Teach Yourself Photoshop 4 in 14 Days

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Today is going to be a little different: We're going to kick back and explore some of the cool things you can do with the wondrous tool known as Photoshop. Think of this chapter as a collection of recipes--special effects that you can add to your mental list of Photoshop tricks and use again and again. Just follow the steps and you'll be a Photoshop wizard in no time.

Here are the special effects covered in this chapter:


NOTE: Very detailed instructions will be given today and I'll use very specific settings along the way. It's important to realize that as you create these special effects with your own images, my settings might not be the best settings for you. Different resolutions, sizes, and colors call for different settings. So when you see specifics, feel free to play with them a bit and see if you can get even better results with your artwork.
Truly, that's the real secret of getting better and better at Photoshop: Never stop experimenting!

Drop Shadows

As soon as you start looking for drop shadows, you'll find them everywhere: in magazines, television ads, web sites, and in every other form of media you can imagine. Everyone is discovering that as soon as you put a shadow behind some text or an image, it takes on added dimension that can really make it pop forward into view. It's a nice and easy special effect for giving something more visual weight and making people pay attention.

Some tips for using drop shadows effectively:

Figure 11.1
Which side looks better? If you can't tell, read the second tip again!

Okay, let's get down to business and create a cool drop shadow:

1. Create a new Photoshop document with a white background. (Mine is 400 pixels wide by 200 pixels tall.)

2. On a new layer (Layer 1), type the text you want, or place the graphic (see Figure 11.2). (Make sure the Layers palette is showing by choosing Window+ Show Layers.)

Figure 11.2
The original art in need of a drop shadow.

3. Duplicate Layer 1. In the Layers palette, click Layer 1 and drag it down to the bottom of the palette until the Create New Layer button is selected, then release the mouse button (see Figure 11.3). You'll get a new layer called Layer 1 copy.

Figure 11.3
Duplicating the original layer.

4. I find it easier to remember what the layers are if I rename them. So double-click on Layer 1 copy in the Layers palette and rename it Shadow.

5. Now click the Shadow layer in the Layers palette and drag it down just below Layer 1 (see Figure 11.4). If you don't do this, the final shadow will appear on top of the graphic, which obviously won't look right!

Figure 11.4
Reordering the layers so the shadow is underneath.

6. Make sure the Shadow layer is still the active layer, and select the entire canvas (Select+All). Then select the Move tool and quickly hit the left and right arrow keys, in any order. This selects just the graphics themselves, not any of the surrounding empty space (see Figure 11.5). It's a trick for selecting objects that's worth remembering.

Figure 11.5
Selecting the objects.

7. Fill the selection with black (via Edit+Fill). You can of course pick any color for the shadow, but shadows cease to look like shadows if you use bright colors. If you make Layer 1 temporarily invisible (click the eyeball in the Layers palette), you can see that your images are now entirely filled in (see Figure 11.6).

Figure 11.6
The objects are filled with black.

8. Using the arrow keys to move your new shadow one pixel at a time. For this example, let's move it 8 pixels down and 6 to the right. Now deselect the shadow with the Move tool still selected (see Figure 11.7).

Figure 11.7
The shadow gets offset from the original image.


TIP: I find that shadows work better if they're below the original image, that is, moved down instead of up when they're offset. When the shadow falls downward, the object looks more like it's popping up.
9. Now for the magic step. Choose Filter+Blur+Gaussian Blur. In the ensuing dialog box, you can choose different Radius settings and see what each one looks like. As long as the Preview checkbox is checked, you'll see your temporary result in the main image window as well as in the dialog box window (see Figure 11.8). I like a setting of 4 pixels for this image, so I type 4 and click on OK.

Figure 11.8
The magical Gaussian Blur dialog box.

10. There's your drop shadow! You can still change it, of course. If it's too dark, for example, you can do one of two things:

a. Adjust the Opacity slider in the Layers palette.

b. Choose Image+Adjust+Brightness/Contrast and adjust the Brightness setting.

11. Also, you can still move the shadow itself, even after you've blurred it. Simply select it like you did in step 6 and move it where you want it (see Figure 11.9).

Figure 11.9
The final drop shadow.

Drop shadows can by tricky. When it looks right, you'll know it. Trust your eyes to tell you what looks realistic and what looks fake. And be willing to experiment with settings. Try making your shadow twice as blurred as your original setting, or twice as far offset. You might be surprised!

