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Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2+
Difficulty: Beginner
Estimated Completion Time: 20 Minutes
Step 1
Let’s start by creating a new document which is 900 px wide and and 600 px high at a resolution of 300 pixels/inch. Make sure the Color Mode is set to RGB.
Step 2
Fill the “Background” layer with Black. Get the Type Tool and type your text. I wrote “ABSENT”. I used Futura Md BT font, set Font Style to Medium and Font Size to 220 px. I also set the Tracking to 20 to increase the space between letters. Make sure the Text Color is set to White.
Step 3
While the text layer is selected on the Layers Palette, hit Command/Ctrl + E to merge the text and the "Background" layers.
Step 4
Now go to Filter > Distort > Wave and use these settings: Type: Square, Number of Generators: 1, Max Wavelength: 635, Min. Wavelength: 257, Max. Amplitude: 141, Min. Amplitude: 62, Horiz. Scale: 24% and Vert. Scale: 22%. Now you’ll have a pretty distorted text. Please keep in mind that the result depends on these parameters as well as the size, tracking and position of the text.
Step 5
We’ll add another displacement effect to our text and we’re going to use Fragment filter for that. Go to Filter > Pixelate > Fragment.
Step 6
Now go to Filter > Stylize > Glowing Edges, set Edge Width to 1, Edge Brightness to 6 and Smoothness to 1.
Step 7
We’re going to copy this image to a new alpha channel and make a selection out of it. First hit Command/Ctrl + A to select the whole layer, hit Command/Ctrl + C to copy. Then go to the Channels Panel create a new channel and hit Command/Ctrl + V to paste. Command/Ctrl-click on the Alpha 1 channel thumbnail to get the white pixels selected.
Step 8
Now go back to the Layers Panel. Create a new layer and name it "Text". Fill the selection with White, hit Command/Ctrl + D to deselect. Go to the "Background" layer and fill it with Black. Now we’ll apply a Layer Style to "Text" layer. Select the "Text" layer in the Layers Panel and apply a Gradient Overlay using these settings: Blend Mode set to Normal, Opacity set to 15%, Gradient set to Blue, Red, Yellow, Angle set to 140 and Scale at 150%. Select the “Background” layer in the Layers Panel and create a new layer. Select both “Layer 1″ and “Text” layers, hit Command/Ctrl + E to merge selected layers. Now the layer style we’ve just applied is merged with the layer.
Step 9
It is time to add some lighting effects now. Duplicate the “Text” layer by hitting Command/Ctrl + J. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply with a Radius of 4 pixels. Hit Command/Ctrl + J again to duplicate the “Text copy” layer. Set Blend Mode to Overlay and hit Command/Ctrl + J once again to duplicate the “Text copy 2″ layer.
Step 10
Select “Text copy” layer in the Layers Panel and duplicate it. Drag the “Text copy 4″ layer just above the “Background” layer. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply with a Radius of 6 pixels. Then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and use these settings: Colorize: Checked, Hue: 315, Saturation: 38 and Lightness: -30.
Step 11
Now we’ll create the background. Create a new layer above the “Background” layer and name it “Lights”. Get the Gradient Tool, pick Foreground to Transparent and set to Radial Graident. Zoom out and apply gradients starting from outside the canvas as shown in the below image. You can use the colors shown below as well as you can pick your own.
Step 12
Create a new layer above the “Lights” layer and name it "Circles". Get the Brush Tool, pick one of the standart round brushes and open the Brushes Panel and change the settings as shown below.
Step 13
Set Foreground Color to #3fc5c6 and Background Color to #ad4cb1. Paint the "Circles" layer with random brush moves.
Step 14
Now go to Filter > Blur > Surface Blur, set Radius to 25 pixels, set Threshold to 175 levels and apply. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply with a Radius of 4 pixels.
Step 15
Set the Opacity of the “Circles” layer to 15 and this is what we have so far.
Step 16
Finally, we’ll add some text to our design. I placed a clear "ABSENT" text and a subhead text using the same font we’ve used before.
Final Image
Here is the final image. I hope you liked this tutorial and the techniques you learned will come in handy for your own designs.
