Toning Black-and-White

Toning Black-and-White Images 

Black-and-White Grayscale image.

Let's start with this grayscale image. I created this image from a color image as explained at Making Great Black-and-White in Photoshop.

To tone the image we first need to convert to grayscale if you haven't already.

IMAGE > MODE > GRAYSCALE.

Now we can call up the duotone box:

IMAGE > MODE > DUOTONE.

In the duotone box, choose Type: Quadtone.

Hit LOAD. This is where you go find the great presets already in Photoshop. You'll get a file search window. Find the QUADTONES folder. Find the PANTONES folder within. Select the last option, Bl 541 513 5773. Hit LOAD. Hit OK.

Toned version of above.

WOW! Looks great!

Finding these quadtone folders is trivial on a Mac: just type the names into the search box in the finder window that appears. I don't use Windows but I think the finder ought to open in the right folder. If not, you'll need to find these folders before you get to that menu to know how to navigate to them.

Next time you use this you won't have to search for the Pantone folder and file; it will already be loaded unless you chose another.

Want more toning options? People write these and share them, likehere for instance.

Saving the Quad Tone

You may have to convert it back to an RGB file to save as some file types. This is easy: IMAGE > MODE > RGB.

I use SAVE FOR WEB, which is smart enough to do all that to create a color JPG for me automatically.

RECOMMENDATIONS

These are the crudest, sloppiest ways to show you how to do this. You should do this on duplicate layers and masks to do these conversions nondestructively.

Join The National Association of Photoshop Users where they teach all this stuff, or read lots of Scott Kelby books.

PLUG

If you find this as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me write more with a donation.

Thanks for reading!

Categories: Black and White, Toning Black-and-White, use photoshop

Lens Distortion Correction

Correcting Lens Distortion

From camera	Barrel distortion corrected @ +6.00

Corrected for keystoning and barrel distortion.

Correcting Perspective

Correcting Lateral Chromatic Aberration and Color Fringes

INTRODUCTION

This is trivial with Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4 and CS5. This particular feature isn't in earlier versions of Photoshop, but I'll expalin how to do this with them at the bottom.

This works with any image, JPG, RAW, a film scan, or anything.

ABOVE EXAMPLE

Here's what this filter, included free with Photoshop CS2 and later, can do to a bad digital camera image.

The original image, top left, is from a Nikon D70 with an 18-70 mm lens set to 18 mm. At 18 mm the 18-70 mm not only has barrel distortion, it has complex barrel distortion which is difficult to correct. As you can see even this nonlinear sort of barrel distortion is very well corrected. Most other lenses are even easier to correct. I chose this as the toughest example I could find.

Barrel distortion is what has made the top of the hotel look curved. In the corrected image, made by setting the slider I'll explain below to +6.00, the roof is now straight.

Most amateurs would be happy just getting the curving lines straightened out. Professionals also want the verticals fixed as well. Because I had the camera pointed up the building looks like it's falling backwards. I detail how to correct the converging perspective lines in the final large image here.

Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4 and CS5

From the menu at the top of your screen in CS2 simply choose: FILTER > DISTORT > LENS CORRECTION. Be sure to have the grid turned on for reference.

As of CS5, it's in FILTER > LENS CORRECTION.

There are three ways to select the amount of correction:

1.) Type it in the "Remove Distortion" box, or

2.) Move the slider, or

3.) Use the Remove Distortion Tool (D) at the top left of the screen. Select it and grab the middle of a distorted line. Drag it until it looks correct. Release.

Feel free to fine tune as you see fit.

Most lenses only need values between +5 and -3, so go easy here. In my lens tests I'm now listing values to type into the box to save us all time.

Hit OK when you're done fine tuning. Voila!

Before Photoshop CS2

Back in the dark days of Photoshop CS and before I usually used the "Spherize" command under FILTER > DISTORT > SPHERIZE. Increase your canvas size 50 - 100% first so you correct the whole image.

COMPLEX DISTORTIONS

CS2's filter works perfectly for simple first-order linear distortions. These simply curve lines into broad curves.

More complex distortions bend lines into more complex shapes like a moustache. CS2's Lens Distortion filter can't correct those completely.

For complex distortion you might want to try third-party tools I explain here, like DxO and the free Panorama Tools.

