on the edge wherethe skin meets the marble. To do this, I firstmade a duplicate copy of the original layer byselecting it in the Layers sidebar, clicking theOptions button drop-down list arrow, and click-ing Duplicate Layer. I dragged the new layercopy to the top of the list in the Layers sidebar.


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5. Then, I applied a Layer Mask to this dupli-cate layer (Layer > Mask Layer). Initially, doingso hides the entire layer. By drawing on theMask Layer, I’m able to draw in and uncoverthe hidden layer wherever I choose. I selectedthe Shape Brush Tool, chose a splattered brushshape in the tool’s options, and drew along theedges of the stone area to give it the paintstroke appearance. If I made an error, I simplyselected the Eraser Tool and dragged over anyundesirable areas on the Mask Layer, just as Iwould on any normal layer.

6. I continued this process until I was happywith the look and amount of paint texture I hadapplied to the figure.

7. At this point, it was time to add some subtleshadows. I selected the desaturated face layer. Ichose Image > Brightness & Contrast, loweredthe Brightness to -16, and clicked OK. I alsoenhanced the shadows around the face. I cre-ated a new layer (New Layer icon) anddragged it under the marble texture layer. Iselected the Paintbrush Tool set to 0 Hardnessand 10% Alpha, and set the foreground color toblack in the tool’s options. Working on the newlayer, I painted over the existing shadows onthe areas around the stone figure’s eyes, nose,lips, neck, cheekbone, and anywhere else shad-ows already appeared. I then set this layer’sBlend Mode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar. Ithen created another new layer and carefullypainted a subtle shadow under the edges of theskin where it met the stone.

8. To add even more interest to the image, Iadded some cracks to the stone texture of theface. I selected the desaturated face layer in theLayers sidebar again. I selected the Liquify Tooland set the Pressure to 3 and the Size to 14 inthe tool’s options. I created the cracks in theface by starting with a darkened area of theface, for example inside the mouth, draggingthe tool in a haphazard manner to create therough, imperfect cracks on the face.

12. And finally, to bring the whole thingtogether, I created a new layer at the top of theLayers sidebar (New Layer icon). I filled theentire layer with a light brown tone (click theForeground color selection box, enter C59F6Din the HEX text box, click OK, select the PaintBucket Tool, and click the layer). I set the layer’sBlend Mode to Overlay and lowered the Alphato 25% in the Layers sidebar, which gave thewhole image a slight tan overcast, unifying thewhole image a little further.

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9. I repeated the process on the surface of thelips, a small one on the surface of the eye, andon the corners of the eyes as well.

10. I noticed some of the cracks becamemore dispersed than I wanted, or appearedmore faint than desired. To darken the cracks, Isimply created a new layer over the desaturatedface layer and painted over the cracks in blackwith the Paintbrush Tool to strengthen any cracksthat needed it.

11. Next, I sharpened the image overall to fur-ther boost the marble texture on the figure. Todo so, I first flattened the image (Layer > FlattenLayers). I then duplicated the layer so I had twoflattened copies to work with. On the top copy, Iapplied the Sharpen filter (Filter > Sharpen).This sharpened the image a lot more than Idesired. Playing with the Alpha slider on theLayers sidebar enabled me to distribute theSharpen effect to my liking. I lowered the Alpha of this layer to 15% for a subtle boost insharpening.

NoteSometimes, I want to merge all my layers intoone, while maintaining all the working layersat the same time in case I want to go back tothem later. To create both the flattened andunflattened layers in one document, first I flat-tened the entire image (Layer > FlattenLayers). Then I chose Select > Select All tomake a selection around the entire canvas,then I copied it (Edit > Copy) onto my clip-board. Next, I clicked the Undo button twiceto bring me back to my fully layered image.Next, I chose Edit > Paste, and this pastedmy copied flattened layer into my workingdocument on a new layer. I was now free toedit on my flatened layer while all my work-ing layers remained intact underneath.


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Canvas Earth

From Italy shaped like a boot,to Slovenia being shaped like achicken, we see that God (orinsert deity of your choice) hasan artistic side to him (or her, ifyou prefer). In this tutorial, we’regoing to prove this fact by tak-ing a naturally formed mountainand reshaping it in the guise ofan old man’s face.

Source Images: “On the top of world” by Oleg Prikhodko, “Age Profile” by DuncanWalker

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1. I started with a source image of a mountainside. I liked the shape of this image and figuredit would be suitable to graft the man’s face onto.

2. Next, I uploaded the image of the side pro-file of a man’s face (File > Import). I flipped theface horizontally (Edit > Transform > FlipHorizontal) to match the direction of the moun-tain. This will be the guide I use in building themountain face.

3. I lowered the Alpha setting for the facelayer to 50% on the Layers sidebar and selectedthe Transformation Tool. I dragged the face to sitalong the side of the mountain and pressedEnter when I was happy with the face’s positionin the composition.

4. I reset the face layer’s Alpha to 100%. Ithen removed the background around the faceon its layer. As the background was basically asingle colored space, I simply selected theMagic Wand Tool and clicked the backgroundto select it, and then cut out the background por-tion (Edit > Cut).


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5. Next, it was all a matter of finding suitableportions from the original mountain layer to fitin the various sections of the man’s face. Istarted with the nose. There was a piece pro-truding out from the side of the mountain thatresembled the shape of a nose upside down. Iclicked the layer in the Layers sidebar, and thenI made a selection around this segment usingthe Lasso Selection Tool and copied (Edit >Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste) it onto a newlayer. Then I dragged the layer over the facelayer on the Layers sidebar.

6. I then flipped this piece vertically (Edit>Transform > Flip Vertical). I selected the facelayer and lowered the Alpha of the layer to50%. Using the Transformation Tool, I draggedand resized the copied layer to align with theold man’s nose. Then I pressed Enter when Iwas pleased with the positioning of the seg-ment.

7. Using the Eraser Tool set to 50 Hardness, Ierased around the segment to leave just thearea of the nose and upper lip remaining.

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8. Next, I wanted to add the lower mouthsection to the figure. Going back to the originalmountain layer, I made a selection around aportion of the mountain with the Lasso SelectionTool and copied and pasted it onto a new layer(Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste). Using theTransformation Tool, I dragged and rotated thissegment to fit under the upper lip in my previouslayer to create the appearance of the figure’slower mouth, pressing Enter to finish the trans-form. I then used the Eraser Tool to erase theareas extending beyond the old man layer.

9. I repeated the process to add an eye to thefigure. I found a section of the mountain with aheavy shadow, which had the appearance ofthe deep in-set eye of the old man. I selected iton the original layer, copied and pasted,moved and rotated, and then fine-tuned with theEraser Tool.

10. To add the man’s forehead to the image, Ineeded to find a wide, clear portion of themountain to use. Reselecting the original layer, Iselected the surface of the mountain using theLasso Selection Tool and copied it onto a newlayer (Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste).

11. Using the Transformation Tool, I rotated thepiece to line up with the man’s forehead. Then Ipressed Enter to confirm this move.


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12. I then added aging lines to the side of theman’s head to create the fish-eye look. I selecteda crack in the mountain on the original layer,and repeated the previous process to apply it tothe man’s face.

13. I repeated this process several times tocompile the rest of the man’s face. When I finished assembling my figure’s main facial features, I was left with something like this. As you can see, the facial features are now recognizable, but I wanted to enhance the general look of the entire head a little better.

14. To do so, I superimposed the layer of theold man directly onto the face of the mountain. Iselected the old man layer, set it back to 100%Alpha, and changed the Blend Mode toHardlight in the Layers sidebar. I needed toadjust the darkness of the layer a bit more. Ichose Image > Brightness & Contrast and low-ered the Brightness by -19 and raised theContrast by 29. I clicked OK to confirm theadjustment.

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15. Using the Eraser Tool set at 0 Hardness, Ierased the overblown white section along theleft side of the face. I duplicated this layer(Layer > Duplicate Layer) and set the copiedlayer’s Blend Mode to Add and its Alpha to75% in the Layers sidebar.

16. All that was now left was enhancing thehighlights and shadows. First, I created a newlayer for the highlights. Using the PaintbrushTool with white set as my foreground color (clickRestore Colors and then click Switch BetweenForeground and Background Colors) and theHardness set to 0, I painted along the figure’snose, cheekbone, over the eyelid, and over thelips to accentuate these areas. I then set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay.

17. And finally, I added shadows to the fig-ure’s face. I created another new layer for theshadows. I changed the foreground color toblack (Restore Colors button). With thePaintbrush Tool still selected, I painted over thefigure’s eye, around the nose, and any otherareas that had depth and creases. Thisenhanced the already existing shadows, com-pleting the image.