Lets start:
Step 1: Copy The Background Layer
As always, we never want to work directly on our Background layer, since it contains our original pixel information, so the first thing I'm going to do is copy it. I'm a big fan of naming layers and you should be too, so I'm going to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+J (Win) / Command+Option+J (Mac) to bring up the New Layer dialog box. I'm going to name my Background copy layer desaturated, and we'll see why in a moment:
This gives me a copy of my Background layer in the Layers palette, which Photoshop has named "desaturated":
Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Photo Effects
Photoshop Effects: Ghosting An Image
Learn Photoshop with Photo Effects Tutorials at Photoshop Essentials.com
Written By Steve Patterson
In this Photoshop effects tutorial, we're going to look at a way to give a photo a more "ghostly" appearance.
I'm a fan of horror films, but I admit I'm a bit shallow in that I usually just watch them for the special effects. I'm usually sitting there thinking to myself, "I wonder how they did that". So while playing around in Photoshop one night, I came up with this little technique for taking a living, breathing person and making them appear more like a ghost, which is why I called it"ghosting an image". It's a simple effect with only a few steps involved and they're easy to do.
Of course, as with most photo effects, it helps if you start with the right type of image. A photo of your kids playing at the beach on a summer afternoon may not be the best choice. Then again, you never know till you try it.
Here's the photo I'll be starting with:
The original image
The original image.
And here's the "ghosting" effect we're after:
The final result
The final effect.
Not what you're looking for? Check out our other Photoshop Effects tutorials!
New! Download our Photoshop tutorials as convenient, print-ready PDFs!
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Let's get started.
Step 1: Copy The Background Layer
As always, we never want to work directly on our Background layer, since it contains our original pixel information, so the first thing I'm going to do is copy it. I'm a big fan of naming layers and you should be too, so I'm going to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+J (Win) / Command+Option+J (Mac) to bring up the New Layer dialog box. I'm going to name my Background copy layer desaturated, and we'll see why in a moment:
Photoshop's New Layer dialog box
Photoshop's New Layer dialog box. Name your layer "desaturated".
This gives me a copy of my Background layer in the Layers palette, which Photoshop has named "desaturated":
Copy the Background layer
Photoshop's Layers palette now showing my Background layer and the copy above it.
Step 2: Desaturate The Background Copy Layer
With my "desaturated" layer selected in the Layers palette, I'm going to, you guessed it, desaturate it to remove all the colors. To do that, I'll use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+U (Win) / Command+Shift+U (Mac). The image now appears black and white:
Step 3: Copy The "Desaturated" Layer
I need to make a copy of my "desaturated" layer at this point, so with it selected in the Layers palette, I'll use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+J (Win) / Command+Option+J (Mac) once again to bring up the New Layer dialog box. This time, I'll name the layer "motion blur":
I now have three layers in my Layers palette, including my new "motion blur" layer at the top:
Step 4: Apply The Motion Blur Filter
I feel like I'm giving away the endings with my layer names, but oh well. With the "motion blur" layer selected, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Blur, and then select Motion Blur. This brings up the "Motion Blur" dialog box. Normally you'd apply a motion blur to an object that's, you know, in motion, but applying it to a stationary object tends to give it a ghost-like effect, which is what we're after. When the dialog box appears, set the Angle to zero degrees, and then drag the slider bar at the bottom to the right to increase the Distance value until your image is blurred out quite a bit. Here I've set mine to 95 pixels:
Here's my image after applying the Motion Blur filter:
Step 5: Add A Layer Mask To The "Motion Blur" Layer
Our image already looks a little spooky with the motion blur applied, but now we're going to bring back some of her face, and we're going to do that using a layer mask. With the "motion blur" layer selected, click on the "Add Layer Mask" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:
This adds a layer mask to the "motion blur" layer:
Step 6: Paint With Black On The Layer Mask To Reveal Some Of The Face
Grab your Brush tool from the Tools palette, or press B on your keyboard to quickly select it. Then press D on your keyboard to make sure black is selected as your foreground color (Note: If your layer mask was already selected when you pressed "D", your foreground color will actually become white, since white is the default foreground color for a layer mask. If that's the case, simply press X to swap the foreground and background colors, which will set your foreground color to black). Go up to the Options Bar at the top of the screen and lower the opacity of your brush to around 10%:
This will allow you to paint the face back in gradually. Click on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette to select it if it's not already selected (it will have a highlight border around it if it's selected), and then with a large, soft-edged brush and black as your foreground color, paint over the middle area of the face in short, gradual strokes to bring back some of the eyes, nose and mouth, leaving the rest blurred out. Be sure to stay well within the boundaries of the face so everything blurs out nicely from the center:
Step 7: Merge All Of The Layers Onto A New Layer
We're going to merge all three layers onto a new layer at this point, and we can do that with the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Win) / Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac), which takes all three layers and merges them onto a brand new layer at the top of the Layers palette. Double-click on the name of the layer and rename it to merged:
Step 8: Apply The "Diffuse Glow" Filter To The Merged Layer
With the new "merged" layer selected, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Distort, and then select Diffuse Glow. This brings up Photoshop's Filter Gallery (it doesn't actually say Filter Gallery anywhere at the moment but it's the Filter Gallery) set to the Diffuse Glow filter options. You may have to play around with the three options a little depending on the image you're using, but for my image, I've set Graininess to 3, Glow Amount to 10, and Clear Amount also to 10 as circled below:
Here's my image after applying the "Diffuse Glow" filter:
Step 9: Add A Solid Color Fill Layer
All that's left to do now is add a little color, so with the "merged" layer still selected, click on the New Fill Or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:
Select Solid Color from the top of the list:
This will bring up Photoshop's Color Picker. I'm going to choose a green color:
Click OK once you've chosen a color to exit out of the Color Picker. You're image will now be filled entirely with the solid color, so we'll fix that next.
