For project four I first got the jpg. of my VW bus then too k a picture of my nephew. I used the magic wand tool to select my nephew then moved him into the back off the bus, and saved him as a layer. Then I used the dodge tool, burn tool, and sponge tool to alter Aiden. Next I went to filter and liquefy to alter his ears, eyes, and mouth. I hope my brother will never see this! Then I used smart sharpen to sharpen the image. Next I made the text layers, and the style is a drop shadow, bevel and emboss to make the text look like part of the seat.
On my image of some flowers, I first used the Smart Sharpen tool, and then applied an unsharp mask. I then applied levels, hue/saturation, and brightness/contrast layers to arrive at the final image. It's difficult to note the difference on these thumbnail images, but the change is quite pronounced when they are larger. I found the smart sharpen to more helpful because it offered more control. I ended up using 275% and 7 px radius. The tool probably would have been sufficient, but the unsharp mask tool helped sharpen up some last little bits.
Original Tornado
Original Sunflowers
Original Hat
Final Composite
Wow... this was a lot of work! I will try my best to summarize my steps... I began by removing the tornado and hat from their backgrounds. I used the rectangular marquee tool for the tornado, and the magic wand tool plus inverse for the hat. I separated the blue sky from the sunflower image onto a separate layer. I then made a new layer for the tornado and used layer mask to blend the sunflowers and the tornado sky. I then used a clipped a black -->clear gradient layer to the sunflower images so that it would look as though the tornado was creating a shadow over the field. I applied warp, pucker, and spin tools to the sunflowers so that they would look as though there were being blow around by the tornado. I applied a text layer to which I added drop shadow and inner shadow. I then warped the text so that it would look as though it were being sucked into the tornado. Finally I used the transform tool to flip and stretch the hat. I did "auto-contrast" and then applies a drop shadow layer that extends over the field. I *attempted* to make the canvas square (increasing the height) and applying the content-away scaling. This worked well on all the layers but the sunflower layer. It seems that I wasn't able to apply the transform to the quick mask channel, so there was a gap between foreground and sky that I couldn't remedy. Sadly, I had to abandon that effort.
Experience
I really had a difficult time with the Masks, Knockouts, adn Luminancy blending lesson. Perhaps it shouldn't have been so complicated, but I still feel like I need a lot more practice--perhaps there was just too much stuff going on at once... I hope I did the clipping layer right!I loved using the warp, pucker, and spin tools---so much so that I quite possibly overdid it a bit, but boy it was fun! :) I found that all were helpful in creating the effects that I had desired for the sunflowers. I also enjoyed the opportunity to transform the text and the hat. This project was really enjoyable for me because I felt that it offered an opportunity to draw from all lessons thus far. :o)
For this project i did a little bit of everything. such as the blur filter which allowed me to have a the image with a different tecture same as the blending tool. Ooohhh i also added a color layer to the six layer which added a different background affect and kinda made some changes to the the babys face using distortion. I did produce the affect that i wanted lets hope everyone likes it! I had fun doing this project because i got to change the babes face and add color to the background
My composite for project 4 was made for a profile page on a RPG Mafia game that I play. I used a dark city background and then added some lines, text, pattern and an image to create a dark mafia feel. I just worked along with chap 9 to put this together. On the shooter image that I added I used multiply then set the opacity to 20%. The pattern that added to the composite I set for color burn opacity to 42%. I also adjusted the backgrounds contrast and brightness.
Seagulls are on the plate for project 4 this time. On project 4 step 2, I chose picture (seagulls.jpg)
for the sharpening part of the project. I first adjusted the levels, then the curves and the vibrance. I then used the smart sharpen filter with the lens blur effect and set the radius to 4 pixels and the percentage amount to 100. I then used a graphic title in the picture (Mine!). These adjustment seem to to give me the best results to sharpen the seagulls image in project4_2_avdeef.psd
For the second part of the assignment project 4 step 3, I chose to use pictures (sky.jpg and bay.jpg) for the background.
The background picture is a red sky, then I masked the the Tillamook Bay picture horizon to show the red sky and color shifted the boats in the water to match. I then imported large hungry seagulls(seagull.jpg)
in to the background looking at the fisherman in the bay. Next I shrunk the seagulls floating in the water and standing on the boats and applied the bloating tool to make the the seagulls look stuffed.I like the moon from the other exercise in lesson 9 and imported it in and used the blending options to create the effect with the clouds. I the created the graphic caption (I Hate Seagulls) to create picture (project4_3a_avdeef.psd)
I enjoyed using the blending option on the moon to give the effect with the clouds. and masking to introduce the new sky on the bay.
