Well, I might well have a few questions on the way and I'm sure it would be nice to have a place for any little questions that people have that do not need a whole thread of their own.
I've been using Ps for years now to edit and make wallpaper, signatures, icons etc but I have never learnt how to create things from scratch.
I'd like to learn and I know there are some great digital artists on the site...so alongside any tutorials I might find I'd love some tips, ideas, advice and help.
I've never taken a course in Ps or anything like that..I've taught myself anything that I do know..so be patient if I do not know the best way to do something (I might have found a long way around lol) or if I am not familiar with terms and names of certain things.
I uploaded my first attempt at creating anything today. Fresh in my gallery, it's called 'Baubles'..I was just messing about last night and it appeared.
I'd love to learn how do refine it..how to make the lighting points better...how to make a good 3D effect. I have been fiddling with sheen and transparent shapes that make things look shiny but it does not always appear to work so I must be doing something wrong.
Anyway..so much to learn! Time to stop rabbiting.
I have Ps CS2 here but I do have access to CS3.
set a new layer below, fill it with white, for our example
1) .. experiment with the "blend" modes found at the top of the "layers palette" (lower right of your screen) ... certain blend modes will 'drop' black out of your image (screen, lighten) .. and certain ones will drop white (darken, multiply)
if you click on the word 'normal' (in the blend modes) you will select this word\menu .. then you can roll your mouse wheel, while looking at your image, and watch the changes in 'real time' (;)) without having to look back and forth
or ..
2) .. using the magic wand, click on the black to select it .. notice on the top tool bar you have a "tolerance" .. and a "contiguous" switch .... when you click with the magic wand, you are selecting a particular "black" .. there are MANY blacks in your image (usually) .. the tolerance will allow PS to select, also, those other blacks. .. the higher the tolerance to more liberal PS will be with its jumping to other blacks
Contiguous tells PS to only select the color as far as it is connected .. and NOT jump to isolated color patches ... for example: selecting the color outside of a donut (doughnut?) will not also select the color inside the aforementioned doughy treat .. however you Brits spell it
Keep in mind .. the toolbars, and some right-click menus, are context sensitive, and will change depending on which tool is selected
so .. to back up a bit .. select the black and then "invert your selection" so that you now have the 'baubles' .. you can do this via the "select" menu (select\inverse) .. or .. (Shft+Ctrl+I) .. you now have the "b" selected .. hit Ctrl+J to copy your selection to a new layer (or Layer\New\Layer via Copy) .... there is also "cutting to a new layer" for those times you don't want the original left behind
learn some of the keyboard shortcuts for common tasks
so .. you now have the "b's" on their own layer (double click the label and rename it CUT .. for our purposes) .. and, in our example, you have a white layer in there also .. click on the little "eye" on the left of the layer menu NEXT TO your original "Baubles+Black" to turn off that layer from view
with the "cut" layer selected, double click at the right edge of the label to bring up "Blending Options" ... or .. right click on the label and select "Blending Options" ...
at the top of this dialog you will find "drop shadow" .. clicking on the 'drop shadow' tool will display the controls for this .. and allow you to change direction, opacity .. etc
this is your bauble (*points*) .. this is your bauble on drop shadow (*points*)
Ok, I know how to remove the black but how can I do this and keep the light effects?
Or am I looking at just going back to my image that I saved without lighting effects..then add them again later?
I suggest you look at Nathan's "Jewel" tutorials and have a go at that, since you are into baubles.
Lens flares unfortunately don't work terribly well for lighting points I have found. If you try to make them brighter/stand out more they just get bigger and obscure everything else. I beleive there are brushes out there that are far more effective but I have never tried them.
Since some of the lens flares cross over into the black area, you would have to do them again, yes. You can't really keep them contained in a layer unless they are completely inside the bounds of said layer so you would have to save the finished image as (for example) a jpeg and then render the lens flares on that (as far as I am aware).
study any 3D ball ... you will, typically, have a main light glint ... a reflection, either softly identifiable, or just specular highlights and glints .... you will also have a shadow if it is close to a surface ... all of these contribute to the 3D illusion
Tears... .. (check the tutorial linked from this link)
the "glass" and "shadow" are provided via AlienSkin EyeCandy "IMPACT" ... but they can be faked with some effort
baubles 2 has better dimensionality .. due to the introduction of the 'sheen' ... the pink one looks a little flat due to the 'sheen' being centered ... the blue ones are better with it offset
I would experiment with making the sheen smaller and offset to serve as your 'main glint' .. I usually go with upper left, but I'm a one-trick pony
I'm probably being really thick but I would like to follow this tutorial, however I don't think it is written very well and would love it if someone could maybe fill in the gaps this guy has left?
I need it more...step by step..maybe someone knows a ebtter tutorial?
Seriously though ... the time spent in trying to fix that particular error is not worth the time spent, when you could be out taking more pictures.
Submitting, even a 'fixed' overexposed sky is simply not worth the investment of your time Bonnie. The image will sink into the abyss ... you will only end up getting your hopes and dreams dashed on the rocks of the ... ahem ... 'C-shores'.
2) .. consider POSTING, somewhere, (here or photobucket) .. an image in LARGE rez and asking for tips and toots ... otherwise we are just grabbing at vapor (vapour?)
I am beginning college on monday...and after 20+ years out of school, decided to ease myself back in slowly...so I am taking a PhotoShop class...so you will soon see me whoring this thread with questions...and maybe one day actually be able to answer other peoples questions.
I've been using Ps for years now to edit and make wallpaper, signatures, icons etc but I have never learnt how to create things from scratch.
I'd like to learn and I know there are some great digital artists on the site...so alongside any tutorials I might find I'd love some tips, ideas, advice and help.
I've never taken a course in Ps or anything like that..I've taught myself anything that I do know..so be patient if I do not know the best way to do something (I might have found a long way around lol) or if I am not familiar with terms and names of certain things.
I uploaded my first attempt at creating anything today. Fresh in my gallery, it's called 'Baubles'..I was just messing about last night and it appeared.
I'd love to learn how do refine it..how to make the lighting points better...how to make a good 3D effect. I have been fiddling with sheen and transparent shapes that make things look shiny but it does not always appear to work so I must be doing something wrong.
Anyway..so much to learn! Time to stop rabbiting.
I have Ps CS2 here but I do have access to CS3.