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Robot Frog

Half robot, half frog. In this tutorial,I’m basically emphasizing the importanceof spending that extra time in the plan-ning stage for your composite images:finding the most suitable source imagesand even sketching out the basic compo-sitions before the actual image creationstage. After all, why create more work foryourself, such as putting some copiedcontent in the wrong place, when youdon’t need to?

Source Images: “Red-eyed Tree Frog Peeping Around Plant” by MarkKostich, “Terminator” by Athewma, “Motorcycle Chrome” by tillsonburg,“Motorcycle Chrome” by Linda Bucklin, “well polished knob” by WiredGallery and Frame, “Rubinetto” by Afonso Lima

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1. So the first step was to gather sourceimages. First, I started with an image of a frog.Any animal will do for this type of project, but Iprefer to stick with animals with an easily identi-fiable figure. Once you go on to cover the fig-ure in metal, you want the underlying creatureto still read clearly regardless of the material it’sconstructed from. I gathered images with vari-ous chrome, engine, and robotic parts. Whiledoing this, I kept on the lookout for pieces thathad a relatively similar tone in reflection tothem. Of course, you can apply the necessarychanges with non-uniform source images, butit’s always easier to spend the time now in theinitial source hunt stage instead of trying to fixsource images later. I began the composition byopening the image of the frog in Phoenix. Then Iimported the other source images into the file(File > Import). I hid all but the frog layer byclicking the Eye icon beside each layer to hidein the Layers sidebar.

2. It was time to start drawing out a blueprintfor the mode of attack on this image. Still in theplanning stage, I spent a little time sketching outthe basic outlines of where I wanted to applychrome in the image. I created a new layer byclicking the New Layer icon on the Layers side-bar. Using the Paintbrush Tool set with a con-trasting red selected as the foreground color(use the Foreground color selection box in thetool’s options to select the color), I drew guide-lines for the areas where I wanted to addchrome segments.

3. So now armed with a ground plan andsource images, it was all a matter of followingthe outline. First, I unhid the chrome source lay-ers to look for appropriate areas to use. Usingthe Lasso Selection Tool, I roughly selected asmall segment from one of the chrome sourceimages, copied it (Edit > Copy), and pasted it(Edit > Paste) onto a new layer. I clicked the Eyeicon beside the source image layer in the Layerssidebar to hide it again. I also chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marqueefrom the pasted chrome segment.

4. Then it was all a matter of skewing thepieces to fit the guidelines as best I could. First, Iselected the Transformation Tool to place thesegment roughly in place, and pressed Enter toconfirm the move. Then, using the DistortionTool, I resized the copied segment to fit into oneof the outlined segments on the rough sketchcreated in Step 2, then pressed Enter to confirmthe transformation.


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5. I repeated the process outlined in Steps 3and 4 to create copied segments to cover themajority of the figure. I was careful to select seg-ments in the source images that were roughly inthe shape of the sketched segments. As anaside, I like to start with the pieces furthest fromthe camera, then work my way forward. Thismakes sure that the segments that appear clos-est to the camera are higher up in the list in theLayers sidebar.

6. For the frog’s mouth, I needed a widerpiece of chrome. I decided to copy a segmentfrom an image of a faucet source image for thispart, because the top of the faucet in the imageoffers an area with a longer arched piece thatwould fit the shape of the mouth relatively well.So again, I just extracted the pipe by selectingand then copying and pasting it, and used theTransformation and Distortion Tools to form thepasted segment around the mouth area.

7. There, now the frog was covered inchrome. But I noticed a few remnants of theoriginal background remained visible on theedges. Using the Clone Stamp Tool, I sampled aclean area of the background (Shift + Click)and just painted over the unwanted areasaround the chrome directly on the original froglayer.

8. Now that I was satisfied with the look ofthe basic figure, it was time to add a few shad-ows to this guy. I started by selecting one of thechrome layers. Then I created a new layerdirectly above this one. On this new layer, Iused a soft, black Paintbrush Tool, and paintedin shadows on the lower areas of the chromesegment, following the contours of the piece.

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9. I repeated the process described in Step 8to create new layers sandwiched in between thechrome layers and painted shadows on the newlayers until I was satisfied with the look of thefigure.

10. And to further accentuate the shadows, Iadded a few slight highlights to the top edges ofthe chrome pieces. I inserted a new highlightlayer at the top of the Layers sidebar (NewLayer icon), selected the Paintbrush Tool, and setit to a small size and white foreground color inthe tool’s options. On the new layers, I thenpainted the edges and existing highlightedareas for emphasis.

11. I wanted to add a slight hint of the plantreflecting onto the frog as well. I created a newlayer, selected the Paintbrush Tool, selectedgreen as the foreground color in the tool’soptions, and painted along the edge where thefrog meets the plant. I then set this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar to give aslight green cast on this area.

12. And finally, I created a final new layer atthe top of the Layers sidebar, clicked theForeground color selection box, enteredCB9A00 in the HEX text box of the Select Colordialog box, and clicked OK, and I then usedthe Paintbrush Tool to fill the new layer with thebrown color. I then set this layer’s Blend Modeto Overlay and lowered the Alpha of the layerto 30% in the Layers sidebar. This brought theimage together by casting a slight, uniform yel-low tone to the whole image.


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Animal Dress-Up

As much of an atrocity as itmay be, you can’t deny theadorableness of dressing upyour pets! Well, maybe you can,but I’m going to do it anyway. In this tutorial, I’ll be taking aphoto of a kitty, and turning himinto one rocked out feline.Source Images: “Attitude” by Sloane Court Photography, “Tabby kitten playing”

by Eagle Eye Imaging , “Roaarr!!!” by Andrea Simonato

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1. First, I started off with the base image. Ichose an image of a youngster with a guitar, asthis would give me an interesting pose with atti-tude that I desired.

2. Next, I imported the image of the roaringkitten (File > Import). Using the Lasso SelectionTool, I made a rough selection around the cat’shead, then copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted(Edit > Paste) the selection onto a new layer. Ichose Select > Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee.

3. I hid the kitten source layer by clicking itsEye icon in the Layers sidebar. With the copiedkitten face layer selected in the Layers sidebar, Ichose Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontally to flipthe kitten’s face. I then selected theTransformation Tool to move, resize, and rotatethe kitten’s head to fit closer proportionately tothe original figure’s body, and then pressedEnter when I was happy with the size.


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4. Next it was time to remove the unwantedareas around the cat’s head. Using the EraserTool set at 10 Hardness, I erased around thecat’s head, leaving a feather edge due to thesoftness of the Eraser Tool.

5. The top of the original boy’s head wasexposed at the top, so I wanted to remove thatarea. I hid the copied kitten face layer by click-ing its Eye icon in the Layers sidebar. I selectedthe original layer, then using the Lasso SelectionTool to select a clean portion of the background,I copied and pasted it onto a new layer (Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste). I used theTransformation Tool to drag this selection overthe exposed part of the boy’s head to hide it,pressing Enter to finish the change. I thenclicked the box for the kitten face layer’s Eyeicon to redisplay the layer.

6. I wanted to edit the fur around the cat’shead better so it wasn’t just a soft blur. Iselected the kitten face layer and then zoomedin. I selected the Eraser Tool and set theHardness to 50 and the Size to 2 and I carefullyerased in an inward motion from the outside ofthe cat’s head towards the center to create thefur effect around the figure. I zoomed back outwhen I was satisfied with the changes.

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7. To create the cat arms for the figure, Iimported my second image of a cat into thedocument (File > Import). Using the LassoSelection Tool, I made a selection around thecat’s leg in this image layer and pasted it onto anew layer with Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. Iclicked the Eye icon beside the cat layer in theLayers sidebar to hide it. I also reselected thepasted leg layer and chose Select > SelectNone to remove the selection marquee. I then used the Transformation Tool to align andsize the pasted leg segment to the original fig-ure’s arm, and pressed Enter to confirm thetransformation.

8. As I did with the cat’s face earlier, Ierased the surrounding elements around thecat’s arm, then emphasized the furry edges withthe small Eraser Tool again. I was careful toclean up the area where the cat’s leg met theedge of the sleeve of the T-shirt.

9. I noticed some remnants of the boy’s handwere still showing through. I hid the cat leglayer for the time being. I selected the originallayer and clicked the New Layer icon in theLayers sidebar to create a new layer above theoriginal layer in the Layers sidebar. Using theEye Dropper Tool, I clicked an area on the gui-tar near the boy’s hand to sample that color.Then, working on the new layer, I selected thePaintbrush Tool and painted over the boy’s handwith the sampled foreground color to hide it. Ithen redisplayed the cat leg layer by clickingthe box for its Eye icon in the Layers sidebar.


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10. I then repeated the process outlined inSteps 7 through 9 to cover the original figure’sother arm, but this time making sure to erase theportions of the arm that would be covered bythe guitar neck. I also pasted the cat’s handonto a new layer to appear over the guitar’sneck in the image.

