Photoshop Elements 3 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography- P6 pptx

In Figure 5.27, you’ll see an example of a background created using a tion of a gradient fill adjustment layer and an effect... Starting with the car that I worked on previously, I selec

4 The label still needs selective burning and dodging, and the reflections at the top

of the bottles are too harsh I’ll fix the harsh reflections later in the chapter, but

as you can see on the right in Figure 5.26, simplifying the background alreadyhas significantly improved this shot

Creating New Backgrounds

After you have isolated a product from its background, there is no reason why youcan’t insert any background you want Backgrounds can come from another photo-graph or purely from selective Photoshop Elements’ effects and a little imagination.Some of the most effective backgrounds are a combination of a real photograph and aPhotoshop Elements filter or effect

In Figure 5.27, you’ll see an example of a background created using a tion of a gradient fill adjustment layer and an effect

Figure 5.27: This background was quickly created using a gradient fill and an effect.

Here’s what I did to create the new background:

1 Starting with the car that I worked on previously, I selected and removed the

previous background titled Color Fill 1(Layer
Delete Layer) and made a newgradient background by clicking the Create Adjustment Layer icon ( ) at thetop of the Layers palette and choosing Gradient from the pop-up menu (Youcan also select Layer
New Fill Layer
Gradient from the menu bar.)

2 From the various Gradient options, I chose the settings you see on the left in

Figure 5.28 To find the Silver gradient, I started by clicking the drop-down

arrow adjacent to the word Gradient in the Gradient Fill dialog box Then,

when another palette of options opened, I clicked the arrow pointing to theright This brought up a drop-down menu with various options I selected theone called Metals This loaded several icons into the palette I chose the onenamed Silver (the third one from the left—the name appears only when the cur-sor is placed on top of the icon)

Figure 5.28: I chose the Silver gradient with the settings you see in the dialog box (left).

The Layers palette (right).

The great thing about creating backgrounds this way is that they are totallychangeable I can go back at any time and adjust the gradient adjustment layer orremove an effect ( “All about Layers” in the appendix) My original image remainsunchanged.

Figure 5.29 illustrates how easy it is to go back and change a background

creat-ed this way I simply selectcreat-ed the first layer in Figure 5.28 callcreat-ed Gradient Fill; then inthe Styles and Effects palette I selected Layer Styles from the pop-up menu andComplex from the other pop-up menu Next I clicked the layer style called Rainbow.The Layers palette for this new image is shown on the right in Figure 5.29

Figure 5.29: It’s easy to change or add to a background if it is created with an adjustment layer (left) This is the Layers palette for the image (right).

Modifying an Existing Background

The image shown on the left in Figure 5.30 is a mistake My digital camera fired

unex-pectedly Instead of erasing the blurred image, I kept it and then used it later to create

the background shown on the right

Figure 5.30: This was a mistake (left), but I thought the image might have potential, so I

saved it Later, I used it as the basis for this background (right)

This is what I did to modify the image:

1 I opened the image shown on the left in Figure 5.30 and chose Enhance
Auto

Levels

2 I applied the Add Noise filter (Filters
Noise
Add Noise) I used the

follow-ing settfollow-ings: Amount: 57, Distribution: Gaussian

3 I applied the Radial Blur filter (Filters
Blur
Radial Blur) and used the

fol-lowing settings: Amount: 22, Blur Method: Zoom, Quality: Best The results areshown in Figure 5.31

Figure 5.31: The image after applying the Add Noise and Radial Blur filters and with a

1368 × 1676 pixel selection.

4 I opened a new image of a bag and noted its pixel dimensions, 1368 × 1676.

5 Now, with the Mistakeimage, I selected the Rectangular Marquee tool ( )from the toolbox and in the options bar I changed Style from Normal to FixedSize Then in the Width box I typed 1368 and in the Height box I typed 1676 Ithen made a selection, placing the constrained Rectangular Marquee over thearea that I wanted I made a copy of this selection (Ctrl+C / +C)

6 I pasted the Mistakeselection into the bag image (Ctrl+V / +V) It fit

perfect-ly I made sure that the Mistakeimage layer was below the one containing thebag You can easily move layers into different positions ( “All about Layers”

in the appendix)

7 I added a drop shadow to the bag and I was done ( “Adding Depth,” next)

Shooting Digital: Are You Sure You Want to Delete?

