Photoshop User Magazine 2013-09

STEP EIGHTEEN: This step is more of a marketing tip. Create a Google shortener URL on goo.gl, click on the Details link, Right-click on the QR code it creates, and select Copy Image. Paste this onto the front of the cover in the bottom left-hand corner. When your clients show their cover to friends and family, they can scan the QR code, which is programmed to go to your chosen website—you can even track the clicks. STEP NINETEEN: Now that we have a quick magazine-style cover ready to print, let’s go back to the other images to show how we can easily create two more covers. Double-click the sport-theme-layer smart object thumbnail in the Layers panel. When this fi le opens, hide the visibility of the football fi eld layer and turn on the baseballs layer, ensuring the bike-tracks layer is also turned off. Close the fi le and click Save. This will update that layer in our magazine image. Now repeat this with the player layer and turn on the baseball pitcher image and turn the visibility of the other two layers off in the smart object. STEP TWENTY: Now that you have the baseball theme and image, repeat this again for the motocross theme and image. If you only had one theme layer and one player layer, another way to quickly replace these images is to Right-click each smart object layer and choose Replace Contents. In the Place dialog that appears, locate the fi le you want to replace this with, and click Place. This will update the image and give the same result. PHOTODUNE.NET, DOTSHOCK MELISSA REYES-ABBEY

Now we’ll build a trading card using the same images and fi le size but a different layout. For this layout, we don’t need the rectangle shape, QR code, or the text that we used for the magazine cover layout, so go ahead and delete those layers in the Layers panel. STEP ONE: Use the Move tool to drag the player image up and over to the left so that it bleeds off the canvas, as shown in the example. We need room to add some text and ribbon shapes at the right side and bottom of the card for the player’s name, team name, and position of the player. STEP TWO: Let’s change the color of the stroke around the player image and add a glow. Dou- Step One ble-click the word “Stroke” that appears below the image layer in the Layers panel to open the Layer Style dialog. Click the Color swatch and sample a color from the image. Click OK to close the Color Picker. STEP THREE: Click on Outer Glow in the list of Styles. Click on the color swatch and pick a similar color to the Stroke color. Increase the Size until you get the glow that you want, and click OK. STEP FOUR: For the ribbon shapes on the trading card, we’ll use some custom shapes. There are many custom shape resources on the Internet. The › › photoshop user › september 2013 vector resource. The more shapes we’re using here cost $4 from an online advanced user could make these in Illustrator but for ease and speed, we’ll use a custom shape. Select the Custom Shape tool (nested under the Rectangle tool [U]) in the Toolbox, and then in the Options Bar, select the shape you want to use from the Custom Shape Picker. If you downloaded a set of shapes, click and select Load Shapes. 052 on the gear icon at the top right of the Custom Shape Picker, Step Three

STEP FIVE: Make sure Shape is selected in the drop-down menu on the left side of the Options Bar, and then click on the Foreground color and sample a color from your image (gold in our example). Draw your shape, then duplicate the shape layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) twice so that we now have three ribbons. Using the Move tool, distribute them approx- imately where you want them, select all three layers, and then click the Distribute Vertical Centers icon followed by the Align Left Edges icon in the Options Bar. STEP SIX: With all three layers still selected, convert them to a smart object. We can now add a couple layer styles that will apply to all three ribbons at the same time. Apply a Bevel & Emboss using a 3-px Inner Bevel, followed by an 8-px Stroke, sampling Step Five some of the red from the player’s shirt. This is just to introduce a vibrant color to the card. STEP SEVEN: Next, we’ll type the player’s name, position, and STEP EIGHT: To get the next two layers of text exactly the same, year of season (we’re using the college font that we downloaded from FontSquirrel.com). Set your Foreground color to white, type the player’s name fi rst, and place it over the top ribbon. After ad- justing the font size to fi t, use Free Transform to angle the word to align with the ribbon. Then, add a simple 3-px Drop Shadow layer style to make the text pop. we’ll duplicate the current text layer twice, and align each layer over the ribbons. Then, use the Type tool to edit each layer with the player position and season year in the fi nal two ribbons. We’re Step Six going to add a larger ribbon for the team name at the bottom of the card, so select all the ribbon and text layers in the Layers panel and drag them further up the card using the Move tool. STEP NINE: Now let’s add the additional larger ribbon at the bottom for the team name. Set your Foreground color to the same color that you used for the original ribbons. Select a new ribbon shape from the Custom Shape Picker, and while holding the Shift key, drag it out so it’s proportional in shape to the original. Then, Right-click on the original ribbon layers smart object in › › www. photoshopuser .com Step Seven the Layers panel and choose Copy Layer Style, then Right-click on the new ribbon layer and select Paste Layer Style. This keeps all the effects uniform. 053 Step Eight Step Nine

STEP TEN: Next, we’ll add the text for the team name, OUT- LAWS. This time, choose the bold version of the font that you used for the other ribbons. Set your Foreground color to white, click outside of the ribbon shape so that you’re not typing on a path, and resize the text over the ribbon. We’re going to use the Warp Text tool (Type>Warp Text) to arc the word over the ribbon, rather than using the shape and typing on a path. Center the ribbon and name, apply another 3-px Drop Shadow to the text, and click OK. STEP ELEVEN: To see how this card will look for the baseball Step Ten player, just repeat the steps from the magazine cover for replac- ing the player and background images, and then all you need to do is change the text to something more of a baseball-style font. We used Marcelle Script from dafont.com, but remember the licensing if selling the image. You can also play around with the ribbon shapes or add new ones. Just experiment and make sure you group each set of ribbons and text so that you can easily swap them back and forth. A cool alternative is to have them both printed in 3D with a service such as SnapilyPro (www.snapilypro.com). For this, you just need to follow a few simple steps. Make sure you fi rst save your templates as PSD fi les to maintain all the layers. Now choose File>Save As and resave the fi le as “Snapily Template.” This just protects the original. Now Right-click on each layer and rasterize it and all the layer styles. (Tip: For the Step Eleven layers that have layer styles, if you select Rasterize Layer Style fi rst, it will rasterize both the layer and layer style at the same time.) After you rasterize the Rectangle 1 layer, Right-click on the layer mask thumbnail and select Apply Layer Mask. Then, make sure the layers are in the order you’d like to have in a 3D lenticular image. For magazine cover template, we’ll stack the layers in the following order from bottom to top: • Background theme • Player image Once you start playing with this kind of template, you can try different • Gold rectangle text backdrop › › photoshop user › september 2013 By following the instructions on the SnapilyPro.com website, you fonts (try not to use more than two, one for the title and one for the • Magazine title • Text copy on the white rectangle • The QR code. copy) and add more copy to the cover, like other magazine cover can easily build great 3D lenticular versions for less than $20 for styles. Don’t forget to ensure the fonts are for commercial use and any the cover and $10 for the card. images used must be your own or purchased for commercial use. ■ Dave Clayton is a Swindon, UK-based; 47-year-old; full-time graphic designer and digital marketing manager, specializing in creative design. He has been using Photoshop since version 4, having originally trained in desktop publishing. He is also the of cial UK NAPP evangelist, having been evangelizing for four years now, and has attended three Photoshop Worlds. Dave is also an Adobe Inf uencer (soon to be an Adobe Community Professional) and enjoys encouraging others to embrace the Creative Cloud and subsequently become NAPP and KelbyTraining members. To learn more about Dave, visit @nappmem- 054 ber_uk, www.nappmember.co.uk, and facebook.com/nappmember.



SMALL SCREEN on the DESIGNING FOR MOBILE GAMING by COREY BARKER couple of months ago, our executive vice REVO SOLUTIONS Revo Solutions Games (www.revo-solutions.ro) is family-owned president, Dave Moser, and I started and operated and has been in business since 2005. They’ve A talking about all of the portable devices in become one of the pioneers in cross-platform multiplayer games. the world today and the millions of apps available for They specialize in games of warfare, such as aerial dogfighting and ground battles with tanks and troops, and have produced familiar them. Like the Internet itself, portable technology has titles such as F.A.S.T. (Fleet Air Superiority Tactics) and Skies of changed the way we work and play, and it has made Glory. One of my favorites is Artillery Brigade. Brilliant game play, many companies refocus and redesign their business and the responsiveness is much better than most games. models to accommodate this new age. So I started I was addicted immediately, but it wasn’t all because of the fun factor. I really wanted to learn how the app combined graph- wondering, where does Photoshop fit into all of this? ics, both static and animated, with the sounds and context of the The answer to this is that Photoshop is way more game to create a fun experience. When all of those basic areas are › › photoshop user › september 2013 game developer based in Bucharest, Romania, whose a role in the conceptual process of their games. I first spoke with covered, then an enjoyable gaming experience is inevitable. This involved than you might think. is something that Revo Solutions does very well. Dave connected me with Revo Solutions Games, a I contacted them to learn more about how Photoshop played games he has been a fan of for quite some time. one of the company managers, Andrei Hanganu, who was all too eager to give a peek inside the process of creating a game. While Knowing Dave’s love of war history and battle, I could he was extremely informative about the company and projects see why he loved this series of games. Having piqued they had in progress, he deferred the conceptual and production my interest, I started playing their games and discov- details to one of his senior 2D artists by the name of Laurentiu 056 ered they weren’t just games, but an experience. Danila, a.k.a. Lari. LAYOUT DESIGN BY EDUARDO LOWE | ALL IMAGES BY REVO SOLUTIONS GAMES EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

THE ROLE OF PHOTOSHOP Speaking with Lari, I could tell that artists are, in many ways, all the same. He admitted to me that he tends to work “destructively,” meaning he doesn’t name layers or organize his PSD files in any way. I thought to myself, “Hmmm, what a coincidence!” I’m guilty of this very thing, but this is quite common with many artists. I just dive in and see where an idea takes me. In my opinion, this usually yields the greatest ideas. Lari comes from an illustration background, and has embraced Photoshop as his tool of choice for creating his digital pieces. In his early conceptual work, he likes to use traditional drawing and illustration techniques to create a digital concept that he can build on and fine-tune. I asked Lari in what aspects of a game’s development does Photoshop play a role, and he said it’s used in almost every step: from conceptualizing the look and feel of the game to and he shared with me a cou- creating the splash screen or With the robust intro graphic, to the graphics for the game itself. Market - 3D capabilities in ing is a major concern of Lari’s Photoshop, you when he’s creating a game, can incorporate 3D ple of splash screens he had created. The extreme per- models created in spective and sense of move- other applications ment makes for eye-catching images. When I see some- or create them from thing like this on my phone scratch right in screen, it’s an indication of Photoshop. the production quality of the game. These are conceptual pieces that are designed to capture the overall look and feel of the game experience. The intro graphic needs to convey that excitement in a single image to the user. Like most digital artists, Lari uses a variety of resources when creating these images. If time permits, he loves to build these images from scratch. With the gaming industry moving at the pace it does, it’s not always easy to have the kind of time to work from scratch, but with Photoshop being the versatile tool that it is, Lari can pull elements from a variety of sources, such as still captures from the game, shapes to help with perspective, and even 3D models. With the robust 3D capabilities in Photoshop, you can incorpo- › › www. photoshopuser .com rate 3D models created in other applications or create them from scratch right in Photoshop. This allows you to create composites unlike any that Photoshop could do before. 057

