A couple of days ago, we launched a photo contest in which you could submit a photo of how upcoming holidays are celebrated in your city. For those who have participated, thank you for taking the time to shoot the photots and sending them to us. We’ve received hundreds of pictures from all over the world and we have to be honest and say that it was really hard to pick only ten winners! All winners have been contacted.

Of course, the owner of each photo owns all the copyrights.

Winners

Photo taken by Dorin Moise: Brussels, Belgium.
“All made by swinging a simple LED Christmas light decoration from IKEA…”

Photo taken by Dorte Fjalland.
“This photo is taken in London, UK.”

Photo taken by Angela Henderson: California, USA.
“My kind of Christmas…on the coast of California.”

Photo taken by Sankar Govind.
“This was taken at the Empire State Building, New York.”

Photo taken by Ken Thorsteinsson: Whitsunday Island.
“The image was taken at Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. Christmas seems to be a bit different here in Down Under.”

Photo taken by Dennis Vieira.
“As a fulltime RVer, i gotsta light up the motorhome! Peep the wifi antenna! ”

Photo taken by Maya Bielik.
“My photo was taken in Tel-Aviv, at the Silvester party at my house!”

Photo taken by Doug Cornett: Richmond Kentucky, USA.
“Smells of the holidays…”

Photo taken by Wesley F. Oliveira: São Paulo, Brazil.
“Christmas in love…”

Photo taken by Denys Mishunov: Tønsberg, Norway.
“A Ukrainian girl who speaks Russian and lives in Norway The text says “Happy New Year” in Russian.”

Merry Entries

Photo taken by Hoang Nguyen Khanh Nhat: Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.
“This picture is taken from Hoi An acient City…”

Photo taken by Jordan Hilario: Manila, Philippines.
“My entry to the Christmas photo contest…”

Photo taken by Brenda Gottsabend.
“Happy Holidays!”

Photo taken by Melissa Steep: Ontario, Canada.

Photo taken by James Doan: Greenwood, Indiana, US.

Photo taken by Tif Mulally: New York City.
This picture was taken from my first holiday trip to NYC.”

Photo taken by Dear Daniel: British Columbia, Canada.

Photo taken by Sabina Abou Daher: Lebanon.

Photo taken by Māris Meļņikovs: Riga, Latvia.
“In this picture you can see our Christmas fair. Happy holidays everyone!”

Photo taken by Debbie Burkhoff.

Photo taken by Juliette Giannesini.
“Happy holidays!”

Last Click

Photo taken by Kamala Crestwell.

Join In Next Time!

Thanks to all who have participated in this contest. Next up: a coding contest in January. Please let us know in which contest you would participate and stay tuned!

Yours sincerely,
 —  The Smashing Team

(il) (vf)

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Nature is a popular subject amongst the Photoshop community, and subsequently is featured in a lot of photo manipulation work. Nature is really the perfect subject for photo manipulations as it’s so visually engaging. Think of the four elements, or a beautiful landscape, or a fierce animal. All these things are products of nature, and all of them are visually engaging.

When done right, integrating nature into your Photoshop work can produce some truly fantastic works. That’s why today we’ve compiled a range of incredible photo manipulations based around the theme of nature to inspire you. Each of these works is beautiful in it’s own right, but try to notice recurring patterns amongst them. Most of them have vibrant colors, great lighting and a keen sense of detail. It’s also worth noting how often various elements of nature can combine to produce wonderful results (for example the fusion of fire and water).

Example of Photo Manipulations Featuring Nature:

Our Kingdom
A very striking photo manipulation that makes great use of light effects. The central lion and horses actually take on the appearance of a light painting, and their eerie glow gives them an aura-like feel. The gold on black color palette works beautifully, and helps the detail lighting and smoke effects really pop. The swirling whirlpool in the center of the piece draws the eye, and provides a huge amount of depth, giving the impression of an endless abyss.

Out of Frame Nature
A bold and vibrant photo manipulation, this composition uses an out of frame technique to make it more unique. Water has been manipulated to pour out of a central hanging frame, whilst a mix of various photographs/landscapes are combined to create a scenic environment.

Ice Queen
This photo manipulation really makes you feel the chill! Using a limited blue/white color palette and some great icy effects the final piece is really engaging. The glowing central figure is what draws our eye, as most of the lighting in the piece is centered around her. The surrounding environment has been constructed by blending multiple winter landscapes to create a fantasy background. Ice textures have been applied over the entire composition to give an added layer of detail and distress.

Animal Textured Typography
A really creative concept, using various animal textures and surfaces to construct unique animal typography. Each letter has been hand designed, with some cool 3D effects, great lighting and huge varieties in surface. Extra visual elements have been included to really capture the character and life of each animal (for example trunks, tongues and tails).

Illuminati
Illuminati is a striking photo manipulation featuring a neon-lit owl. A lot of work has gone into this composition, as you can tell from the beautiful details of the background texture to the subtle nature of the lighting. The generally grayscale color palette gives extra emphasis to the colored, glowing lights weaving around the owl, as well as the creature’s piercing eyes. The owl itself has been given a hand-drawn effect, using a variety of Photoshop brushes and filters.

Ascendii Nature
A busy, yet effective photo manipulation, combining various places and scenes into a single cohesive piece. There’s some great blending happening in this piece, such as the tree branches enveloping the earth and the addition of leaves/plants over the doorway. Overall this composition is fun and fantasy filled!

Volcano
This photo manipulation is a relatively simple concept, but is executed beautifully. The base of the volcano is blending perfectly into the man’s hair, and the artist has even made the lava flick out like a stray strand of hair to complete the look. The attention to detail is great, as light from the burning lava is cast down onto the man’s head. The contrast between the vibrancy of the volcano and the washed out man’s face also creates a nice level of contrast.

“Tree House”
One of my absolute favorite nature themed photo manipulations. The artist has constructed an artificial floating landscape from various stock photos, and then seamlessly blended them together. He carefully extracted several tree routes to give an overgrown effect, and finished off the piece by applying a subtle paper texture – giving a final fantasy storybook feel.

Rapture
Rapture is a fairly famous photo manipulation, and it’s not hard to see why! The details and colors of this piece are simply astonishing. The artist has photo manipulated the tree branches to break off and float up into the sky, defying the laws of gravity. Combined with the light source coming from the top of the composition we imagine some alien presence pulling the man and branches upwards. Further focus on the man is given by the glow of the background landscape and sharper highlights on his torso.

Jellyfish Typography
Beautifully lit typography comprised entirely of jellyfish! The artist has photo manipulated dozens of jellyfish to construct lettering, and then applied additional lighting and coloring to bring out the natural glow of the deep sea creatures. A cool example of how nature carries with it a lot of natural beauty.

Sing
An awesome photo manipulation that constructs a woman entirely from flower petals. I love how the petals range in size from fairly large in the foreground, to absolutely tiny in some of the facial details. The end result feels light and airy, and the soft pastel colors make this very easy on the eyes. You can see that a lot of work has gone into shading and shaping the petals to create realistic depth and surface. Further detail is provided by some colorful sketchy lines in the background.