Followed the example in the video. Only, instead of a young lady, I used an old guy who introduced a bunch of us (way back when we were way younger) to a (somewhat illegal) fishing camp along the Deschutes (on the RR side).
Followed the video, except: had a background sky with a foreground landscape. Then added the binary text and white vertical/horizontal lines. Then some elleptical marquee images, including a liquified kid. Then Woody (his ashes are now along the streambank). And finally a "cloud" make from a chromed, burred, color adjusted & oppposite-of-enlarged trout image.
All parts were slightly adjusted. No way I could remember what I did to which.
Of all the effects, I like the cloud trout best.
Probably send copies of this desktop image to the various camp inhabitants. By the way, the next scheduled trip, the 36th (...which means I've been walking down those tracks longer than most people in this class have been alive...), is first weekend in May, 2010.
-walt
PS...this time, I remember to edge adjust before moving the images into the composition...
I set to “sharpen” a photo of stained glass window enlarged from a low-resolution original, sporting somewhat “soft” edges. Smart Sharpen was the filter of choice for this job. The trick was to enhance the natural beauty of the thousands of fine glass pieces an ancient artisan had to bring together to produce the mosaic. Setting Radius to extremely low value (0.4) worked beautifully on screen, resulting in precise, fine and more pronounced edges. Going above that would have destroyed the fine relieves. Turning on More Accurate further enhanced the effect, because in this case, I really wanted to pull out every detail. To return the colors to their pre-filter appearance, I applied Fade Smart Sharpen. My eyes could not tell the difference when editing on screen, but when I printed both versions, the one treated with Fade Smart produced more natural color scheme.
For the fun of it, I experimented with applying filters from the endless Photoshop gallery. None came close to the “real thing” sending them all into “delete” category. But after killing so much time, I was determined to find at least one worth mentioning. Here it is – view of a church window in a snow-covered wonderland. The recipe is really simple – apply Stylize/Trace Contour filter and experiment with the level value.
Layered composition
Starting the project, I only had a vague idea of a concept – bring together pictures from our vacation into a compelling composition. In the process of experimenting with masks, knockouts, luminance blending, content-aware scaling and warping, the project took on its own life as well as unexpected turns. What a journey!
The central image was modified with content-aware scaling to produce what now looks like an “endless” terrace garden above the city – the analogy of an endless summer - with my wife and son reduced to just tiny little specs. To produce this poster, I had to learn how to apply content-aware scaling for most natural results – in multiple passes of incremental steps. (Note: the only object that did not come out “proportionally” in this image is the utility pole in the middle. In the original image it was hardly noticeable, but here it shows like a long dark streak in the middle. Not bad though – touch of a surrealistic painting.)
Blending the various pictures into a montage was an opportunity to get plenty of practice in applying gradient fading and masks. For me, trial-and-error was the best way to figure out whether a clipping mask or a layer mask would produce the desired effect. Now, I definitely know how to quickly create, edit and activate them.
I wanted to preserve all objects in the picture “au natural”, so I approached the warp tool with skepticism. What a pleasant surprise this tool was! I learned quickly that it only takes a bit of imagination - and about 20 seconds of practice - to enhance reality without being overbearing. Take the “ice-cream heaven” pic – the boy figurine on top of the ice cream cone got elongated and became more central to the image, while the rounded top edge improves blending. The entire image now has an almost 3D-like feel to it.
On to luminance blending! I badly wanted to integrate the two stained glass images in the montage, to add more of a mystery mood to the composition. But how to do it? Luminance blending turned out to be the perfect answer. I started with two pairs of seemingly incompatible images and ended up with blends that look like they’ve always belonged together. The top/right pair is especially pleasing, giving the impression of my wife walking in front of a mystical dome floating behind her. The effect of depth is incredible. From now on, luminance blending is my tool of choice whenever two overlapping images are involved.
Putting on an engraving was an opportunity to learn about creating a group of layers and how to apply knockout effect. The title/inscription was created as a text knockout through all layers but the bottom gold/yellow background. I hope you enjoy the final result.
Original Sunflowers 
Original Hat 
Final Composite