Variation: Shadows on Backgrounds

Of course, drop shadows don't have to occur just over white or solid-color backgrounds. You can have a drop shadow fall over a texture, an image, or anything else that strikes your fancy. Let's look at an example:

1. Create the Photoshop image. The important thing to remember is to create a new layer for each element you want to have a drop shadow (see Figure 11.10). For a refresher on layers, refer back to Day 8, "Layers." (This Photoshop document, called shadow2.psd, like the others in this chapter, can be found on the CD-ROM.)

Figure 11.10
The original image before drop shadows.

2. Let's add a shadow to the text first. Simply follow the steps in the previous section. For my shadow, I offset the shadow 4 pixels up and to the right, and give it a Gaussian Blur with a Radius setting of 3 pixels (see Figure 11.11).

Figure 11.11
A drop shadow applied to the text.

Notice how you can actually see the texture of the background right "through" the new shadow. The result is a pleasant, realistic effect. You can make even more of the background show through by adjusting the Opacity slider in the Layers palette. Give it a try.

3. Now let's create some depth in the background itself. I want the left-hand vertical strip to look like a step up from the main background. So I'll add a drop shadow just like I added under the text--same treatment, same settings. Also, make sure that you don't move the shadow down to the right. Otherwise, you will not have the shadow at the top of the strip, unless that is what you want.

4. Finally, let's make the figures pop out from the background. I want these to pop forward more than the left-hand strip or the text, so I offset these shadows 8 pixels, and apply a Gaussian Blur of 8. The resulting shadows are still a little dark, so I adjust the Opacity slider to 90%. Figure 11.12 shows the final image. Notice again how the background shows through the shadow, making the image more realistic.

Figure 11.12
The final image with drop shadows.

Variation: Shadows that Give Perspective

Okay, one more trick with shadows. Shadows can also be used to give an object a sense of perspective, as if it is "standing" on a horizontal surface. Here, I'll show you what I mean:

1. Let's start with one of the human figures we just used. Place her on a simple white background for this example (see Figure 11.13). If she were part of a larger image, you'll probably have to cut her out from her surroundings first, using the selection tools (refer back to Day 2).

Figure 11.13
The original image before any shadow.

2. Like you're used to doing, duplicate that layer, select the object, and fill the area with black, but don't offset the shadow.

3. Instead, with the figure still selected, choose Layer+Transform+Distort. Now grab the handle at the middle top of the box that appears around the object, and drag it down and to the right, approximately to where you can see it in Figure 11.14.

Figure 11.14
Distorting the shadow.

4. Depending on where your imagined light source is "in front of" the object, you can adjust the shape of the shadow even more by grabbing and moving the top corner handles. If you want your object to look like it's being illuminated by something very close, like an overhanging light bulb, you might want to make your shadow wider as it gets "farther from the object," since that's what it would look like in real life. On the other hand, if your object is being illuminated by something far away, like the sun, then the shadow should probably get slightly narrower as it recedes. I decided to go for the latter effect. When you like how it looks, double-click anywhere inside the box area to apply the changes (see Figure 11.15).

Figure 11.15
The final shape of the shadow.

We're not done yet, because the shadow is too dark and its edges too sharp. To be realistic, the shadow should get lighter and fuzzier the farther away it gets from the object that's casting it. That makes our job a bit more complicated.

5. Let's do the blur first. We'll use a mask to make the shadow more blurry the farther away it is from the object. First, click the Quick Mask Mode button near the bottom of the main Photoshop tool palette (see Figure 11.16). We're now in Quick Mask mode. (Refer back to Day 8 for a refresher on masks.)

Figure 11.16
The Quick Mask Mode button.

6. Make sure that black is your current foreground color and white your background color. (Refer back to Day 3 if you forgot how to do this.)

7. Double-click the Gradient tool, which brings up the Gradient Tool Options palette (see Figure 11.18). Set Gradient as Foreground to Background, and Type as Linear.

Figure 11.18
The Gradient Tool Options palette.

8. In the main image window, click and hold down the mouse button right over the figure's feet, then drag upward and to the right until you're at the top of her head. Release the mouse button, and you're done creating a mask, which shows up in red (see Figure 11.19).

Figure 11.19
The mask is created.

The mask doesn't affect the image itself. It affects any filters or effects you now apply to the image. Think of it this way: Whatever you now do to this layer of the image will affect the white part of the image more than the red part.