Kreativa Studio Lettering
Kreativa Studio have come up with a unique typographic photo manipulation featuring several elements of nature. They’ve done really well to capture the varying densities, textures and lighting of nature’s elements. The water feels deep, blue and gaseous, whilst the greenery feels lush and healthy. I like how the letter seems to contain an entire world, including cloudy sky, sun and even ships! This piece is elevated by the attention to detail, such as the thin stream of water gushing out of a crack in the side of the lettering. The lighting is also effective, as the light from the underwater scene illuminates the surface which the letter rests on.

Mother Nature
Mother Nature is a beautiful natural composition with plenty of great details. The woman’s hair has been blended with glowing strands of grass, and further grass has been applied for accessories such as her bracelets. The rich green color palette gives an overbearing natural feel to the piece.

Unleashed
Unleashed is a dark and vibrant photo manipulation. The floating tiger heads really capture the ferocity of the animal, and the lighting/lightening effects swooping up with them add to their energy. Interestingly the tigers have been places in an incongruous space setting. However, despite the unusual setting the composition is really beautiful, using a beautiful rich purple color palette with stunning blue highlights.

Tidal Wave
Taking note from The Day After Tomorrow this is a photo manipulation of epic proportions! Photoshop has been used to show the true destructive force of nature as a monster wave washes through a huge bridge. The artist has skillfully combined two images of vastly different dimensions to construct a fantasy scenario. Most impressive is how cohesive the lighting is, making the outcome truly believable. I also like the attention to detail shown in the extra splashes of water as the wave hits the bridge.

Zen
Zen is a magical photo manipulation that truly distorts the laws of physics. The floating rocky landscape feels very dreamlike, which is accentuated by the subtle fog cast over the scene. The colors have been blended well to give everything a slight pink/purple hue, and the varying sizes of floating rock help establish a lot of depth/perspective.

Isla
I’ve seen this photo manipulation concept attempted a few times, but this is surely one of the more successful outcomes. Plenty of details are introduced to make the underwater hippo more believable. Take a look at the subtle bubbles coming from his mouth, the clouds of sand where he’s moved his feet and the lighting cast upon him from the water.

Beach Disaster
Another cool natural disaster scene that’s been constructed entirely in Photoshop. This composition features a tidal wave, which has been blended well with the surrounding beach scene. It’s also inspiring to check out the photo-manipulated sand castle, whereby an actual castle has been manipulated to look like it’s constructed from sand. The running children and splashes from the young boy add an extra dimension of energy and panic to the scene.

Heaven
The title of this photo-manipulation is really fitting, as this composition instantly suggests freedom and peace. The true color and vivacity of nature is captured in the bright, vibrant flowers that weave around the woman. The implication is that the woman is truly at one with nature, as it flows around and through her. The piece is accentuated by the pastel, abstract background and subtle clouds overlapping the dancer.

Wall
Wall is a stunning photo manipulation used for an Advanced Photoshop tutorial. The composition combines several wooden crates, each which is covered with it’s own natural landscape. The detail in this piece is immense, including detailed windows with light flooding out of them, openings emitting bubbles, and paint splattering outwards. The design has a lot of depth, in part due to it’s intense shadows and highlights. The eye is drawn naturally down the design to the chair at the base. A great example of using shapes, size and perspective!

Mother Nature
A really impressive manipulation, that you actually have to look at closer to fully appreciate. The overall composition is vibrant and attractive. However, the real mastery lies in the central figure, which has been artfully constructed using many branch/root stocks. The way that the artist has blended, warped and adjusted these branches into a realistic wooden figure is really inspiring.

Fire Flower
This burning flower is a wonderful example of combining several elements of nature. The two concepts of flower and fire would not usually be associated with one another, yet once combined they create a piece that is both elegant and intense/ominous. The plain background really lets you focus on the intense flames and lighting coming from them. I love the subtle use of sparks/light speks on the petals.

Element
Element is a beautiful typography illustration that has a very natural feel to it. The artist has manipulated branches to construct elegant lettering. They have then shaded/lit the lettering expertly, and introduced further elements such as the leaves, grass, sculpture and bird. This is a good example of how photo manipulation can really capture the texture and essence of an entity. You can almost reach out and grab the branches, and they don’t appear the least bit fake.

Keep on Fire
Keep on Fire is one of those photo manipulations that puts you right in the middle of the action. From the falling statue figure to the fierce flames we really feel the intensity of the scene. The juxtaposition of fire and water is a great visual combination, seamlessly integrating both natural elements into a cohesive piece. The lighting in the piece is superb, as the amber flames cast out a subtle glow on the surrounding rocks and figures.

Nature
Another bright and vibrant piece combining multiple elements of nature. This design has manipulated flowing waterfalls, cloud formations and trees to combine to a fantasy sky landscape. The background is unrealistically bright and colorful, yet helps enhance the fantasy setting. Elements are well blended together, retaining the sharpness and movement of the flowing water rather than over-blurring or masking it.

Contemplation
Contemplation is a very detailed photo manipulation and integrates several natural elements. The entire central structure is set against a scenic backdrop, whilst the buddha sits amidst a dazzling variety of flowers, scrubs and falling leaves. The design uses a very naturalistic, autumnal color palette, ranging from deep yellows/oranges to rich greens.

Wildlife Poster
This photo manipulation is for a fictional wildlife TV show. The central zebra has been masked off using various splatter brush sets in Photoshop to create a grungy, abstract edge for the animal. The backdrop is a glowing African landscape, enhanced by details such as the subtle zebra stripes overlaid, as well as a build up of light effects to draw your focus towards the center of the design.

The Choice
One of my all time favorite photo manipulations concerning nature. The message created is clear – a choice between a lush natural landscape or one destroyed by the actions of man. The piece is visually striking, with great contrast between the verdant greens of the right half, and the orange flames and barren gray landscape on the left. The two halves have been blended really well, with details such as the overlap of leaves, or the light cast by the flames showing how the two halves leak into one another.

Extraordinary Island
Another photo manipulation that distorts reality. The artist has created a hugely detailed natural island, which is all but submerged in a tumultuous sea. The perspective and angle of the sea is clearly impossible, yet works really well as part of a fantasy landscape. Further depth is added by the birds flocking towards the island, which through their larger size help establish perspective (especially when compared to the animals on land).

One With Nature
One With Nature is exactly what the title suggests – an epic photo manipulation that truly integrates man with nature. Almost every part of the model has been worked into the natural setting in some way, from his afro hair (constructed from a hedge), to his central core, entwined around the earth. The details and lighting on this piece are really engaging, and the floating leaves help to establish depth and movement. The sharp glowing edges on the man give more definition and impact.

Collegium
Collegium is a bright and vibrant photo manipulation that uses the earth as the central focus. The artist has constructed various landmasses stemming out from the water, which are clearly of unrealistic proportions. However, the final result is really fun and friendly, and has plenty of depth. I love how the fantasy world moves from a tropical paradise at the top, to a desolate frozen land at the bottom. Interestingly the rays of light from the upper left logo are continued out to light the entire piece.