One of the great features of digital cameras is the capability to erase shots you don’t like Aword of caution: as you’ve seen throughout this book, there are many ways to use a digitalphoto Think before you erase an accidental shot of the pavement, because it could be used

as an interesting background Think before you erase a picture that is inherently boring butcould conceivably be used in a collage Think before you erase a bad photo of Uncle Jimmy,because the good shot of Aunt Annie next to him could be used for something else Instead

of always erasing, consider investing in more memory for both your camera and computerand building a digital library of those potentially useful “throwaways.”

Adding Depth

After you’ve found a background, you need to give your image a sense of depth Aneasy way to do this is to make a clear distinction between the foreground object andthe background Assuming you’ve isolated your object from the background, you can

do this by creating a drop shadow or other layer style

Drop Shadows

Drop shadows are commonly used to create a sense of depth Here’s what I did toreplace the background, rotate, and add a drop shadow to the image shown in Figure 5.32

Figure 5.32: The original digital camera shot.

1 I selected and removed the background by using the Magic Eraser ( )

( “Separating a Product from Its Background,” earlier in this chapter) Irotated the image to the right (Image
Rotate
90° Right)

2 I created a new background by clicking the Create Adjustment Layer icon ( )

at the top of the Layers palette and choosing Solid Color from the pop-upmenu I chose white (Alternatively, you can choose Layer
New Fill Layer
Solid Color from the menu bar.)

3 With the layer called Bagselected, I chose a drop shadow from the Styles and

Effects palette (Layer Styles from the first pop-up menu and Drop Shadowsfrom second pop-up menu) I applied a drop shadow called Soft Edge by simplyclicking its icon After the drop shadow was applied, an f symbol appeared in

theBaglayer in the Layers palette I double-clicked the f, which opened the

Style Settings dialog box (Choosing Layer
Layer Style
Layer Settings alsobrings up this dialog box.) From this box, I tweaked the drop shadow by usingthe settings shown on the left in Figure 5.33 The Layers palette is shown on theright The final image is shown in Figure 5.34

Figure 5.33: These are the settings I used for my drop shadow (left) The Layers palette

shows the new background and layer with the drop shadow layer style attached (right).

You can use other layer styles such as Outer Glow to also make a distinction between

a product and its background, as you can see on the left in Figure 5.35

Figure 5.35: Use Outer Glow styles to add depth to your image (left) These are settings I used for my Simple Outer Glow (right).

To add depth with Outer Glow, I started with the previous example and thendid the following:

1 I changed the color of the background from white to black by clicking on thelayer thumbnail in the Color Filllayer and choosing black from the Color Picker

2 I deleted the drop shadow effect from the layer called Bagby selecting that layerand then choosing Layer
Layer Style
Clear Layer Style from the menu bar

3 I applied an Outer Glow from the Styles and Effects palette to the layer calledBag(choose Layer Styles from the first pop-up menu, then Outer Glows fromthe second pop-up menu) I chose the Outer Glow called Simple I used the set-tings shown on the right in Figure 5.35

Creating Lighting Effects

Effective lighting can give a product shot dimension and drama If the interesting

light-ing isn’t there to begin with, you can use Photoshop Elements’ Lightlight-ing Effects filter to

create it Figure 5.36 shows how lighting effects can alter an original shot

Figure 5.36: The lighting is even but uninteresting (left) With the help of the Lighting

Effects filter, the image is more dramatic (right).

This is what I did to create the effective lighting:

1 I selected the Lighting Effects filter (Filter
Render
Lighting Effects)

2 I applied the settings shown in Figure 5.37 and clicked OK

Figure 5.37: These are the settings I used for the Lighting Effects filter.

Softening Highlights and Glare

On the left in Figure 5.38 is a close-up of the wine bottles from a previous example( “Separating a Product from Its Background,” earlier in this chapter) You can tellthat the light source for the photograph was direct and harsh and not the soft, diffusedlighting often used by professional photographers Fortunately, it is easy to fix this inPhotoshop Elements

Figure 5.38: The reflections are harsh and need to be softened (left) With the help of the Blur tool, the reflections are softer, more diffused (right).