First, we have to exit Quick Mask mode and return to normal mode. So click the Edit in Standard Mode button, which is found right next to the Quick Mask Mode button. The red coloration will disappear, but the mask is still in effect. (You can tell the mask still exists because part of the image window is now selected.)

9. Let's try it out. Pull up the Gaussian Blur dialog box and try a value of 4. As you can see, the blur is applied more to the head area than the feet area--just as we expected, thanks to the mask (see Figure 11.20).

Figure 11.20
The blur varies depending on "distance."

10. Finally, let's lighten the shadow using the same mask, so that the shadow gets lighter as it recedes. The mask is still active, so don't worry about that. Simply select Image+Adjust+Brightness/Contrast, or play with the Opacity slider on the Layers palette. After you're done, undo the selection and enjoy the completed shadow (see Figure 11.21).

Figure 11.21
The final image and shadow.

Of course, you could easily place this kind of perspective shadow right over a background texture or image too. But I'll let you experiment with that on your own.

Glows

Now that you've mastered the drop shadow, the glow is an easy special effect. A glow is essentially a drop shadow that isn't offset at all from the original object and is often in a color other than black.

Let's create a basic glow around some text:

1. In a new Photoshop document, fill the background with black. With a deep blue as your foreground color, use the Text tool to add some text on a new layer (see Figure 11.22).

Figure 11.22
The original text, sans glow.

2. Duplicate the layer, as you would for a drop shadow, but instead of filling the selected area with black, fill it with a bright yellow. Don't offset this yellow layer from the original text layer.


TIP: If you want an extra-large glow, expand the yellow area before moving to step 3. An easy way to do this is to choose Select+Modify+Expand, and enter the number of pixels to which you want the selection to grow. After clicking on OK, make sure to fill the new, larger selection with yellow as well.
3. After deselecting the yellow area, apply the Gaussian Blur filter (yes, it is indeed a wonderful filter). Try a setting of 5 or so (see Figure 11.23). Cool results, eh?

Figure 11.23
Glowing text.

We've just scratched the surface of glow effects. Try all sorts of settings and colors. Experiment with the brightness and size of the glow. Try other blur filters for glows that imply movement or dimension. Have fun!

Lighting Effects

Lighting effects refers to a whole range of special effects that are all related to how objects are lit. By illuminating objects in a unique way, you can change the entire feel of an image, drawing attention exactly where you want it.

Our primary tool, as you might expect, is Photoshop's Lighting Effects filter.

1. Start with an original image. Perhaps this is an image that is fairly "flat" as far as brightness is concerned. Perhaps it's an image that simply looks too two-dimensional for its content (see Figure 11.24). (This image, book.psd, is on the CD-ROM.)

Figure 11.24
Our original image, in need of some special lighting.

In our example image, the "book" is on a separate layer from the background, so I can light them both separately.

2. Make sure the Book layer is active, then select just the book. The Lighting Effects filter works only if you have something selected for it to work on.

3. Choose Filter+Render+Lighting Effects to bring up the Lighting Effects dialog box. Under the Style pull-down menu near the top, select Soft Spotlight (see Figure 11.25). You'll see the preview of your image in the right with the new spotlight effect.

Figure 11.25
The Lighting Effects dialog box.

4. Although Photoshop ships with a number of neat default settings, it's fun to play around with the various sliders and values. Don't be intimidated by the number of choices here. For one thing, I don't like how the spotlight is currently falling to the lower right of the image. I want it to shine onto the middle.

To change the direction and/or shape of the spotlight, simply grab the handles around the oval you see in the left side of the dialog box. You can move them around as you want. You can even move the center point. Move everything around so it looks something like what you see in Figure 11.26.

Figure 11.26
Moving the spotlight manually.

5. Okay, not bad, but the spotlight is too intense and too bright. I play around with the Intensity slider a bit and settle on a value of 50.

6. Now it looks like the non-lit parts of the image are too dark. I need to bring the overall lighting up a bit, so I adjust the Ambience slider up to 35.

7. One more thing: Light doesn't always have to be white. For this image, a softer, more yellow light is more appropriate because of the yellows and reds already in the image. So I click on the white square to the right of the Intensity slider and up comes the Color Picker (see Figure 11.27). As you can see, I find a subtle yellow by setting the RGB values to 240, 255, and 200 respectively.

Figure 11.27
Changing the color of the light itself.

8. I click on OK to approve the color, and I look over the Lighting Effects dialog box to make sure I like the preview image. Yup, looks good (see Figure 11.28).

Figure 11.28
All the settings are finally as I want them.