Act
A hugely creative concept that really captures the essence of nature. The idea of holding nature in your hands helps to make it palpable and comprehensible. I love the 3D effect given to the water in the bottom hand, which is especially impressive if you notice all the floating debris and detail in the water. The pouring water coming from the top hand is artfully done, and creates a really natural transition between the two nature scenes.

Striking Nature Scene
A deceptively detailed photo manipulation. The man’s torso has been constructed by many layers of weaving tree branches, which blend down seamlessly into a root formation. The muted colors of the piece ensure that you focus on the central figure, and the weaving tree routes help guide your eye this way.

Nature’s Defiance
This piece creates a great juxtaposition between the man-made and the natural. Ultimately it is nature who wins in this scenario, as the huge tree overwhelms the urban surroundings. The composition effectively positions nature as superior to man in several ways. Aside from the obvious size of the tree, it is clearly more colorful than the duller surroundings (thus it draws the eye more). Additionally the swirling light effect around the trunk of the tree gives the structure a magical element which sets it apart from the boring surroundings.

Earthcology
This bright, verdant composition uses a pink butterfly to form part of this planet’s structure. Everything from the lighting the color palette has been amplified to make this piece stand out, and it’s really effective. The detail in the butterfly is immense, including a series of complex patterns that appear to have been superimposed over the wings. The various bushes and trees constructing the planet have been blending and warped to form a realistic planet structure, which is surrounded by a bright glow, helping it stand out even more against the dark blue background.

(rb)

Noupe

 



 

Here’s a task for you! Have a look at your desk, take a shot of your beloved coffee mug, send us the photo, and see if you’re added to the huge poster that we’ll be creating from the best images that we get from all over the world. We’ll prepare an exclusive version in PDF and print a limited-edition poster (20 copies). If your photo is chosen, your name will be printed on the poster, too. In addition, selected photos will be published in an upcoming Smashing Magazine post. Those with the most creative and original submissions will be awarded with one of the exclusive printed wall posters. We won’t be selling it, of course — but you already knew that.

Submission Guidelines

• The photo must be in JPG format, at a maximum size of 4000 × 3000 pixels. The file size should not exceed 8 MB.
• Each participant may send one photo at most.
• Each photo should show only one mug — not two, three or a dozen.
• Name your photo with your full name (john-peterson.jpg).
• Please do not send ZIP, RAR or another archive. Just the plain image.
• You must own the copyright of the photo you are submitting.
• Submit your photo to the email address mugs@smashingmagazine.com by 15th of October 2011.

Please note that the coffee mugs must be mugs and not cups! This is important for building a coherent, gripping mosaic. The mugs can be empty or filled, even steaming! Feel free to use any camera you prefer: a toy cam, mobile phone, SLR, point-and-shoot — whatever you have on hand. How many mugs can fit on the poster? We don’t know yet, because it will depend on the quality and originality of the photo you submit!

Some Coffee Mug Inspiration

Need some coffee-mug inspiration? Why not browse through Flickr and Google Images:

Image credit: Terry Johnston

Image credit: Adrian Sampson

Image credit: Ginny

Image credit: Terry Johnston

Image credit: Brendan C.

Image credit: Nina Matthews

Deadline and Announcement

Please submit your photo by October 15th at the latest. The qualifying submissions and the winners will be announced a week later. We will showcase the most interesting photos here on Smashing Magazine (and on the big poster, of course), including the names of the contributors.

Please note: your photo will be used only for this event, and you will retain the full rights to it.

Let’s Go!

On your marks. Ready? Set? Go! Send your photo to mugs@smashingmagazine.com! We look forward to your photos, folks!

 —  The Smashing Team

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

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Creating something out of the ordinary by combining two or more elements is not a new concept in the graphic design field. Photo manipulation is a true example of such collaboration that almost always brings astonishing results. Photo manipulation basically is a technique combining graphic design and photography.

In photo manipulations, the photographs are being edited with the help of graphic editing software to create an image that can inspire even the most critical of eyes. If performed successfully, they can provide a realistic view of an unreal subject. Loads of creativity and imagination go into the process of these fantastical photo manipulations.

Here we have gathered some amazing examples of photo manipulations. They run the spectrum of the fantastic to the real, blending wonderfully imaginative illustrative elements with the photos they were wrought from. Enjoy!

Gallery of Manips

Storybook

Extravaganza

Revealed

Day

React

Vertical Turn

Fishy island

Eyes in Head

Chess king

Sleeping ocean

Plastic Death

Hair

Aquarium

Dancing with Death

Inner Reflection

Creation

Faceoff

Don’t Miss the Adventure

Childhood Dream

Fishing in the sky

A Sweet Pasture

Explosive Kiss

Revealed

Digital Art

My little moon

Mind-breaker

After 10 pm

Guitar Splash

Wet dreams on open waters

Eyes speak

Face Cutting

Embrace My Sorrow

A Break in the Monotony

Lazy dog

Smoking kills

On an Island

Dry

My Cocon

Keys

Reborn

Sinner

Sammy the Spidat

Cook in brain

Aquatic

Ex luce mutatio

Home is where the heart is

Go your own road

Kiss of Death

Reaching the sky 2

Consider Some of Our Previous Posts:

• 40 Outstanding Photo Manipulation Tutorials
  You simply have to experiment with different effects to see what feeling they give you as having expertise in Photoshop can help you greatly in producing amazing results. Here is compiled a list of 40 great photo manipulation tutorials that would astonish you!
• Fresh Photo Manipulation Tutorial
  The whole process of manipulating your photograph requires loads of patience and skills which comes with experience. Here is gathered a collection of some useful tutorials that will guide you through the process of photo manipulation. We hope you will like this collection!
• 45 Brilliant Examples of Photo Manipulation Art
  Photo manipulation is probably one of the most popular application areas in which Adobe Photoshop is used extensively. Here is gathered some of incredible examples of Photo manipulated images from extremely talented Photoshop artists.
• 50 Stunning Examples of Photo Manipulation Art
  In this post you will find some examples of photo manipulation related to nature, photography, objects, illustrations, HDR, abstract and fantasy-related concepts.

(rb)

Noupe Design Blog

  

Two weeks ago we published the first part of Photoshop tips and tricks for photo retouching. Today, we’ll be presenting the rest of the article. We hope that these techniques will be quite useful for your workflow. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. We have had articles on various tools in Adobe Photoshop but this one is focused more on the techniques rather than the tools provided. Please note that all images used in this article were purchased and are used according to their licenses.

Here is a short overview of the techniques we’ll be covering in this follow-up:

• Defining Colors
• Controlling Folders
• Split-Toning Effect
• Flexible Vignette
• Skin Retouching In Camera Raw
• Setting Lights
• Distinguished Paleness
• Dodge And Burn Look
• Bright Eyes
• The Orton Effect
• Optimizing Lasso Selections
• Aligning Layer Contents
• Restoring Selections
• More Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Defining Colors

If you want to redefine the foreground and background colors, use the Eyedropper tool to select the foreground color, and then switch the position with the background color, maybe by using the shortcut X, and pick up the next color. But there is an easier way. First, define the foreground color just as you’re accustomed to, but then define the background color by holding the Alt/Option key. Instead of changing the foreground color, you’ll redefine the background color with just one click.