Help me help you         top

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The biggest help is when you use any of these links to Adorama, Amazon, B&H, eBay,Ritz, Calumet and J&R and when you get your goodies. It costs you nothing, and is this site's, and thus my family's, biggest source of support. eBay is always a gamble, but all the other places always have the best prices and service, which is why I've used them since before this website existed. I recommend them all personally.

If you find this page as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!

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Thanks for reading!

Categories: Lens Distortion Correction, Photoshop, use photoshop

Making Great Black and White from Color

Creating Great Black-and-White 



Original Color Image (scanned from 6x7 film)
I get my goodies at Ritz, Amazon and Adorama.
It helps me publish this site when you get yours from those links, too.

Caveat: not all of these tricks work with weird, high-bit-depth images. If something won't go, be sure to have done IMAGE > MODE > 8 BITS. Ideally photographers use 8 bit images and then use masks for adjustments. High-bit-depth files are only used when making catastrophic changes to defective images right after import. As soon as you make the big changes to gross levels, get them back to 8-bits.

INTRODUCTION

Photoshop's usual "convert to B/W" modes are designed to give you the worst possible look. Flick the Saturation slider to zero and you get this:

0% Saturation. Dull and boring.

You smarty-pants might prefer to use the Convert to Grayscale trick (IMAGE > MODE > CONVERT TO GRAYSCALE.) That gives you this:

Color converted directly to grayscale. Still dull.

ONE WAY: THE CHANNEL MIXER

The channel mixer lets you choose the equivalent of going back in time and choosing the colored filters used over the lens for the original photography. This is why it's more flexible to shoot in color and convert later. Film is one thing, but it's a given to shoot in color with digital cameras since those cameras only shoot in color. The B/W modes of digital cameras use one technique to convert, which may or may not be what you want or appropriate to the subject. If the in-camera effects give you what you want then great, if not, use these tricks later.

use the Channel Mixer by: IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > CHANNEL MIXER. Check Monochrome. Set the sliders to taste. This is with 100% Red 100%, 50% Green, 0% Blue and -28% constant. Click OK:

Channel Mixer at 100% / 50% / 0% and -28% constant.

Not bad! I had some white clipping, but sliding the "constant" slider left made the image too dark. You can season to taste.

ANOTHER WAY: CALCULATIONS

Choose IMAGE > CALCULATIONS.

Experiment with the choices. I like Background-Red, Background-Red, Multiply, New Channel. Just as often I may prefer to use Background -Red, Background-Green and Overlay. Play around to your heart's content.

Hit OK. This gives you:

Calculations: Red, Red and Multiply.

I like this the best. We have lots of contrast, and none of the washing out.

TONING

See my article on Toning to get this:

Toned version of Calculation version above.

RECOMMENDATIONS

These are the crudest, sloppiest ways to show you how to do this. You should do this on duplicate layers and masks to do these conversions nondestructively.

PLUG

If you find this as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me write more with a donation.

Thanks for reading!

Categories: Black and White, Color, Making, Photoshop, use photoshop

How to Add Contrast in Photoshop

How to Add Contrast in Photoshop 

INTRODUCTION

I use the Curves and Unsharp Mask (USM) commands to add contrast.

Using Curves also boosts color while using USM tends to leave color alone.

USM tends to add emphasis to large dark objects with subtle large halos while curves leaves this unchanged.

I use curves to add a Velvia 50 punch to contrast and saturation. I use USM to bring dull images up to normal.

You can use either one with similar results. Either one can be used artistically to add subtle optimization to take your image from ho-hum to perfect. Each also can be used too much, as I usually do, to make your images obnoxious. My work is all about color. Your work is probably different.

My examples below show different amounts of additional contrast added with each technique. Therefore please don't misinterpret these examples to compare the relative strengths of each technique. Each can be as strong or as subtle as you wish.

These tricks don't do much if your base image stinks. I get the colors I do by spending a lot of time looking for colors in nature and then waiting for (or returning for) the right light. The cliché I use below of an old truck was made out in the desert of an already bright truck lit by the last golden rays of afternoon sunlight. It looks decent straight from the camera.

These tricks are helpful in fine-tuning your final image. They won't take crummy ones and make them sing. Only patience and skill can get you great colors.

