Final Project- Photoshop Tutorial-Extract Tool and Effects Tool

After completeting this tutorial the student will have been introduced to the Extract Tool as well as the Effects Tool.

1. The first step in creating the top image is to open the bear picture and the cactus picture in photoshop.
2. Next click on the bear picture to activate it. Go to the filter menu and select the extract option or press Alt+Ctrl+X to open the extract window.
3. Select the edge highlighter tool which is on the left hand side of the window at the top. You can set the highlighter diameter on the right side of the window where it is listed under tool options. For my purposes I left it at the default of 20 pixels. (If at any time you need to zoom in there is the zoom tool on the left hand side six down from the highlighter tool. To zoom, click the area you want to enlarge. To zoom out hold the alt key down and click the image.)
4. Trace the edges of the bear. If you are like me and have a hard time making nice, neat lines you can do a shift click to draw straight lines between each click. Press shift and then click, between each segment and a straight line will be drawn. If you make a mistake you can ctrl z to erase the last thing you did or there is the eraser tool located on the left hand side of the window.
5. Next, click the Smart Highlighting option on the right hand side of the window under the tool options. You will use this to extract the mouth area of the bear. Simply highlight the area between his teeth and the back of his mouth.
6. Next use the fill tool, which is located on the left hand side and looks like a paint bucket, to fill in your selected area, in this case the bear.
7. Now click the preview button on the right hand side to see what your extraction will look like. You can change what background it rests on if you go to the bottom of the right hand side and change your options under the preview section. You can have it be on a transparent background, a grey background or a background color of your choice.
8. Now select the edge touchup tool or the cleanup tool on the right hand side. They are the 4th and 5th option down from the highlighting tool. The edge touchup tool will adjust any pixels that fall within your highlighter. The cleanup tool will erase pixels.
9. Once you are happy with your selection click OK.
10. Now you can drag your bear selection and drop it into your cactus picture.
11. Once in your cactus picture you will want to change the way the light is hitting your bear so it looks like it matches the lighting of the picture. To do this select the fX option in the layers palette once you have the bear layer selected. Add a gradient overlay. Set the blend mode to multiply and change the opacity to 45%. Change the degrees to 176 and the scale to 10%. Make sure the reverse is unchecked. Drag your overlay within your picture until you are happy with the way the bear is highlighted. I chose to have the light hitting is rear area.
12. Now my bear is ready to be placed in the proper position but I decided that he needed a better place to stand then what was already provided. To solve this I used the clone tool to extend out the rock and make it into sort of a slope. To do this alt click an area of the large rock with the clone tool and copy it over to the left side of it until you have a nice little slope for your bear to walk up.
13. Next use the free transform tool to rotate your bear at an angle as if he was walking at a slight incline.
14. Next go to your custom shape tool which is found in the same submenu as the rectangle tool. Select the talking bubble. Draw the bubble while holding the shift button to maintain proportions and place over the bear's head. If you hold the space bar down while drawing it you will be able to move it as you draw.
15. Next use your text tool to write in the words"I don't see any salmon here!". Choose whichever font you see fit. Once you have done so you can apply a drop shadow effect to the text by selected the fX option in the layers menu. Set the blend mode to multiply, the opacity to 75%, the angle to 35 degrees and the noise to 54%.
16. And there you go! All done!

I have to note that for some reason my text bubble is not showing up in blogger but it was in my final picture in photoshop. I don't know why that happened.

Mask Layer

For my first image I used the color range tool to select the shadows and highlights. I then created new layers with those selections and filled the shadow one with black while maintaining the transparency. I filled the highlights one with 50% Grey while maintaining the integrity. I then merged the two layers. Next I created a new layer with a dark navy fill and pasted the shadow/highlight layer as mask. Next I created a new layer and filled it with a light blue color and gave it texture by using the filter gallery. I then used the dodge tool to lighten the area around Elijah's face and the teddy bear.

For my second image I did the same first steps as my previous explanation but instead I used the color range option to select the midtones instead of the highlights. When I created my new layer I gave it a white fill instead of the navy fill like the last image. I then used the paintbrush tool to paint that blue. Next I created another new layer and filled it with a green color. I then used the paint brush to cover it with blue, lavender and pink. Next I used the liquefy tool to blend those all together in a nice swirly mix. Next I used the dodge tool to darken the area near the edge and then used the paintbrush tool to create a black frame of sorts. Next I used the smudge tool to blend my colors a little more and then finally I created a text layer and used the glow effect on text.

For my third image I did the same first steps as my previous images. To create the final look I had the merged layer of the shadow and midtones left on and the mask layer with blue painted background.

I had a really hard time at first with this assignment because I kept picking out pictures that did not just seem to work right when using the color range tool. Eventually I thought to use the highlight color range as an option too. I also was having a serious block on my creative juices. But after much trial and error I finally figured it out and my favorite image of the three is the one with Elijah's name on it.

Project 6- Photo Stitching

This assignment was really fun to do and I can't wait to be able to do this same picture but in the summer when the water is not frozen and it is sunny! My process for this was pretty much on par with what John discussed in the class. After I took my three pictures the first step that I took was to resize all the images down to ten inches wide and 72 resolution so I could post them easily to the web. Next I enlarged the canvas of the left image to 30 inches wide so that I could copy and paste the other images in. Next I took the middle image and pasted it in and then lowered the resolution so that I could line it up with the left image. I then put the opacity back up to 100 percent. The middle image was lighter then the left image so I ended up changing the levels on the left image so that it was closer to the middle image. I then used the eraser to blend the seam as much as I could. I ended up having to use the clone stamp a bit as well because of the color difference in the photos. I also had to use the burn tool for the shoreline as well for it to blend nicely. Next I took the third image and did the same steps as I did for stitching the first two. I did not have the same issues with the light difference that I did with the first two so the seam blending was relatively low key. After I had the three images blended I cropped it so the road would not show since I could blend the road lines and the mountains at the same time besides who wants an ugly road in their picture anyways. I then flattened the image and went to work on editing it. I increased the saturation just a bit and also used the dodge and burn tool to work on the lighting of the picture. I then used the blend tool to get rid of the faint telephone pole lines throughout three pictures.

My last steps were to give the picture frame edges. To do this I created a new background copy and enlarged the canvas by 50 pixels (relatively) all the way around. I selected a dark blue color for the canvas color. I then applied the bevel and emboss effect to give the image a raised edge. Next I made another background copy and enlarged that canvas again but making it 100 pixels and choosing a white background color instead of the blue. I also applied the bevel and emboss effect to this one as well.

After that I made my type and did one in the upper left corner of the image and then one in the center of the white frame. Both had a drop shadow and glow effect applied to them.