Step 10: Change The Blend Mode Of The Fill Layer To "Color" And Lower The Opacity
With the Solid Color fill layer selected, go up to the layer blend mode options in the top left of the Layers palette, click on the down-pointing arrow beside the word "Normal" and change the blend mode to Color. This will colorize the image with the color you've chosen (green in my case). The color will most likely be too intense though, so move over to the right to the Opacity option at the top of the Layers palette and lower the opacity to reduce the intensity. I've lowered mine considerably, all the way down to 11% for just a hint of color:
FINAL IMAGE
There are a plethora of ways to treat a portrait, for a myriad of uses, but that is for another feature. Let’s tackle adding drama or a cinematic quality to a regular, humdrum portrait. Let’s even throw in a little bit of faking HDR. That way if you work on a project that requires a stunning shot without the stunning photography, you’ll be able to cobble something together using your mad skillz!
Asset Preparation
The images I’ve used are: The man, the cloud, the water drops 1, and water drops 2. As always feel free to use your own images, however you may need to tweak the settings of any of the steps to get the right effect with different assets.
Step 1
Open the man image from iStockphoto and separate him from the background. Use whichever method you’re comfortable with, I would usually use the Pen Tool, but I’ll be honest, as he’s got no hair to worry about and the background is white I kinda cheated. I used the, ahem, Magic Wand Tool to select the white. I then Feathered the selection by 1 pixel (Select > Feather), expanded it by 2 pixels (Select > Modify > Expand) and hit delete 2-3 times until the white halo disappeared. Call this layer “MAN.” Select the Dodge Tool, set the Range to Highlights and the Exposure to 15% and run it over the Iris a couple of times. This should bring the eyes out a bit.
Now it's time to learn how to use some of the tools in the Photoshop toolbar.
Marquee Selection tools: The following tools allow you to select regions in your image to alter, copy, move, and apply filters.
This is the default selection setting. You can make a selection of any rectangular size and shape.
Elliptical marquee tool: This tool, available when you click and hold down on the selection tool region of the tool bar, selects elliptical spaces. To select a round area, hold the shift key while clicking and dragging.
Single row: This tool will select a 1pixel region that is as wide as your image. Very useful for trimming edges and making straight lines.
Single column: The tool will select a 1pixel region that is as tall as your image. Also very useful for trimming edges and making straight lines.
A Note on Selection Modes (in the options bar):
# Normal mode allows you to drag the cursor to create the selection size you want.
# Constrained aspect ratio allows you to choose a scalable rectangle, say with a width to height ratio of 1 to 2. The selection will grow when you drag, but will remain the same shape.
# Fixed Size/Fixed Aspect Ratio allows you to predetermine the size, in pixels or a ratio, of the selection you will make. When you click with fixed size selected, a selection box of the exact size you specified will automatically appear. With fixed aspect ratio, you can make different-sized selections of the same shape. This is a particularly helpful tool when cropping images to a certain size or drawing identical boxes.
Move Tool
the move tool moves an entire layer at a time. When you have selected this tool, click on a layer in the layer pane, and then click and drag on the image. The current layer will move all at once. You can even move it outside of the current image size. Don't worry, though, parts of an image that move outside the borders still exist - they are just hidden. They will only be cropped out if you flatten the image.
Lasso tools
The lasso selection tools are similar to the marquee tools, except that the lasso tools give you ultimate freedom in terms of the shape of your selection. There are three different lasso tools:
Lasso tool, which allows you to draw a selection by dragging the cursor freehand. The selection will close itself.