HOW TO: Curves

Get into curves (command + M or make a new curves adjustment layer). You'll see a graph like this:

Click the little box in the lower right to enlarge it as you see above. Otherwise it comes out very small. Be sure Preview is checked so you can see what you're doing.

Click on the middle of the graph (the central crosshair) to lock in 128,128. You'll see a little box appear at the middle like this:

Grab the upper middle of the curve and drag it up. It will now look something like this:

Play with the position of the upper dot till you get the look you want. The more you push it, the higher the contrast and colors go.

This S curve keeps blacks, mids and whites where they are. It expands midrange contrast while compressing the extreme blacks and whites.

This is the best way to add contrast because you lose nothing: extreme highlights and shadows are untouched. Do this in color and the colors pop, too.

This is better than using Photoshop's Contrast slider because it does not lose or clip highlights or shadows.

EXAMPLES: Curves

This is a "before" image. Move your mouse over it to see it after adding a curves layer. In this case I added just a little bit of contrast, which also pumps up the color. You can make it as insane as you want.

Clichéed Junk, California Route 66. Curves used add subtle contrast on mouse-over.

This is the before image. It's in infrared, which is why it looks weird. Move your mouse over it to see after. I added a lot here.

Suburban Sprawl, California. (Infra-Red) Curves used to add contrast on mouse-over. I made this shot with a friend's D50 he converted to IR. I'm working on an article about his D50IR. It works with the same exposure and as easily as a normal camera!

Notice that in each example the darks get darker and the lights get lighter, but that absolute black and absolute white stay where they are.

HOW TO: Unsharp Mask (USM)

Get to Unsharp Mask via Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.

Set the radius to about 20 - 100 pixels, instead of the default 1 or my preferred 0.3.

Set the amount only to about 10% instead of the usual 50% or 150%.

Note how we use very little %, just about 10%, and a very, very wide radius of about 30 pixels. I use 30 pixels for web images like this. For full size digital camera images try starting with 200 pixels.

Adjust to taste. You are using the USM to add local contrast over a broader region (30 pixels or so) instead of adding sharpness via adding contrast to a small region (0.3 pixels).

EXAMPLES: Unsharp Mask (USM)

I used the same base image as above where I added contrast through Curves, but added 20% USM at 30 pixels instead of using curves. This is a lot of additional contrast.

Don't use these to compare USM vs. Curves, since I added more with the USM than I did in the curves example. Either way can be as subtle or as crazy as you want.

USM: 20% at 30 pixels. See the added contrast on mouse-over.

EXAMPLES: Industrial Strength

Here's what happens if you push it too far for each. Move your mouse over each to see the results.

Too much USM: 100% at 30 pixel radius. Move your mouse over the image.

Going overboard using USM for contrast increases can blow out highlights and lose shadows. Notice the broad halo around the old truck.

This next example goes overboard by pushing the curve too far. Move your mouse over it to see what happens:

Example of too harsh a curve for more contrast.

You don't lose your highlights or shadows. It just gets too loud. Of course some of us like it this way! Notice there is no halo around the truck.

EXAMPLES: Getting Thrown out of Class

Here's what happens if you push it to the limit. These are for special graphic effects, not what I do personally. As before, move your mouse over to see the effect.

Too much USM: 500% at 30 pixels.

With way too much USM you get completely washed out highlights and shadows. Notice how the highlights, like the 55-gallon drum head under the door on the left, have turned white, not colored. The color saturation in the highlights fades. Note also the strong halo around the truck, which adds emphasis.

Curves pushed too far.

Curve pushed so far it's almost vertical. See the dots?

See the little dots along the center vertical line? That's the curve used in this example. You get this if you keep pushing the upper part of the curve up and over with your mouse in Photoshop.

The resulting image looks the same as the threshold command (Image > Adjust > Threshold), and mathematically it is. Everything gets posterized into only eight different colors. (If you show this kind of posterized image on the web, the GIF format is more efficient than JPG.)

Note how even with this extreme example that the brightest yellow, like the drum under the door on the left, stays yellow, and does not wash out to white as it does with too much USM. With curves light gray will bump up to white, and colored objects will get pushed into one of six primary additive (red, green or blue) or subtractive (cyan, magenta or yellow) pure colors. The other two of the eight total colors posterized this way are pure black and white.

