So, @mattyb usually starts these threads, but I had @jojoclarky ask for an explanation of the following photo so I wanted to explain the post processing:
This one was actually kind of extensive so I apologize in advance for the novel I'm about to write! :)
So for the original, I set up my camera on the tripod, tilted the camera down and focused on a spot on the grass. Then I layed down on that specific spot and with the remote in my left hand (you can see how my left hand is up) I pressed the remote shutter. I overexposed the shot sooc so that I wouldn't have to worry about that post processing. The camera automatically was trying to compensate the wide open shutter with a 1/2000 shutter speed, but I changed it to a bit slower (1/800) so that it would be slightly bright for the theme.
Ok for the post processing. I brought it into photoshop and fixed my skin on my face slightly with a surface blur. (my skin is NOWHERE near that pretty! haha! I have some sun wrinkles from being out by the pool for the last 24 years of my life) I also didn't put any mascara on and that is my security blanket so I took the burn tool and darkened my eyelashes slightly. (I swear the worse I feel about myself one day, the more mascara I will wear.)
From there, I added the bokeh and rainbow layers over the grass. It is a bokeh photo that has gold, red, and blue tones in it and when I layered it with the Soft Light blending mode, they actually turned rainbow. The opacity on that layer was brought down to 67% and I had the look I wanted. Now the upper left corner is one layer, right there by my hair and the starfish is another, and to the right of my body is another. All with the same colorful bokeh photo, just three different layers for the placement and the size of the circles. The parts that were on my skin that I wanted to remove, I just added a layer mask on top of the bokeh layer and basically erased over myself with the black paint (black removes the layer, white adds it back in) leaving the layer only on the grass and not on me.
When that was all said and done, I changed the levels a bit so that the shadows darkened, but the highlights stayed a bit blown. Then I adjusted the color to be a bit warmer (I tend to shoot cool for some reason), rounded the corners in Picnik and viola! There you have it.
If any of this doesn't make sense, I'll find a different way to explain. Just let me know...
Now, keeping in the tradition of @mattyb 's original How Did You Do It Threads, if you have photos with texture layers over them, PLEASE include them here! Let us know how you did it...there are tons of people here that are IN LOVE with texture like myself that would love to know how you accomplished it!
Wow, thanks for the tips. I'm just starting to explore layer masks, so I'll have to try the texture addition as well. I love this picture, it is awesome!
did you use photoshop for the bokeh and rainbow effect? I have not yet messed with layers, dodge, burn, and so on yet but your photo makes me want to try it all. BTW your beautiful and I'm sure even the slightest flaw would not have taken away from this amazing photo.
@relicsong Yes I sure did. It was a photo I had taken of a candy cane door hanger made out of bells (xmas decoration) and I had taken it completely out of focus to make the dots. So really it was the gold and red from the bells and something blue in there...I'm not sure what. It was in my laundry room so it could've been clothing...lol
Anyway, I took that actual photo, dragged it onto the selfie, then changed the blending mode to Soft Light. The soft light for some reason made those colors look like a rainbow instead of the golds, etc. It was sooo cool so I kept it. I lowered the opacity too to 67% so that the grass from the bottom photo still showed a bit... Did that answer your question? I hope so..
@abigailmarie10 This time I went into Color Balance in Photoshop and upped the yellows a bit, and the reds. It wasn't much, just enough for that summery glow look, you know? The same thing can be done in Picnik using the Colors tab. Moving it to the right will result in more reddish/yellow tones.
@hailin_elle absolutely!
Here's the final photo of that one:
That one was significantly simpler. One of my students had a few roses that I thought were gorgeous, so I placed this one on a white sheet of drawing paper. I then took a wet paintbrush (no paint, just water) and dabbed the water drops onto it. It's nuts but the flower didn't soak in any, it just stayed suspended that way in drop form. I used my macro lens for this, shot the flower just as you see it.
Here's the sooc shot:
Then from there, the editing, I brought it into picnik. I brought up the exposure slightly, then went into Advanced on the Exposure tab and clicked on Local Contrast. It defaults to 50% which is nuts, so I brought it down to 20%. Then clicked ok on that...Then in the Create tab, under Advanced, there is a button for Curves. (I believe you have to have premium Picnik to get the curve setting I chose)In the scroll down menu I clicked on Cross Process. This is a bit less harsh yellow than the regular cross process in Effects. You could use that one though, just fade it a bit once it's applied.
Then I added the pink border in Picnik, rounded those edges and that was it. :) Much simpler than the Photoshopped one up top. :)
@amyhughes you explained this really well!! Thank you, from someone who is just learning all of this stuff! Here was my first attempt at layering. Not nearly as nice as yours!
I didn't know how to remove the bokeh from my face. Once I get my camera back, I will try try again!
@marydreams that looks great!! The part about the layer mask is how you remove it from your face. Let me know if you understand once you're in photoshop...otherwise I'll try and re-explain? Maybe I'll do screen captures or something.
Aaah thank you for sharing this! Haven't heard about surface blur before, so off to find out more about it now! :)
This is how I've done it...
1. Picture taken on a low f stop, not much editing itself in photoshop
2. copied the layer and multiplied and screen, using the eraser tool on the label to make it readable
3. include the bokeh layer and turn down the opacity
4. added two new layers, one in orange/yellow and another one in magenta/pink. Then put the opacity down to something like 15%
I'm sure there are cleaner and easier ways of doing this, but this is the only way I know... :(
You guys are so inspiring!!! I'm new to figuring out Photoshop and now I want to go try all this out!!!
