Robert Sinclaire » graphics

CG goodness

Robert — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:43:43 +0000

I had to post this. This is picture is 100% computer generated. Of course, if this was a really detailed computer generated picture of a sweaty lumberjack, chances are you wouldn’t find it on this blog.

BTW, here is the artist’s step by step instructions on how he created this in Photoshop CS2. Pretty impressive stuff.

Photoshop :: Converting color to black and white

Robert — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 02:45:03 +0000

This is probably my most used Photoshop technique. I’ve always been a huge fan of black & white photography. In Photoshop, the two most common ways of converting to black & white are by converting the image to grayscale or by completely desaturing the image. These two methods unfortunately lack contrast and tonal control. The following technique will give you control over both.

With your image loaded into Photoshop create a new adjustment layer. Click on Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Then just click OK, and then OK again. We’ll come back to this layer again later.

We are now going to repeat most of step one. Click on Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Click OK once. Grab the slider for Saturation and drag it all the way to the left (-100) to completely desaturate the image.

Now we need to change the blend mode of first Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Using the Layers palette, target the first Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Hue/Saturation 1) you created by clicking on the layer. This will select the layer. Change the blending mode for the layer from Normal to Color by using the drop down menu on the top of the Layers palette. By the way, if you can’t find your Layers palette simply click on Windows > Layers.

Now double-click on the Hue/Saturation 1 thumbnail to open the adjustment dialog box.

Move the Hue slider to adjust the grayscale values of the image. Move the Saturation slider to control the finer details of the image. In short, move the Hue slider for major changes and the Saturation slider for minor changes.

For even more detail you can adjust individual colors. On the top of the adjustment dialog box click the drop down menu and choose a color to manipulate it. For example, you would choose blue to adjust the color of the sky. Adjusting the blue color channel shouldn’t have an effect on skin tones or hair color of people in the photograph. Unless of course you’re a smurf. Likewise, adjusting the green channel will effect the tones and contrast of grass and trees but shouldn’t have an effect on the sky.

And there you have it. Pretty easy huh? What’s great about this technique is the flexibility and control it gives you over the photograph. There are other, even more complex and sophisticated ways of converting color to black & white, but this is a good starting place. Give it a whirl.

Photoshop :: Straightening the horizon

Robert — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 17:52:35 +0000

One of my first lessons in photography was “keep the horizon straight“. Unfortunately this is not always as easy as it sounds. But never fear, Photoshop is here. Here is a quick and easy fix I learned for straightening the horizon in your photos. I believe it will work for all the latest versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

First load your crooked picture into Photoshop. (duh!)

Select the Measure Tool. This can be found under the eyedropper tool in the toolbox.

Select a point on the horizon and then, while holding down the mouse key, drag the cursor across the image to the other side of the horizon. This line will obviously be slanted since your horizon is slanted. By the way, the horizon can be anything. In my case it was the top edge of a wall.

On the top menu bar go to Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary.

You will see the rotate canvas dialog box appear with a number already filled in. This is the correct number. Click O.K.

You will see that the image is rotated and the horizon is now level. The last step is to select the Crop Tool and crop the image to trim away the white edges.

And that’s that. Stay tuned for more exciting Photoshop tips right here on skyecade online. However, I don’t think you can actually stay tuned to a website. How about, check back for more exciting and useful Photoshop tips right here on skyecade online!! Yeah, that’s nice.

I’ll post’m as I learn’m.