11. Next it was time to add shadows. I createda new layer underneath the arm layers byselecting the layer in the Layers sidebar andclicking the New Layer icon. On this layer, Iselected the Paintbrush Tool with black set as theforeground color and 0 Hardness in the tool’soptions, and painted a shadow along the bot-tom edge of the arm. I lowered this layer’sAlpha to 80%, but you could adjust to your lik-ing depending on how strongly you painted inthe shadows to begin with. I created anotherlayer and applied the same technique under thecat’s head to create some depth there as well.

12. And to create a shadow underneath eachof the sleeve edges, I used the same process.But this time, I created a new layer above thecat’s arm layer and painted in the area appear-ing directly under the sleeves with thePaintbrush Tool.

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13. I wanted to bring the whisker ends thatwere lost during the face swap back onto thecat’s face. I created a new layer, then took thePaintbrush Tool, set white as the foregroundcolor (click the Switch Between Foreground and Background Colors button), set the Size to3 in the tool’s options, and carefully drew inwhiskers. Using the Eraser Tool, I was able totaper off the edges so that the whiskers came toa point for more realism. I continued thisprocess until I was happy with the number ofprotruding whiskers.

14. For a few final touches, I wanted to createa slight vignette effect over the entire image. Icreated a new layer (New Layer icon) anddragged it to the top of the list in the Layerssidebar. I selected the Gradient Fill Tool, set theMode to Radial in the tool’s options, anddragged diagonally from the cat’s face to alower corner to get a spotlight effect over thecat as seen above. I then set this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay and Alpha to 22% in theLayers sidebar.

15. And finally, I created a new layer (NewLayer icon), filled it with a pink tone with thePaint Bucket Tool, then set this layer’s BlendMode to Overlay and changed the Alpha to14%. I created another new layer, but this timefilled it with a dark green color and set theBlend Mode to Overlay and the Alpha to 11%.These color overlay layers gave the entireimage a more uniform tone and helped to bringthe entire image together.


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Creating an MP3 Player

It seems every banner adver-tisement online is offering freeMP3 players these days. But thetruth is, nobody is giving awayfree MP3 players. So why notcreate one of your very own? Inthis tutorial, I’ll be showing youhow to create your own MP3player from scratch in Aviary.

Source Image: “Happy Holidays” by Meowza Katz

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1. I started by creating a new image (File >New Document) with a white canvas set at1200px X 1600px. The first step in creating theplayer was to draw the general outline of theplayer. I selected the Rectangular Shape Tool,set the Corner Rounding value to 30, and setthe foreground color to black (Restore Colorsbutton) in the tool’s options. I created a newlayer (Layer > New Layer) and drew a rectangu-lar shape as the base for the player. You mayneed to zoom out of the image to see the entirecanvas, making it easier to draw in your rectan-gle to the desired size. I left some white spaceon the bottom to add my reflective shadow inlater on.

2. I wanted to create a menu rocker button forthe MP3 player. I selected the Elliptical SelectionTool and created a circular selection on myplayer. I held down the Ctrl key on the key-board while dragging the Tool to constraint theproportions to a circle. I created a new layer(New Layer icon), selected the Gradient FillTool, and dragged diagonally from the top lefttoward the bottom right to create a gradient inthe selected circular area. I then chose Select >Select None to remove the selection marquee.

3. To create a center button in the middle ofthe rocker, I created another new layer abovethe rocker layer by clicking the New Layer icon.With the Ellptical Selection Tool selected, I cre-ated a circular selection in the middle of therocker button on the new layer by pressing Ctrlwhile dragging and filled it with black using thePaint Bucket Tool.


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4. Next, I wanted to cast a shine on theplayer for that sleek, modern look. I created anew layer with the New Layer icon anddragged the new layer above the base layerand below the rocker button layers on theLayers sidebar. I selected the Rectangular ShapeTool, set the Corner Rounding to 25 and set theforeground color to white (Switch BetweenForeground and Background Colors button) inthe tool’s options. I dragged the Tool within theconfines of the base layer but slightly smaller.

5. I wanted to apply a gradient to the shineso I chose Select > Selection from Layer to drawa selection around the newly drawn shape.Then, I selected the Gradient Fill Tool anddragged in a diagonal direction starting fromthe top-left corner to the bottom-right corner tocreate the gradient.

6. Then, I deselected the layer (Select > SelectNone). I selected the Polygonal Selection Tooland clicked points around the areas I wanted toremove from the shine layer, leaving a diagonalshine on the top right portion of the player.Then, I chose Edit > Cut to remove theunwanted areas from the image. I chose Select> Select None, and lowered the Alpha of thislayer to 43% in the Layers sidebar.

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7. To create the window on the player, I cre-ated another new layer with the New Layer iconand dragged the layer to the top of the list inthe Layers sidebar. I chose the RectangularShape Tool and set the Corner Rounding valueto 30. With black set as my foreground color(click the Restore Colors button in the tool’soptions), I dragged to create the rectangularwindow shape right over the reflection on thenew layer, creating the base for the window.

8. I wanted to create a gray border aroundthe window to give it more of an inset 3Dappearance. So I made a selection around theentire window (Select > Selection from Layer),then set a 5 pixel border selection around it(Select > Modify > Border, enter 5 in the textbox, and click OK). With the border selected, Iset my foreground color to a gray tone (click theForeground color selection box, enter A6A6A6in the # text box, and click OK) and filled in theborder selection with the Paint Bucket Tool byclicking anywhere within the selection. You mayneed to zoom in to the image closer in order tosee the interior of the selection to target thePaint Bucket click. I then chose Select > SelectNone to remove the selection marquee.

9. Next, I wanted to make the icons for themenu pad. I selected the Text Tool and clickedon the top portion of the menu rocker button toadd a Text layer. I set the Text Tool’s color to alight gray by clicking the Color box in the tool’soptions, entering CCCCCC in the text box atthe top of the palette that opens, and pressingEnter. I also set the Size to 32 and left the fontset to Arial in the tool’s options. I typed“MENU” to add the top menu rocker buttonchoice. Then, I selected the Transformation Toolto drag the text into the exact position I wanted,then pressed Enter to confirm the move.


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10. To create the play, rewind, and fast for-ward icons, I started with a triangle. Using thePolygonal Selection Tool, I clicked the three cor-ners of the triangle to make a triangular selec-tion. Then, I created a new layer and filled theselection on that layer with light gray using thePaint Bucket Tool. I chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee.

11. Then I selected the Transformation Tool,reduced the size of the triangle and moved itinto position on the right side of the menu rockerbutton, and pressed Enter when I was happywith the size and position. I duplicated this layer(Layer > Duplicate Layer) and used theTransformation Tool to move the second trianglebeside the previous triangle. Again, it helps tozoom in 200% or more in order to work withthe small triangles much easier. Then I createdone more layer and drew a small rectanglealong the side of the rightmost triangle to com-plete my fast forward/skip icon. I then Ctrl+clicked the two triangle and rectangle layers inthe Layers sidebar and merged them (Layer >Merge Layers) onto one single layer.

12. I duplicated the fast forward button (Layer> Duplicate Layer) and flipped it horizontally formy rewind button (Edit > Transform > FlipHorizontal). Then, I selected the TransformationTool and dragged the copied icon to the leftside of the menu rocker button. To make theplay/pause icon, I again made a duplicatecopy of the fast forward button, but this time Ierased one of the triangles and added onemore rectangle to the right side instead. Then,with the Transformation Tool, I moved theplay/pause icon to the bottom of the rocker button.

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13. To enhance the modern look, I wanted to apply a surface reflec-tion for the player. I duplicated the base layer, and then dragged itbelow the original base layer on the Layers sidebar. I made a selectionaround the copied layer (Select > Selection from Layer) and selectedthe Gradient Fill Tool. I set a light gradient to the image that dispersesas it draws further from the player. To do so, I simply dragged theGradient Tool from bottom to top in the selection to create this appear-ance, and I raised the Brightness (Image > Brightness & Contrast) by50. The amount of Brightness you apply will depend on how heavy youapply your gradient, and how much surface reflection you want basedon personal preference. Then, I selected the Transformation Tool anddragged the reflection to sit underneath the MP3 player on the canvas,then pressed Enter to confirm the move.

14. And finally, I wanted to include an image on my player’s win-dow. I imported a festive painting of Aviary’s birds into my document(File > Import) for decoration. I then used the Transformation Tool toresize it and position it within the confines of the window and myplayer was complete.


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Anatomy Scramble

Surgery gone wrong. It sounds like a newspecial coming soon to cable television. In thistutorial, I’m going to create a “surgical error,”taking a photograph of a pregnant woman andgrafting a man’s head onto her belly. I neverthought I’d say that sentence in my life.