All I did to get the results shown on the right in Figure 5.38 was select the Blurtool ( ) from the toolbox and then click and drag it several times over the spots oflight (The Blur tool shares the same spot on the toolbar as the Sharpen and Smudgetools Shift+R will cycle through the three tools.) I selected a soft-edged brush in theoptions bar and left the Pressure set at 50 percent The Mode was Normal

Adding a New Label

Will Rutledge is a professional photographer and the manager of QVC Inc.’s photo

studio QVC is an electronics retailer mostly known for its cable-shopping channel As

you can imagine, Will shoots a lot of products He mostly uses a high-end digital

cam-era and he often uses Photoshop to fix a photo because something isn’t quite right with

the product Take, for example, the photo shown on the left in Figure 5.39 One of the

lipstick cases didn’t have a label However, Will had another, similar shot of a different

lipstick case that did He used Photoshop to copy and paste the label from one photo

to the other Although he used Photoshop to do the job, everything he did can be done

in Photoshop Elements as well

Figure 5.39: The vertical lipstick case didn’t have a label and it needed one (left) Will used

the Polygonal Lasso tool to select the label from an image of another case (right).

Here’s what Will did to fix the photo:

1 With both images open, Will used the Polygonal Lasso tool ( ) to select the

label from the image that had one The right side of Figure 5.39 shows a

close-up of the lipstick case and Will’s selection

Note: The Polygonal Lasso tool is similar to the Magnetic Lasso tool; however, you ally set endpoints for each straight segment ( “Selection Tools” in the appendix)

manu-2 He then copied (Ctrl+C / +C) and pasted (Ctrl+V / +V) the selection onto

the second image He used the Move tool ( ) from the toolbox to position thelabel in place (See Figure 5.40.)

3 Will then used the Eraser tool ( ) to erase parts of the pasted label so it

blend-ed nicely

The final image is shown on the right in Figure 5.40

Making a Product Smile

Will Rutledge also took the product shot shown on the left in Figure 5.41, this time forQVC’s annual report He was given creative license to make the image fun, and that iswhat Will did to make the image shown on the right

Figure 5.41: A typical shot of an electrical outlet (left) A not-so-typical shot of an electrical outlet, helped along by the 3D filter (right) (Photo by Will Rutledge Copyright 2000 QVC.)

1 Will used the Lasso tool ( ) to select one of the rectangular slots.

2 He copied and pasted his selection onto a separate layer He rotated the slot

until it was horizontal by choosing Image
Transform
Free Transform (seeFigure 5.42)

Figure 5.42: After copying and pasting the vertical slot, Will used a Transform command to

rotate it to a horizontal position (left) The 3D filter mapped Will’s selection to a sphere.

When he rotated the sphere, he got a smile (right).

3 With the layer containing the pasted, rotated slot selected, he opened the 3D

fil-ter (Filfil-ter
Render
3D Transform)

4 In the 3D Transform filter dialog box, Will selected the Sphere tool ( ) and

drew a circle tightly around the rectangular slot in the preview window He then clicked the Trackball tool ( ) and in the preview window rotated the balluntil he got a smile Then he clicked OK The result is shown on the right inFigure 5.42

5 Will used the Move tool ( ) from the toolbox to position his smile in place He

then used the Eraser tool ( ) and Clone Stamp tool ( ) to make the smilecompletely replace the old slot

Who says life always has to be so serious?

Simplifying a Product Shot

Converting a complex product shot into a simple line drawing can be useful forbrochures or instructional material To simplify the shot shown on the left in Figure 5.43,

I applied the Photocopy filter with the foreground color set to black (Filter
Sketch
Photocopy) I also set the Detail at 14 and the Darkness at 33 The result is shown onthe right

Figure 5.43: The original photo (left) A much simpler image after applying the Photocopy filter (right) (Photo by Maurice Martell)

Shooting Digital: Creating Your Own Mini Photo Studio

It doesn’t take a lot of money or equipment to set up a mini photo studio in your office orhome With the following setup, you’ll be able to shoot perfect photos of small objects such

as books, coins, jewelry, small appliances, or other objects that you want to place on anonline auction or prepare for a flyer or ad:

• A digital camera

• A white, seamless backdrop and a means to hold it

• Two diffused light sourcesLook at the following diagram The seamless paper is draped over a table It’s important for it

to drape smoothly, or it will catch light and create unwanted shadows Also notice how theobject to be photographed is set away from the edge of the paper This also keeps shadows

at a minimum Two diffused lights are enough for most situations You can diffuse a lightsource with a sheet of thick, translucent plastic or a window screen Move the lights aroundand try to make the light fall as evenly on the product as possible

When you shoot, experiment with different angles But remember to show as much of theproduct as you can The shot should be informative as well as interesting

Where can you find the equipment for this mini studio? Professional photography supplyhouses all carry the seamless paper, lights, and stands Go to my website (www.shooting-digital.com) for more resources

Lights

Product

Bench

Seamless paper with stands Camera on tripod