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Add realistic reflection using Clone Stamp tool

sergio — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:56:24 +0000

You can create a reflection using different techniques and tools of Photoshop. Creating a mirrored reflection involve many steps like selecting object, duplicating and transforming layers, adjusting opacity, and more. In this tutorial we’ll try to create quickly a realistic reflection using Clone Stamp tool and the Clone Source feature of Photoshop CS4.

Final Image Preview

Step 1. In Adobe Photoshop CS4, open your image (to make this tutorial I have used Maybach Exelero Side Promo Car Wallpaper from carwallpapers4you ).

Step 2. Click on Create a new layer icon in the Layers panel to create a new layer.

Step 3. Select the Clone Stamp Tool (S), in Options bar find the Simple drop-down menu and select All Layers options. Click on Clone Source panel icon to open the Clone Source panel (F5). In the Clone Source panel click on Maintain Aspect Ratio icon to unlink the Width and Height. Type –100 in the Height box to set the vertical scale. Check Show Overlay options and reduce the preview Opacity to 50%. Uncheck Clipped, Auto Hide, and Invert options if these are selected.

Step 4. Press Alt (Mac: Option) and click at the bottom of the object to be mirrored to sample it.

Step 5. Move the cursor away from the image window. The reflection appears as an overlay on the image.

Step 6. Uncheck Show Overlay options to turn off the overlay.

Step 7. Click and drag using the Clone Stamp Tool (S) and paint in the reflection using a large brush. Start painting close to the spot you originally sampled.

Finish painting in the reflection

Step 8. Click on Add layer mask icon to add a layer mask.

Press D to set the Foreground and Background colors to white and black.

Step 9. Click the Gradient tool (G), in Options bar select the Foreground to Background gradient. Click and drag from the bottom of the original object to the bottom of the reflection using Foreground to Background gradient.

The reflection appears to fade away from the object.

Step 10. Set the layer Opacity to 60% to make the reflection appear realistic. Also you can change the layer Blending Mode to Soft Light to make the reflection more realistic.

Realistic Denim Texture

sergio — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:55:53 +0000

This tutorial is about creating a realistic denim texture from scratch by mixing grayscale layers using Blend Modes and Filters. So let’s start!

Royalty free textures

Final Image Preview

Step 1.

To start create a new RGB document 900px wide x 1500px high, set the resolution to 150 ppi and the Background Contents to white.

Set the Background Color on Color Picker dialog box to R:30, G:73, B:126.

Press Ctrl+Backspace (MAC: Command+Delete) to fill the Background Layer with blue color.

Step 2.

Create a New Layer by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

Press Shift+Backspace (MAC: Shift+Delete) and select from Fill dialog box, 50% Gray to fill this layer with 50% gray.

Set Foreground and Background colors to default black and white by pressing D.

Step 3.

Select the Filter>Sketch>Halftone Pattern and set the Size – 1, Contrast – 0, choose Line for the Pattern Type, and click OK.

Go to Filter>Pixelate>Mezzotint and select Fine Dots for Type and click OK.

Step 4.

Duplicate this layer by pressing Ctrl+J (MAC: Command+J). Press Ctrl+T (MAC: Command+T) to use Free Transform. Enter exact scale amounts by using the Options bar. Type 190 in the W (Width) text field and then press the Maintain Aspect Ratio button. The layer contents are scaled to exactly 190 percent. Specify 45 degrees in the Rotation text box to rotate the layer.

Hit Enter (MAC: Return) to accept the transformation.

Step 5.

Select Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to smooth out the rough detail.

Set the Blend Mode for Layer 1 copy to Multiply

and for Layer 1 to Soft Light

Step 6.

Next we’ll create a side seam in the denim texture. Create a new layer and using the Lasso tool (L), draw a selection as shown.

Press Shift+Backspace (MAC: Shift+Delete) and select from Fill dialog box, 50% Gray to fill this selection with 50% gray.

Press Ctrl+D (MAC: Command+D) to Deselect. Change the Blend Mode of this layer to Hard Light.

Step 7.

Next add a Layer Style by double-click on the Layer 2 thumbnail. Select Drop Shadow and set the next settings as shown (Opacity – 100%, uncheck Use Global Light, Angle – 180, Distance – 5px, Spread – 20%, Size – 100px)

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer Style and set the next settings as shown (Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 251%, Size – 9px, Soften – 4px, Angle to –30, Altitude – 53, Highlight Mode Opacity – 47%)

Now you can click OK.

Step 8.

To bring more detail into the seam we’ll use the Dodge and Burn tools. Choose the Dodge tool (O), in the Options Bar, set the Brush size to 50px, Range – Midtones, Exposure – 20% and add small strokes of light areas along the edge.

Next select the Burn tool, in the Options Bar, set the Brush size to 60px, Range – Shadows, Exposure – 20% then add small strokes of dark areas.

Step 9.