Source Images: “Portrait of Motherhood” by Digital Savant LLC,“Sunglasses and Scream” by Nuno Silva.

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1. I started by loading an image of a pregnantwoman. There was plenty of space on thewoman’s stomach, as well as negative space inthe background, which would work perfectly forthe composition I had in mind.

2. Next was to find an image of a face that Icould graft onto the woman’s stomach. I foundan image of a screaming face that would lookamusing to blend into the pregnant woman’sanatomy, so I uploaded this image into the doc-ument (File > Import).

3. I moved the face to position on the area ofthe woman’s stomach. First, I set the Alpha ofthe screaming face layer to 50% in the Layerssidebar. This made it easier to see exactlywhere I was moving the face to. I selected theTransformation Tool and dragged and resizedthe face to fit along the woman’s stomach. Irotated the face to fit the confines of thewoman’s stomach, as well, then pressed Enter toconfirm the transformation.

4. Using the Eraser Tool set to 0 Hardness, Ierased the surrounding elements of the face onits layer to blend it into the skin of the woman. Ithen reset the Alpha for the face layer to 100%on the Layers sidebar.


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5. I noticed that the saturation level in thescreaming face source was lower than that ofthe woman’s layer, so it was a simple matter ofraising the saturation on the screaming face.With the face layer selected, I chose Image >Hue & Saturation. I raised the Saturation by 16and raised the Brightness by 4. I then clickedOK to confirm the adjustment.

6. I needed to then eliminate the portion ofthe woman’s abdomen that was exposed pastthe screaming face by copying a segment of thebackground and using the segment to cover thewoman’s stomach. After selecting the originallayer with the woman in the Layers sidebar, Iselected the Lasso Selection Tool and made aselection around part of the background. I thencopied (Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste)this selection onto a new layer.

7. Using the Transformation Tool, I draggedthis copied segment over the woman’s belly tothe left of the face. Using the Eraser Tool set to 0Hardness, I then softened the edges around thesegment to blend it into the rest of the back-ground.

8. The copied segment covered part of thewoman’s hand. I wanted the woman’s handexposed, so it appears as if she’s holding thescreaming face. So I selected the original layeragain and using the Lasso Selection Tool, Imade a selection around the upper portion ofthe woman’s hand and copied and pasted itonto a new layer (Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste). I then dragged this layer above the facelayer on the Layers sidebar.

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9. Working on the copied hand layer, I usedthe Eraser Tool to expose the screaming face’slower lip area. I wanted to have the screamingman’s bottom lip overlapping the woman’s handvery clearly, so I copied the lip from the originalscreaming face layer and pasted it onto a newlayer as well. Then I dragged this layer abovethe woman’s hand layer on the Layers sidebar.

10. Using the Transformation Tool, I draggedthe copied lip layer to situate it back on thescreaming face and hanging off of the woman’shand. Then I pressed Enter to confirm the move.

11. I selected the Eraser Tool and erasedaround the edges of the copied lip on its layerto extract it cleanly, creating the illusion of itbeing above the hand. I then created a newlayer (New Layer icon) and dragged it belowthe lip layer on the Layers sidebar.

12. Finally, I added a slight blue tint to theentire image to bring the whole thing together. Icreated a new layer (New Layer icon) anddragged it to the top of the Layers sidebar,selected a light blue foreground color (click theForeground color selection box, enter 89AFB0in the # text box, and click OK), and then filledthe layer using the Paint Bucket Tool. I set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and lowered theAlpha to 83% in the Layers sidebar, and theimage was complete.


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Creating a Sea Monster

Of all the undiscovered creaturesthat have fascinated cryptozoologistsand the public alike, few have gar-nered as much attention as the LochNess Monster. From the days of thefamed “Surgeon’s photo” from 1934,people have been continually makingfalse claims of evidence of Nessie forover 70 years. But a grainy black andwhite photo just doesn’t hold up in this modern age of photography. So in this tutorial, we’re going to updatethe old photographs of the Loch NessMonster and make our very ownimage of Nessie to perpetuate thishoax even further!Source Images: “Orta san giulio” by E_B_E, “Epic Dinosaur” by Daniel Bendjy,

“Dinosaur Face” by Dave Skinner.

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1. I started with an image of a lake. I thenimported an image of a plastic dinosaur fig-urine (File > Import).

2. I wanted to start by creating the creature’shead and neck emerging from the waters. Iselected the Lasso Selection Tool and made arough selection around the dinosaur’s neck andcopied (Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste)it onto a new layer. Chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee.

3. I hid the original dinosaur layer for thetime being by clicking its Eye icon in the Layerssidebar. With the copied layer selected, I usedthe Transformation Tool to rotate and resize thedinosaur’s neck to make it appear as if it werecoming out of the water. I pressed Enter to con-firm the transformation. Then I simply used theEraser Tool to erase around the dinosaur neck,extracting it from its orange background.

4. Next, I imported a second source of adinosaur figurine’s head (File > Import). I likedthe clarity and detail in this source image muchbetter than the head from the first dinosaursource.


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5. Using the Eraser Tool, I erased the elementssurrounding the dinosaur’s head on the newlyimported layer. Then, I selected theTransformation Tool and resized and alignedthe dinosaur head to sit on the top of the origi-nal dinosaur’s neck, pressing Enter when I washappy with the placement. I used the Eraser Toolto remove any excess portions of the dinosaur’sneck from the first dinosaur layer, whichremained exposed past the newly added face.

6. I wanted the neck of the creature to matchthe green tint of the figure’s head. I selected thecreature’s neck layer and chose Image > Hue &Saturation. I slid the Hue slider to the right to 56to give the neck a green tone and clicked OK. Ithen merged the head and the neck layers. Todo this, I held down the Ctrl key as I clickedeach of these layers on the Layers sidebar andchose Layer > Merge Layers when I had themboth selected.

7. Next, I added humps protruding from thewater behind the monster’s neck to suggest thesize of a large creature in the water. I made thefirst dinosaur source layer visible again by click-ing the box for its Eye icon in the Layers side-bar. I chose the Lasso Selection Tool and madea selection around the figure’s hump andcopied it onto a new layer (Edit > Copy andEdit > Paste). I then rehid the source layer andchose Select > Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee.

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8. Using the Eraser Tool, I erased around thehump, leaving it extracted on the copied layer. Iselected the Transformation Tool and draggedthe hump to sit behind the creature’s head andappear as if it were protruding from the water,then pressed Enter when I was pleased with itsplacement on the surface.

9. I added a second hump as described inSteps 7 and 8, and repeated the process toinclude the dinosaur’s tail appearing from thewater, as well.

10. Next, I wanted to create reflections in thewater. I duplicated the creature’s head layer(Layer > Duplicate Layer) and dragged theduplicated layer under the original head layeron the Layers sidebar. I then mirrored the dupli-cated layer by selecting Edit > Transform > FlipVertical and dragged it below the original headon the canvas using the Transformation Tool. Ipressed Enter to confirm the move.


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11. Using the Eraser Tool with the Hardness setto 0, I faded the reflection near the bottom bydragging the tool across the bottom to subtlyerase it.

12. I added highlights to the figure next. Asthe light was hitting the figure from behind, Idecided to add a backlit effect to the creature.With the creature’s head layer selected, I madea selection around the entire segment (Select >Selection from Layer). I created a new layer(New Layer icon), made sure it was selected,and then selected the Paintbrush Tool. I selectedwhite as the foreground color, set the Hardnessto 0, and set the Alpha to 50%. I then paintedalong the right edge of the creature’s head andneck to create the highlight.

13. To further enhance the highlight, I createdanother layer for highlights. With the PaintbrushTool still selected, I raised the Hardness to 50and raised the Alpha to 100%. I then drew athin line along the right edge of the figure’sneck to create the stark line of highlight. I thenchose Select > Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee.

14. I repeated the process across the crea-ture’s humps and tail to add highlights to theentire figure.

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15. I merged all the reflection layers with theoriginal background layer by holding Ctrl andclicking each of the reflection layers and back-ground layer on the Layers sidebar. Then Ichose Layer > Merge Layers to merge them intoa single layer. I selected the Liquify Tool and setthe Pressure to 2 and dragged across the reflec-tions to create the wavy look of water ripplesacross the reflections.

16. I wanted to add a yellow tint to the high-lights across the figure’s highlights. I created anew layer (New Layer icon) and dragged itabove the highlight layers on the Layers side-bar. I selected the Paintbrush Tool and set theforeground to a dark yellow color (click theForeground color selection box, enter BB965Bin the # text box, and click OK), and set theHardness to 0. I painted over the highlights onthe new layer and set the layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay.