9. I click on OK, and after a little processing time, the final image emerges (see Figure 11.29).

Figure 11.29
The book with a warm spotlight highlighting the area I want to focus on.

If you like, you can also add lighting effects to the black background as well to add a further sense of depth to the image.

Reflections

If you often find yourself bringing various images together in Photoshop (and I predict you will), you can't simply toss the images together and have it look realistic. As we've seen, effects like shadows are essential to create a realistic-looking environment. Creating reflections is another technique for doing this.

Let's look at an example to see how you can add reflections to your toolkit of special effects:

1. Let's say I have a cat (which I do) that I want to insert into an image I've created. First, I use the various selection tools to extricate the cat from its original photographic background. Then I place the cat (on its own layer, of course) into my new image (see Figure 11.30).

Figure 11.30
The cat in his new environment.

I think you'll agree that the effect isn't very realistic. It looks like the cat and background came from two different sources (which they did; but I don't want it to be so obvious!).

2. To start working on a reflection of the cat in the floor tile, duplicate the cat layer (refer back to the "Drop Shadows" section for details). In the Layers palette, move this new layer (I named it Cat Reflection) below the original cat layer, because we want the reflection to appear "underneath" the cat.

3. With the Cat Reflection layer active, select Layer+Transform+Flip Vertical. This flips the reflected cat onto its head. If you hear meows at this point, ignore them.

4. Select the cat reflection and use the Move tool to move it down. (Hold down the Shift key as you move the selection, so that it moves straight down and not at all horizontally.) Move it down so that the "two cats" precisely meet without any tile visible between them (see Figure 11.31).

Figure 11.31
The cat flipped and moved down into place.

  1. It looks like a reflection, right? Well, sort of. If the tile floor is perfectly reflective, like a mirror, which obviously no floor is.

  2. 5. To make the reflection realistic, some of the tiles have to show through, just as we saw with drop shadows. Deselect the cat reflection so the image is easier to see as a whole. Then adjust the Opacity slider in the Layers palette until the reflection looks more realistic and blends in with the floor (see Figure 11.32). My floors aren't very shiny, so I took Opacity down to 30%.

Figure 11.32
With Opacity reduced, the reflection looks much more realistic.

If you're satisfied with the reflection as it is now, then you're done. Unfortunately, I'm picky and seldom satisfied. The reflection still looks too perfect to me. No floor is that smooth.

6. To introduce a little "dirtiness" into the reflection by blurring it slightly. It's time for another trip to the Gaussian Blur filter. I use a setting of just 1 pixel to get the effect I like (see Figure 11.33).

Figure 11.33
The reflection is now slightly blurred, which is what a realistic floor does to reflections.

Okay, now it's looking good. The cat image is now interacting with the floor image, creating a realistic effect. There's just one more thing bugging me: the wall behind the cat. Shouldn't the cat and wall interact? Shouldn't the cat be casting just a bit of a shadow on the wall? I think so.

7. I create a drop shadow as I normally would. Duplicate the original cat layer, select the new cat, and fill it with black.

Instead of offsetting the whole shadow, however, I need a kind of perspective shadow. The bottom of the shadow should match the bottom of the original cat, and the top of it should be cast above the cat onto the wall.

8. To stretch the shadow, select Layer+Transform+Distort. Grab the top middle handle that appears, and drag it upward to about what you see in Figure 11.34. Double-click within the box to approve the change.

Figure 11.34
Stretching the cat's shadow onto the wall.

9. Deselect the shadow. Obviously it's too dark and too sharp.

10. Time for another Gaussian Blur. I want a really fuzzy shadow, so it looks like the cat is being illuminated by ambient light, not a specific light source. A value of 12 pixels looks good.

11. Finally, I grab the Opacity slider and move it down to 60%, so the shadow looks lighter and the wall texture shows through a bit (see Figure 11.35).

Figure 11.35
The finished image, with reflection and shadow.

Finally, I'm satisfied. The image now looks like one piece instead of three disparate images thrown together. That's what special effects like reflections can do for you. (Don't forget to take a look at the actual Photoshop file, which is called reflect.psd on the CD-ROM.)

Summary

A "special effect" isn't about specific instructions and narrowly defined settings--it's about experimenting with all that Photoshop has to offer and being pleasantly surprised by new discoveries. As you use Photoshop's features (especially its filters) more and more, you'll uncover an endless stream of special effects. This chapter is just a small taste of what's possible.

Have fun creating your own special effects!


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