THE IMPORTANCE OF 3D Revo Solutions also has 3D artists in house who create the 3D elements for a game, and they supply these elements to the 2D artists who create the splash screen or any other marketing images needed to promote the game. You can see here the base model of the plane used in this new design. Sometimes all you need is the base shape and shading and you can build the effect on top of that. You can see in the next image how Lari uses the 3D model as a template to paint on the effects. Very clever! While most of you may not have a 3D artist at your disposal, you can find a lot of free 3D models online at sites such as Archive3D.net that can be incorporated into your own artwork in Photoshop. I’ve used numerous models from this site to cre- ate realistic composites, such as this image of a boat on rough seas. Opening the 3D boat model in Photoshop, I combined it with water, which I created from scratch using the 3D tools in Photoshop. I positioned the elements in the composition, then added the lighting effects for realism. I then render and rasterize the 3D layer. From there, I build it as a 2D composite, just like any other image, adding the splashes and atmospheric effects to create a compelling action shot. › › photoshop user › september 2013 3D BOAT MODEL: ARCHIVE 3D, SABIR/DESIGN: COREY BARKER 058

THE CONTINUALLY fine details are executed to enhance the overall look. Getting CHANGING CREATIVE that initial idea is one of toughest parts of the process, but once PROCESS you have it, then the creative process can start, and that’s where As a game in process evolves at Revo Solutions, things are the fun begins. The result is quite impressive. This is still in the often revised and changes have to be made. This is the creative conceptual stages as of this writing but you can see how the process. Whether you’re the guy writing the code or designing process is designed to keep polishing an idea that will become the look, you must be a problem solver. One of the games they the benchmark for the game’s overall appearance. were working on at the time of this writing was a new one called Cold War, as we saw with the airplane image earlier. While they While the methods and tools have changed over the decades, revealed few details about the game since it’s still in develop- we’ve become a technology-based society, which is great news ment, the graphics tell quite a bit. for the digital artist. Now our work can be viewed in its full HD Here’s a more refined concept building on one of the exam- splendor on a range of devices. Let’s be honest, our images ples we saw earlier. You can see once an idea is established, the may look great in print but they look way better on a screen! ■ › › www. photoshopuser .com 059

h o w -t o › › BEGINNERS’ WORKSHOP LESA SNIDER Creating Rounded Photo Corners If you tire of boring, straight corners on your images, then try using the Rounded Rectangle tool to produce smooth corners instead. It’s great for images used in presentations, on the Web, in newsletters, magazines, etc. By using a layer mask, this technique is nondestructive. Here’s how to do it. STEP ONE: Open a photo and double-click the Background layer, then click OK in the resulting dialog to unlock it. Because you’ll add a vector mask to the photo layer, the Background layer must be unlocked or Photoshop won’t mask the image. If your image consists of multiple layers, create a composite layer copy by pressing Shift-Option-Command-E (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E) and then, in the Layers panel, click the Eye icons to the left of the original layers to hide them. ISTOCKPHOTO, GEORGEPETERS, IMAGE #10075501 Rounded Rectangle tool. Tip: Press Shift-U repeatedly to cycle Step One STEP TWO: The shape tools live near the bottom of the Tool- box. Unless you’ve previously activated a different tool, you’ll see the Rectangle tool’s icon. Click it and hold down your mouse button until the drop-down menu appears, and then choose the through the shape tools. Step Two STEP THREE: Shape tools can operate in different modes. To make Photoshop draw an outline instead of creating a new shape layer, click the drop-down menu near the left side of the Step Three & Four Options Bar and choose Path. STEP FOUR: Also in the Options Bar, the Radius f eld controls corner roundness. A lower number (in pixels) produces less rounding than a higher number. Enter 50 pixels to create the corners shown here (use a larger number when working with high-resolution documents, meaning the pixels are really tiny). Note: In Photoshop CC, you can change the radius of cor- › › photoshop user › september 2013 Properties panel to adjust edge rounding. If you click the chain- Step Five ners after you’ve drawn the path. With the Rounded Rectangle tool still active, use the four new f elds in the middle of the link icon between the two sets of f elds to turn it off, you can adjust each corner’s radius individually. STEP FIVE: Mouse over to the image and, starting in one you let go of the mouse button, Photoshop displays a thin gray outline atop your image called a path (don’t worry, the outline won’t print). To reposition the path while you’re drawing it (if 060 corner, drag diagonally to draw a box around the image. When

› › beginners’ workshop you haven’t let go of the mouse button), press-and-hold the Spacebar and drag it around. To move the path after drawing it, press A to activate the Path Selection tool, click the path in your document to activate it (if it’s already active, you can skip that part), and then drag to move it. STEP SIX: In the Options Bar (with the Rounded Rectangle tool selected), click the Mask button and Photoshop adds a vector mask to the image layer in the Layers panel. Alternatively, you can Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a mask. Either Step Six way, Photoshop hides the photo’s boring, square edges. Why a vector mask? Because the path you drew with the shape tool is vector-based, meaning it’s made from points and paths that can be resized inf nitely without losing quality, instead of pixel-based where it’s made of solid-colored blocks that can lose quality when resized. By using a vector mask, you can safely resize the mask. To resize the mask, make sure it’s active in the Layers panel (it will have a white bracket around it); if it’s not active, click the mask thumbnail to activate it. Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to summon Free Transform. Shift-drag any corner handle to change the mask size, and then press Enter when you’re f nished. STEP SEVEN: Choose File>Save As and pick Photoshop from the Format menu to save a master copy of your document. To save the image itself with transparency so you can place it atop Step Seven another background in presentation software or on a website, choose File>Save As and from the Format drop-down menu in the Save As dialog, choose PNG. Click OK to close the resulting PNG Options dialog. Optional: You can also feather the edges of the mask to cre- ate a different look. Double-click the mask icon in the Layers panel to open the Properties panel’s Masks settings, and make sure the mask is active. Drag the Feather slider to the right to ISTOCKPHOTO, JACOMSTEPHENS, IMAGE #11935287 soften the edges. To hide the path outline so you can see your handiwork, press Command-H (PC: Ctrl-H), or activate another layer. To better show the soft edges, we clicked the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, dragged it to the bottom of the layer stack, clicked the Create New Fill Layer Optional icon (half-black, half-white circle), chose Solid Color from the list, selected a color, and clicked OK. › › www. photoshopuser .com Who knew that giving your photo rounded corners was so simple? As you can see here, this trick adds a nice, f nishing touch to an image. Until next time, may the creative force be with you all. ■ 061

› › key concepts: Layer masks Type tool CLASSIC EFFECTS PETE COLLINS Rusty Text This issue, we’ll create some multipurpose rust that works great for text and can be reassigned to embellish other design elements, as well. The process I’m going to show is mainly about getting the right settings for your layer styles and then having fun with painting away with a layer mask. STEP ONE: Start with a good, rusty background, like this one from Fotolia.com. I f nd that if you have an image with bigger textures showing, you’ll need to adjust the size of your layer styles accordingly. Select the Type tool (T) and add your FOTOLIA, KENTOH, IMAGE #19958212 text. We’re using Gunplay from Dafont.com. [NAPP members may download the f le used in this tuto- rial at http://members.photoshopuser.com/magazine/issue/ september-2013. All f les are for personal use only.] Step One STEP TWO: With your text formatted the way you want it, go to the Layers panel and set the Fill for that layer to 0%. We only want the layer styles to show through and not the text color. Don’t freak out because your text disappeared. STEP THREE: Double-click to the right of the layer’s name in the Layers panel and the Layer Style dialog will appear. Click on Bevel & Emboss in the Styles list on the left. Here are the Step Three settings we used. Bevel & Emboss is such a powerful style to use, but it can be a bit daunting (or boring if you just use the default settings). Every option in this panel can make a dramatic difference to how the style looks, so don’t be afraid to play with all of the settings. Later, we’ll change the bevel direction, but for this part make sure the Direction for the bevel is set to Down. › › photoshop user › september 2013 STEP FOUR: Check the box for Contour under Bevel & Don’t click OK yet. Emboss on the left, but don’t make any changes. Now click the word Texture below Contour, and then click on the Pattern thumbnail to reveal the pattern gallery. Using the default pat- terns, choose the f fth one from the left, Gray Granite. (Note: If you have a bunch of other patterns in the gallery, you can and choose Reset Patterns. This will give you the original f ve patterns.) You can use the settings shown here. Even though you may be tempted, don’t click OK yet. 062 click the gear icon and choose Save Patterns, then click it again Step Four

› › CLASSIC EFFECTS STEP FIVE: Now we’ll give our bevel a little help by adding Inner Shadow and Satin layer styles. Click Inner Shadow and enter the settings shown here. Make sure to click the down- facing arrow next to Contour and choose Half Round. STEP SIX: Most folks understand Inner Shadow, but Satin is one of those styles that a lot of people click on to see if it works, Step Five and then turn it off. Satin acts like a shadow ripple effect inside the object you’re working on. Click Satin, enter the settings shown here, and look at the letter U in RUST. The left edge con- tour of the U is shifted to the middle of the letter, while the right edge does the same. Depending on your settings, where the edges intersect will darken or lighten and give you some unique effects inside the object. This is a great way to add a little depth to your object, so it’s def nitely worth playing with. Now you can click OK to apply the layer styles. STEP SEVEN: You’re probably thinking, “This doesn’t look that special,” and you’re right. Here’s where the magic hap- Step Six pens. Click the Add Layer Mask icon (circle in a square) to add a mask to your text layer. Select the Brush tool (B), click the Brush Preset Picker in the Options Bar, and choose a Spatter brush. You won’t need to change any brush settings, just increase the size to 200 pixels. (Note: This is a good pixel size to begin with if you’re using a resolution similar to mine. If you have a different setup, you’ll have to play with the size to get the texture and look you want.) Press D then X to set your brush to black then, in the Options Bar, lower the Opacity to around 50%, and drop the Flow to around 70%. Now dab and paint over the text area. As you do, bumps and texture will start to appear. The great › › www. photoshopuser .com thing is that this is all taking place on the layer mask, so the text remains editable. 063 Step Seven