17. And finally, I gave the entire image aslight yellow tint. I set my foreground color to amuted tan color (#AD9F88). Then, I created anew layer and dragged it to the top of the liston the Layers sidebar. I filled the entire layerwith the foreground color using the Paint BucketTool. I set the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlayand the image was done.


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Cyborg

As a young child, I was fasci-nated with science fiction, espe-cially the idea of robots. I’dspend days with my friends gath-ering cardboard boxes in futileattempts to craft our own cyborgsto do our bidding. Now, with thepower of Phoenix, I’m able totravel back to my childhood daysand build the mechanical friend Ihave always wanted. In this tuto-rial, I’ll show you just how I wentabout creating my very owncyborg.

Source Image: “Young pretty woman receiving face massage” by Yuri Arcurs

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1. I started with an interesting source image ofa woman receiving a facial massage. I wantedto manipulate the image to make it appear as ifthe hands were removing the woman’s face.

2. First, I wanted to separate the hands andface from the rest of the image. I made a copyof the original layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer). Iselected the Eraser Tool, and erased everythingbut the hands and the face on the duplicatedlayer.

3. I selected the Transformation Tool anddragged the duplicated layer higher up on thecanvas to offset it against the original image. Ithen pressed Enter to confirm the move.

4. I wanted to get rid of the hands and lips onthe original layer. First, I made a duplicate ofmy original layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer). Iselected the Eye Dropper Tool and clicked onthe background area beside the hands on theduplicated layer. Then, I selected the PaintbrushTool with the Hardness set to 0 and paintedover the hands with the sampled color directlyon the original layer. I repeated this process toremove the lips by sampling the woman’s skincolor around her face and painting over thelips. Obviously, the more work I put in duringthis stage the better, but it didn’t need to be per-fect, as I’d be applying a strong blur to thislayer eventually.

NoteI created a new layer in between my originaland duplicated layers, and filled the layer inwith green using the Paint Bucket Tool tocover the original layer for the time being.This enabled me to see what portions of theimage were being erased and which partsremained, which would have been difficult todecipher had I tried to work on the dupli-cated layer with the same original image ona layer directly below it. When I was fin-ished, I deleted the green layer by clicking itin the Layers sidebar and then clicking theDrop Layers (trashcan) icon in the sidebar.


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5. Next, I created a seam running down thefigure’s face to add to the manufactured effect. Icreated a new layer (New Layer icon) anddragged it above the duplicated face layer onthe Layers sidebar. Using the Elliptical ShapeTool, I drew very narrow shapes down the cen-ter of the face to create the base for the seam.

6. I set the seam layer’s Blend Mode toOverlay. I wanted to add a bevel to this layer tomake it look more three-dimensional. I clickedthe Layer Filters icon on the bottom of the Layerssidebar to bring up the list of filter options. Ichecked the Bevel check box to apply the Bevel.I changed the Quality to High, increased theStrength to 8, changed the Angle to 128, andset the Distance to 4. I then clicked OK. Thisapplied a highlight across the right side of theseam, giving the line more depth.

7. The mask layer was still lacking the artificiallook I desired. So I decided to simulate a plasticeffect by creating a shiny look over the entiresurface of the mask. I clicked the New Layericon to create a new layer above the line layerin the Layers sidebar. Starting with the leftcheekbone, I simply took the Elliptical ShapeTool with white set as the foreground color (clickRestore Colors and then click Switch BetweenForeground and Background Colors) and drewa circle over the figure’s cheek.

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8. With the Distortion Tool selected, I warpedthe circle to a skewed oval shape to bend alongthe woman’s cheekbone. I pressed Enter to con-firm the transformation when I was pleased withthe general shape of the shine.

9. I wanted to fade the shine near the bottom.So I selected the Eraser Tool and set the tool’sSize to 136 and the Alpha to 20% and clickedon the bottom of the shine to give the appear-ance of the shine gradually fading. I duplicatedthis layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer) and flippedthe duplicated shine (Edit > Transform > FlipHorizontal). Then, I selected the TransformationTool and dragged the duplicated shine over tothe right cheekbone to create a mirror image ofthe one on the left cheek. I pressed Enter when Iwas pleased with the shine’s placement on thecheek.

10. I wanted to create further shines on theface to really give the appearance the face wasconstructed of plastic. Next, I decided to put abig shine on the forehead. I created a newlayer (New Layer icon) and selected theElliptical Shape Tool and white as my fore-ground color. Working on the new layer, I drewa big circle on the center of the face to begin.

11. Again, I selected the Eraser Tool andtapered off the shine across the bottom of thecircle. I also erased out any portions of theshine that were obtruding on the woman’s facialfeatures.


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12. I repeated this process to add shines onthe mask temples and eyelids, on the tip of thenose, and on her chin. At this point, I alsoraised the contrast of the woman’s face. With the duplicated mask layer selected, I chose Image > Brightness & Contrast, loweredthe Brightness down to -14 and raised theContrast to 14, and clicked OK to confirm theadjustments.

13. I further enhanced the appearance of anartificial mask by creating rivets on the sides ofthe woman’s face. This was easily done by firstcreating a new layer and drawing a darkbrown circle using the Elliptical Shape Tool.Then, using the Distortion Tool, I reshaped thecircle to appear as if it were a hole on the sideof the woman’s face, and pressed Enter when Iwas happy with the shape and placement of thecircle.

14. Then I made a selection around the hole(Select > Selection from Layer). I selected thePaintbrush Tool and changed the foregroundcolor to a lighter tan color (click the foregroundcolor selection box in the tool’s options, enter8E7160 in the # text box, and click OK). Usingthe Paintbrush Tool, I drew along the left inneredge of the rivet directly on its layer. I dupli-cated this layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer) and flipped the duplicate horizontally (Edit >Transform > Flip Horizontal). Then I dragged the duplicated copy to the right side of thewoman’s face.

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15. Next, I applied a blur to the originalimage to create the illusion that the hands andthe mask are set closer to the camera. I selectedthe original layer and clicked the Layer Filtersicon on the Layers sidebar. I selected the Blurcheck box and adjusted the Blur options. Ichanged the Quality to High, and set the Blur Xand Blur Y settings to a strength of 10. I clickedOK to confirm the adjustment.

16. I wanted to create reflections of the fig-ure’s thumbs on the woman’s face. I created anew layer by clicking the New Layer icon andpainted these in manually using the PaintbrushTool with white set as the foreground color.

17. And finally, I applied a blue tint over theentire image to create a cold, sterile environ-ment over the entire image. I created a newlayer and dragged it to the top of the Layerssidebar list. I set the foreground color to a darkaqua by clicking the Foreground color selectionbox, entering 688F88 in the # text box, andclicking OK. I selected the Paint Bucket Tool andclicked the new layer to fill it. I then set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and lowered theAlpha to 70% in the Layers sidebar. The cyborgimage was complete.


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Dragons

Dragons have appeared in someform in the folklore of almost every cul-ture worldwide. But the way they’reportrayed in traditional stories variesgreatly from culture to culture. Theyoften hold spiritual significance in reli-gion and represent primal forces ofnature. And also, they just look prettydarned cool. In this tutorial, we’ll betaking parts of several different animalsand compositing them together to create our very own dragon.

Source Images: “Portrait of a Lizard” by SpanicPhoto, “Hungry Croc”by Luka Esenko, “Rhino” by Clivia, “Goat” by Art-Y, “Fruit Bat in Flight”by 945-ontwerp, “Hands With Keys” by Focusing on People

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1. I started with an image of an iguana as thebase. I then imported a picture of a crocodile(File > Import) to the document, as I’d be usingthe terrifying look of the crocodile’s jaw andteeth for the dragon. I used the Magic WandTool and clicked in the white surrounding areaof my crocodile layer and Cut this portion out(Edit > Cut) to remove it.

2. To assemble the mouth, I first started withthe top jaw. I used the Lasso Selection Tool toselect the top half of the crocodile’s mouth and Icopied (Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste)this segment onto a new layer, then made theimported crocodile layer invisible for now byclicking its Eye icon in the Layers sidebar. I alsochose Select > Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee. Making sure that the layer withthe copied jaw was selected in the Layers side-bar, I selected the Transformation Tool andresized and repositioned the top half of thecrocodile mouth to situate on the iguana’s mouthand pressed Enter to confirm the move. Toremove the white background area around thecrocodile teeth, I selected the Magic WandTool, clicked in the white area, then chose Edit> Cut to remove the white background portionfrom this layer.

3. I repeated this process to situate the lowerjaw to the iguana as well, redisplaying and hid-ing the crocodile layer as needed. Part of theiguana’s head was visible in between the jaws.To remove the exposed portion of the iguana’sface, I created a new layer below the crocodilejaw layer and above the original layer. Iselected the Paintbrush Tool with white set as myforeground color and painted over the exposedareas of the iguana to cover it.