Define foreground and background colors.

Controlling Folders

Folders give structure to layers, which is especially important if you’re working on demanding compositions. Folders are often collapsed, so you can’t see the contents at first sight. This conserves space but it’s not always desirable. If you want nested layers to reveal their contents and offer a quick overview, hold the Control/Command key and click on one of the triangles to expand. All folders at the first level will expand. You can collapse them again using the same trick. To expand all nested folders inside the folders as well, hold the Alt/Option key as well as the Control/Command key.

Hold the Control/Command key to expand the folder.

Split-Toning Effect

Create two new gradient maps via Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Gradient Map. You could, for example, create a gradient from dark-blue to beige and another from dark-brown to white. To change a gradient, click on it to open up the “Gradient Editor” dialog box. There, click on your chosen color patches and open up the color picker via the “Color field.”

Blending Options: This Layer

Confirm with “OK,” double-click the layer with the second gradient map and, under “This Layer,” move the right slider to the left. To make the transition a little smoother, click on the slider while holding down the Alt/Option key and move it to the right. Confirm with “OK.”

Split-Toning Effect

Flexible Vignette

To create a non-destructive vignette, go to New Adjustment Layer → Levels. Darken the image completely by, for example, setting the Highlights down to 80. Now use the Brush tool with black color to paint the light center into the layer mask. Instead of using a brush to paint the area, you could use the Elliptical Marquee tool and fill the selection with black.

Adjustment Layer: Levels

You can use the Move tool to adjust the vignette’s position any time, or blur it using the “Gaussian Blur.” You can also increase or decrease the darkening. To do so, open the Levels Adjustment dialog box again.

Skin Retouching In Camera Raw

Again, open a photo in Camera Raw (for example, by using the right mouse key from Bridge and clicking “Open in Camera Raw”). In general, you can use the Spot Healing Brush tool and all other tools and sliders to improve the image. When you’re happy with it, hold the Shift key and click on “Open Object.” The image will be put on a new layer as a Smart Object.

You could also click the blue link at the bottom of the screen, which opens the “Workflow Options” dialog window. From there, you can control some other settings as well. Make sure to check the “Open in Photoshop as Smart Object” checkbox, and then confirm with “OK” to open the images (without having to holding Shift).

Here, layers are smart objects.

Right-click on the layer and choose “New Smart Object via Copy,” and then open the Camera Raw dialog box again by double-clicking the layer icon. Set the “Clarity” value to -100 and confirm with “OK.” Hold the Alt/Option key and click on the “Create Layer Mask” button, then use a soft brush to paint over the optimized skin. Use the opacity slider to control the amount of retouching.

Here is optimized skin with the help of Camera Raw.

Setting Lights

If you want to do some virtual re-positioning of your strobes, then neutralize the shot first. Go to Select → Color Range, and set Select option to “Highlights.” Copy the selection content to a new layer by hitting Control/Command + J. Activate the background layer again, and select the “Shadows” this time. Bring those to their own layer, too, with Control/Command + J, and then set the blending mode to “Screen” and the highlights to “Multiply.”

Highlights and shadows

Reduce the opacity to about 30%, depending on the image content. “Shadows/Highlights” might also help. On a new layer, filled with a neutral gray and its blending mode set to “Overlay,” paint in the desired light quality with the Dodge and Burn tools. Alternatively, add a new layer and set its blending mode to “Soft Light” or “Overlay” and, with a low opacity brush, paint black and white on this layer.

The lights were neutralized a bit.

Distinguished Paleness

For a distinguished paleness, copy the background layer and set its blending mode to “Screen.” Use Image → Adjustments → Desaturate or “Black & White,” then “Shadows/Highlights” to increase the effect. The exact adjustment options can vary according to your image content.

Here’s the layer after creating the mask.

The effect will cover the entire image unless you click on the “Create Layer Mask” button while holding the Alt/Option key, and then paint the pale areas with the brush tool and white color. You can control the effect’s strength with the opacity slider.

Distinguished paleness.

Dodge And Burn Look

Copy the reduced layers to a new layer with Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E, and then set the blending mode to “Vivid Light.” Use Control/Command + I to invert the layer content, and apply Filter → Blur → Surface Blur with a radius of about 70 pixels and a threshold of 40 levels. Press Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E again, delete the layer below, and set the blending mode to “Overlay.” Apply a “Gaussian Blur” to make the contours a little softer, and then click Image → Adjustments → Desaturate.

Dodge and Burn Look

Bright Eyes

To make eyes appear brilliant, click on New Adjustment Layer → Exposure. Fill the layer mask with black (or invert the mask), and paint with white over the irises and with black over the pupils. Set the blending mode of the adjustment layer to “Luminosity.” Increase the exposure in concert with the gamma value to give the iris structure more contrast. Also, try changing the “Offset slider.”

Create beautiful eyes with exposure.

The Orton Effect

With the Orton effect, sharp and blurred versions of a photo are mixed together. Copy the background layer with Control/Command + J, and click on Image → Apply Image. Change the blending mode to “Screen” and click “OK.” Copy the current layer again with Control/Command + J. Apply a Gaussian Blur to this copy by clicking Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur. The value will depend on the size of the image. The shapes should always blur slightly. Set the blending mode for the layer to “Multiply.”

The Orton effect creates contrast and depth.

Optimizing Lasso Selections

Many users (even professionals) prefer the Lasso Selection tool to the Path tool for uncomplicated selections. To switch to the Polygon Lasso tool for a short stretch, hold the Alt/Option key while working. To switch back to the regular Lasso tool, just release the Alt/Option key while depressing the mouse button.

Switching between the Lasso and Polygon Lasso tools is easy.

It often happens that, during a zoom, you hit the edge of the work area while making a selection. Just keep the space bar pressed to switch to the Hand tool, and you can quickly change the displayed image section.

Aligning Layer Contents

Some areas in Photoshop are hardly ever noticed. This is one of them. If you activate the Move tool, you’ll see some mysterious symbols to the right called Align tools, in the option bar next to Auto-Select and the Transform controls (which are basically equivalent to Free Transform).

Align tools

If you activate just one layer, the Align tools won’t do anything, but if you select two or more layers by holding the Control/Command key, then you can align the layer’s contents with these buttons. Choose from options such as “Align Top Edge” and “Align Vertical Center.”

Restoring Selections

Often, while in the middle of working on a tricky selection, you’ll accidentally deselect it by clicking once too often. You can restore the lost selection by pressing Shift + Control/Command + D. This will get the ants marching again. You can also undo (Control/Command + Z) the action, and even perform multiple undos with Control/Command + Alt/Option + Z.

By the way, you can hold the Alt/Option key to subtract elements from the selection at any time, or hold the Shift key to add to the selection. Pressing a combination of both keys creates a selection intersection. Important selections that you might need later can be saved by going to Select → Save Selection.

Restore lost selections.

More Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Workflow:

• Mastering Photoshop: Unknown Tricks and Time-Savers by Thomas Giannattasio
• Compositing in Adobe Photoshop: Time-Saving Tips by Daniel Durrans
• Mastering Photoshop: Noise, Textures, Gradients and Rounded Rectangles by Marc Edwards
• Useful Adobe Photoshop Techniques, Tutorials and Tools by Vitaly Friedman
• The Ultimate Guide To Cloning In Photoshop by Joshua Johnson
• The Ultimate Collection Of Useful Photoshop Actions by Jacob Gube
• Unveiling Photoshop Masks by Thomas Giannattasio

(al) (vf) (ik)

© Dirk Metzmacher for Smashing Magazine, 2011. | Permalink | Post a comment | Smashing Shop | Smashing Network | About Us
Post tags: photoshop

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When it comes to designing in Photoshop, there is a myriad of ways one could use to achieve a certain result, especially when it comes to photo retouching. Designers use technique they are most confident as well as comfortable with, which is great because it’s always useful to peek into the workflow of our colleagues and learn new design approaches. We have had articles on cloning, compositing, masks and obscure Photoshop time-savers in the past. This article is different.

I’ll be covering some of the useful techniques and tricks which I’ve learned from my experience. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. All images used in this article were purchased and are used according to their licenses. The second part of this post will be published in 2 weeks.

Here is a short overview of the techniques we’ll be covering:

• Naturally Increased Light
• Simulate Infrared Images
• Levels
• Color Look With An Adjustment Layer
• Controlling Mid-Tone Contrasts
• Sunset
• Creating Smiles
• Colorful Water Drops
• Skin Color
• Matching Skin Tones
• Reducing Noise
• Retro Look With Curves
• Identifying Layers
• Conserving Resources
• Classy Sepia Look
• Precise Positioning
• Applying Layer Styles Multiple Times

Naturally Increased Light

The light of the sun creates texture. There are shadowy areas and spots where the sunlight can shine without interference. To control the intensity, you can draw more light onto a separate layer or increase already existing light. Create a new layer by going to Layer → New → Layer, or by pressing Shift + Control + N on Windows or Shift + Command + N on a Mac. Set the blending mode to “Color Dodge” and the opacity to about 15%.

Increase light on a separate layer.

Then use the brush tool with a soft brush, and hold the Alt/Option key to pick up colors from the area that you want to brighten. Continue to brush in some light, picking up appropriate colors if the background changes. This way, you increase not only the light, but the saturation, which makes for more realistic results.

The blending mode “Color Dodge” creates realistic results.

Simulate Infrared Images

Open a photo in Camera Raw; you can do this either in Bridge, using the right mouse key and clicking “Open in Camera Raw,” or directly in Photoshop, by selecting File → Open as Smart Object. Apply basic adjustments to optimize your image (for example, with the “Recovery” and “Fill Light” slides), then switch to the “HSL/Grayscale” tab. Check “Convert to Grayscale,” and set the Blues down to around -85. Set the Greens to +90 and the Yellows to +20.

Trees and bushes should now shine in the typical white, and the sky should appear almost black. If you want to go on and simulate some grain, switch to the “Effects” tab, and enter 15 for the amount, 20 for size and 80 for roughness. You could also apply a “Vignette.” Here I used -30 for the amount, 40 for the midpoint and -35 for roundness.

It’s almost like an infrared image.

Levels

When applying a “Levels adjustment,” you can set black and white points in order to decrease color tints, but where are the darkest and brightest spots in the image? Go to New Adjustment Layer → Threshold to find those areas. This function is available under the “Layer” menu.

Move the slider so far to the right that only a few white spots remain in the document. Use the “Color Sampler tool” and set down a point there. Move the slider to the left until only a few black spots remain, and set a second point down there.

One could also find a neutral gray in the image by using a “Threshold adjustment layer.” Add a new blank layer between the original image and the threshold adjustment layer, and fill this layer with 50% gray. Go to Edit → Fill or press Shift + F5, then select “50% Gray” under “Contents” and click “OK.”

Here is the threshold adjustment layer at work.

Change the blending mode of this layer to “Difference.” Select the “Threshold adjustment layer” again and move the slider all the way to the left. Slowly move the slider back to the right until black dots start to appear. These are the neutral gray areas in the image (if neutral grays are present). Add a “Color Sampler spot.”

Now delete both the threshold adjustment layer and the 50% gray layer. Create a new adjustment layer, “Levels.” Use the first Eyedropper tool to click on the darkest area, then use the third Eyedropper on the brightest area.

Here’s a before-and-after comparison.

Now you can use the gray Eyedropper tool on the third Color Sampler spot. The color tint will be decreased. Color Sampler spots can be deleted by dragging them off the canvas with the Color Sampler tool.

Color Look With An Adjustment Layer

Go to the Layer menu, and then New Adjustment Layer → Hue/Saturation, and set the blending mode to “Soft Light” and check “Colorize.” Use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to control the color: for a cool look, for example, set the hue at 210, the saturation at 50 and the lightness at 10; for a warm look, set the hue at 30, the saturation at 30 and the lightness at 5.

Here is Hue/Saturation and Color Fill.

Alternatively, you could use several color layers. Create them from the layer palette with the “New Fill/Adjustment Layer” button. Choose a color, then set the blending mode to “Vivid Light.” Reduce the opacity to about 12%, and invert the layer mask with Control/Command + I. Paint in the colored light with a big brush and white color. This works especially well for the lighting in portraits that have a textured background.

Here’s the Color Look with an Adjustment Layer.

Controlling Mid-Tone Contrasts

To increase detail in landscape shots, boost the mid-tone contrast. Copy the background layer with Control/Command + J, and then click on Filter → Convert for Smart Filters in the menu. Then go to Filter → Other → High Pass and enter a radius of 3 pixels. Change the blending mode to “Overlay” and double-click the layer next to its name to open the “Layer Style” window.

Layer Style window: This Layer

For the first gradient, “This Layer,” split the sliders by holding the Alt/Option key and trim the layer effect to the “50/100” and “150/200” ranges. As soon as you move the sliders, you’ll see where those numbers are. This increases contrast only for the mid-tones. Double-click the “High Pass” filter in the layer palette to bring the dialog box up again in order to adjust the radius to your liking.

Check out these mid-tone contrasts.

Sunset

A sunset, especially at sea, can be an amazing color spectacle. The hues will depend heavily on the weather, though — but you can push them a bit with a gradient map. Click on the “New Fill/Adjustment Layer” button in the Layer palette and select “Gradient Map” from the list. Click on the gradient to open the “Gradient Editor.”

Gradient Map

Click on the first color patch below the gradient, and change the color to red. Set the color patch on the opposite side to yellow, and click “OK.” Set the blending mode to “Soft Light” and reduce the opacity to about 50%. This will create a warm, almost golden sunset.

Observe the movement from a blue to a golden sunset.

Creating Smiles

Roughly select the area around the mouth with the Polygon Lasso tool. Go to Select → Modify → Feather, and enter a radius of 10 pixels. Confirm, then click on Layer → New → Layer via Copy (or press Control/Command + J), then Edit → Puppet Warp. Photoshop will put a mesh over the entire layer in the shape of your previous selection.