CLASSIC EFFECTS › › STEP EIGHT: What’s happening is that you’re hiding parts of the layer style with all of the bevels and shadows, so it looks as if the area inside of the text is rising up. You can add layers of depth by pressing X to change the Foreground color to white and painting some more. This gives you a nice, gravelly look that’s not bad, but you can tweak it some more. Choose a small, round, hard-edged brush and change the Opacity and Flow back to 100%. With the Foreground color set to black, Step Eight dab little circles along the edges of the text to rough up the edges, and dab with white to create depressions in the letters. Changing the Opacity of the brush will change the depth of the texture. Once you get this style set how you like it, you can save your f le and use it later as a base for other projects. STEP NINE: Here’s a bonus step for you. Double-click on the layer style for the text layer in the Layers panel and go to Bevel & Emboss once again. Now change the Direction from Down to STEP TEN: Save your work again and you have a layer style for Up. Choose Drop Shadow from the Styles list, increase Dis- tance and Size, and now your look goes from rusty to crusty. It works just like the rust style, except instead of looking like it’s receding, it looks like it’s coming forward. both rusty and crusty, but you don’t have to be limited to text. Keep it handy to apply to anything that needs a little jazzing up. You can apply the style to a blank layer, have fun painting the texture into any image, and have complete control by adding a layer mask. Now you see how powerful and helpful layer styles are. Being Step Nine able to apply them in new ways will open new doors of creativ- ity to your work, so get out there and have fun. ■ › › photoshop user › september 2013 064 Step Ten

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› › key concepts: Pen tool FROM BERT’S STUDIO BERT MONROY Putting Things into Perspective When compositing an object into an image, many things need to be considered. Does the object need to cast a shadow? Does it need a strong highlight? Is it retf ective? An important thing to consider is how the object conforms to the perspective of the scene. If the perspective doesn’t match, it will look out of place. Perspective allows us to portray the complex, three-dimensional SINGLE AND MULTIPLE VANISHING POINTS world we inhabit in a two-dimensional format and make it One-point perspective is when there’s a single point on the believable. To understand the process of creating or compositing horizon where all things meet. The image below shows my images with proper perspective, it’s crucial to understand how painting, Damen, with the vanishing lines shown above. The perspective works. There are certain fundamental principles at green line is the horizon, while all the red lines (vanishing lines) work that can be used to achieve proper perspective. are converging on a single point. HORIZON LINES AND VANISHING POINTS All the elements in an image are created from the point of view viewer’s eye level is commonly referred to as bird’s-eye view. of the viewer. The eye level of the viewer is considered the hori- zon line. It’s vital to establish this horizon line, even if buildings, hills, or other elements in the image obscure it. Note: If the horizon line is above the viewer’s eye level, it’s what is commonly referred to as a bug’s-eye view. Things will appear to be above the viewer and large. A horizon below the Things will appear to be below the viewer. As we view the world, all objects that fall into our f eld of vision follow invisible lines that converge on this horizon If more than one side of an object or structure is visible, it’s line. If you stand in the middle of a city street, looking down necessary to create multiple vanishing points that all converge the street as it’s receding, you can draw imaginary lines along on the same horizon line. The image below shows my painting, the edges of the sidewalk and the tops of the buildings to a Times Square. It has multiple vanishing points that all converge point off in the distance where the sky meets the street. If you on the same horizon. There’s a point going up 7th Avenue plus follow these lines, you’ll find that all the lines converge at one going up Broadway. There are two additional points going the same point. That point is what is known as the vanish- east and west on 44th Street (as shown in the second image). ing point. These were so far out of the image area that it required the use As objects get farther away from the viewer, they diminish of Illustrator to create the basic vanishing lines. in size along what are known as vanishing lines. All the angles Note: Illustrator, being resolution independent, allowed me to follow the vanishing lines and converge on the horizon at the create the lines on a much smaller scale than the 25' image. These vanishing point. lines were then separated and brought into scale where needed. › › photoshop user › sepptember 2013 066

› › FROM BERT’S STUDIO USING THE PEN TOOL TO FIND THE On a much larger scale, I had to create an illustration that VANISHING POINT would show how the city of San Jose would look in 50 years. It can be tricky establishing where the horizon is when composit- By following the angles of existing buildings, the horizon and ing elements from different images. One trick that I use requires vanishing lines were established. the Pen tool (P) in Photoshop. I look for lines in the image that travel and seem to converge at the same point. That point is on the horizon. I recently had to create a project that will demonstrate this process. I needed to show how an awning would look sus- pended over a door. In this image, the siding on the wall made an excellent choice to establish the vanishing point. Using the guides, buildings were created that followed the same perspective. In a close-up of a small area, you can see the new building plus another new one to the right of it. With the Pen tool, I added a point near the top-left edge of the siding, and a second point to the right. The location for this second point is irrelevant for now since it will be moved later. (Note: When using the Pen tool, each click produces an anchor point, which are joined by a path. These paths have been stroked in red in this example to act as visual guides.) A third point is then created at the lower-left edge of the siding. The second point, which will determine the vanishing point, is moved until the two lines follow the angles of the two boards at the top and bottom. To move the second point, just press-and-hold the Command (PC: Ctrl) key while the Pen tool is still active, and then click-and-drag the point. Once the vanish- ing point is established, the two lines are used to create the guidelines for the vanishing lines, thus allowing the awning to be placed with the proper perspective. › › www. photoshopuser .com Following perspective concepts will allow you to composite images together that will look like they were shot that way in the f rst place. ■ 067

PHOTOGRAPHY SECRETS HOW TO SHOOT SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY, one of the most exciting, challenging endeavors you can under- take, involves creating images that freeze a split second of action. But it must be done without the luxuries that most other photographers enjoy; for example, sports photographers can’t pose their subject; they can’t re-shoot the image if the exposure or composition isn’t right the fi rst time; nor can they move to a different vantage point for a better perspective once the moment passes. TO CREATE A GOOD SPORTS IMAGE, three things have to come together for that split sec- › › photoshop user › SEPTEMBER 2013 isn’t. Lady Luck is more likely to be on your side ond in time: skill, luck, and the right equipment. Skill and equipment are within our control; luck if you’re familiar with the sport you’re shooting, as it’s easier to anticipate where the peak action will take place. You’re more likely to capture that leaping catch because, instead of hoping to get lucky, you’ll be in the right place at the right time. Once you’ve decided to take the leap into BY MIKE OLIVELLA sports photography, where do you begin? Let’s start by identifying what makes a sports photo- graph great. 068

WHAT MAKES A SPORTS PHOTOGRAPH? Good sports photographs tell a story within the four corners of the image so viewers can tell what’s happening at a glance. A great sports image goes one step further, taking sports fans into the very heart of the game and capturing elements that aren’t visible to them from the bleachers. Just follow these general rules. Get the face and the ball in the frame: What sets a great sports image apart is seeing the athlete’s emotions, and that’s usually through his or her facial expression. The eyes are the windows to the soul and the face is the canvas for emotion. An image of the back of an athlete’s head may be artistic, but it will be outdone by the same shot depicting the athlete’s face and emotional expression. The icing on the cake is having the ball in the frame—ideally in the glove, hands, or in the net, but in › › www. photoshopuser .com the frame. Capture these two elements and you’re golden. Shoot as tight as you possibly can: Hand in hand with getting the face in the frame is shooting tight. Fans in the stands have a wide-angle view of the game so they don’t see the player grimace when the bat makes contact with the ball, or when the player goes airborne to head the ball into the net. You, and only you, can provide a viewer that intensity by shooting as tight as you can. 069

Position yourself where the play will be, not where it begins: Long before the play begins, put yourself in the best location for getting that face and ball in the frame. When shooting a specifi c team or player, position yourself downfi eld so the action is coming in your direction. (If you’re behind the play, you probably won’t get both elements in the image.) Another reason to position yourself well ahead of the play is that the players will be coming toward you, and they’ll become larger in your frame as the action develops. The larger they become, the tighter you’ll be shooting. Shoot with the sun at your back: Always ascertain where the sun will be during the game, and then position yourself with the sun at your back so that the players’ faces will be lit to the greatest extent pos- sible. If you shoot into the sun, players will be backlit, and if you set your exposure for the available light, the players will likely be under- exposed. Conversely, if you expose for the players’ faces, the back- ground behind them will be overexposed. Neither of these scenarios makes for good images. SELECTING YOUR GEAR Let’s get into gear in more detail. My experience has been with Nikon gear, but you can easily apply any of the following to Canon or other camera manufacturers. Full-frame (FX) or cropped-frame (DX) camera bodies: Your fi rst equipment decision is whether to go with an FX-sensored body or a DX-sensored body. Each has its advantages; but if you’ll be shooting during the daytime only, a DX camera body will rival anything that you’ll get from an FX body. DX bodies are less expensive, but they also enjoy one huge advantage over the FX bodies: the crop factor (Nikon DX bodies have a 1.5x crop factor). Every DX camera body acts as if you have a built-in teleconverter, but without any of the disadvantages of a Freeze the action: Blurred or soft images are no better than if you teleconverter, such as an increase in the wide-open aperture and missed the shot altogether. Parts of the image may not be perfectly slight loss of sharpness. With a Nikon DX body, a 70–300mm sharp due to depth-of-fi eld considerations, but it’s critical that key lens is the equivalent of a 105–450mm lens on an FX body, and aspects of an image are sharp. Typically, that would be the athlete’s an 80–200mm lens is the equivalent of a 120–300mm lens. The face, but many times it will extend to the hands and feet, depending tradeoff is that FX bodies produce noticeably better images at on the sport. Too much blurring of the feet or hands will detract higher ISO levels, with less noise and better clarity. from the image; however, you can easily avoid this by controlling your shutter speed. For example, 1/1000 will guarantee frozen Frames per second: Next, you’ll need to consider the frames per sec- action. On occasion, I’ve gotten away with 1/400, but not all of my ond (fps) capability of the camera body. For sports, a camera body › › photoshop user › SEPTEMBER 2013 a few pointers on how to get those shots. used, for approximately half as much as new gear. I only buy from images were frozen. that will shoot 5 fps is the minimum needed. The more fps capability of the camera body, the better your chances of getting the shot at TIPS FOR SHOOTING THOSE GREAT PHOTOS peak-action moments. Now that we’ve identif ed what makes an image great, here are New or used? Most every camera body and lens I own was bought Shoot from the lowest possible position: Shooting up at athletes gives reputable dealers who service the equipment before a sale, and have them a distinctly superior look. If you kneel along the sidelines or sit a money-back guarantee if the equipment fails, so I’ve only had pos- along the baseline, you can shoot with the ideal, eye-level perspec- itive experiences. kneepads or sitting under the basket, because shooting from the lowest vantage point yields the best images (not because they’re defi nitely cut your equipment costs, but I always recommend Nikon trying to rest their weary bones). or Canon lenses. 070 tive. That’s why you’ll see good pro sports photographers wearing Off-brand lenses: If you decide to go with off-brand lenses, you’ll

