Photoshop Tutorials 2013

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Vanishing Point Tool Part 2

10:53 AM MY STORE

I had posted a tutorial on Vanishing Point Tool in Photoshop CS. The tutorial is here. This is to show you something further with the Vanishing Point Tool. You can make a photo fit onto a plane with the proper perspective.

Step 1 I have opened these two photos -- one of a folder file and another of a girl.

Step 2 : Press CTRL A (shortcut for Select All), then CTRL+C (shortcut for Copy). Minimise the image.

Step 3 : Now I have click on the photo of the folder. In the Layers pallette clicked on the Add New layer icon or press CTRL+SHIFT+N. A new layer is created over the Folder layer.

Step 4 : Go to Filter>Vanishing Point.

Step 5 : The Vanishing Point Tool box dialogue opens.

Step 6 : In tools panel on the left of Vanishing Tool, the Create Plane Tool is selected by default.

Step 7 : With the Create Plane Tool click on a corner.

Step 8 : When you drag with the Create Plane Tool you will find it acts like a rubber band following the cursor.

Step 9 : I have clicked on the second and third corner on the right side. When I click the third point a diagonal line appears connecting the first and third points.

Step 10 : Drag the fourth point to the fourth corner and a grid forms immediately. Note that the color of the grid is Blue. If the color of the grid happens to be Red, then Photoshop is telling you that the plane you have drawn is impossible. In case it is Yellow then it means that the plane that you have drawn is difficult, but Photoshop will try to draw it. So remember that the grid has to be Blue. In case it is Red or Yellow a minor adjustment will fix it. Just drag the middle corner handle till the grid turns Blue.

A closer view of the grid.

Step 11 : Now press CTRL and bring you cursor to the the midpoint of the grid and an arrow symbol with a tiny grid icon will appear.

Step 12 : Keeping CTRL pressed drag with the arrow and a grid appears on the side of the file.

Step 13 : I have positioned the grid, then keeping ALT pressed I have drag the corner handles to fit the edges of the grid to the file.

Step 14 : Now press CTRL+V (Paste). This will paste the photo chosen earlier.

Step 15 : Now I have dragged the photo onto the grid on the folder. Note that the photo fits into the perspective of the folder.

Step 16 : I have clicked on the Transform Tool.

You will find corner handles appear as soon as you click the Transform Tool.

Step 17 : Now press SHIFT+ALT and drag on the photo. It will drag out the photo proportionately to fit the grid. I have now begun dragging down the side of the folder.

Step 18 : I have dragged the photo to cover the side of the file. Click ok in the Vanishing Tool dialogue box.

The finished image. The photo has fitted snugly with the plane of the file. That is all.

The third part of the tutorial is here.

Vanishing Tool In Photoshop CS

9:54 AM MY STORE

The Vanishing Tool is a new tool in Photoshop CS. It is not found in Photoshop 7. You can do a number of things with this new tool. I will show you a trick with the Vanishing Tool.

Step 1 : I have opened this photo of a truck which I will elongate and add more wheels.

Step 2 : Press ALT+CTRL+V to access the Vanishing Point Tool and click on the Zoom Tool.

Alternately you can access it by going to Filter>Vanishing Point.

Step 3 : I have zoomed in on the image with the Zoom Tool

Step 4 : Click the Create Plane Tool or just press 'C'.

Step 5 : As soon as you click the Create Plane Tool the cursor will change as above.

Step 6 : I have clicked on a corner of the Truck's body and then dragged till I have a grid as above with the Create Plane Tool.
Step 7 : Now with the cursor I have dragged the grid at the back of the truck,

Step 8 : I have clicked the Marquee Tool.

Step 9 : I have drawn a selection with the Marquee Tool.
Step 10 : I have set the Feather at 3.
Step 11 : Press ALT and drag the selection with the cursor. The truck body has been extended and has more wheels.
Step 12 : I have again pressed ALT and dragged the selection which has further elongated the body and added more wheels.

Click ok and the truck has a longer body and many more wheels. Try it out. There are more things that can be done with this tool. The second part of the tutorial is here.

Magic Wand Tool

5:00 PM MY STORE

You can make selections with a number of tools. But have you ever tried making a selection with the Magic wand Tool? Perhaps not. It can also be done. But I personally think that the Pen Tool is the best for making a selection. But let us try the Magic Wand and see if it can really work magic.

If you have a photo like this using the Magic wand is easy.

Step 1 : Click the Magic wand Tool to select it.

Step 2 : In the top panel set the Tolerance at 20. Also check the Anti-alias and Contiguous. The default Tolerance is set at 50. You can even begin by setting a Tolerance of 10.

Step 3 : Click anywhere in the white background with the Magic Wand. You will immediately get a selection of 'marching ants.

Step 4 : Hold SHIFT and click on the unselected parts. When you hold down shift you will find a tiny plus sign appear beside the Magic wand. Select the unselected areas.

Step 5 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+I to inverse the selection. Now only the figure is selected by the 'marching ants'.

Step 6 : Press CTRL+J. The selection will be copied and pasted on a new Layer 1. Look at the Layers pallette

Step 7 : Click off the eye icon in the Background layer.

Step 8 : The White Background has been deleted. This method will work for images on a uniformly colored background. This part is easy.

Now let us try something more complex.

Step 9 : I am setting the Tolerance at 10.
Step 10 : I have clicked once on the left of the image and a large portion is selected.

Step 11 : Now holding down SHIFT I have clicked on the unselected areas on the left. The entire left side is now selected.

Step 12 : Keeping SHIFT pressed keep clicking while changing the Tolerance from 10 to 15 to 20. If select wrongly press CTRL+Z to undo the last step. Or to undo more steps go to Edit>Step Backward.

Step 13 : I am varying the Tolerance as I click in different portions to select. It will depend on your image.

Step 14 : The entire background has been selected.

Step 15 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+I to inverse the selection. Then press CTRL+J to copy and paste the selection to a new layer. Lastly turn of the eye icon in the Background layer as earlier shown in Steps 5 and 6. The background will be deleted.

Step 16 : Open a new white layer and drag it on top with the Move Tool.

Step 17 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+[ to send the white layer to the back.

Step 18 : Zoom into the image and you might notice that some minor spots have remained behind.

Step 19 : Click on the erazer Tool. You should also make the tip soft. To do that hold SHIFT and press the [ (left bracket a number of times). Alternately to make the tip hard press SHIFT and ] (right bracket)
Step 20 : You are on the white layer (Layer 2). Therefore click back to Layer 1.

Step 21 : Zoom into the image and wipe away the spots gently. Switch between a large brush tip and a small brush tip. To make the tip large press the ] (right bracket) and to make it small [ (left bracket).

Step 22 : You can see that the selection is not that bad as the hair has been cleanly selected as also the rest of the image.

Step 23 : You can even put a new background to the image. Note that when you do so, the edges especially near the hair appear light. That has to be fixed.