4. Next, I merged the two jaw layers togetherby Ctrl+clicking each layer on the Layers side-bar and choosing Layer > Merge Layers. I thenchose Image > Hue & Saturation, adjusted theHue by -12 to achieve a more yellow tone to thejaw as was apparent in the iguana’s face,raised the Saturation level by 10, and clickedOK to confirm the adjustment.


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5. I wanted to apply the color from theiguana’s face to the jaw further. So I first madea selection around the jaw layer (Select >Selection from Layer) and created a new layer(New Layer icon) above the jaw layer. I selectedthe Eye Dropper Tool and clicked on a portionof the iguana’s face to sample the mustard yel-low tone from its skin (HEX #D8BF52). Then, Iselected the Paint Bucket Tool and filled theselected area with this tone, and set the layer’sBlend Mode to Overlay in the Layers sidebar. Ithen lowered the Alpha of the layer to 48% andI was left with the jaw blending into the rest ofthe face more cleanly.

6. It was time to give the dragon some horns!I imported an image of a rhinoceros to my doc-ument (File > Import). I selected the LassoSelection Tool and made a selection around thehorns of the rhinoceros, then I copied andpasted this segment onto a new layer (Edit >Copy and Edit > Paste). I chose Select > SelectNone to remove the selection marquee, clickedthe Eye icon beside the full rhino layer in theLayers sidebar to hide the layer, and then rese-lected the pasted horn layer.

7. I flipped the horn segment horizontally (Edit> Transform > Flip Horizontal), as the rhino waslooking in the opposite direction than theiguana. I used the Magic Wand Tool andselected the white background surrounding thehorns and removed this area (Edit > Cut). Ichose Select > Select None to remove the selec-tion marquee. Then, I selected theTransformation Tool and used it to position andsize the horns on the dragon’s face, pressingEnter to confirm the transformation. Finally,using the Eraser Tool set to 0 Hardness, I soft-ened the bottom edge of the horns to blend itinto the iguana’s face more smoothly.

8. I also wanted to add horns to the top ofthe dragon’s head. I imported another sourceimage to my document (File > Import), this timethat of a goat. I selected the horns and ear withthe Lasso Selection Tool and pasted the selectiononto a new layer with Edit > Copy and Edit >Paste. I then removed the selection marqueeand hid the original goat layer. I used theMagic Wand Tool and selected the white back-ground surrounding the horns and removed thisarea (Edit > Cut). I chose Select > Select Noneto remove the selection marquee. Then, Iselected the Transformation Tool and used it toposition and size the horns on the top of thedragon’s head, pressing Enter to confirm thetransformation.

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9. To saturate the horns, I did as I did for thecreature’s jaw. I made a selection around thehorns (Select > Selection from Layer), and cre-ated a new layer (New Layer icon) and usedthe Paint Bucket Tool to fill the selection on thisnew layer with a muted yellow tone (HEX#AEA96F), and chose Select > Select None toremove the selection marquee. I then set thislayer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and lowered theAlpha to 46% in the Layers sidebar to give thehorns a more uniform color like that of theiguana.

10. The face of the dragon was now com-plete. To create a more playful atmosphere forthis creature, I decided to set the dragon on ahuman hand. I imported an image of a person’shand into my document with File > Import. I wasprompted to resize my imported image due tothe fact it was larger than my original canvassize. I selected Resize Image and the imagewas automatically resized to fit within the work-ing canvas size. Using the Transformation Tool, Idragged the hand to the lower portion of thecanvas in an appropriate position to hold thedragon and pressed Enter to confirm the move.

11. I selected the Eraser Tool, and erased thesky background on the hand layer. I also erasedsections of the hand that were overlapping theiguana’s arms to create the appearance that theiguana’s “hands” were overlapping the humanhand.

12. I needed to create the appearance ofshadows under the dragon’s arms next. Iselected the human hand layer, and made aselection around the hand (Select > Selectionfrom Layer). I then created a new layer (NewLayer icon on the Layers sidebar) to hold theshadows. With the selection still around thehuman hand, I selected the Paintbrush Tool andselected black as the foreground color by click-ing the Restore Colors button in the tool’soptions. I set the Hardness of the Paintbrush to0, set the Alpha to 12%, and began painting inshadows underneath the iguana’s hands on thehuman’s skin. I then duplicated this layer (Layer> Duplicate Layer), and set the Blend Mode toOverlay for one of these shadow layers.


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13. I then raised the contrast of the human’shand. I selected the hand layer by clicking it inthe Layers sidebar. I chose Image > Brightness& Contrast, raised the Contrast to 10, and thenclicked OK to confirm this adjustment.

14. To further make the creature appear like adragon, I then decided to add wings. I importeda source image of a bat into the documentusing File > Import. Using the Lasso SelectionTool, I made a selection around the bat’s wingsand pasted it onto a new layer with Edit > Copyand Edit > Paste.

15. I dragged the wings using theTransformation Tool so that they appeared to bepositioned on the dragon’s back, then pressedthe Enter key to confirm the move. Using theEraser Tool, I removed the background from thebat wings layer, and erased the portions thatwere covering the rest of the dragon to make itappear as if the wings emerged from the backof the figure.

16. I added shadows on the wings next. Imade a selection around the wings by selectingthe wings layer and selecting Select > Selectionfrom Layer. I chose the Paintbrush Tool, madesure black was still selected as the foregroundcolor, set the Hardness to 0, and set the Alphato 15%. I created a new layer, then draggedthe Paintbrush to create the shadows around thebase of the wings closest to the dragon figure. Iduplicated my shadow layer (Layer > DuplicateLayer), and set the Blend Mode of my copiedlayer to Overlay. I then selected my originalshadow layer and set the layer’s Alpha to 75%on the Layers sidebar. You may end up needingto use different layer Alpha settings than minedepending on how strong you painted in theshadows to begin with.

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17. And finally, I wanted to create somesmoke emanating from the dragon’s mouth toembellish the idea that this is, indeed, a fire-breathing dragon. So I imported a sourceimage of smoke into the document with File >Import.

18. I set this layer’s Blend Mode to Screen,then used the Transformation Tool to resize andposition the smoke to appear as if it were spew-ing from the dragon’s mouth, and the imagewas complete.

19. And finally, I created two new layers at thevery top of the Layers sidebar. I filled one of thelayers completely with a dark yellow color(#8E8554) and the other with a dark blue(#69799A) using the Paint Bucket Tool. I setboth of these layers Blend Modes to Overlay,giving a uniform color cast over the entireimage.

317

Aaccentuating highlights, 62adding

borders, 12, 134–139, 147, 151colors, 79, 172, 216contrast, 141, 314damaging effects, 162definition, 204depth, 63dimension to images, 19effects, 9elements, 157glare, 96glowing, 66, 169gradient lighting, 143highlights, 26, 67, 254, 281, 302images, 78make-up effects, 167moons, 89objects, 34, 227Radial Gradient, 169reflections, 234, 281, 301ripples, 83saturation, 97selections, 85shadows, 34, 59, 159, 223, 228, 270, 277,

314shine, 308smoke, 222, 255space, 49stars, 89

text, 5textures, 161, 217, 269tint, 206, 213, 303tone, 63, 234windows, 222wrinkles, 226

Adjust Levels dialog box, 149aging

people, 208–212photographs, 160–163

aliens, 202–207aligning

layers, 23objects, 108, 221reflections, 50

Alpha settingsmodifying, 25reducing, 41

anatomy scramble, 294–297angles, modifying, 81animals

dress-up, 282–287hybrids, 214–217

applyingcolors, 312glowing, 31gradients, 290Layer Mask, 33layers, 6–9tint, 235, 309varying color schemes, 181vignette effects, 151yellow tints, 161

architecture, edible, 218–223areas

copying, 87darkening, 93enhancing, 158extending, 216moving, 3removing, 33, 39, 284shaded areas, creating, 46

BBackground Colors button, 93, 207backgrounds

behind glass, 94–97blurring, 53cleaning, 280cloning, 28–31colors, 4deleting, 21, 99, 180hiding, 69

basis for shadows, creating, 21black and white, converting to, 182black borders, creating, 159blemishes, removing, 165blending, 108

colors, 171gradient colors, 4Overlay Blend Mode, 46smoothing, 254

blend modes, formatting, 25blue colors, snowy days, 73

Index


318

blueprints, drawing, 279blurring

images, 187, 309motion, 52–55, 235objects, 35snowy days, 74

bordersadding, 12, 134–139, 147, 151comic book panels, 184creating, 159, 291selecting, 158

brightening images, 73Brightness and Contrast dialog box, 8,

85brushes, Shape Brush Tool, 4burning, dodge & burn, 140–143buttons, creating, 289