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There’s a lot more to consider when diving into sports photography, but The following are outfi ts that will equip you for the set- tings described, based on my personal use of the Nikon hopefully, the information provided equipment listed, and their having provided images that meet my quality expectations. Just remember that you’re here is helpful. Once you’re geared not going to get every shot that the guy next to you will up, practice and opportunity will have get with multiple Nikon D4s and an assortment of lenses. you capturing images you may have But, by moving up and down the fi eld as the action dictates, you’ll get your share of images. thought were beyond your reach. ■ • Lean and Mean—Strictly for daytime use in good light at ISO levels from 200–400. Start with a used Nikon D2H camera body ($300– $400), a 4.1-megapixel, 8 fps pro body. It’s what I used up until four or fi ve years ago. Add a Nikon 70–300mm f/4.5–5.6 lens ($300 used, $600 new), and you’re in business for less than $1,000, with an outfi t that will reach out to the equivalent of a 105mm–450mm lens on a full-frame body. $1,000, and you’re still reaching out to 450mm at f/5.6. • Upping the Ante—Substitute a used Nikon D300 ($500–$600) for the D2H, and you’re still getting 7 fps in a 12.3-megapixel, tough- as-nails camera body. Still a daytime-only outfi t but, because of the better camera body, you can push the ISO comfortably to 1,600 (when necessary) as light wanes, so long as you use some noise- reduction software. If you go with a used lens, that’s still under • Getting Jiggy with It—Any daytime conditions are no problem with this outfi t, and if you don’t mind some noise in the images (even with noise-reduction software), you can try your hand at events played in indoor gyms or at high-school football stadiums. Stick with the used D300 but add a used battery grip ($100) to goose your frames to 9 fps. Substitute a used Nikon 80–200mm AF-S f/2.8D ED lens ($800–$900) for the 70–300mm lens and you’re right at $1,500. Yes, you’ve decreased your effective focal range to 300mm, but you now have a faster-focusing, sharper lens that will allow you to shoot in lower light. • Doubling Down—If you want to press a bit further, pick up a used 1.4x Nikon teleconverter ($250–$275) for daytime use with the above outfi t and you’ve extended your lens’ focal length to 420mm at f/4, and you’re still well under $2,000. • Best Bang for the Buck—All of the above, except swap a used Nikon D3 ($2,000) for the D300. The D3 is a full-frame, 12.1-megapixel, 9 fps, pro body that rocked the world when it came out with its low noise levels at high ISOs, and it still rivals most camera bodies out there. For just a bit more than $3,000 (with noise-reduction software), you can shoot up to ISO 6,400, which you’ll need for acceptable images in high-school gyms or football fields. With a Mike Olivella is a sports photographer for the Florida State University Athletics Depart- full-frame body, your high ISO images will look better, but your ment and a stringer for AP. Mike has photographed the action at NFL games, NCAA Division I regu- focal range will top out at 200mm without the teleconverter and lar and postseason contests, BCS Bowl games, March Madness, the US Open, Wimbledon, and the Masters. Mike also owns and operates BaselineShots Photography Studio for glamour, fashion, and 280mm with it. product shoots. To see more of Mike’s work, go to www.baselineshots.com, follow Mike on Google+, or read his blog at www.baselineshots.blogspot.com. ALL IMAGES BY MIKE OLIVELLA

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MONG THE NEW FEATURES RE- LEASED IN LIGHTROOM 5, THE RADIAL FILTER WAS THE ONE I HAD CUT IT. TO GET YOU STARTED WITH THIS NEW BEEN HOPING FOR THE MOST. LIGHTROOM HAS HAD LINEAR GRADIENTS FOR SOME TIME, BUT I’VE HAD MANY OCCASIONS WHEN THIS STRAIGHT-LINED FILTER JUST DIDN’T FEATURE, HERE ARE SOME TIPS, TRICKS, AND WAYS I USE THE RADIAL FILTER. When Process is set to 2012 (Current) in the Camera Calibration panel, you’ll General Tips and Tricks have full use of the Radial Filter. Before you start using the Radial Filter, there are a few features and settings you need to be aware of. To access the Radial Filter, press Shift-M or click the circle icon in the Toolbox above the Basic panel. [Process Version] First of all, if you want to have full-function of this fi lter, your photos must be in the 2012 (Current) process version in the Camera Cal- ibration panel. If you have it set to an older process version, then you won’t have half of the sliders to play with when adjusting your fi lter. If Process is set to an older version, such as 2010, then you’ll lose many of the sliders in the Radial Filter. › › photoshop user › september 2013 you’ll probably change quite often: the Invert Mask setting. [Invert Mask] There’s one important checkbox in the Radial Filter panel that When you apply a Radial Filter, the adjustments will appear on the outside of your oval or circle shape. If you’d like to do anything other than a vignette-type effect, then this will need to be checked. Unfortunately, it’s not sticky (meaning you can’t default it to being checked all the time), so you’ll have to make that extra mouse click each time you use the fi lter for nonvignette effects. You can also Mask option on and off. 074 press the Apostrophe key (’) on your keyboard to turn the Invert Layout Design: Taf y Clif ord

Basic Color and Tone Enhancements There are many ways to adjust the color of your images in Light- room, and the Radial Filter is one more method of stylizing or balancing the overall look of a photograph. I’ve found that it’s a good way to add a burst of color, subtle contrast, or color haze to an image outside of the standard color and tone adjustments. [Photo fi lters] You can use the Radial Filter to add an overall warm or cool tone to your photo. This is a great way to enhance an already perfectly processed photo with just a touch of warmth, without skewing any of the existing colors. By creating the fi lter from the very center of your image and dragging it out as far as possible, you can, in effect, add the fi lter to the entire image. Simply click the Color swatch at the bottom of the panel and select the fi lter color. Ultimately, this is a great way to add an extra pop of color or contrast to any photograph. I added a Radial Filter and set the Color to a soft blue to cool down this photo. [Sun haze] One of my favorite ways to use the Radial Filter is to add “sun the Feather setting so that the edge is nice and soft. Then, adjust haze” to my scene. You can add this to a photo that already has a good backlit haze to it to intensify the effect, or you can add the sun haze to any photo to see what you end up with. First, click-drag your cursor, starting near one of the corners of your image. Next, check the Invert Mask box so that the effect is applied to the inside of the radial gradient. You may also want to increase your settings until you get a nice bright and soft effect. For this image, I set the Temp to +17, the Exposure to +1.5, Highlights to –65, and Clarity and Saturation each to –20. › › www. photoshopuser .com 075

[Off-center vignettes] One of the most common uses of the Radial Filter is to create off-center vignettes, but don’t feel like you have to limit your adjustments to only adjusting the exposure of your vignette. There are so many other ways to darken the edges and draw attention to the center of the photograph. For this image, the main subject of my photo is in the upper-left corner. If I were to add a standard vignette, I would risk darkening the subject more than I’d like. Instead, I chose to go with a slightly off-center vignette to keep my subject nice and bright. First, I turned off Invert Mask then, instead of just adjusting the Exposure (set to –0.45), I also played with the Temp (+10), Tint (+6), Contrast (+19), and Highlights (–5). Processing Photos of People The Radial Filter is a very good tool to use with portraits. Sure, you could use the Adjustment Brush tool, but you have an easy-to- edit, feathered edge to work with in a Radial Filter. Plus, people’s faces are oval, so it makes sense to work with a defi ned shape with a good feather to it. Here are a few ways you can use this fi lter when processing portraits. [Selective adjustments to eyes, mouth, and cheeks] The Radial Filter is the perfect tool to use for making selective adjustments to portions of the face. The rounded shape of the gradient makes it work on almost any portion of the face. › › photoshop user › september 2013 cursor in the middle of the eye. Make the [Eyes] Draw an oval shape, starting with the shape about the size you need it, and then resize and rotate it afterwards to fi t around the eyes perfectly. You’ll want it to cover the eyes from the bottom eyelashes to the top eyelashes, and just outside of the eyeball portion from left-to-right. To move just one side of the Radial Filter, hold the Option (PC: Alt) key while dragging one of the control handles. If there’s excess darkening around the eyes you may want to slightly increase the size. of the eyes with the Saturation and Shadows sliders. 076 Check the Invert Mask box, and then play with the sliders to increase the Exposure, Clarity, and also brighten the colored portion

[Mouth] Draw a skinny oval shape over the lips, and center it over the mouth. Rotate it and increase the size so that it fi ts just around the lips. Then, check the Invert Mask box and increase the Saturation and Clarity sliders to see how it looks. For this image, I also added a pink color with the Color adjustment, as well as decreased the Highlights and increased the Temp to make the lips stand out a bit. Note: This will usually only work best in photos with a closed mouth. [Cheeks] The Radial Filter is a quick way to add a hint of color to the cheeks. Just create an oval shape and rotate it so that it sits high on the cheekbones. Then, add a pink hue from the Color setting, and increase the Feather (I set mine to +76). For this image, I also decreased the Exposure (–0.30) to darken the cheekbones slightly. Tip: Once you’ve made your adjustments to each section of the face, be sure to save it as a Radial Filter preset. To do this, click the Effect drop-down menu at the top of the panel, choose Save Current Settings as New Preset, and give it a name. Then, in the future, when applying a new Radial Filter, choose the preset from the list to apply those same settings to other images. [Bringing attention to the face] When we look at a photo, our eyes tend to see the brightest portion of the image fi rst. Because of this, we will likely want the face in a portrait to be the element that stands out the most. By using a Radial Filter, you can add a vignette that allows you to focus the attention on the face. To do this, fi rst add your fi lter, placing the point in the cen- ter of the face. Rotate and resize it so that it sits just outside of the face, then make adjustments to the Exposure and Shad- ows (I set my Exposure to –1.45 and the Shadows to –15), › › www. photoshopuser .com and any other setting you think will work. This adjustment, regardless of how subtle it is, can be a good way to direct the attention of the image more toward the face. ■ ALL PHOTOS BY NICOLE S. YOUNG 077

adobe photoshop lightroom section › › UNDER THE HOOD Smart Previews Matt Kloskowski For as long as I’ve been using Lightroom, I’ve been storing my photos on an external hard drive because my laptop drive f lls up too quickly. When I disconnected the external drive, however, I really couldn’t do much with my photos. Sure, you could do certain things in the Library mod- ule, but you couldn’t edit them in the Develop module. .... Well, one of the brand-new features in Lightroom 5 showing you the original photo since that hard drive is is called smart previews and it lets you do just that— currently connected; but it’s also letting you know that work on your photos even if they’re on a drive that isn’t it has a smart preview attached to it. attached. Let’s take a look at how it works. STEP THREE: STEP ONE: You’ll f nd this feature in the Import dialog To see how they port other than a progress bar at the top left letting you in Lightroom 5. When you have new photos to bring work, you’ll have into Lightroom, just go to File>Import Photos and Video, to disconnect your turn on the Build Smart Previews checkbox in the File external hard drive Handling panel in the upper-right corner of the Import (remember, there’s dialog, and then go about your importing process as no need to create usual. You won’t notice much of a difference during im- smart previews for any photos on your know that Lightroom is building the smart previews. computer’s internal drives). So go ahead and eject your hard drive (safely that is— don’t just yank the wire out of your computer). The f rst thing you should notice is that the name of the external drive in the Folders panel is now grayed out with question marks on the folders containing the images. STEP FOUR: Before Lightroom 5, you would have seen a question mark icon at the top right of each photo’s thumbnail in the Grid view or in the Filmstrip at the bot- tom letting you know that Lightroom doesn’t know where STEP TWO: After your › › photoshop user › september 2013 just click on one of them photos have been im- ported into Lightroom, to select it. Then, look under the Histogram in the Library module (at the top right of the screen) and you’ll see it Preview.” This is your vis - ual cue that Lightroom is 078 reads “Original + Smart

