Cigarette Smoke

This will show how you can create cigarette smoke. You can download the photo of the cigarette from here. I will show the steps, but do not think that there is anything hard and fast about them. You can always experiment. That is how you will learn. We wil be using a lot of layers and the Twirl Filter repeatedly.

I will minimise the photo of the cigarette and concentrate on the smoke.

Step 1 : Open a new white layer.

Step 2 : Make sure that the Foreground is Set to Black and Background to White. If it is not so press 'X' then 'D' on your keyboard.

Step 3 : Press Alt+BACSPACE. This will fill the layer with the Foreground color i.e. Black.

Step 4 : Click the New Layer button shown by the small white hand and a new layer i.e. Layer 1 will form.
Step 5 : Click the Marquee Tool and select the Elliptical Marquee Tool by clicking it. Set the Feather at 35 pixel in the top panel by typing in 35 in the box.
Step 6 : Drag out with Elliptical Marquee Tool.
Step 7 : Press CTRL+BACKSPACE. This will fill the selection with the Background color which is White. Your image should look as above. Press CTRL+D to deselect.
This is how the image looks after pressing CTRL+D. Step 8 : Go to Filter>Distort>Twirl.
Step 9 : The Twirl dialogue box opens. I have set the Angle at -75. Click ok.

This is how the image looks.
Step 10 : Press CTRL+F and the image will look like this. Step 11 : Click the Move Tool.
Step 12 : As soon as you click the Move Tool you will find a selection appear around the 'smoke'.

Step 13 : Push the selection from the left with the cursor.

Step 14 : Click the Tick mark in the top panel to apply the transformation.
Step 15 : Drag Layer 1 to the New Layer button and Layer 1 copy forms.
Step 16 : With Layer 1 copy selected drag right with the cursor.

Step 17 : Push with the cursor from the left which will elongate the 'smoke'.

Step 18 : Click the Tick mark in the top panel to apply the transformation.
Step 19 : Again go to Filter>Distort>Twirl. Step 20 : In the Twirl dialogue box I have set the Angle at -176. Click ok.
This is how the image looks.

Step 21 : Use the cursor to reposition the 'smoke' . Push to elongate it as shown.
Step 22 : Click the Tick mark in the top panel to apply the transformation. Step 23 : Press CTRL+J to duplicate Layer 1 copy and Layer 1 copy 2 forms.
Step 24 : Drag with the cursor to the right.

Step 25 : Press CTRL+J and Layer 1 Copy 3 forms.
Step 26 : Use the cursor to push the new 'smoke' to the left.

Step 27 : Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal.

This is how the image looks.

Step 28 : Now reposition the smoke.

Step 29 : Now push inwards with the cursor to elongate the smoke.

Step 30 : Hover the cursor over a corner of the smoke and you will find a bent double headed arrow appear. Use it to rotate the smoke.

Step 31 : Click the Tick mark to apply the transformation.

This is how the image looks.

Step 32 : Click back on Layer 1.

Step 33 : Press CTRL+J and a Layer 1 copy 4 forms.

Step 34 : Now push with the cursor to elongate the smoke.

Step 35 : Click the Tick mark to apply the transformation.

Step 36 : Press CTRL+J. Layer 1 copy 5 forms.

Step 37 : Press CTRL+F.

This is how the image looks.

Step 38 : Now push inwards with the cursor to elongate the smoke.

Step 39 : Now rotate the smoke.

Step 40 : Now click the Tick mark to apply the transformation.

Step 41 : Click on the topmost layer.

Step 42 : Press SHIFT and click on the layer just above the Background. All the Layers will be highlighted.

Step 43 : Press CTRL+E. All the layers above the Background will be compressed into a single layer.

Step 44 : Press CTRL+J and Layer 1 copy 4 forms.

Step 45 : Go to Filter>Distort>Spherize.

Step 46 : The Spherize dialogue box opens. I am leaving it at the default values and clicking ok.

This is how the image looks.

Step 47 : Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical.

Step 48 : Press SHIFT and click on Layer 1 copy 3.

Step 49 : Press CTRL+E. This will compress the two layers into one.

Step 50 : Now press inwards with the cursor to elongate the smoke.