Curves accentuate color as well as contrast. USM tends not to alter color. Of course this presumes you're working in RGB. Work in other color spaces (you people know who you are) and you'll get different results.

If you use curves and use them as an adjustment layer you can eliminate their effect on color by selecting a blending mode of Luminosity. I prefer, OK, love, the bumped up colors, but if you don't use the Luminosity blending mode for a curves layer and you can control contrast by itself.

Class dismissed. Go have fun!

Categories: Add Contrast in Photoshop, Photoshop, use photoshop

How to Sharpen

Sharpening 

I get my goodies at Ritz, Amazon and Adorama. It helps me publish this site when you get yours from those links, too.

INTRODUCTION

Photoshop is funny. The worst way to do things, like sharpening, dodging and burning, and lightening and darkening, are to use those menu commands.

As the decades roll on and Photoshop gets smarter, the old commands never die when they are replaced with much better ways.

The best way to sharpen had been the Unsharp Mask, but now it's Smart Sharpen.

To add to the humor, the default settings are usually the worst.

Let me give you my secret recipes, since many ask how I get mylatest online images so three-dimensional. These differences may be subtle on this page; don't worry, try my settings on your own images.

It has nothing to do with the cameras I use (see these sharp b/w images from a $3 throw-away using a poorer technique than I'm going to describe). Sharp web images are all about the right settings in Photoshop.

Here's an unsharpened image. It was downsized from a digital camera in Photoshop and left unsharpened.

Always sharpen after you size your image, not before.

Salt Flats, Badwater, Death Valley, California. Unsharpened.

Poor: Sharpen Command

Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen.

Poor to Good: Unsharp Mask

Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask > 50%, 1 pixel radius. (mouse over for 150% at 0.3 pixels.)

The Unsharp Mask filter is poor at its defaults. At its defaults it's the same as the Sharpen command, so why bother? I forget Photoshop's default percentage, I think it's 50%.

The radius setting defines the size of the details sharpened. Things are going on in your images measured in fractions of pixels.

Large radii, like the default of one pixel, sharpens coarse details. This hides the finest details we most want to sharpen. Setting smaller radii lets us sharpen the finest details.

When you decrease the radius you must increase the percentage to get the same feel. By doing so you sharpen the finest details even more. This looks much better.

Back in the old days of 2005 when the unsharp mask filter was the best way to sharpen, my personal defaults were 150% and a radius of only 0.3 pixels. To see this improvement, roll your mouse over the image above.

To see the improvement, see how far away you can see detail. It's further away in the 150% at 0.3 pixel version because those settings sharpen fine details three times as much as the default settings, while sharpening the medium details the same amount.

See how the smaller radius almost doubled the apparent resolution? This was hot stuff until CS2 gave us the Smart Sharpen filter.

Ignore the threshold setting. In film days we set it to 3 to avoid sharpening grain. Feel free to use it on grainy digital images. It tells the filter not to sharpen grain in flat areas.

2007: Smart Sharpen

Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen (100%, 0.2 pixels, Lens Blur). Mouse over to compare to the previous USM example at 150% and 0.3 pixels.

As of 2007, my favorite is the Smart Sharpen filter. Just like almost everything else in Photoshop, the default settings aren't what I want.
I forget the defaults, but I recall that they don't select Lens Blur. I think they select Gaussian Blur, which almost duplicates the unsharp mask.
Selecting Lens Blur and a small radius is the key to great results from the Smart Sharpen filter. You can see detail in the salt a little farther away.
This filter works even better with regular subjects. Try it yourself and see. It's smart, so it sharpens what we want, and leaves other things alone. This benefit isn't that obvious in this easy-to-sharpen example.
RECOMMENDATIONS   back to top

I could spend all day finding better examples, but I don't need to. It's more important that you try these yourself on your own images.

These techniques are optimized for online display at 100%. You'll need to experiment for printing, since every printing technique varies in how it dulls or sharpens images from your screen to final results on paper. We scientists call this the modulation transfer function.

I sharpen for online use.

I print directly from the JPGs from my camera without sharpening. The $150,000 professional printers I use for 15 cents a print at my local Costco or any discount lab like WalMart, Adorama or Target add just the right amount of sharpening automatically. Good luck if you're still piddling around at home on an inkjet.