› › under the hood the photos are located. without yelling But with Lightroom 5, to my kids play- you now see a small ing the Xbox to rectangular icon, which ask them to bring is your visual indicator my laptop bag to that there’s a smart pre- me. This opens a view built for this photo. whole new world And if you look in the of opportunities Histogram panel, you’ll for me to give see that it now only them new tasks. reads “Smart Preview” and doesn’t have the STEP SIX: word “Original” next Finally, when you to it anymore. reconnect your hard drive, Light- STEP FIVE: Ready for the cool part? If you go to the room takes care Develop module (just press D for the keyboard short- of syncing everything back to the original photos so you cut), you’ll see that none of the sliders are grayed out won’t have to change a thing. Lightroom automatically (they used to be before Lightroom 5). You know what applies any changes you made while the drive was discon- that means? Yup, now I can sit in bed and edit photos nected to the full photos when you reconnect the drive. SMART PREVIEW TIPS You’ll notice I assumed you were importing new photos into your catalog back in Step One, so what do you do if you want to build smart previews for photos that are already in Lightroom, or if you forgot to do it when you imported them? No sweat. Just select the folder in the Folders panel and go to Library>Previews>Build Smart Previews. Smart Previews do take up extra space. If you want to know exactly how much space, click on the “Original + Smart Previews” text in the Histogram panel, and Lightroom will show you at the bottom of the Smart Preview dialog. Since the smart previews take up extra space on your hard drive, you may want to delete them when you’re done working on a folder of photos and you’ve synched the changes back to the external hard drive. Just like in the previous tip, click on the “Original + Smart Previews” text to open the Smart Preview dialog and click the Discard Smart Preview button. This will discard the preview for the selected image. If you select all of the images f rst, you’ll see four icons appear below the Histogram: Originals without Smart Previews, Originals + Smart Previews, Smart Previews, and Missing. The number next to each icon lets you know how many of each preview › › www. photoshopuser .com type that you have for the selected images. Now when you click on the Originals + Smart Preview icon, you can discard the smart previews for all the selected images. Or, with just one photo selected, you can always go to Library>Previews>Discard Smart Previews, and then Lightroom will give you the choice of discarding the smart preview for the selected photo or for all the photos in that folder. ■ 079

adobe photoshop lightroom section › › UNDER THE LOUPE Using Photoshop CS6 with Lightroom 5 Rob Sylvan Since Lightroom was f rst released, it has been developed in parallel with the equivalent ver- sion of the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop. This means that when a new version of Lightroom was released, there was also a new version of the Camera Raw plug-in for the latest version of Photoshop. .... When Lightroom 4 was released, a new version of Photo- CS6 doesn’t show the controls in the Camera Raw plug-in shop (CS6) was not far behind, and along with Photoshop itself. More on this later. CS6 came Adobe Camera Raw 7. With every update for Those of you who have upgraded to Photoshop CC will Lightroom 4 (up to 4.4), there was a simultaneous release continue to get normal updates to the Camera Raw 8 of an update for Camera Raw 7 (up to 7.4). Each of these plug-in, and this version of the plug-in will provide full dot release updates brought a combination of bug f xes, access to editing with all the new features in Lightroom 5 Photoshop were released, the previous version would no and Photoshop CC. So, really, there’s no change in policy new lens prof les, and support for the RAW f les from for those who have already upgraded, and if you fall into new camera models. Now, Adobe’s decision to continue to provide updated Camera Raw plug-in support to that category, you may not be as interested in the rest of Photo shop CS6 has extended CS6’s usefulness and made this story. it a solid partner for Lightroom 5. Up to this year, when a new version of Lightroom and If you have Lightroom 5, Photoshop CS6, and have installed the Camera Raw 8.x update for CS6, let’s take longer be available in the Adobe store, and Adobe would WILL THIS AFFECT YOUR WORKFLOW? cease to provide dot release updates to those previous a closer look at what that means for your workf ow. First, versions. This changed in a couple of signif cant ways the good news: With this combination of software, you after the release of Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC. First, can use Lightroom 5 with any of the RAW f le formats it at the time of this writing, it’s still possible to purchase supports, develop photos with any of the new features a licensed copy of Photoshop CS6 in the Adobe store in Lightroom 5, and can seamlessly send a copy with despite Photoshop CC’s availability to Creative Cloud those new Lightroom adjustments to Photoshop CS6 subscribers. Second, Adobe has broken with tradition for additional editing, just like you did with Lightroom 4. and released a version of Camera Raw that works with So, if you bring in a RAW photo from a newly supported Photoshop CS6. Note: Lightroom 4 is no longer available camera into Lightroom 5 and correct perspective distor- and will not be updated. tion with the Upright function, remove a power line with the new Spot Removal tool, add a Radial Filter, then send NOTES ON COMPATIBILITY a copy to Photoshop CS6 with Lightroom edits, you’ll see Why the change? Adobe states that since Photoshop CS6 all of those adjustments are applied to the new copy. This › › photoshop user › september 2013 comes in the form of a version of Camera Raw 8 (8.1 as using Lightroom 5, Photoshop CS6, and Camera Raw 7.4. is actually really great news. is still being sold, it will continue to provide updated RAW f le compatibility for its customers using that product. This Let’s contrast that against what happens to someone In this scenario, if you use the Photo>Edit In>Edit in Adobe of this writing) that’s compatible with Photoshop CS6. This special version of Camera Raw 8 has all the same Photoshop CS6 menu in Lightroom 5, you’ll get a prompt new camera support as Lightroom 5 and the version of telling you that “This version of Lightroom may require the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in version 8.x for full compat- Camera Raw 8 for Photoshop CC, and it can render all of ibility,” and give you the options to Cancel, Render Using the new features in Lightroom 5, such as the Radial Filter, the Upright feature (located in the Basic tab in the Lens Corrections panel), and the improved Spot Removal tool. CS6 user can do at this point is choose Cancel, then go to The difference is the Camera Raw 8 plug-in for Photoshop Lightroom, or Open Anyway. The best thing a Photoshop Help>Updates in Photoshop to have the latest version of 080

› › under the loupe the Camera Raw plug-in installed. Once updated, you won’t renders the copy itself instead of passing the data on to see that prompt anymore, and the copy will simply open the Camera Raw plug-in. This way you get the benef t of correctly in Photoshop. all the new features and camera support in Lightroom 5 without having to upgrade Photoshop. However, this option won’t help you if you use any of the other ways Photoshop integrates with Lightroom, meaning that the Open as Smart Object in Photoshop, Merge to Panorama, Merge to HDR Pro, and Open as Layers in Photoshop If you’re using a version of Photoshop older than CS6, functions all rely on the Camera Raw plug-in to do the you can consider upgrading Photoshop so that you can rendering. If you don’t have a compatible version, you install the Camera Raw 8 plug-in, or you can choose Render won’t see any of the new features applied to the copies Using Lightroom in the dialog. With this option, Lightroom sent to Photoshop through those options, and if you’re Extreme Radial Filter applied in Lightroom 5 › › www. photoshopuser .com Radial Filter adjustment is visible in Camera Raw 8, but there are no controls to adjust it 081

under the loupe › › using a newer camera model, you might not see any photo decide to open that photo into the Camera Raw 8 plug-in appear at all. for CS6 directly, you won’t be able to alter the adjustments from the new features. To illustrate this point, I applied LIMITATIONS an extreme Radial Filter adjustment to the photo in the Photoshop CS6 users can be thankful for this version of frst image (see previous page), then used the Photo>Edit the Camera Raw plug-in for allowing the majority of their In>Open as Smart Object in Photoshop menu to send a Lightroom 5 to Photoshop CS6 workfow to work without copy to Photoshop CS6. In the next image, you can see a hitch and without having to upgrade to Photoshop CC. that same photo opened in the Camera Raw 8 plug-in for There are, however, a couple of things to keep in mind. Most CS6 with the Radial Filter applied, but there are no controls importantly is that while this special version of Camera Raw 8 for adjusting it further. can render the new features, it doesn’t allow you to edit those same new features in the plug-in. This could potentially impact If you don’t use that workfow, then that really isn’t going anyone who uses the Photo>Edit In>Open as Smart Object to affect you much, but it is important to be aware of the in Photoshop function in Lightroom 5 to send a copy of the limitations of this special version of Camera Raw. Looking RAW photo with Lightroom adjustments embedded in a smart to the future, Adobe has not provided a timeline for how object layer. In this scenario, the copy will visibly have all the long this special version of Camera Raw for Photoshop CS6 edits applied to it, but if you double-click the smart object will continue to be updated, but I’ve been told that it will layer to open the embedded copy into the Camera Raw plug- continue to be updated for the foreseeable future. Even in, you wouldn’t be able to edit any features not supported when Adobe stops updating this version of the Camera by Camera Raw 7.4. Raw plug-in for future new cameras and lenses, Lightroom 5 Similarly, if you take advantage of the ability to write changes and Photoshop CS6 will still remain a compatible partner- into the XMP metadata space of your photos in Lightroom, then ship for some time to come. n ALL IMAGES BY ROB SYLVAN