Our realistic denim texture is done, we need to add stitching along the seam. Select Brush Tool (B) and click the Brushes panel icon at the right of the Options Bar or press F5. Choose the brush Charcoal Flat, then click on Brush Tip Shape and make the following adjustments: Diameter – 32px, Roundness – 18%, Hardness – 99%, Spacing – 636%.

Click on the Shape Dynamics and select following adjustments as shown:

Step 10.

Create a new layer and use the Pen Tool (P) to trace in Path Mode what will soon be a stitch line along the seam.

Right-click, select Stroke Path

select Brush, tick the Simulate Pressure box and press OK.

Press Ctrl+H (MAC: Command+H) to hide the path.

Step 11.

Now double-click the icon on this layer (Layer 3) to add Layer Style, select Bevel and Emboss ( Style – Pillow Emboss, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 151%, Size – 10px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 120, check Use Global Light, Altitude – 30, Highlight Mode Opacity – 40%, Shadow Mode Opacity – 40%), and then click OK.

Duplicate this layer by pressing Ctrl+J (MAC: Command+J). Select the Move Tool and drag the duplicated layer as shown.

Finally, create a new layer and add a label on it, I used Levi’s label from one of this photos and cut away the background with Pen Tool (P).

Drag this layer below the layer with seam in Layer panel and using Move Tool move the label as shown.

Final Image

Download *.PSD file here.

Typographic Portrait like Grammy’s Posters

sergio — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:12:52 +0000

In this tutorial, we’re going to make a typographic poster (like Grammy’s Typographic Posters) from a simple portrait using Photoshop techniques.

Final Image Preview

The described effects look nice on portraits with good contrast and light background, but you can easy adjust the contrast and make the background lighter using possibilities of Photoshop. (to make this tutorial I have used Female Stock thanks to Katanaz-Stock).

Step 1.

In Adobe Photoshop, open our portrait

and adjust the contrast Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast

Step 2.

From the Select menu, choose Color Range.

From the Select drop-down menu in the Color Range dialog, choose Shadows and click OK.

Press Ctrl+J (MAC: Command+J ) to copy the selected shadows pixels in a new layer. Back to the Background layer in the Layers palette.

Step 3.

Use Color Range again, but now choose Midtones from the Select drop-down menu and click OK.

Press Ctrl+J (MAC: Command+J ) to copy the selected midtones pixels in a new layer.

Step 4.

Click on the shadow layer and apply Edit>Fill (Shift+Backspace (Mac: Shift+Delete)). Use Black color, with Preserve Transparency selected, and click OK.

Then, activate the midtones layer and use the Fill again with 50% Gray color. You should have a portrait made from black and gray color.

Step 5.

Click on the shadow layer and press Ctrl+E (MAC: Command+E) to Merge Down it with the midtones layer.

Step 6.

Create a new document File>New (Ctrl+N (MAC: Command+N)). Set the Foreground color to black by pressing D. Use the Type tool (T) to type different words in various fonts and sizes.

Right click to select Rasterize Type for each word

and from the Edit menu, choose Define Brush Preset. Give a name for each brush in the Brush Name dialog and click OK.

Step 7.

Click the Create a New Layer at the bottom of the Layers palette. Set the Foreground color to black by pressing D.

Choose Brush Tool (B) and select one of your created brushes from the Brush Picker in the Options Bar.

In the Brushes panel(F5), click on the Brush Tip Shape. Adjust the Spacing between each word, Diameter and Angle of the brush. Paint on the new layer and feel free to experiment with the Spacing, Diameter and Angle of the brush.

Repeat with your other custom brushes.

Step 8.

Create a new layer, Press Ctrl+Backspace (MAC: Command+Delete) to fill it with white color

and and drag it under the layer painted with brushes

Step 9.

Hide all the layers except the black&gray portrait layer, and then click on that layer to make it active.

Press Ctrl+A (MAC: Command+A) to Select All content of the layer and then press Ctrl+C (MAC: Command+C) to Copy.

Step 10.

Activate the layer painted with brushes, click on the Add Layer Mask at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a layer mask.

Hold Alt (MAC: Option) and click on the layer mask thumbnail.

Press Ctrl+V (MAC: Command+V) to paste the content of the black&gray portrait layer in the mask.

Press Ctrl+D (MAC: Command+D) to Deselect. Press Ctrl+I (MAC: Command+I) to Invert the mask.

Step 11.

Activate the layer painted with brushes (not the mask) by clicking on the layer thumbnail. The text will appear inside the white&gray areas
of the mask.

Create a new layer and add more text brushes outside the mask.

Step 12.

Add a Gradient Overlay style to the layer painted with brushes by clicking on the Add a Layer Style icon (fx) at
the bottom of the Layers palette and select Gradient Overlay.

Click on the Gradient, and select the Blue, Red, Yellow gradient in the Gradient Editor dialog box and click OK.

Step 13.

Repeat the same operation for layer with text brushes outside the mask but use Violet, Orange gradient in the Gradient Editor.

That’s it! Our Typographic Portrait like Grammy’s Posters is complete.

Infrared Sepia

tommy — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:56:36 +0000

There are a lot of methods for imitating different photo effects, but today I’ll tell you how is it possible to tone the picture into sepia and then process it in a way as if it is taken with infrared filter.