If you're not getting these results when you downsize for the web, you're probably making some very common mistakes. See How to Get a Sharp Photo.

If you need more or less sharpening, change the percentage slider, not the radius.

Lightening, Darkening and the CIE 1976 L*a*b* Space

The best way to lighten and darken is to use curves layers.

The best way to burn and dodge are to paint on curves adjustment layer masks, but that's another day's article.

If you're not familiar with the basics of layer masks for basic image expression, go out now and learn them before worrying about anything else. I'll write about them someday, but for now you can read about them in any Photoshop book, online and at any community college Photoshop class.

I'm saddened that many well-meaning photographers will worry themselves silly over minutiae between sharpening normally, and only sharpening the L layer. It's sad because most of these same people are still clueless about the critical basics of layer masks. Sharpening isn't critical to anything if your image lacks the correct burning and dodging to get your visual point across.

If you're not up to speed with adjustment layer mask basics, don't even bother worrying about minutiae like L*a*b* sharpening.

I don't have the time to worry about L*a*b*; I sharpen normally in RGB.

Trick: If you want to punch up an image's contrast, try the unsharp mask at 20% and 20 pixels radius. The large radius and small percentage means you are sharpening the overall contrast instead of fine details. Sharpen the fine details next with the Smart Sharpen filter. I use this trick often in my car photos. It emphasizes the shine. See alsoIncreasing Contrast and How to Use PhotoShop.

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If you find this as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

Thanks for reading!

Categories: Photoshop, Sharpen, use photoshop

Pushing ISO in Photoshop

Pushing ISO in Photoshop

Self Portrait. 

Introduction

Intro   Specs    Performance    Recommendations

Digital cameras change ISO the same way we can lighten images in Photoshop.
It is trivial to shoot at the equivalent of any ISO. Of course noise gets worse, but highlight rendition is often extended.
I always shoot JPG. You can also do this in raw. This process doesn't care about format.

Background  

Intro   Specs    Performance    Recommendations

In film days, "pushing" film meant underexposing negatives, and then overdeveloping them.

This let us shoot in dimmer light, but boosted both grain (noise) and contrast. It also killed highlights along with the increased contrast.

We also could "pull" film by overexposing and under developing. This was great for controlling contrast in film.

We can do the same thing in digital. Digital pushing, unlike pushing film, greatly improves highlights while keeping contrast about the same.

Doing It  back to top

Intro   Specs    Performance    Recommendations

To push, simply dial in negative exposure compensation before you shoot.

For a one stop ISO push (double the ISO), dial in -1 stop. For instance, if your camera stops at ISO 1,600, dial in -1.0 stops and shoot at ISO 1,600, and you're now shooting at ISO 3,200.

Of course the digital images will look too dark on your monitor, and the histograms will be too far to the left. They are supposed to be when you push it. All we have to do is to lighten them later.

This curve lightens about one stop.

The best way to lighten them is to use Curves (Image > Adjustments > Curves, or on Mac, command+m). Better still is to make this adjustment in a new layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves), which lets us tweak, retweak, and reuse this adjustment on other shots.

Once you get to the curves dialog box, stick your mouse in the middle and move it up until your image looks as light as you'd like it. I find setting a point at (input 128, output 185) looks great to add one stop. When I did the mouse-overs I saw a slight difference in the shadows, and added another point at (input 57, output 105) to fix that. Most cameras don't match themselves this closely when you change ISOs.

This curve isn't Gospel. Use whatever looks good to you.

Warning

Do not use levels, lighten/darken, a linear curve (one point on the top right), or move endpoint sliders around on a histogram.

Doing this clips the specular highlights and loses the benefits of capturing more highlight range. You'll clip your highlights, and the images will look suckier.

If you know what you're doing of course do what looks best, but if you're not an expert, please wiggle the middle of the curve, which retains all the highlights and shadows, and don't screw in levels or histograms, which is the best way to get bad digital images.

Noise

Of course there's more noise at higher pushed ISOs. Roll your mouse over to compare crops at 100% from the Rebel XTi at ISO 1,600 and pushed to ISO 3,200.