adobe photoshop lightroom section › › Seán Duggan LIGHTROOM Tips & Tricks The tips in this issue all revolve around the Lightroom associated with that image. Clicking on the Photo Is in Col- Library module and being able to easily f nd the location of lection badge at the bottom-right corner of a thumbnail will specif c photos, as well as shortcuts to speed up your work also display a menu, showing the names of the collections that with collections. image belongs to. JUMP TO IMAGE LOCATION QUICK AND EASY COLLECTIONS Occasionally, you may Speaking of collections, they’re an excellent way to create f nd yourself viewing a image groupings based on things such as quality, location, grid of thumbnails that theme, project, or any other way you might think of to group are part of a group much photos together. If you want to use the quick collection but larger than a specif c need to quickly clear out any previous images that might be folder. This might be there, click Quick Collection in the Catalog panel, then press the All Photographs view Shift-Command-B (PC: Shift-Ctrl-B) to clear the collection. attribute. To quickly nar- Once you’ve gathered together a number of photos into a in the Library module’s Catalog panel, or per- quick collection, either by clicking on the thumbnail and press- ing the letter B or clicking the circle icon that appears in the haps a view created by top-right corner of the thumbnail, you may want to promote searching for a certain it to a regular collection that you can assign a name to. To do keyword or other image Save Quick Collection dialog. Give the collection a name and row down exactly where this, press Option-Command-B (PC: Alt-Ctrl-B) to bring up the a specif c image is in your catalog, Right-click on a thumbnail click Save. and choose Go to Folder in Library. This command is also avail- The Quick Collection is the default target collection in Light- able in the Photo menu. room, meaning that if you use the B shortcut key or click the Sometimes, I like to quickly access where an image is stored circle icon, the active images will be added to that collection. on the actual hard drive. For instance, there are times when To assign target status to another collection, Right-click on a I want to bring an image into Photoshop, but I don’t necessar- collection in the Collections panel and choose Set as Target ily want Lightroom to create a new version that’s added to the Collection. Then use the B shortcut or click the small circle at catalog. To display the location on the hard drive, Right-click on the top-right corner of a thumbnail to quickly add photos to a thumbnail and choose Show in Finder (Command-R), or Show the new target collection. Pressing B again or clicking the circle in Explorer on Windows (Ctrl-R). This command is also avail- at the top right will remove an image from the target collec- able in the Photo menu. tion. The target collection is indicated with a small plus sign Finally, if the image is part of a collection, you can Right- next to its name in the Collections panel. The collection you’ve click on a thumbnail, and choose Go to Collection. A submenu specif ed as the target will remain so until you assign target for that command will show the names of the collections status to another collection. › › www. photoshopuser .com If you want to have Lightroom display the target collection, press Command-B (PC: Ctrl-B). Using the same shortcut a sec- ond time will return you to the previous view. ■ ALL IMAGES BY SEÁN DUGGAN 083

column › › CREATIVE POINT OF VIEW KATRIN EISMANN Past Prime Photography relies on an integral relationship with time, as it freezes, blurs, captures, and preserves the intan- gible presence of the f eeting moment. Many times we use the camera to immortalize the young, strong, powerful, beautiful, and perfect. In contrast, the decayed, crumbling, and faded of er an honest glimpse into our own mortality. Many photographers are drawn to exploring and photograph- these communities as they’re transformed from working class ing abandoned buildings, roadside debris, and family heirlooms neighborhoods to white-collar enclaves. that echo the passage of distant times. Note: Being in abandoned buildings may be illegal and, due to weakened structures, very dangerous. Always explore with PHOTOGRAPHING YESTERDAY a photo partner and be alert for rotten f oorboards, rusty nails, Up until the mid-20th century, the many towns that lined the and chemical debris. Hudson River surrounding New York City were industrial centers Photographing in old factory buildings is often a hit or miss of transportation, production, manufacturing, and worldwide situation of access and light, and bracketing the handheld expo- trade. In the mid- to late-20th century, as the world’s economy sure by 3 stops allows me to work quickly and have the ability to changed, these river towns were either left by the wayside or, process the dark interiors and the bright exteriors to create pleas- as in the case of Edgewater, Weehawken, and Hoboken, New ing results fairly quickly with Adobe Camera Raw and Merge Jersey, they reinvented themselves by razing the old factories to HDR Pro. Entire books have been written on processing HDR and building contemporary condominiums and riverside parks. images; here, I’m sharing a straightforward approach that I use Over the years, I’ve been photographing the changing face of to produce appealing results. › › photoshop user › september 2013 084 HDR image from three exposures KATRIN EISMANN

› › CREATIVE POINT OF VIEW STEP ONE: After downloading the images with Adobe Bridge, select the bracketed exposures and open them in Adobe Camera Raw (Command-R [PC: Ctrl-R]). Resist the temptation to process the f les with any tone, contrast, or color adjustments. STEP TWO: Click the Select All button at the top left of the Camera Raw dialog to select all of the images, go to the Lens Correc- tions panel (sixth panel from the left), select the Prof le tab, turn on Enable Lens Prof le Corrections, and apply the appropriate Lens Profile. Because the shots in this example were handheld, I did not apply Manual Lens Corrections. But when shooting with a tripod where the geometry of the images is identical, it’s f ne to use the Manual corrections. Click Done to return to Bridge. The amount of detail allows each broken timber and crumbled STEP THREE: Select the images in Bridge and choose Tools> brick to speak and yields a grace to the silent John Deere excavator. Photoshop>Merge to HDR Pro. If the camera or subject moved, check Remove Ghosts, set Mode to 32 Bit, and move the high- light slider to the right side of the White Point preview histogram. Click OK. Tip: When processing HDR images in Adobe Camera Raw, clicking Auto in the Basic panel is often a fantastic f rst step to achieving pleasing results. The Auto algorithms were developed through extensive research and you can then adjust the settings further to suit your own look and style. PRESERVING MEMORIES STEP FOUR: Save the f le as a TIFF, close the f le, and in Bridge, On a much smaller and more intimate note, Bina Altera, a New choose File>Open in Camera Raw to process this image with York-based photographic artist, has created a beautiful body of › › www. photoshopuser .com the familiar and powerful ACR controls. Note: If the Open in work titled Immemorial in which she photographs a wide variety of Camera Raw option is grayed out, go to Adobe Bridge CS6 (PC: objects from a lock of hair to a mysteriously gilded brick to a magi- Edit)>Camera Raw Preferences, and select Automatically Open cal collection of baby teeth. As she describes, “These objects rep- All Supported TIFFs in the TIFF drop-down menu at the bottom of resent legacy, death, and a way to hold onto people, and in some the dialog. ways are even used as power symbols. They serve as footprints 085

CREATIVE POINT OF VIEW › › or markers in each person’s life and span all ages. These objects have been kept as part of one’s possessions over a long period of time and are special and powerful to each individual. Some objects are used as altars and others are kept tucked away in brown bags in drawers. There is an inherent life to each object. These objects become a part of the individual, and are tangible embodiments of a constantly changing past, present, and future.” BINA ALTERA BINA ALTERA Over the course of a year, Bina gathered the objects and built a unique box or stage for each one. “This context is represented by the treatment of the box, specif cally fabricated to support the story of the object. Just as the stories are sup- ported, the objects are clearly visibly supported, lending a real ity to the hanging object. The resulting treatment and placement of the object within the box is a combination of the signif cance of the object to the individual as well as to me. The f nal body › › photoshop user › september 2013 AUTHENTICITY of work is the translation of a secret language describing the objects poetically, as if it were a memory or dream.” In the age of overprocessed HDR images, the term “ruin porn” was coined to denigrate images of decrepit buildings. But the simplistic act of adding the word “porn” to photographic subject matter is a label, which denies the beauty of the abandoned, to, build alters for them, hang them by threads, explore, experi- ment, and never let one-dimensional labels hamper your creative 086 BINA ALTERA aged, and discarded. Delve into the materials that you’re attracted fantasy and visual journey. ■



Dynamic Range Layer masks Quick Selection tool > > KEY CONCEPTS: The By Seán Duggan Before In anticipation of the next fi lm installment of The Hobbit (due out in December), I’ve been thinking of some of the composites I created for the 2nd edition of Photoshop Masking & Compositing (Peachpit, 2012), which I co-authored with Katrin Eismann and James Porto. Several of them have a very strong Middle-Earth (or Game of Thrones) quality to them. For this article, I’ll revisit one of my favorite composites from the book and take it in a slightly dif erent direction. STEP ONE: Open the Helmet, Pinnacles, and Fire images in Photoshop. › › photoshop user › september 2013 tant mountain and a bit of the sky above it. Press Command-J (PC: We’ll begin with the Pinnacles image, so make that the active fi le. First, we’ll modify the landscape by making the distant mountain a bit taller. Use the Lasso tool (L) to make a loose selection of the dis- Ctrl-J) to copy the selection to a new layer. Right-click on this layer in the Layers panel and choose Convert to Smart Object. Double-click on the layer’s name and rename it “Mountain.” [NAPP members may download the fi les used in this tutorial from All fi les are for personal use only.] 088 http://members.photoshopuser.com/magazine/issue/september-2013.

STEP TWO: Press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to bring up Free Trans- form, and pull up on the top-center handle to stretch the moun- tain taller. Because this will be in the distance, distortion won’t be a factor for this composite. If necessary, click-and-drag inside the bounding box to realign it with the actual landscape underneath, and then press Enter to commit the transformation. STEP THREE: Use the Quick Selection tool (W) or the Magic Wand tool (nested under the Quick Selection tool) to select the sky above the mountain, then Option-click (PC: Alt-click) the Add Lay- er Mask icon (circle in a square) at the bottom of the Layers panel. Step Two This adds a layer mask that hides the selected area. Make sure the layer mask is selected in the Layers panel, press D then X to make the Foreground color black, and choose the Brush tool (B). Paint with black with a soft-edged brush on the layer mask to bring back the rock pinnacles at the base of the mountain and blend the now taller peak with the mountains at its base. Lock the position of this layer by clicking the Lock Position icon at the top of the Layers panel. STEP FOUR: Now we can bring in the helmet. To streamline this Step Three tutorial, the helmet has already been selected using the Pen tool (P) and copied to a new layer. Use the Move tool (V) to click-and-drag the Helmet onto the Pinnacles image. The helmet will appear as a new layer at the top of the stack. STEP FIVE: The first step is to flip the helmet so that the light direction matches the desert scene. With the Helmet layer active, choose Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to bring up the Free Transform bounding box. Right-click in the bounding box and choose Flip Horizontal from the menu. Press the Enter key to commit the transformation. STEP SIX: Next we need to scale the helmet so that it fi ts convinc- Step Five ingly onto the rock pillar. To keep this nondestructive, Right-click on the helmet layer in the Layers panel and choose Convert to Smart Object. Lower the Opacity of the Helmet layer to 60% so you can see it in relation to the rock pinnacle underneath. Press Command-T › › www. photoshopuser .com (PC: Ctrl-T) to enter Free Transform again. Click-and-drag inside the bounding box to position the helmet, then Shift-click-and-drag on one of the corner handles to scale it smaller until the sides of the helmet more or less line up with the sides of the rock. Press Enter to apply the transformation, and return the layer Opacity to 100%. 089 Step Six