Sepia toning consists of processing the colored or black and white picture with chemical influence and getting smooth yellow, brown or red nuances. This process in Photoshop may be got, applying Duotone Mode and by the way it is possible to use any other color instead of brown one.

When taking pictures with infrared filter there are used special films, sensitive to infrared light on which there is reflected the heat emanation of the pictured object. As a result we get a surreal picture on which the cold sky is pictured, for example, with darker nuances, but the tress and live beings, which temperature is much higher – with grey or white colors. The Photoshop can not imitate entirely the effect of infrared film, but applying the appropriate blending mode and adjustment layers, it is possible to get a kind of exterior likeness with infrared picture.

1. The described effects look nice on different pictures, but real effectiveness may be seen on the portraits and landscapes (to make this tutorial I have used Lauterbrunnen thanks to SBA73).

2. Make a click on Green channel on the Channels palette, pressing simultaneously the Cmd (Mac) / Ctrl (PC) button

and save the selection (Select > Save Selection).

Name it green _copy and press OK button.

Then press Cmd+D (Mac) / Ctrl+D (PC) to deselect. The saved selection of the auxiliary channel will be necessary.

3. Our purpose is to get the best black and white picture we can. In this case we’ll use the Lab color mode for the intermediate stage. Apply for the picture the Lab Color Mode, selecting in the menu Image > Mode > Lab Color.

4. Delete the A and B channels on the Channels palette, leaving only the Lightness one.

When the channels are removed, they change the names: if removing for ex. the channel A for the beginning, then channel B will be renamed as Alpha 2.

Delete also Alpha 2 channel, leaving for our work Alpha 1.

5. The picture needs the black and white nuance (Image > Mode > Grayscale).

This double step approach always gives a more interesting color transforming into the grey nuances than transforming the picture right away out of RGB into the Grayscale mode. This way we could save the copy of the channel, represented in the step 2. It could disappear if using the immediate transformation.

6. Now select for the picture the Duotone Mode (Image > Mode > Duotone).

Select the Quadtone in the Type option. This will give the possibility to insert two more ink color and corresponding to them the curve graph.

7. For Quadtone the Ink 1 have Black color

For Ink 2 click the color box (the solid square) and select from Color Libraries the PANTONE solid coated colors – PANTONE 718 C

Ink 3 – 346 C

Ink 4 – 7512 C

8. Click the curve box next to the color ink box and adjust the duotone curve for each ink color.

The default Duotone curve, a straight diagonal line, indicates that the grayscale values in the original image map to an equal percentage of ink. At this setting, a 50% midtone pixel is rendered with a 50% tint of the ink, a 100% shadow is rendered in 100% color, and so on. In the curve graph, the horizontal axis moves from highlights (at the left) to shadows (at the right). Ink density increases as you move up the vertical axis. You can experiment with form of the graph for all ink colors to give your personal effect.

I have made available the quadtone curves used to create this tutorial (you can easy Load this quadtone options from a file), download them here.(1KB, .ado)

9. Get back to the Layers Palette and Duplicate Layer (Cmd+J (Mac) / Ctrl+J (PC)).

Blur it out with Gaussian Blur filter out of the menu Filter > Blur,

giving it the radius of 4 px.

Change the Blending mode of the new blurred layer on Overlay with Opacity – 60%.

Duplicate blurred layer.

10. Make a copy of the quadtone layer – Duplicate Layer (Cmd+J (Mac) / Ctrl+J (PC)) and move it on the Layers Palette on the top list. Change its Opacity – 60% and give it the Screen blending mode.

11. If the picture is too dark, then we may minimize the Opacity of the blurred layers.
12. The work may be considered finished. Give it the RGB mode (Image > Mode > RGB)

13. Get back to the green_copy channel from our second step made. The greenness of the trees and grass is usually warmer than the surrounding stones and sky. That is why on the real infrared pictures it looks lighter. Hold Cmd (Mac) / Ctrl (PC) button and then make a click on the Channels Palette on Green copy.

After that represent a new adjustment layer – Create new fill or adjustment layer > Invert.

Change its Blending mode on Exclusion and change the Opacity -60%.

That’s all!

40 Beautiful Valentine’s Day Wallpapers For Your Desktop

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:56:42 +0000

5 days left until the day that the whole world turns romantically red! Are you ready for that? Create a warm holiday atmosphere on your desktop. In this post we present 40 Beautiful Valentine’s Day Wallpapers. Happy Valentine’s Day!

1. Valentine’s Day Wallpapers from vladstudio.

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2. “St. Valentine Wallpaper” by alexeit.

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3. “Valentine” from csscreme.

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4. ZUNE Valentine’s poster by colorblok.

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5. Special Wallpaper is the month of February, for Valentine Day by SJ.

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6. “Valentine” by elfrancodelagente.

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7. “Heart and roses for Valentine’s Day” from zastavki.com.

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8. “Bright heart on Valentine’s Day” from zastavki.com.

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