Ccanvas earth, 272–277cars, flying, 230–235casting

glowing, 45shadows, 16–19, 31, 197shine, 290

channels, Green, 38chocolate, 198–201chrome, 264–267cleaning

backgrounds, 280edges, 8, 13, 37

Clone Stamp Tool, 5, 261cloning

backgrounds, 28–31foregrounds, 30

close (X) button, 21clouds, in the, 90–93clowns, 122–125Color Picker dialog box, 23, 85Color Replacement Tool, 39colors

adding, 79, 172, 216applying, 161, 312Background Colors button, 93, 207backgrounds, 4blending, 171comic book panels, 182–185fading, 22foregrounds, 4foregrounds, modifying, 75

foregrounds, selecting, 23hair, 167, 170–173increasing, 150inverting, 159line art, 126–129modifying, 37Paint Bucket Tool, 4Pick Color button, 153replacing, 36–39Restore Colors button, 158, 253saturation, 47Select Color dialog box, 5, 281selecting, 3shadows, 150skin, modifying, 60–63two-color borders, 135

comic book panels, 182–185compositional cropping, 144–147Constrain Proportion check box, 146contrast

adding, 314darkening, 141increasing, 229, 253

copying, 206areas, 87hue, 22images, Warhol-izing, 178–181layers, 11, 232, 257objects, 75segments, 258, 280selections, 37tint, 220with Transformation Tools, 29

creating. See formattingcropping, 144–147cross processing, 148–151cutting, 12. See also movingcyborgs, 304–309

Ddamaging effects, adding, 162darkening

areas, 93colors, 61contrast, 141day to night images, 84–89images, 77objects, 23reflections, 82shadows, 109

day to night, 84–89deepening shadows, 26defining outlines, 253definition to objects, adding, 204deleting. See also cropping

areas, 33, 39, 284backgrounds, 21, 99elements, 220selection marquees, 25smoke, 261

depthadding, 63enhancing, 69points of, 49

desaturationimages, 70, 179selective, 152–155

deselecting layers, 290dialog boxes

Adjust Levels, 149Brightness and Contrast, 8, 85Color Picker, 23, 85Hue and Saturation, 142, 211Layer Filters, 87Layers Filter, 13Level Adjustment, 38Resize Canvas, 180Select Color, 5

dimension to images, adding, 19disabling background layers, 53displacement, 114–117displaying toolbars, 17distorting elements, 5Distortion Tool, 3, 58, 103, 117, 247

shadows, matching, 22documents, creating, 7dodge & burn, 140–143dragging. See also moving

freehand selections, 3layers, 235Liquify Tool, 5objects, 3Rectangle Selection tool, 3Rectangular Shape Tool, 4Smudge Tool, 5

dragons, 310–315drawing. See also comic book panels

blueprints, 279lightning, 65outlines, 175

Index

319

drips, creating, 199. See also liquifyingDrop Layer, 9dulling reflections, 82duplicating. See also copying

images, Warhol-izing, 178–181layers, 83, 161shapes, 17

Eedges

cleaning, 8, 13, 37jagged, removing, 19

edible architecture, 218–223editing, 206

images, 284layers, 8

effectsadding, 9blurring. See blurringdamaging, adding, 162lighting, 44–47make-up, adding, 167splashing, 259vignette, applying, 151

elementsadding, 157distorting, 5extracting, 17removing, 220

Elliptical Selection Tool, 3, 88Elliptical Shape Tool, 41, 88, 231enhancing

areas, 158composition, 147depth, 69eyes, 174–177gradient light, 67highlights, 217, 277lighting, 45retouching, 164–169saturation, 132–133shadows, 245, 266, 277

Eraser Tool, 4, 117, 232backgrounds, applying on, 17reflections, 49

erasing. See also deletingbackgrounds, 180layers, 71

exporting images, 9exposing highlights, 262extending areas, 216

extracting elements, 17Eye Dropper Tool, 39, 231eyes, enhancing, 174–177

Fface swaps, 106–109fading

colors, 22objects, 66reflections, 51shine, 307

feathered borders, 136Feather feature, 172filling

Gradient Fill tool, 255layers, 315objects, 206

filters, Layers Filter dialog box, 13fire, 252–255flattening

images, 77, 151, 189layers, 63

flipping. See also movinglayers, 50segments, 312

floating borders, 137floods, 80–83flying cars, 230–235foggy days, 68–71fonts, selecting, 5foregrounds

cloning, 30colors, 4colors, modifying, 39, 70, 75colors, selecting, 23

formattingblend modes, 25borders, 159, 291buttons, 289layers, 9, 13lightning, 64–67new documents, 7new images, 289reflections, 233, 301selections, 18shadows, 13shadows, basis for, 21smoke, 315windows, 291

freehand selections, 3

Ggender bending, 224–229ghosts, 28–31glare

adding, 96saturation, adding, 97

glass, behind, 94–977glowing, 87

adding, 66, 169applying, 31casting, 45

gradient colors, 4Gradient Fill Tool, 85, 255gradient lighting

adding, 143applying, 290enhancing, 67

Gradient Tool, 45shadows, 18

graffiti, 102–105grayscale images, transforming, 153Green channel, 38grunge borders, 139

Hhair

colors, 170–173lightening, 167

halftone patterns, 184handles, 3Hardlight Blend Mode, 200hazy effects, 71, 73. See also foggy

daysHEX text box, 263, 281hiding

backgrounds, 69layers, 30, 61, 86, 262shadows, 23toolbars, 17

highlightsaccentuating, 62adding, 26, 67, 254, 281, 302enhancing, 217, 277exposing, 262eyes, 176painting, 177

huecopying, 22modifying, 37


320

Hue and Saturation dialog box, 142,211

hybrids, animal, 214–217

Iimages

adding, 78aging, 160–163aliens, 202–207anatomy scramble, 294–297animal dress-up, 282–287animal hybrids, 214–217backgrounds, cloning, 28–31behind glass, 94–97blurring, 187, 309borders, 134–139brightening, 73canvas earth, 272–277chocolate, 198–201chrome, 264–267in the clouds, 90–93clowns, 122–125colors, hair, 170–173colors, line art, 126–129colors, modifying skin, 60–63colors, replacing, 36–39colors, selecting, 3comic book panels, 182–185compositional cropping, 144–147cross processing, 148–151cyborgs, 304–309darkening, 77day to night, 84–89desaturation, 70, 179dimension, adding to, 19dodge & burn, 140–143dragons, 310–315edible architecture, 218–223editing, 284effects, lighting, 44–47enhancing eyes, 174–177exporting, 9face swaps, 106–109fire, 252–255flattening, 77, 151, 189floods, 80–83flying cars, 230–235foggy days, 68–71gender bending, 224–229graffiti, 102–105

importing, 7, 21, 57, 63, 101–105, 225inanimate objects, 242–245layers, masks, 32–35lemon car, 192–197lighting, matching, 24–27lightning, creating, 64–67liquify-displacement, 114–117liquify-melting, 110–112liquify-texturing, 118–121merging, 63miniaturizing, 186–189motion, blurring, 52–55moving, 58, 283MP3 players, creating, 288–293multiple, combining, 6. See also layerspeople, aging, 208–212perspective, 56–59positioning, 7precision selection, 40–43rainy days, 76–79recoloring, 39resizing, 196, 225, 283retouching, 164–169robot frog, 278–281rotating, 147saturation, enhancing, 132–133sea monsters, 298–303selecting, 10–13selective desaturation, 152–155selective inversion, 156–159shadows, casting, 16–19shadows, matching, 20–23sharpening, 217, 271smoke, 260–263snowy days, 72–75softening, 92stone, 268–271surfaces, reflections, 48–51tattoo art, 98–101toiletbot, 236–241tools, 2unzipped, 246–251Warhol-izing, 178–181water, 256–259weathering, 163

importing images, 7, 21, 57, 63,101–105, 225

inanimate objects, 242–245increasing. See also adding

colors, 150contrast, 253

ink, 182. See also comic book panelsinserting. See addingin the clouds tutorial, 90–93inverting

colors, 159selections, 156–159, 231, 248

isolating objects, 11

Jjagged edges, removing, 19

LLasso Selection Tool, 3, 83, 266Lasso Tool, 11Layer Filters dialog box, 87layers

copying, 11, 232, 257creating, 13deselection, 290dragging, 235duplicating, 83, 161editing, 8erasing, 71filling, 315flattening, 63flipping, 50formatting, 9hiding, 30, 61, 86, 262masks, 8, 306merging, 30, 42, 54, 74, 82, 233, 271,

311moving, 3, 9naming, 7New Layer button, 47overview of, 6–9pasting, 243positioning, 23selections, 22superimposing, 276viewing, 54

Layers Filter dialog box, 13lemon car, 192–197Level Adjustment dialog box, 38levels