You'll also see reduced highlight contrast. You can change all this with the Curves as you like it, but at its simplest, this technique adds as many stops of extra highlight dynamic range as it does stops of ISO. Use a normal ISO in good light and this is the same technique as my Extending Dynamic Range Trick.

Screw Noise

Feel free to use any noise reduction of your choice in Photoshop. I use Grain Surgery.

Roll your mouse over to compare the ISO 3,200 push before and after Grain Surgery.

It's not that much different than the ISO 1,600 shot, and if you played with the NR and the sharpening, you'd be much closer.

Techie Garbage

JPG vs raw

I shoot JPG.

You can shoot raw, and take your chances in how your particular raw converter does the conversion when you lighten it. I won't take that chance.

Raw converters use this same technique, or possibly a worse one, to change the apparent exposure. Raw converters can't change the actual exposure; they only can lighten or darken an image.

The advantage of using JPGs and curves, instead of using raw and tweaking the lighten-darken setting (usually mislabeled as "exposure"), is that no highlights are lost.

Some raw software adjustments may be as primitive as Photoshop's "lighten darken" command, which does a much poorer job than your good eye and curves.

Since you're underexposing in the first place, you're getting that many more stops of highlight extension. Raw converters may clip highlights when changing exposure settings. I would convert from raw with no change in the exposure setting, and then use curves.

Of course I'd experiment. I'm too busy shooting to waste any more time in front of my screen twiddling with raw files and software.

Bit Depths

I don't worry about bit depths, since the noise levels of current cameras swamp 8-bit JPG log coding. This is a self-redithering process.

PLUG

If you find this as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

Thanks for reading!

Categories: Photoshop, Pushing ISO, use photoshop

Replacing Heads in Photoshop

Replacing Heads in Photoshop 

I replaced my son's head in our Christmas card photo.

Why?

Because he looked awful in the shot where everyone else looked their best. It seems like I'm making Ryan out to be the problem, but in fact it's Katie who is the most difficult to catch smiling. This is the best we got of her.

Yes, it looks fake now that I've pointed it out, but tough; it's much better than before it was replaced. In this case, the donor head came from a very different shot; most of the time, you'll take heads from similar shots and it looks perfect.

Replacing heads used to be the main reason people used Photoshop back in the 1990s, but somehow 20 years later people have gotten distracted by all sorts of other baloney and have forgotten the basics.

Replacing heads, or closed eyes or smiles, is a standard trick to take the best from several shots of the same group, and composite them into the best final image.

Here's what I actually got on that frame:

Ryan and his Candy-Cane.

With wiggly kids who have other things on their minds, we're lucky to have gotten what we did! If I hadn't pulled a better head for Ryan from another shot, he was too busy frowning and playing with his candy-cane and otherwise spoiling this shot.

To replace a head, all you do is:

1.) Open both images in Photoshop.

2.) Select the head you want in the other image. This is super-easy today in Photoshop CS5, with its greatly improved Quick Selection tool (W). As far as I know, we've been able to do this in every version of Photoshop at least since the mid-1990s, even if selecting a head wasn't as easy.

3.) Use the Move tool (V) and drag the selected head to the main file. We're done with the other file now that we have the head we want.

Photoshop will create a new layer in which the replacement head lies.

4.) Select this new layer in the layers pallet, and use EDIT > TRANSFORM > ROTATE and EDIT > TRANSFORM > SCALE to rotate and size the new head to fit. You can skip this if the donor head is from a series of similar shots and doesn't need this. In this example, it was from a shot where I was closer and Ryan had his head twisted.

5.) If some of the old head is showing behind the new head, unclick the eye next to the new head layer in your layers pallet. This makes the new head disappear. Select the background layer and use the Clone Stamp tool (S) to paint-out any of the original head that is visible behind the new head. Paint-over more than you need; we're not going to use the old head for anything:

Edges removed that would show behind the new head.

You'll notice I got sloppy and painted-over part of my shoulder, but tough, no one notices.

6.) Reclick the eye next to the copied-head layer so that the new head reappears. Save your file as you wish for its intended use.

Bingo, you're done. If you shot it all at the same time in the same lighting, it matches. If you shot in a different location or under different light or at a different sitting, good luck.