Polygon Lasso tool, which creates a selection composed of straight lines that can be as short as one pixel. The selection grows with each additional click. This tool is especially useful for cutting out objects in an image to place on new backgrounds.
Magnetic Polygon Lasso tool works a little like a combination of the other two lasso tool. As you drag, the selection maps to natural borders in the image. This is a useful tool when dealing with well-defined and high-contrast images.
A note about lasso tool options: When extracting part of an image from its background, the result will be choppy and rough around the edges unless you adjust the feather value in the options bar. This fades the edges you create and can smooth the region into its new background.
Magic Wand Tool
The magic wand tool is similar to the magnetic polygon lasso tool except that rather than dragging to make a selection, you click in a region and a selection appears around similar colored pixels. You can control how similar pixels must be to be included in the selection by altering the tolerance value.
This tool is useful for selecting monochromatic regions or pieces of high-contrast images.
Using the Image Menu
Most basic Photoshop tasks involve the Image menu, which I showed you earlier. In this chapter of the tutorial, I’ll go a little deeper into what you can do with the Image menu. I'm skipping around a little here; this represents the most commonly used items on the Image menu.
Mode
The first item on the Image menu is Mode. This is what you use to change the color mode and appearance on the entire image. I discussed RGB, the web mode, and CMYK, the print mode, earlier. You have some other choices here, including grayscale and duotone. Some modes’ availability depends on the pre-existing color mode.
Adjust
You can see that the adjust option on the Image menu gives you a lot of different tools for adjusting your image. The most basic types of adjustments you can make with Photoshop involve colors and brightness.
The most simple is the contrast/brightness adjustment. When you select contrast/brightness, you are confronted with a dialog box with a slider for both brightness and contrast. Moving the sliders to the left makes the picture more murky or darker, and moving the sliders to the right brightens and increases the contrast between the dark and light colors in the image. You can play around with both sliders until you get a suitable mix; the change is previewed in the image. This tool is helpful for brightening pictures that were taken in low light.
The other adjustments you can make with the options on the adjustments menu are a little more complex, and the best way to learn about them is just to experiment. Because Photoshop allows you to preview your adjustments, you can get a good feel for the adjustments without hurting your image.
Image size
Another common basic feature of Photoshop that lives on the Image menu is image size. You use this function to resize an image, and it’s pretty straightforward. When you select image size from the Image menu, a dialog box appears with some numbers corresponding to the current size.
You'll notice that there are two sets of sizes, Pixel Dimensions and Document Size. Pixel Dimensions refers to the image's size on screen, and Document Size refers to the size at which the document will print.You'll notice that all the numbers change when you change one of them. This default setting preserves the original h/w ratio of your image when you make changes to it size. If you want to change only one dimension of the image, uncheck the "constrain proportions" checkbox at the bottom of the dialog.
Notice that in the Documents size settings, you have the option to change the resolution (remember, things images will always be approximately 72 pixels/inch on screen). You can use this to change the resolution of your image, but remember, if you don't want the quality to decrease, you should only go from hi-res to low-res.
Canvas Size
Canvas Size is similar to Image Size, but changes to an image's canvas size can provide you with more working area for your image, in case you want to annotate it, copy more images into it, or perform. any number of other graphic variations.
Crop
The Crop function in the image menu is fairly straightforward. Make a selection, go to Image and select crop, and then everyting outside your selection disappears. The image size reflects the change.
Creating Graphics in PhotoshopAn advantage of Photoshop over basic photo editing software is the capabilities it gives you to create your own graphics. There's an exhaustive number of tools in Photoshop (and resources about them), so I'll just cover the basics.
Most of the functions these tools perform are based on your selection in an image. The effect or tool only operates within a selection.
Make a small selection and select the paintbrush tool. Move the mouse over your selection holding down the mouse button. You'll see that the image is only altered within the selection.
Colors and Graphics
Before I get to some of the main tools, I'll tell you a little about colors. The foreground color, which will be applied by tools like the paintbrush, is represented by the top square in the middle of the toolbar.
Stroke & Fill
The most basic ways to apply colors to an image are to use Fill and Stroke, both available on the edit menu. Make a selection, and choose fill from the edit menu. A dialog will appear asking you to make some decisions about colors and transparency. Make your selections, and press OK to fill the selection with the chosen color. Stroke operates in much the same manner, though you are given the chance to determine the weight of the lines you create.
