Photoshop
Filters and Special Effects
Special Effects in Photoshop
By now you know that Photoshop can manipulate an image in a variety of ways with the help of selections, channels, layers, masks, and filters, to name only a few. If you were to take what you've learned about these functions on an individual level and incorporate them together in different ways, you can create some very stunning visual effects. These give you a license to raise your Web site above the rest on a visual level. In this lecture you'll create two special effects that incorporate elements and functions of Photoshop that you've learned.
Quick & Easy Metal (Texture)
Photoshop is great at producing metal effects. This is an example of a very quick brushed metal effect you can use for a background or texture.
- Open a new file that is 300x300 and name it metal.psd.
- Fill the Background layer with grey: #CCCCCC.
- Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise.
- In the Add Noise dialog move the Add Noise slider to roughly 30%, select Gaussian, and then choose Monochromatic. Click OK.
- Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.
- In the Motion Blur dialog move the Angle slider to -45o and set the Distance to 45. Click OK. You'll notice that the edges of the image don't blur as well as the centre did. With any blur, the stronger the blur, the wider the edge area that will be unblurred. This part can be cropped off. Here's the image so far:
- To enhance the texture you can go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen More The final image below was cropped to 250x250.
- Save your file and close it.
Lightning From Scratch
- Open a new image that is 500x400 and name it lightning.psd.
- Press X to set the default colours to black and white.
- Select the Gradient tool, set the options to Linear Gradient and drag the pointer across the image from the left edge to the right.
- Go to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.
- Invert the colours in the image using Ctrl-I (Cmd-I).
- Press Ctrl-L (Cmd-L) to open the Levels dialog.
- Drag the black slider over to the right until your image resembles a lightning bolt. Our input value for the black point ended up at 250. Click OK to close the dialog.
- Save your file.
- Each time you apply Difference Clouds the pattern is different. If you ended up with stray blotches or pixels separate from the lightning like we did, use the Brush tool to paint over them with black.
- Press Ctrl-A (Cmd-A) to select the entire layer.
- Copy the layer using Ctrl-C (Cmd-C).
- Switch to the Channels panel and click on the Create New Channel button.
- Paste your selection into the channel using Ctrl-V (Cmd-V).
- Load the channel as a selection by pressing Ctrl (Cmd) while clicking on the Alpha 1 channel.
- Click on the composite RGB channel and then switch back to the Layers panel.
- Create a new layer from the selection by pressing Ctrl-J (Cmd-J). We've isolated the lightning on its own layer so we can add layer styles.
- Right-click (Ctrl-click) on Layer 1 and rename it Lightning.
- Click on the Add a Layer Style button in the Layers panel and choose Outer Glow from the menu.
- Set the options to match those shown below. Click on the colour swatch to change the glow colour. In the colour picker, disable the Only Web Colours check box if it is currently enabled and enter the HTML hexadecimal code shown below to create the purple colour. Click OK to close the colour picker.
- Click on Colour Overlay in the Layer Style dialog list and match your settings to those below. This will tint the lightning in a pink colour.
Now your image should look something like this:
- Select the opacity of the Lightning layer by Ctrl-clicking (Cmd-clicking) on it in the Layers panel.
- Click on the Create a New Layer button in the Layers panel.
- Go to Select > Modify > Expand and set the value to 5 pixels.
- Go to Select > Feather and enter a value of 5 pixels.
- Set the foreground colour to #FFD3FF and fill the selection with that colour.
- Set the layer's blending mode to Screen and reduce the Opacity to 75%.
- Save your file.
- For added realism you can paint in forks of lightning that branch off the main bolt. Use the Eyedropper tool to sample the brightest part of the lightning bolt for the foreground colour.
- Select the Brush tool and set it to Hard Round 3 pixels.
- Open the Brushes panel, choose Size Dynamics and set the Control option to Fade. Set the number of steps anywhere between 100 and 300.
- Begin the paint stroke on the lightning bolt and draw a jagged line outward and downward.
- Keep adding lines and change the number of steps for the Size/Fade option so the forks will be of various lengths.
- Save your file.
These are just two examples of the potential you have to create effects in Photoshop by combining a number of techniques. There are many tutorial sites on the Web that provide step-by-step tips for visually stunning effects. Check the Links page for this module for examples of these sites.
It is through practice and doing other tutorials that the concepts of Photoshop will begin to gel and give you a better understanding of how the pieces fit together so that you can get creative on your own. You'll discover that there are often different ways to arrive at a common solution. For example, there are probably dozens of lightning tutorials on the Web (if not hundreds) and each of them will be somewhat different.
Special Effects in Photoshop Summary
Photoshop's ability to create visual effects comes from the independent components of the program. When you bring these individual components together you will start to achieve these easy yet stunning effects.
Hopefully, by now, you're feeling quite comfortable with the program. While you may not remember every detail about how a function operates, the important thing is knowing that there is a solution for what you're trying to achieve. You can always refer to Photoshop's Help file to refresh your memory on the details and options. Best of luck with your creative efforts!
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