Here’s the mesh over the layer.

You can control the size of the mesh with the “Expansion” value in the Options bar. Increase the density to “More Points” for increased precision. Press Control/Command + H to hide the mesh, then set the first pins to the corners of the mouth. Add more pins to distinctive spots of the mouth. By clicking and dragging the mesh, you can shape a nice smile.

Colorful Water Drops

Macro shots of water drops are appealing, and shapes can be further accentuated with discreet coloring. You could treat the bland surface with a linear gradient from #772222 (RGB 119, 34, 34) to #3333bb (RGB 51, 51, 187). If the photo is on a layer of its own, click on Layer → Layer Style → Gradient Overlay or double-click the layer next to its name.

Layer Style: Gradient Overlay

Set the blend mode to Color, the opacity to 50%, the gradient to “Foreground to background color” and the angle to 90%. The gradient will be saved as a layer style, so you can come back at any time to adjust the values. Double-clicking the style name opens up the dialog window once more.

See the colorful drops with optimized colors.

Skin Color

If the skin is not quite perfect after retouching, it might be because of the general hue. You can control it by going to New Adjustment Layer → Hue/Saturation. Click on the miniature mask, and press Control/Command + I to invert the mask.

Adjustment Layer: Hue/Saturation

Using white color and a soft brush, paint over the skin areas so that only they get treated. For the adjustment, switch from Standard to “Reds” (found in the Hue drop-down menu of the Adjustment layer), and use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to adjust the skin color. Switch to “Yellows” and optimize the skin tone. Getting the colors exactly right depends very much on the image material. Rely on your common sense.

Optimized skin tones

Matching Skin Tones

A sunburn or a blush can disrupt a portrait, especially if there is a contrasting pale person nearby. Photoshop has a tool to correct that: “Match Color” offers control over skin tones. Open your image and use the Quick Selection tool to roughly select the red skin areas.

You can hold down the Alt/Option key and subtract areas from the selection. Click on Select → Modify → Feather and enter a value of about 15 pixels. Use the Control/Command + J shortcut to copy the selection to a new layer.

Adjustments: Match Color

Using the same technique, copy the non-reddened skin to a new layer. In the next step, you’ll have to differentiate between the source layer and the layer to edit, so rename these two layers meaningfully; all it takes is a double-click on the layer name. You could use the naming scheme shown here and call them “Beautiful skin” and “Reddened skin.”

Activate the layer with the red skin, and select Image → Adjustments → Match Color from the menu. For “Source,” select the current document, and for “Layer,” select the one with the beautiful skin. Control the effect using the “Luminance” and “Color Intensity” sliders in the Image Options area. Once you confirm, you can control the effect’s strength with the Opacity slider.

Paler skin after Match Color

Reducing Noise

Noisy images are annoying. One way to reduce noise is through the channels. Copy the background layer by pressing Control/Command + J, switch to the Channels palette, and select the channel that shows the least noise. Drag that channel down to the “New Channel” icon (next to the trash can) and go to Stylize → Find Edges. Then apply a Gaussian Blur with a radius of about 3 pixels.

Look at this copy of the red channel.

Click on the new channel’s miniature icon while holding the Control/Command key to select the content. Activate the “RGB channel” (top-most), and switch back to the Layers palette. When the duplicated background is selected, click on the “Add Layer Mask” icon.

Click on the Layer Miniature icon, and select Filter → Blur → Surface Blur from the menu. Play around with the Radius and Threshold sliders until the noise has been reduced as much as possible. Thanks to the mask you created, the contours are safe.

With and without noise

Retro Look With Curves

Go to Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Curves and switch from RGB to Reds. Then drag the line downwards a little for the shadows and upwards for the highlights, creating a slight “S” curve. Do the same for the Greens. For the Blues, drag the highlights down a little and the shadows up (for an inverted S shape). The shadows should now be slightly blue-ish, the highlights slightly yellow-ish.

Adjustment Layer: Curves

Create a new layer with Shift + Control/Command + N, and fill it with #000066 (RGB 0, 0, 102). Set the blending mode to “Exclusion.” Now copy the background layer by clicking it and pressing Control/Command + J. Set the blending mode for this copy to “Soft Light.”

To decrease the effect overall, activate the top-most layer and then click on the background copy while holding the Shift key, thereby selecting both layers. Alternatively, you can add them to a group with Control/Command + G. Reduce the layer’s (or group’s) opacity. Note that in Photoshop versions prior to CS5, you’ll have to reduce the opacity for each layer individually.

Achieve a simple retro look in a few steps.

Identifying Layers

If you’re ambitious with your collages, then you’ll be familiar with this problem: meaningful layer names are often neglected during the creative process. This can result in layer names like “Layer 4” and “Layer 5 Copy 2,” which are not very helpful when you need to quickly identify the contents of a layer.

Photoshop offers a number of solutions for our laziness. For example, you can click on the element you want to select by using the “Move tool” and holding the right mouse key; you’ll see which layer contents are below the tool. Photoshop will display a list in a drop-down menu, from which you can easily select the desired element.

Right click with the Move tool

Control/Command + left-click with the Move tool selected and, in most cases, you’ll select the corresponding layer of the element that your mouse is over (unless Photoshop can’t distinguish between the multiple layers).

You could also Control/Command + left-click on a layer’s miniature icon to get a selection of the content of that layer. The marching ants will show you what is on that layer and where it is.

Another option is to click on the Layer palette’s Options icon, in the top-right corner, and select “Layers Palette Options.” From here you can adjust the size of the layer’s miniature preview and concentrate the miniature’s content to the layer’s bounds, which should cut down on future guesswork when it comes to layer contents.

Layers Palette options

Conserving Resources

Plug-ins save time, but they’re a bit resource-hungry; at least, they lengthen Photoshop’s start-up time. Your plug-ins might have functionality that you rarely use, so deactivate them until you need them. To do so, create a new folder by going to Adobe → Adobe Photoshop CS5 (or whatever your version) and name it something like Plugins_deactivated.

After disabling some plug-ins.

Now move all of the extensions that you don’t need for the moment. When you restart Photoshop now, those plug-ins won’t load, so the program will start up quickly. Your RAM will be relieved. Because you neither deleted nor uninstalled the plug-ins, they’re available to use anytime. If you need them, just move them back to the plug-in folder.

Classy Sepia Look

The sepia look is an absolute classic. To enhance a black and white image with a classy sepia tone, follow these steps. Click on Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Photo Filter, and select the Sepia filter, with a density of 100%. Double-click the layer (not the layer name) to open up the Layer Style window. This will show the Blending options.

A view of the Layer Style window.

At the bottom of the dialog box for the first gradient, move the white slider to the left while holding the Alt/Option key. This creates a smooth transition between adjusted and unadjusted areas. The sepia will now look elegant.