@amyhughes You are seriously a natural talent and make me strive to take better pictures!! Thanks for sharing your tips so I can at least attempt..ha ha!! Love your work!!
@tkallen hi Tammy! I shoot with a Sigma EX 50mm 1:2.8 DG Macro... I LOVE IT! I'm still getting used to it but I find that it and my regular 50mm are all I want to shoot with these days :)
@aes981 ok so...the layer mask will add a white mask on the layer (over in the layers tab.) It will also turn your paint squares white and black. Switch over to the black one, click on the paintbrush tool and get a good size. Then you paint his face black (you're actually not painting it, it should erase anything on there) If it's too harsh you can always mess with the opacity on the paintbrush tool and just fade them out a little. Let me know if this makes sense! :)
I even love it over his cheeks by the way, it's like snow is falling in front of his face! (and you know if you'd taken it off the face as planned, it may not have the same effect, it may just look like polka dots on his jacket, so WELL DONE GIRL!!)
@amy: thanks a lot for explaining about he rose...it's rally a very conceptual and gorgeous picture...
uhm...just another question if you don't mind...'cause i'm not really good in messing up with photoshop...i'm more used to photoscape which for me was simpler but i can't do some stuf that i like in that software >.<
but anyway..here's another inquiry, just to make sure i had it correctly in mind...uhm, do you add the bokeh in the picture as another layer? I mean, you shoot the bokeh and the main picture separately and then combine them using layers in photoshop? and then after that, it's when you adjust all the levels, lighting and all?
@hailin_elle yes ma'am that is exactly right! So it's two pictures, layered together, the bokeh layer is the one that I mess with the levels and the blending. You got it. Are you going to try it out? I'm not familiar with photoscape, but I hope it has the option for layers!
@pixelchix I was thinking of you when I made this thread...do you have any texture photos that you can put on here (I know you have TONS that I LOVE TO PIECES). I'd love for you to share, yours are definitely different than mine but oh so amazing.
@amy: yeah...i wanna try out different shapes and maybe letters to see the effect...i don't think photoscape have layers, so i really need to study photoshop more...wish i could do the soft light,dreamy textures successfully...thanks a lot amy ^^
would you mind if i just send you a message in the future if i have some photoshop inquiry? :D
mine is pretty simple; i just played around (ALOT) with picnik, testing differerent things, just being silly, and finaly found a wonderful halloween texture, i also did a little with the curves of the photo:
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been wanting to learn these kind of effects...thanks a lot~
i love the colors you used to make the picture warmer.. how did you do that?
Anyway, I took that actual photo, dragged it onto the selfie, then changed the blending mode to Soft Light. The soft light for some reason made those colors look like a rainbow instead of the golds, etc. It was sooo cool so I kept it. I lowered the opacity too to 67% so that the grass from the bottom photo still showed a bit... Did that answer your question? I hope so..
Here's the final photo of that one:
That one was significantly simpler. One of my students had a few roses that I thought were gorgeous, so I placed this one on a white sheet of drawing paper. I then took a wet paintbrush (no paint, just water) and dabbed the water drops onto it. It's nuts but the flower didn't soak in any, it just stayed suspended that way in drop form. I used my macro lens for this, shot the flower just as you see it.
Here's the sooc shot:
Then from there, the editing, I brought it into picnik. I brought up the exposure slightly, then went into Advanced on the Exposure tab and clicked on Local Contrast. It defaults to 50% which is nuts, so I brought it down to 20%. Then clicked ok on that...Then in the Create tab, under Advanced, there is a button for Curves. (I believe you have to have premium Picnik to get the curve setting I chose)In the scroll down menu I clicked on Cross Process. This is a bit less harsh yellow than the regular cross process in Effects. You could use that one though, just fade it a bit once it's applied.
Then I added the pink border in Picnik, rounded those edges and that was it. :) Much simpler than the Photoshopped one up top. :)
I didn't know how to remove the bokeh from my face. Once I get my camera back, I will try try again!
And here is one I used a texture layer
This is how I've done it...
1. Picture taken on a low f stop, not much editing itself in photoshop
2. copied the layer and multiplied and screen, using the eraser tool on the label to make it readable
3. include the bokeh layer and turn down the opacity
4. added two new layers, one in orange/yellow and another one in magenta/pink. Then put the opacity down to something like 15%
I'm sure there are cleaner and easier ways of doing this, but this is the only way I know... :(
@amyhughes You are seriously a natural talent and make me strive to take better pictures!! Thanks for sharing your tips so I can at least attempt..ha ha!! Love your work!!
uhm...just another question if you don't mind...'cause i'm not really good in messing up with photoshop...i'm more used to photoscape which for me was simpler but i can't do some stuf that i like in that software >.<
but anyway..here's another inquiry, just to make sure i had it correctly in mind...uhm, do you add the bokeh in the picture as another layer? I mean, you shoot the bokeh and the main picture separately and then combine them using layers in photoshop? and then after that, it's when you adjust all the levels, lighting and all?
would you mind if i just send you a message in the future if i have some photoshop inquiry? :D
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/amyleehughes