#resources: tutorials

[tifferini]

Hi. Can you pleaaaaase explain how to achieve your sidebar? Not the hovering / changing part, about picture edit part. like 3 bands as nature / and stiles / lydia etc :/ it looks amazing. If you do not mind ofcourse

My sidebars are just squared off version of this and this. I’m going to explain it more in detail after the cut.

Set the background to black. Cut out Stiles from a screencap. Duplicate the cut out layer and set the Blending Mode to Screen.

Add a Brightness/Contract adjustment layer and set it to Brightness - 10 and Contrast - 50. I thought it was too cold at this point so I added a Photo Filter adjustment layer and set it to Warming Filter (LBA) and Density 65%.

Add a black & white Gradient Map, set it to Screen, and lower the opacity to 70%. Add another Brightness/Contrast and set it to 25 & 20. Add a Gradient Fill layer and set it to Transparent to Black at Angle 90 and Scale 100. If that layer is Color to Transparency, reverse it so that the transparency portion is on the left.

Add a fill layer set to #302e2e, which is a warm grey, and set it to Lighten under Blending Mode. Then add a Black & White adjustment layer and set it to Darker. Change that layer to Soft Light and set it at Opacity - 50% and Fill 30%. Add a Photo Filter layer, select Color and set it to #ac7a33 at 25% Density. Change the Fill to 60%.

Here’s what your Layers dialogue box should look like right now:

Add a new adjustment layer for Selective Color. And here are your adjustments:

Red: +15/0/+10/+40White: -1/0/-2/0

That is all you’re going to do for the Stiles’ portion.

Alright, so here comes the landscape portion. Take a landscape scene. I actually forgot where this one came from, sorry. It was a part of a texture pack that I downloaded from yeahps.

Anyway, I made uniform rectangles 225x40 and spaced them out by a height 65px. Using those rectangles, if you hold down Ctrl (or Cmmd) and click on the Layer, it will select pixels in that layer. For more info, you can read this.

With the three rectangular bars selected, I used a Layer Mask so that only those three portions show up on the image.

The black is the part that is hidden, and the white is the part that shows through.

Now add a Fill Color layer with #141814, and set it to Screen. But also, make sure that you’re masking out the rest of the image, otherwise it will also affect the Stiles’ portion. And finally, add a Photo Filter adjustment layer with the Color #e8c67e & Density 45% (also with the layer mask). Like this:

And there you have it.

[tifferini]

It is seriously the easiest thing in the world. I kid you not.

Choose an HQ image and shrink it down to however small you want it. This was originally 1080p size, which I shrunk down to 1000px in width.

Duplicate the original layer and set it to COLOUR DODGE.

Invert the colour dodge layer and your image should disappear into almost all white (except for a few parts here and there). This is completely normal.

Now add a GRADIENT MAP layer in plain black to white (Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Gradient Map). Or you can also add a HUE/SATURATION adjustment layer and set the saturation to -100.

Click on the layer set to colour dodge and go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur. Adjust the amount of blur according to your image. With this particular photo, my radius was set to 30.0 pixels.

Now the line art portion is coming into place, but we have all this background that we need to get rid of.

Click on Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Colour and set it to white. Click on the layer mask portion and inverse it so that it's black (you can use Ctrl+I if you're PC or Command+I if you're on a Mac).

Using the Eraser Tool, we are going to erase the background until it's only our subject.

Tada! We are finished! To place it on a coloured background, just COPY MERGE (Edit -> Copy Merged) all the layers, paste on a new document with a coloured background and set it to MULTIPLY. Lower the opacity for a softer & more vintage feel.

That's it! You are finished. Super easy.

[tifferini]

I actually have a graphics related ask for you! How do you get clean/smooth crops of characters? I'm just starting to attempt making graphics and whenever I'm cutting characters out of their backgrounds for silhouettes or whatever, the edges are always really choppy, or messy, and they look awful. Any tips on what can make the edges look a little better?

Warning: Semi-long answer.

You are in luck because I am currently cutting out people hahaha.

I have 2 methods for cutting stuff out in PS.

 Pen Tool (I’ve been favouring this one lately)

 Polygonal Lasso Tool (I’ve been using this one the longest)

The Pen Tool (shortcut P) allows for easier adjustments and more specificity when it comes to curves. However, it can be a little tricky because it’s actually supposed to be for creating shapes. I suggest watching this tutorial for a quick overview of how to use the Pen Tool.