Subtle sepia

Precise Positioning

I’m sure you’ve often been irritated by Photoshop’s tendency to position elements on its own, but the program is just trying to help you align an element that is on its own layer with the outer edge of the document or with the edge of another object. To your frustration, the layer’s content will jump to the edge, even though you wanted to leave a few pixels of space in between. You can temporarily deactivate the automatic snapping by holding the Control/Command key as you position.

A banner, close to the edge.

Applying Layer Styles Multiple Times

Usually, layer styles can be applied only once. For example, if you click on Layer → Layer Style → Drop Shadow, you cannot create a double drop shadow, one of which has an angle of 120°, a distance of 2 pixels and a size of 2 pixels, and the other of which has an angle of 180°, a distance of 12 pixels and a size of 12 pixels.

Actually, it is possible! It just requires a little detour. Create the first drop shadow as you normally would. Then right-click on the layer and select “Convert to Smart Object” from the menu. This smart object can be assigned another drop shadow, and you can convert the smart object into yet another smart object. This way, you can easily add a third and fourth drop shadow. Alternatively, you could apply multiple strokes.

Three shadows in combination.

By the way, to put one or even several styles onto their own layers at once, right-click on the FX symbol and select “Create Layer” from the list. Now you can apply filters to these styles, but they won’t be editable anymore.

Stay tuned

The second part of this post will be published in 2 weeks. Please stay tuned and subscribe to our RSS-feed and join us on Facebook.

(al) (ik) (vf)

© Dirk Metzmacher for Smashing Magazine, 2011. | Permalink | Post a comment | Smashing Shop | Smashing Network | About Us
Post tags: photo, photoshop, retouching, techniques, tips, tricks

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Are you not happy with your photograph? Want to make it look stunning and outstanding? Well, photo manipulation is your way to do that. Photo manipulation is an art which can manipulate your photograph the way you want. You can create some very cool results if you put your creativity and imagination into your photo manipulation process.

The whole process of manipulating your photograph requires loads of patience and skills which comes with experience. Here we have gathered a collection of some useful tutorials that will guide you through the process of photo manipulation. We hope you will like this collection!

Excellent Photo Manipulation Tutorials

Create a Surreal Environmental Photomanipulation
Today’s Photoshop tutorial shows you how to combine photographs to create a surreal photo manipulation using a combination of creative techniques and tips. Image manipulation can be tricky, especially for beginners, but this tutorial breaks some of he more advanced techniques; making it easy to understand for everyone.

The young lady
In this tutorial Cassio Braga will show you how to create a great photo manipulation that was created in his first game where the theme was water.

How to Create a Greek Mythology Inspired
In Greek Mythology, the Titan Atlas literally carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. This is because when the Titans were defeated Zeus condemned him to hold the Earth in place. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to depict Atlas’ punishment using stock photography and Photoshop.

Create a Nature Inspired Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
Today, we will demonstrate how to combine several images to create a nature inspired photo manipulation. Let’s get started!

Create a Fantasy Peacock Princess Composition
Ryan Forshaw will demonstrate how turn a standard stock photo of a female model into a fantasy Indian princess. Along the way Ryan will demonstrate how to use advanced techniques to combine several elements into one complete composition.

The Babel Tower Photo Manipulation
In this tutorial we will learn how to create one big construction from many architectural parts. In the steps below I will show you how to combine the traditional photo manipulation with matte painting resulting in a renaissance piece. A PSD is included with this Photoshop tutorial.

Make a Surreal 3D Outdoor Room Scene in Photoshop
In this photo manipulation tutorial, you will learn how to create a realistic composition of a painter using a room as his canvas.

The creation of “A Life Of Aquatic Sounds”
In this tutorial the artist will show you how he created “A Life Of Aquatic Sounds”. We will realize it using a variety of blending mode tricks, photo filters and other useful Photoshop techniques. At the end of this process we will have a beautiful photo manipulation, realized in a short time and a very easily way.

How to Create a Flaming Manipulation in Photoshop
Learn how to create this photo manipulation of a flying man similar to Iron Man. This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to apply cinematic lighting effects and manipulate fire to create this composite.

Create an Intense Apocalyptic Photo Manipulation
Learn how to create this amazing apocalyptic photo manipulation with Photoshop! You’ll learn how to blend elements such as water and moon, create seamless structures with the Clone Stamp tool, and finish it off with a cold movie photo effect.

Lost Treasure
In this tutorial the artist will show you how to create a fantasy montage.

Create a Surreal Sci-Fi Movie Poster with Photoshop CS5
In this Photoshop graphic design tutorial, we will be designing a science fiction (sci-fi) inspired movie poster while exploring–and taking advantage of–a few new features in Adobe Photoshop CS5 that will not only save us time, but will also give us awesomely stunning results.

Dry World
In this tutorial the artist will try to make a detailed explanation of how to achieve the same result or at least something similar.

Serene Fantasy Photo Manipulation
This tutorial shows you how to combine different stock photos to create calm landscape manipulation. You will learn different techniques of blending, changing lights and shadows and color adjustments. Let’s get started!

High-Rise B-Movie Poster
In this tutorial Ralf Krause wanted to do a different kind of a promo photo that looks more like a kind of a lobby card with a mixture of painted touch and filthy film grain look.

Create a Fantastic Surreal Representation of Time
This tutorial will provide the evolution process of one of my works. In the tutorial you’ll learn some manipulation methods and have a glimpse on how to create a surreal image, taking in consideration a solid theme or idea, in this case the theme is naturally about time and its (un)possibility to redeem itself.

Create a Cosmic Space Girl 3D Photo Illustration
Combining techniques is one of the best ways to achieve varied and interesting results in your digital art, and it really helps with your experimentation and creative process when you can rely on a variety of techniques. This tutorial is jam-packed with techniques and tips for you to apply, so let’s get to it!

Create a Superhero Movie Inspired Photo Manipulation
In this tutorial the artist is going to show you some photo manipulation techniques for creating a movie inspired scene using Photoshop. We will create an exploding airplane and then we will merge our flying superhero, psd file is also attached.

Create a Centaur Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
In this tutorial, we will create one of these mythological creatures by blending several images together and adding some dramatic lighting and depth to the scene. Grab your shield and prepare to do battle as we set out to encounter one of the greatest beasts ever known!

Grunge Stone Woman Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
In this design tutorial, we are going to perform a photo manipulation of a beautiful woman breaking free from the confines of her stone prison. We will be using Photoshop to blend various images together along with a bit of brushwork, adjustment layers, and layer styles to create a masterful and compelling image.

How to Make an Eerie Looking Photo Manipulation Scene
In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we will create a dark photo manipulation scene with a very creepy/eerie/mysterious atmosphere. We will go through some basic techniques for making a shadowy scene and using some creative lighting effect methods that can spice up your work, such as adding a green flame, light streaks and sparkles. For this tutorial, you should be familiar with Photoshop basics, using the Pen Tool (P), and layer masks.

Create a Fantasy “Night & Day” Composition in Photoshop
In this tutorial I will show you how to put together some images and how to make use of some Photoshop brushes to design a fantastic fantasy photomanipulation in Photoshop. We will create a scene with a girl floating in front of a building and some vines that connect the girl to the gargoyles of the building.