Dynamic Range STEP SEVEN: Click the Eye icon for the Helmet layer to turn it off. Take a close look at the surface structures of the lower part of the rock column. Several deep fi ssures and cracks can be used to create a better blend for the helmet. I’ve traced these in yellow in the illustration shown here so you can see them better. The idea is to mask the lower part of the helmet to selectively reveal some of these characteristics and make it appear as if the helmet is actually built into the rock instead of just fl oating on top of it. Step Seven STEP EIGHT: Click on the Background layer to make it active and zoom into 100% (double-click the Zoom tool [Z] to jump to Step Eight 100% view). Use the Quick Selection tool to select the rock pin- nacle. Turn on the visibility for the Helmet layer and click on it to make it active. Using the Lasso tool, hold down the Shift key and drag a lasso around the top part of the helmet above the eyes to add that to the existing selection. Click the Add Layer Mask icon STEP NINE: Choose the Brush tool and make sure the Fore- at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a layer mask based on the modifi ed selection. ground color is black. Open the Brush Preset Picker on the left side of the Options Bar and set the brush Hardness to about 50%. Click on the layer mask to ensure that it’s active, and paint over the lower portion of the helmet so that the rock structures on the side of the pillar show through. Take advan- tage of any shadows or cracks in the rock that will make it look like the helmet is a part of the rock. STEP TEN: Zoom in for a close view and use the Brush tool to care- fully refi ne the mask edge that follows the rock structure. Paint with black to hide the helmet, and press X to switch the brush color to white to reveal it. Vary the size and hardness of the brush as you go to fi nd the best brush for blending the edges. Step Nine › › photoshop user › september 2013 ate New Adjustment Layer icon (half-black, STEP ELEVEN: Now let’s adjust the time of day and bring on the night. Click the Cre- half-white circle) at the bottom of the Lay- ers panel and choose Black & White from the list. Adjust the sliders to taste in the Properties panel. Check the Tint box, click the color swatch, and in the Color Picker, choose a low saturation bluish tint (R:70, G:80, B:90). Set the Opacity for this ad- justment layer to 85%. Step Eleven 090

STEP TWELVE: Click the Create New Adjustment Layer icon and choose Curves. Lower the curve as shown here. Set the blend mode to Multiply. Use the Quick Selection tool to select the hel- met and the rock tower. Paint with black on the layer mask for the curves layer to hide the darkening on the left side of the hel- met (the side facing the light source). We want to enhance the idea that the left side of the helmet (as you look at it) is brighter than the right side, which falls on the shadowed side. Change the Opacity in the Options Bar as you brush to make the effect more realistic. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect. Step Twelve STEP THIRTEEN: Make the Fire image active and with the Move tool, drag it onto the main composite file to add it as a new layer. Set the blend mode to Screen. Use Free Transform to scale it smaller so it fi ts inside the small alcove at the base of the pillar. Add a layer mask to this layer and paint with black to hide the alcove area at the base of the rock tower. Option-click (PC: Alt- area surrounding the fi re. STEP FOURTEEN: Make a loose selection with the Lasso tool of the click) the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Step Thirteen Layers panel and select Solid Color. In the New Layer dialog that appears, set the blend Mode to Soft Light, and click OK. In the Color Picker that appears, choose a bright-orange color (R:255, G:130, B:20) to create a glow for the area surrounding the fi re. In the Properties panel, increase the Feather value until the mask edges are soft and indistinct. Further edge softening can also be applied with the Brush tool. STEP FIFTEEN: As a fi nal step to suggest the light from the fi re be- low is illuminating the interior of the tower, I used the Fire image on another layer with a layer mask to add a glow inside the eyes Step Fourteen (as we did in Steps Thirteen and Fourteen). You can see how that was accomplished by checking out the fi nal layered PSD fi le that is available with the download fi les. › › www. photoshopuser .com Shooting images specifi cally for a composite is one way to work, but using existing photos from your image archive also may offer many possibilities for interesting composites. All it takes is a little imagina- tion and some basic Photoshop techniques. You can see a collection of similar images at my website, seanduggan.com/imaginarium. ■ ALL IMAGES BY SEÁN DUGGAN Step Fifteen 091

› › key concepts: Layer masks DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTEBOOK KEVIN AMES Composition Ref ning with Vignettes Vignettes can be subtle compositional tools for focusing a viewer’s attention. Step behind the curtain of vignettes to learn how they work and how to make them in the “Digital Photographer’s Notebook.” Photographers pay careful attention to the rule of thirds, the golden mean, and leading lines when making a great composi- tion. Vignettes, whether done on the scene or later in post, help draw the viewer’s attention. Our eyes naturally move to brighter areas framed by a darker background. When the surrounds are bright, dark areas draw and hold our attention. The former example is called low key while the latter is high key. We’ll start http://members.photoshopuser.com/magazine/issue/september- with the latter. Here’s a photograph I made of model Amy Lucas in a white Gucci fur-collared coat. The clamp in the back held the collar up. We’ll remove it as we create the vignette. Download the samples folder from the NAPP member website to follow along. [NAPP members may download the f les used in this tutorial at 2013. All f les are for personal use only.] STEP ONE: Open Amy.tif in Photoshop. Press Command- Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N) and click OK to make a new layer. Press D to set the default colors, then X to make the Fore- ground color white. Press B for the Brush tool. Use a soft- edged, 200-pixel brush. Paint white on the piece of foam core in the lower-left corner. Next, paint over the clamp and all the way to the edge in the upper right. Now paint the rest of the background around Amy white. Don’t worry if you overspray a bit. You can always use a layer mask to get rid of it. Step One › › photoshop user › september 2013 and choose Curves. Double-click the layer’s name in the Layers STEP TWO: Click the Create New Adjustment Layer icon (half-white, half-black circle) at the bottom of the Layers panel, panel and rename it “vignette blend.” Change the blend mode from Normal to Screen in the drop-down menu just below the Kind drop-down at the upper-left corner of the panel. Every- thing, including Amy, is now a lot brighter. For the coat that’s great; not so for her. Click on the layer mask thumbnail for the vignette blend layer to make it active, and press Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to invert the mask’s color from white to black. Get the Brush tool then size the brush to 600 pixels or so. Paint white over the coat to blend it into the painted background. Step Two 092

› › digital photographer’s notebook Amy is the darkest area of the high-key photo. The white paint blended into the coat by the Curves adjustment layer set to the Screen blend mode creates the vignette. They’re not just about the corners! Next, we’ll look at a couple of methods for darkening vignettes. Open Autumn.tif from the downloaded samples folder. She’s standing in front of a fairly evenly lit gray painted muslin from C&M Backdrops. Her skin is much lighter than the background. STEP ONE: Choose the Elliptical Marquee tool (nested under the Rectangular Marquee tool [M] in the Toolbox). Draw an oval selection around her head, hair, and down into her neckline. effect of the layer show on the image. Press Command-I (PC: STEP TWO: Make a new Curves adjustment layer. The selec- tion appears as a white oval surrounded by black in the layer mask thumbnail. Press V for the Move tool. Hold down Shift- Option (PC: Shift-Alt) then press the M key. This sets the Curves’ layer blend mode to Multiply. A dark area appears over Autumn’s face. Not what we want. White in a mask lets the Ctrl-I) to invert the mask. It’s too dark. Press 8 to set the Curves’ Step One layer Opacity to 80%. Finally, go to the Properties panel, and click the Masks icon (circle in a square) near the top left of the panel. Drag the Feather slider to 85 px or so. This smoothes the vignette’s transition. The areas on Autumn’s shoulders darkened by the Curves layer show a shift in color and an increase in contrast. While this technique works well when applied just to the background, it doesn’t deliver a look that would result from the photograph being lit with her face brighter than the rest. For vignettes that include known colors, use this next technique. STEP ONE: Navigate to the samples folder in Bridge. Double- click Autumn as Smart Object-1.psd to open it in Photoshop CS6. This exercise requires CS6. In the Layers panel, Right-click on the layer Autumn.arw to the right of the layer’s thumbnail, › › www. photoshopuser .com and choose New Smart Object via Copy. Double-click the layer thumbnail for Autumn.arw copy to open it in Camera Raw. Pull the Exposure slider to –1.40. See how her hair darkens, as does Step Two her dress. Push the Shadows slider to +60 to lighten her hair and dress. Click OK. 093

digital photographer’s notebook › › Original Camera Raw Curves STEP TWO: Once again choose the Elliptical Marquee tool. Draw a similar selection to the one you made in the last example. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key then click the Add Layer Mask icon. The Option (PC: Alt) key inverts the layer mask as it’s created. In the Proper- ties panel, click the Masks icon then move the Feather slider to the right. This time set it to about 124 px. Compare the original without a vignette to the version done with Camera Raw to the one made with Curves in the Multiply blend mode. There are noticeably brighter highlights in her hair and that detail is maintained in her black dress in the Camera Raw version. The skin on her shoulders retains pleasing color, as well. › › photoshop user › september 2013 brighter than the background. Finally, here’s an image made with a vi gnette created using a gridded beauty dish. The light on Jessica’s face is about two thirds of a stop No matter if the vignette happens in Photo- shop or during the photography itself, careful application of this tool makes a big difference in viewability. Until the next installment of the “Notebook,” keep shooting! ■ 094

T e Adobe Photoshop ® ® ® book for Digital Photographers Scott shares his own personal settings and studio-tested techniques, not to mention that it’s laid out like a real workf ow. There’s also an entire chapter containing Scott’s #1 most-asked Lightroom question… “exactly what order am I supposed to do things in, and where does Photoshop f t in? Plus, you get a downloadable collection of some the hottest Lightroom Develop module presets to give you amazing ef ects with just one click! ORDER NOW KELBYTRAINING.COM/BOOKS OR CALL 800.201.7323 Copyright 2013 Kelby Training, Inc. – all rights reserved. All content in the above-mentioned titles is produced by Kelby Training, Inc., 333 Douglas Road East, Oldsmar, FL 34677. www.kelbytraining.com. Adobe, Photoshop and Lightroom are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Incorporated.