If you just want to fix a smile or a blink, you can get lazy and simply use the Clone Stamp tool (S) to copy-over just the eyes or mouth. In this case, I had to replace a complete head.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for reading!

Categories: Photoshop, Replacing Heads, use photoshop

Digital Split-Toning

Digital Split-Toning Straight, neutral grayscale image. Split-toned (warm) image. Introduction         top Toning is when we take a traditional black-and-white paper print and dip it in chemicals to change its color and make it more permanent. Toning has been around for centuries. Here's how to do it on your computer in Photoshop CS5. (I also have an older article from 2006 on how to do it in Photoshop CS2.) Ansel Adams often used selenium, which made his prints slightly purple in the darker areas. In fine-art black-and-white book and poster printing, black-and-white images are printed with duotone, tritone or quadtone ink processes. These use one or more mid-toned inks along with black. The colors of the other inks allow the printer to alter the tone of the image at various gray levels. If the printer chooses a warm mid-toned ink, he gets a print with warm mid-tones, still with white whites and black blacks. In the 1990s, Adobe hired a master printer to provide samples of the very finest split-tones, and Adobe then captured these and has included these inside every version of Photoshop since the late 1990s. This is very easy to do, but not well known. To get these toned images, all we need to do is: 1.) Image > Mode > Grayscale (say YES for throwing away information). 2.) Image > Mode > Duotone. 3.) In the box that opens, select your choice from the drop-down "Preset" menu. I prefer "Bl 404 WmGray 401 WmGray," and you have your choice of dozens. 4.) If you are printing on a press, you can stop now, but for 99% of us, click Image > Mode > RGB Color to return to an ordinary image for online, photo-lab or inkjet printing. Done! I record these steps as a Photoshop Action, so all this happens in one click. It is more elegant to do these conversions before resizing or sharpening, but you can do them at any time. Other Ways You also can do this by tweaking a curves adjustment layer (drag down the middle of the blue and lift up the middle of the red curve for a warm tone), or follow Ken Lee's method for using a fill layer. These are more complex, and do the same thing. It all depends on which give you the results you prefer: this is art. Starting from Color Images This process works on any image, black-and-white or color. It will convert from color to black-and-white automatically. If starting from color, you may prefer to convert to black-and-white more carefully than the simple Image > Mode > Grayscale command. See Making Great Black and White Images. Today, and even easier method in CS5 is to add a new adjustment layer, selecting "Black and White:" 1.) Layers Pallet > Click the Half and half black and white circle > Black and White. 2.) Move the sliders to taste. Thanks for reading!

Categories: Digital, Photoshop, Split-Toning, use photoshop

Action Of The Week: Sands

Add a little sunshine to a rainy pic with this weeks Action Of The Week - Sands. What could be sunnier than one of our gorgeous Sunshine State inspired actions... 

Categories: £5 Actions, Action Of The Week, Cheap Actions, Devlin's Actions Set 4, Photoshop Actions, Sands Actions, Sunny Actions, Sunshine Action

Friday Formulas

I've been digging around in Set 1 & 2 for this weeks Friday Formula. With 20 actions to choose from, there are lots and lots of possible combinations but this formula was definitely my favourite.

I LOVE how milk jug subtly softens old photo...

 Old Photo and Milk Jug are both available for £5 each here.

Categories: £5 Actions, Cheap Actions, Combining Actions, Devlin's Actions Set I and II, Film Action, Milk Jug Action, Old Photo Action

Abstract Light Swirl Brushes

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Categories: Abstract, free download, Light, Photoshop, Swirl Brushes

Night Lights Brush Set

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Categories: Brush, free download, lights, Night Lights Brush Set, Photo, Photoshop

Galactic Brushes

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Version:	PS7 or Lower
Number in Set:	10
Downloads:	231953

This is a brusheezy.com exclusive brush set. You will only find this set for download on Brusheezy.com!

Galactic Brushes, a very stellar brush set! hehehe pun. You can see i slipped in the Space Odyssey quote in there. I thought it fit nicely.

Made in CS2 and converted to Photoshop 7 by http://kabocha.deviantart.com

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Categories: Brushes, Galactic, Galactic Brushes, Photoshop, Photoshop Action

Unreal Brushes

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Categories: Action, Photoshop, Unreal, Unreal Brushes