Surreal Train Cabin Photo Manipulation
In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we are going to create a simple but effective photo manipulation that blends different images together to create a bold and surreal scene. This tutorial covers how to add realistic blood and shadows, easy-to-use techniques to blend images together, and applying image adjustments automatically using a Photoshop action.

Create a Dark and Gloomy Photo Manipulation
Photoshop is great because it allows us to combine several images into a scene that can’t always be created in real life. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to combine several stock images into one gloomy scene. Let’s get started!

Design a spectral photo-manipulation
In this tutorial the artist will show you how to realize from scratch a ghostly scene in few steps. We will use a couple of stock photos and modify them so they will look harmoniously combined. In particular we will deal with the burn tool, layer masks and some Photoshop filters often overlooked.

How to Create a Nuclear Disaster Landscape
In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a nuclear disaster landscape using a dozen or stock photos.

How to create a melancholy model photo manipulation
In this tutorial we will use several simple techniques to realize a beautiful melancholy photo manipulation starting from the image of a model. We will deal in particular with masks, brushes and lots of adjustment layers to have full color control.

CREATE A OUT OF BOUNDS SURREAL PHOTO MANIPULATION
In this tutorial, the artist will walk you through creating an awesome out of bounds photo manipulation. Here are the prerequisites that is required for the successful completion of the tutorial. He also have added the PSD file, in case you want to edit and tinker with it.

Create a Surreal Turtle Image
In this tutorial the artist will show how he adjust lighting and colours in his images to create this surrealistic turtle. Hopefully, you’ll be able to transfer these methods to your own work.

Create a fantasy-horror scene
In this tutorial the artist will drive you through the process of making a fantasy horror scene in Photoshop. We will use some of our grunge textures to realize the background scene, several Photoshop filters to create light effects and we will turn the picture of an innocent child into a diabolic character.

Surrealistic Room Photo Manipulation
In this tutorial, we will be creating a surrealistic room with realistic water as its floor, real clouds as its wallpaper with a clock on the wall and a boat on the water floor.

A Photo Manipulator’s Guide to Blending
Blending is the essential skill for every photo manipulator and it´s one of the first things to learn. Without proper blending your images won’t look believable. There are several ways how to blend images together. In this article the artist would like to cover basic techniques which are essential for every manipulation.

How to Create an Amazing Apocalyptic Photo Manipulation
This tutorial will show you how to compose an image using 3D and painted elements. These techniques include setting the global light of your manipulation and adding shadow and color adjustments.

How to Create a Comic Book Styled Photo Manipulation
Learn how to create this scene in space using photographs. The author will show you how you can photograph objects around your house to create this photo manipulation then finish it off with a comic book effect.

Dark Halloween Manipulation Tutorial
In this tutorial the artist will show you his techniques and ideas but you can make your own version and add more elements to your artworks. Power up Photoshop and get the stock images you need.

Create an Unbelievable Surreal Abstract Artwork
In this Surreal Photoshop tutorial, you’ll see how to create an incredible surreal abstract artwork with stylistic influences from traditional artistic masters combined with modern, digital and 3D techniques. You’ll see how to analyze a light source and identify where to place highlights and shadows, as well as how to use the pen tool, burn tool, dodge tool, liquify tool and others.

Create a Dramatic Urban Raining Composition with 3D Elements
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to take some stock photos and create a dramatic urban environment, complete with rain, and then build a design composition around it using some 3D elements. You’ll learn how to create a nice raining effect, and how to use urban styles to enhance your work.

How to Create a Japanese Fantasy Photo-Manipulation
In this Japanese fantasy photo-manipulation photoshop tutorial, we are going to learn how to create an Oriental-inspired sunset-landscape with two ninjas on the field, posing against the blazing sun. We are going to learn how to blend images seamlessly together by creating dramatic light on the background; Use the Eraser tool to insert persons into a field; create a Vignette and finally make the image glow using the Gaussian Blur tool.

Create a Fantastic Environmental Awareness Composition
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a fantastic environmental awareness composition that fits a specific theme, namely the BP oil spill. You’ll learn how to develop a plan of attack for the image, and then combine various stocks to create an environment, then populate it with various sea creatures, then finally you’ll learn how to create the illusion of an oil spill using stock images and painting techniques.

Imaginary Photo Manipulation Tutorial Using Photoshop
We will learn how to manipulate few photos into a scene where an princes imagine some beauty of nature. We’ll use some relatively simple techniques to give these images a semi-realistic, stylized feel. Let’s get started!

Dark and Eerie Photo Manipulation Scene
In this Photo-manipulation tutorial, we will learn how to create a dark photo manipulation scene with an eerie yet magical atmosphere. We will tackle basic techniques to create an ancient-looking room, using various stock photographs and applying adjustment layers and creating shadows using the Brush tool to blend the images seamlessly.

The enchanted forest- Fantasy photo manipulation
In this tutorial we will learn how to create a fantasy photo manipulation.

Create a Devastating Twister With Photo Manipulation Techniques
If you’re looking to create a really nice photo manipulation, often you will have to combine several photos and apply a few effects to get your desired look. In this tutorial the artist decided to combine a few photos that he took while I was traveling to create a devastating tornado consuming everything in its path. Okay, let’s get started!

Make a TRON-Inspired Photo Manipulation
This Photoshop tutorial goes over the creation of an action scene inspired by the movie, TRON. We will discuss surreal photo manipulation techniques that give the illusion that the subject’s arm and other parts of his body are disintegrating into light. The techniques in this tutorial use different transform tools, filters and adjustment layers to give phenomenal results.

Solo – Photoshop Manipulation Tutorial
In this tutorial Andrei Oprinca will show you a few techniques that you can use in your fantasy photo manipulations. You will use the Dodge/Burn to create nice effects by enhancing the highlights and shadows of your stock images. He will also show you how to create realistic shadows using the brush tool.

Create an Epic Roman Empire Photo Manipulation Scene
In this Photoshop tutorial, we’ll be using plenty of professional Photoshop techniques to create a scene right out of the fall of the Roman Empire.

Floating Island on Water
In this Photoshop tutorial, we will learn how to create a picture with two different stories, one: a town on an island and two: the deep and huge body of water below it.

Create a Powerful Mental Wave Explosion Effect
Have you ever wanted to use your mind to move an object? Use the Force to fling things out of your way? Unfortunately, we all know those types of abilities are impossible but using the power of Photoshop anything can be accomplished. In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a powerful mental wave effect using Photoshop.

Make a Story Book Come to Life
Learn how to create this surreal photo manipulation in Photoshop. You’ll learn the basics of combining stock photos, how to blend them in by adding light and shadows, and complete it with a vintage photo effect.

Create this “City to Country” Photo Manipulation with Photoshop
This tutorial will show you how to create a beautiful “city to country” composition using several images. You’ll accomplish this by combining & blending images, and also creating a few lighting/color effects.

(ik)

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Using this thoroughly explained, detailed flash lesson, I will explain to you how to create shine car photo animation, using some special flash tips and tricks.

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In this thoroughly explained, detailed flash lesson, I will show you how to create frame by frame black and white photo effect.

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