h o w -t o › › BEYOND PHOTOSHOP SCOTT ONSTOTT Creating Subtle Motion within a Photo, Part 1 Photographer Jamie Beck and Web designer Kevin Burg pioneered a technique for converting videos to stills imbued with subtle motion. The result is an intriguing blend of photography and video created in an unlikely medium—the animated GIF. The key to making stills come alive is not to overdo the movement. In part 1 of this tutorial, we’ll transform a short video clip into a frame-based animation that takes place above a vibrant, digi- tally painted version of the scene. This will create a framework for the subtle motion that will be added in a complex masking process in part 2. Step One [NAPP members may download the f le used in this tutorial at http://members.photoshopuser.com/magazine/issue/september- 2013. All f les are for personal use only.] Step Two STEP ONE: Open Rhodo.mov. Choose Window>Timeline and click the Play icon to watch the video clip. The goal is to isolate the bee that’s moving in the center of the image and eliminate all other movement, including the camera motion and the wind blowing the rhododendron. Click the Go to First Frame icon. STEP TWO: Click the Timeline panel f yout menu at the top right of the panel and choose Convert Frames>Flatten Frames into Clips. This converts the video into separate layers, each layer corresponding to an individual frame. Scroll to the bottom of the Layers panel and drag the Video Group 1 folder to the Trash. The layers were automatically named Frame 0 through Frame 99. STEP THREE: Click the Play icon in the Timeline panel and you’ll see that there’s no longer any video. Click the Go to First Frame icon, then click the Timeline panel f yout menu, and choose Convert Frames>Make Frames from Clips. Now the layers are arranged to play sequentially in time. STEP FOUR: Click the Convert to Frame Animation icon at › › photoshop user › september 2013 back but the timeline itself is gone. Instead, the Timeline panel Step Three the bottom left of the Timeline panel. Click the Play icon in the Timeline panel and observe that the same smooth motion is now shows a sequence of frames that play for 0.04 seconds each by default. STEP FIVE: Click the Selects First Frame icon. Now we’ll convert the f rst frame into something that looks more like a (PC: Ctrl-C) to select all and copy the selection to the clipboard. Press Command-N (PC: Ctrl-N), then press Enter to create a new document using the default settings. Press Command-V 096 painting. Press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A), then Command-C Step Four

› › BEYOND PHOTOSHOP (PC: Ctrl-V) to paste the image into the new document. Press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E) to Merge Down and thereby f atten to the Background. STEP SIX: Choose Image>Adjustments>HDR Toning, and select Photorealistic from the Preset drop-down menu. Drag the Radius slider to 77 px, click the Smooth Edges checkbox, and click OK. STEP SEVEN: Now choose Filter>Oil Paint, set Stylization to 1.49, Cleanliness to 1, Shine to 0, and click OK. STEP EIGHT: Choose Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen, set Amount to 200%, Radius to 1 px, Remove to Gaussian Blur, and click OK. Step Six Choose Window>Arrange>Consolidate All to Tabs, and press STEP NINE: Choose Window>Arrange>Tile All Vertically. Press V to select the Move tool. Hold down Shift and click-and- drag the Background layer from the Untitled window into the Rhodo window. Close the Untitled window without saving. Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect. STEP TEN: Choose Layer>New>Background from Layer to convert the painting into the Background layer. Select frame 1 in the timeline and observe that the Eye icon for Frame 0 is turned on in the Layers panel. Select frame 2 in the timeline and note that the Eye icon for Frame 1 is turned on in the Layers SCOTT ONSTOTT panel. To avoid this confusing naming mismatch, select frame 1 in the timeline and click the Trash icon to delete it. Then in the Step Seven Layers panel, select Frame 0 and press Delete (PC: Backspace). STEP ELEVEN: Click frame 1 in the timeline and observe that layer Frame 1 is toggled on in the Layers panel. Click frame 2 in the timeline and see that Frame 2 is toggled on in the Layers panel. Each frame in the timeline toggles off all the other layers › › www. photoshopuser .com except for the current frame’s corresponding layer, while the Background layer remains on throughout the animation. We have transformed a QuickTime video clip into a frame-based animation so that there’s a one-to-one correspondence between its frame and layer names. Behind all this is an enhanced version of the scene stored as the Background layer, against which the animation will take place in part 2 of this tutorial. To get a sneak peak of the f nal output, see http://bit.ly/17moTLH. ■ Step Eight 097

h o w -t o › › ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CC KEVIN AMES Adobe Camera Raw 8 In its latest release, Adobe Camera Raw moves closer to being a full-f edged, all-you’ll-ever-need, non- destructive imaging app. Now it also makes its debut as an (almost) full-featured filter for layers in Photoshop CC! Let’s take a look at what’s new in version 8. It was the fall of 2002 when the RAW revolution had begun. Vignetting’s limit is that the vignette is centered, as you see in Announced at Photoshop World in Los Angeles, Adobe Cam- this photograph. There’s no way to move it around. era Raw came to us initially as a $99 plug-in for Photoshop 7. The new plug-in made RAW processing much faster, and it was also standardized across camera platforms. Nikon, Canon, Kodak (remember them—they invented the digital camera), and the rest now had the same workf ow. ACR, as Adobe features of this latest release, it’s important to note that both Camera Raw was known, featured nondestructive editing of color temperature, exposure, shadow brightness/darkness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, and smoothness. Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC now sport the latest Camera Raw processing pipeline, version 8. Before plunging into the Lightroom and Photoshop use exactly the same processing engine. There is only one Camera Raw 8 (not counting dot releases, of course). Each application addresses this engine in its own way. I like to think of it as someone wearing cocktail clothes (Lightroom) or business clothes (Photoshop and Bridge). The street portrait of this Parisian traveler is open in Camera It’s the same person dressed differently. Raw 8. To access the Radial Filter panel, press the letter J. Drag Probably the biggest news in this release is that Photoshop around the subject with the Radial Filter tool to draw the ellipse. CS6 also gets a Camera Raw 8 update. In all previous versions, In the example below, I turned on the Outside radio button, the latest Photoshop got the latest Camera Raw. (The newest and then lowered the Exposure until the late afternoon sun- version of Camera Raw was never compatible with previous shine striking the wall above the pedestrian in the background versions of Photoshop.) This means that the latest camera and was slightly darker than the red-jacketed man. Adjusting the lens updates are now available in Photoshop CS6, extending Feather slider better blends the effect. its usefulness to adopters of the newest cameras. That’s the good news. The not-so-good, not-surprising news is none of the features described as new for Lightroom 5 and Photoshop › › photoshop user › september 2013 80.—Ed.] CC are in CS6. [For more on Camera Raw 8 for Photoshop CS6, see “Using Photoshop CS6 with Lightroom 5” starting on page I believe that the new features—the Radial Filter, true heal- ing and cloning with the Spot Removal tool, and Upright—are totally worth the upgrades. Let’s look at each one up close. RADIAL FILTER The Radial Filter is the solution for all photographers who love to work with vignettes but who groan and grimace every time they have to use Post Crop Vignetting in ACR. Post Crop 098

› › ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CC Were this all the Radial Filter could do it would be a win. It goes further by offering all of the controls found in the Adjustment Brush. But there’s more, much, much more. In this example, I want to blow out Hope’s skin. I started with an exposure of +2.00 on an Outside Radial Filter. The f rst image on the left is set with a 0 Feather to create the hard edge. The second is with the Feather at 100. The result washes out Hope’s eyes and lips. Now for the fun! I clicked the New radio button, drew another Radial Filter around her left eye, and turned on the Inside radio button. I dropped the Exposure to –1.20 and the Shadows to –94, then boosted the Clarity to +55 and the Saturation to +32. Right-clicking inside the Radial Filter, I chose Duplicate. I dragged the duplicate over her right eye then clicked-and-dragged outside of the ellipse to rotate it. I dupli- cated this one, then dragged it over her lips and rotated and resized it. In reality, only one Radial Filter outline will show in your image at a time, as in the image on the right. That photo shows one additional Radial Filter to enhance the visibility of her nose. To get a super-high-contrast look, I simply duplicated the two Radial Filters over her eyes. Note that inactive Radials are represented by gray dots. A red dot with a green ellipse says that Radial is set to Outside; green dot Radials with a red ellipse have Inside turned on. HEALING WITH THE SPORT REMOVAL TOOL Healing and cloning on a brush is the next new feature in Camera Raw 8. Using the Spot Removal tool (B), you can now paint over an unwanted area (not just click), and when you release the mouse—poof! The area you painted is healed or cloned. If the result isn’t pleasing, either drag the green outline to a new position or simply press the Foreword Slash (/) key. This photograph shows a lot of cleanup from the Bobcat in the mid-upper right to the removal of a half barrel on a concrete pad in the lower left. GET UPRIGHT Architectural photographers rejoice. If you love shooting tall buildings that always seem to fall away because of point- ing the camera at their peaks, you’ll be happy, too. Trust me. Upright is nested under the Manual tab in the Lens Cor- rections panel (Command-Option-6 [PC: Ctrl-Alt-6]). Upright usually corrects the perspective with a single click on the A (for Auto) button. The other three buttons are: level only; level and vertical only; level, vertical, and horizontal (see next page). I like the implementation for correcting multiple versions of › › www. photoshopuser .com the same photograph with different exposures. With all of the photos open and selected in the Filmstrip on the left side of the ACR dialog, apply Upright to the properly exposed image, then click Sync Results found right below the f ve Upright buttons in 099

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CC › › the Lens Corrections panel. To the right of that is the Reanalyze is not the case in the f lter version. When applied to a layer, it’s option just in case the initial correction isn’t satisfactory. totally destructive in that after the f le is saved and closed the change is permanent. Avoid this by Right-clicking to the right A FILTER FOR EVERY LAYER of a layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel, then choose Convert Camera Raw has been added to the Filter menu in Photoshop to Smart Object. Now any of the settings made on f lters that CC. For the most part it works great. Exposure on a layer is work with smart objects, including Camera Raw Filter, can be well. I use Snapshots a lot to compare versions of settings, and heavy handed, so watch out for that. It’s great for changing up changed anytime. the color temperature, as well as adding Clarity or Vibrance. The These new tools in Camera Raw 8 have enhanced my work- Adjustment Brush, Gradient Filter, Radial Filter, and Spot Healing f ow not only as a timesaver, particularly with the improved tool are all there. Most of what’s missing is minor: the Crop tool, Spot Healing tool, but it has also added great creativity with Rotate Image buttons, and Preferences. Snapshots are gone, as I really miss not having it in the f lter version of ACR. the Radial Filter. I love using it as a Photoshop f lter for tiny tweaks. Give this updated photographers’ go-to tool a test Camera Raw is not destructive. You can always go back. This drive. I believe you’ll love it, too. ■ › › photoshop user › september 2013 100 ALL IMAGES BY KEVIN AMES