Adjust Levels dialog box, 149Alpha settings, reducing, 41modifying, 38

lightening objects, 142, 167. See alsodarkening; dodge & burn

Index

321

lightingday to night, 84–89effects, 44–47enhancing, 45gradient, adding, 143matching, 24–27reflections, 51

lightning, creating, 64–67line art colors, 126–129liquifying. See also Liquify Tool

displacement, 114–117melting, 110–112textures, 118–121

Liquify Tool, 5, 79, 92, 199lists, Quality drop-down, 86lowering saturation, 161, 211

MMagic Wand Tool, 3, 21, 99make-up effects, adding, 167marble texture, 269marquee selections, removing, 25mascara, applying, 168masks, layers, 8, 306matching

lighting, 24–27shadows, 20–23sharpness, 109tones, 25

melting, 110–112menus, View, 17merging

images, 63layers, 30, 42, 54, 74, 82, 233, 271, 311reflections, 303

miniaturizing, 186–189modifying

Adjust Levels dialog box, 149Alpha settings, 25angles, 81colors, 37colors, foregrounds, 75hue, 37levels, 38saturation, 22Tolerance settings, 3tone, 109toolbars, 17

monotone images, 71

motionblurring, 52–55, 235snowy days, 74

movingimages, 58, 283layers, 3, 9objects, 100selections, 51

MP3 players, creating, 288–293multiple-color borders, 135multiple images, combining, 6. See also

layersMultiply Blend Mode, 95, 101, 117

Nnaming layers, 7navigating, 1

tools, 2–5new documents, creating, 7new images, creating, 289New Layer button, 47new layers, formatting, 9

Oobjects

adding, 34, 227aligning, 108blurring, 35copying, 75cutting, 12darkening, 23dragging, 3fading, 66filling, 206inanimate, 242–245isolating, 11painting, 35positioning, 221recoloring, 173, 196removing, 53replacing, 227resizing, 33, 267rotating, 100skewing, 79, 279

Options button, 254outlines. See also shapes

defining, 253drawing, 175

overlapping shadows, 27Overlay Blend Mode, 46, 105

PPaintbrush Tool, 4, 89, 97

shadows, applying to, 19Paint Bucket Tool, 4, 97painting

foreground images, 70highlights, 177objects, 35shadows, 26

pasting, 206. See also movinglayers, 243objects, 11

people, aging, 208–212perspective, 56–59

warping, 3photographs. See images; tutorialsPick Color button, 153planning

blueprints, 279shapes, 257

points of depth, 49Polygonal Selection Tool, 81, 86positioning

images, 7layers, 23objects, 221reflections, 50, 82

precision selection, 40–43previewing selections, 38processing, cross, 148–151

QQuality drop-down list, 86

RRadial Gradient, adding, 169rainy days, 76–79ranges, modifying color tolerance, 3re-adding un-blurred objects, 54. See

also addingrearranging layers, 9recoloring

images, 39objects, 173, 196

Rectangular Selection Tool, 3, 12, 86Rectangular Shape Tool, 4reducing Alpha settings, 41


322

reflections, 27adding, 59, 234, 281angles, modifying, 81chrome. See chromecreating, 77, 233, 301lighting, 51merging, 303positioning, 82surfaces, 48–51

removing. See also cropping; erasingareas, 33, 39, 284backgrounds, 21, 99blemishes, 165elements, 220jagged edges, 19objects, 53selection marquees, 25smoke, 261

replacingcolors, 36–39objects, 227

Resize Canvas dialog box, 180resizing, 3

images, 196, 225, 283objects, 33, 267

Restore Colors button, 141, 158, 253retouching images, 164–169reversing

images, 58selections, 49

ripples, adding, 83robot frog, 278–281rotating. See also moving

images, 147objects, 100

roughing up surfaces, 226

Ssaturation, 313

adding, 97colors, 47enhancing, 132–133Hue and Saturation dialog box, 211lowering, 161modifying, 22selective desaturation, 152–155

sea monsters, 298–303

segmentscopying, 258, 280flipping, 312

Select Color dialog box, 5, 281Selection Border text box, 158selections

adding, 85colors, 3copying, 37creating, 18fonts, 5images, 10–13inverting, 231, 248Lasso Selection Tool, 266layers, 22marquees, removing, 25moving, 51objects, freehand, 3precision, 40–43previewing, 38Rectangular Selection Tool, 12reversing, 49tools, 2

selective desaturation, 152–155selective inversion, 156–159shaded areas, creating, 46shadows

adding, 26, 34, 59, 159, 223, 228, 270,277, 314

casting, 16–19, 31, 197colors, 150darkening, 109deepening, 26enhancing, 245, 266, 277formatting, 13hiding, 23matching, 20–23overlapping, 27painting, 26

Shape Brush Tool, 4, 171shapes

duplicating, 17planning, 257

sharpeningimages, 217, 271matching, 109

shineadding, 308casting, 290fading, 307

simple borders, 135skewing

objects, 79, 279shadows, 18

skin, 60–63, 226. See also surfacessmoke, 260–263

adding, 222, 255creating, 315removing, 261

smoothingblending, 254surfaces, 165

Smudge Tool, 5snowy days, 72–75softening images, 92space, adding, 49splashing effects, 259. See also waterstars, adding, 89stone, 268–271superimposing layers, 276surfaces

chrome, 267reflections, 48–51roughing up, 226smoothing, 165stone. See stone

Switch Between Foreground button,207

Ttattoo art, 98–101Text tool, 5texture. See also surfaces

adding, 161, 217, 269comic book panels, 185liquifying, 118–121viewing, 103

thick borders, 135tint

adding, 206, 213, 303applying, 235, 309copying, 220

toiletbot, 236–241Tolerance settings, modifying, 3tone

adding, 63, 234matching, 25modifying, 109

Index

323

toolsClone Stamp Tool, 5, 261Color Replacement Tool, 39Distortion Tool, 3, 22, 58, 103, 117Elliptical Selection Tool, 3, 88Elliptical Shape Tool, 41, 88, 231Eraser Tool, 4, 49, 117, 232Eye Dropper Tool, 39, 231Gradient Fill Tool, 85, 255Gradient Tool, 18, 45Lasso Selection Tool, 3, 83, 266Lasso Tool, 11Liquify Tool, 5, 79, 92, 199Magic Wand Tool, 3, 21, 99Paintbrush Tool, 4, 19, 89, 97Paint Bucket Tool, 4, 97Polygonal Selection Tool, 81, 86Rectangular Selection Tool, 3, 12, 86Rectangular Shape Tool, 4selecting, 2Shape Brush Tool, 4, 171Smudge Tool, 5Text, 5

Transformation Tool, 3, 29, 193trimming reflections, 81tutorials

aging photos, 160–163aliens, 202–207anatomy scramble, 294–297animal dress-up, 282–287animal hybrids, 214–217backgrounds, cloning, 28–31behind glass, 94–97borders, 134–139canvas earth, 272–277chocolate, 198–201chrome, 264–267in the clouds, 90–93clowns, 122–125colors, hair, 170–173colors, line art, 126–129colors, modifying skin, 60–63colors, replacing, 36–39comic book panels, 182–185compositional cropping, 144–147cross processing, 148–151cyborgs, 304–309

day to night, 84–89dodge & burn, 140–143dragons, 310–315edible architecture, 218–223effects, lighting, 44–47enhancing eyes, 174–177face swaps, 106–109fire, 252–255floods, 80–83flying cars, 230–235foggy days, 68–71gender bending, 224–229graffiti, 102–105inanimate objects, 242–245layers, masks, 32–35lemon car, 192–197lighting, matching, 24–27lightning, creating, 64–67liquify-displacement, 114–117liquify-melting, 110–112liquify-texturing, 118–121miniaturizing, 186–189motion, blurring, 52–55MP3 players, creating, 288–293people, aging, 208–212perspective, 56–59precision selection, 40–43rainy days, 76–79retouching photos, 164–169robot frog, 278–281saturation, enhancing, 132–133sea monsters, 298–303selective desaturation, 152–155selective inversion, 156–159shadows, casting, 16–19shadows, matching, 20–23smoke, 260–263snowy days, 72–75stone, 268–271surfaces, reflections, 48–51tattoo art, 98–101toiletbot, 236–241unzipped, 246–251Warhol-izing, 178–181water, 256–259

two-color borders, 135

Uunzipped, 246–251

Vvertical motion blur effects, 55viewing

layers, 54texture, 103toolbars, 17

View menu, 17vignette effects

applying, 151borders, 138

WWarhol-izing images, 178–181warping perspective, 3water, 256–259weathering images, 163windows

adding, 222creating, 291

wrinklesadding, 226removing, 165

Yyellow tints, applying, 161

Zzooming, 17

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