Now with the second option, I know a lot of people use the regular Lasso Tool, but I feel like it’s too free reigning (and you have to hold down the mouse button which is super lamesauce). The Polygonal Lasso Tool allows for easier control but it doesn’t allow you to curve. So the trick is to click in small increments. Watch this video for help (it’s low quality so beware).

A tip for having a cleaner cut is to zoom in closely and cut more than you need to.

As you can see above, my line cuts out a little of the shape. If you don’t do this, you’ll have a weird border.

Another tip is to use the Refine Edge tool (especially if you’re using Polygonal Lasso).

THIS HAS SAVED MY ASS SO MANY TIMES WHEN IT COMES TO HAIR.

First you start off with your selection, then you hit the Refine Edge button.

Okay, now what you do is you brush the edges so that it creates a gradient and fades out the background. Watch this video from 3:00 and on. This is the result.

It looks fuzzy right here, but you can put that on any colour background and it won’t have harsh or jagged edges. This tool is like the best fucking thing in the world.

I have no idea if this made any sense, but I hope it helps a little bit.

[tifferini]

mydearsourwolf replied to your photoset: My eyes are damp from the words you left Ringing...

I hate you. I have been trying to figure out how to do this forever now and then you go ahead and create this flawless brilliance. gtfo.

It's Filter > Distort > Wave, and play around with the settings. These were mine (ignore the preview):

[tifferini]

The Maze Runner Unofficial Poster (x) - The Manipulation Process Click to enlarge

[tifferini]

Writing about Photography

So after my angry post about non-photographers writing photography AU's, Zim asked me to create a guide for it.

Learn photography terminology (specifically aperture, shutter speed, and ISO). You don't have to be super detailed when you write about them, but it does help make your story more realistic to have proper terms.

Know the difference between film/analog cameras and digital cameras. One thing that really bothered me about the photography AU that I read was that the main character used a film camera and in the next sentence he was looking at the shots through the computer monitor. Film requires extensive post-processing through a dark room and there is no known technology that allows you to connect (camera term: tether) a film camera to a computer.

Digital cameras (also known as dSLRs) are what most professional photographers use nowadays. Unless they purposely want to go for the grainy and vintage look of a film photo, photographers will use dSLRs.

Most professional photographers use Nikon or Canon. Some photographers will use Leica if they can afford it as it is one of the most expensive brands out there. High-end Nikon models are the D4, D3 (or D3X), D800. High-end Canon models are EOS-1D, 5D Mark III (or Mark II if you want to go a little older). If you need a camera model and it doesn't really matter which brand, just stick to Nikons or Canons.

There are many different types of photographers: landscape, wildlife, portrait, fashion, concert, wedding, maternity, the list goes on and on. Have your character stick to one or two fields, otherwise it will become too hectic. Typically, photographers will stick to fields that are similar such as fashion & concert, landscape & wildlife, or wedding & seniors (high school or college seniors, not retired citizen seniors).

If you want to give your character someone to look up to, well known photographers include Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz, Diane Arbus, Robert Capa, Irving Penn, Henri Cartier-Bressen, etc. The list goes on and on...

Have your photographer character be assertive. They are the directors. Have them act out poses. Let them be anal retentive assholes (pun intended). The photographer is the one who runs the show. They need to be the one giving direction and encouragement. They are the masterminds of the whole production. The models can be divas all they want, but at the end of the day, it is the photographer's job to come up with the perfect shot.

Give your character a goal and paint a picture of their expectations. Speaking of perfect shots, there is almost always the one photo in a scene or sometimes even an entire shoot that is "the one." Going into a shoot, I already have an idea of what I want each shot to be. Of course, circumstances can change, but a photographer goes into the photoshoot already envisioning what's going to come out as the end result.

Describe the scenery. Give life to the pristine white backdrop, the heat of the lights, the smell of craft services wafting through the air. Photography is about all of those details capture in a single moment. It's not just the photographer and the model.

I don't know how good this guide is since I've never written one before. But I just wanted to pass off some of my knowledge to other people. If you have any questions, feel free to come to me. I will happily answer all of your photography inquiries.