Step 51 : Click the Tick mark to apply the transformation.

Step 52 : Drag the smoke layer onto the cigarette photo.

Step 53 : Resize the smoke.

Step 54 : Click the Tick mark to apply the transformation.

And there is your cigarette smoke.

This baby says it's not too young to smoke!

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Comic Book Effect

You can give a comic book effect to any image with a few steps for a special effect in Photoshop by loading the luminosity as a selection. This will be possible only in Photoshop CS 2 and above because of one particular step. All the other steps can be done in Photoshop 7.

Step 1 : I have opened this photo. It is a high resolution one and is suitable for the effect that I wish to demonstrate. You can download this free stockphoto here.

Step 2 : Press CTRL+J to duplicate the Background layer.

Step 3 : With Layer 1 selected, go to Filter>Blur>Surface Blur. Surface Blur is not available in Photoshop 7.

Step 4 : This is the Surface Blur dialogue box. When you place your cursor in the box a small white hand will appear with which you can scroll the image. I have scrolled the image to make the eye visible. Notice that the details are still sharp after I have applied the Radius at 25 pixels and Threshold at 15. These settings suit this particular image. It might vary with the image you use. The Surface Blur keeps the edge details of the eye and lips, while smoothing out the skin. Click ok.
Step 5 : Press CTRL+J again. Layer 1 will be duplicated into Layer 1 copy.

Step 6 : With the Layer 1 copy selected press SHIFT+CTRL+U. This will remove the color from the layer as you can see above.

Step 7 : I will now load the luminosity of this layer as a selection. To do this press ALT+CTRL+ Tilde ( ~ This key to the left of 1 on the keyboard). You can see the selection.

Step 8 : With the selection in place, click on the New Layer icon and a new Layer 2 will be created.

Step 9 : Go to Select>Inverse.

Step 10 : Make sure that Foreground Color is set to Black and Background to White. If it is not press X then D on the keyboard.

Step 11 : Now press ALT+BACKSPACE to fill the selection with the Foreground Color which is Black here. Press CTRL+D to deselect. The marching ants of the selection will go away.

Step 12 : Turn of the top two layers by clciking off the eye icons. Then click on Layer 1 to select it. The color returns to the image.
Step 13 : Go to Filter>Artistic>Cutout.
Step 14 : The Cutout dialogue box opens.

Step 15 : The controls of the Cutout are on the right top. I have put the Number of Levels at 6, Edge Simplicity at 0 and edge Fidelity at 3 for this image. You can try a higher value or less for Number of Levels for your own image. Click ok.

This is how the image looks.
Step 16 : Now drag Layer 1 to the New Layer button and a Layer 1 copy 2 forms.

Step 17 : In the Layers pallette change the Blend Mode of the Layer to Soft Light.

Step 18 : The image brightens with the change in Blend Mode.

Step 19 : Now click on Layer 1 copy which we had desaturated earlier.

Step 20 : Go to Filter>Artistic>Poster Edges.

Step 21 : The Poster Edges dialogue box opens.

Step 22 : In the controls at the right top, I have put the Edge Thickness at 2, Edge Intensity at 2 and Posterization at only 1 for this image. Click ok.

This is how the image looks.

Step 23 : Change the Blend mode of this layer which is Layer 1 copy to Multiply.

This is how the image looks. It looks a bit dark. Let us fix that.

Step 24 : Press CTRL+L to bring up the Levels dialogue box.

Step 25 : Now drag the White slider almost all the way to the middle from the extreme right.

Step 26 : The image brightens up.

Step 27 : Now click back the eye icon on the topmost layer i.e. Layer 2. Click to select it. Press ALT+CTRL+Tilde. (See Step 6). This will load the luminosity as a selection.

The selection.

Step 28 : With the selection in place, click the Add Layer Mask button. The Layer Mask forms next to the layer thumbnail on Layer 2. It looks like a negative.

This is how the image looks.

Step 29 : Go to Filter>Pixelate>Color Halftone.

Step 30 : The Color Halftone dialogue box opens. I am not going to change any of the settings. But depending on your image you can increase or decrease the Max radius which here is set to 8. Click ok.

The completed image.

A closer view of the image. That is all. Try it out.

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