Retouching Photos: Photoshop and Illustrator Q&A

[Elegance.Is.Refusal.]

nope not a thing!! I just bought the CS3 Extended from Amazon for £140...a fraction of the £600 price tag for the "normal" version. Everything is the exact same and not a single thing missing!!

i have some money coming my way and this would be a good idea to get while im still a student although the whole proof of being a student thing is getting me i mean i am a student i have a library card which says i am with photo and everything but im not sending that off it costs to replace it and im abit stuck into thinking what would be proof

and what happens when your not a student anymore!

since my current illustrator doesnt like to run properly

 

[Street_a_Licious]

did this turn to the everything photoshop thread?

if so, awesome.

anyone knows if there is a filter with which i can make normal snapshots look like professional pictures? like, for photoshoots and ad campaigns.

like this

(from the DKNY ad thread, but originally DKNY.com)

there's gotta be a filter one can like SLAP on top of a photo taken with a normal camera and turn it into that, no? cuz usually, selfmade pictures turn out too "sharp". fashion pictures tend to have a certain softness to them...

help? anyone?

 

[gius]

image didn't load, street

 

[Street_a_Licious]

oh crap...

(from the DKNY ad thread, but originally DKNY.com)

this should do it.

anywhoo, i'm just using that as a general example. selfmade digital pics NEVER turn out like this. so i'm hoping for a Photoshop filter which can create that.

 

[gius]

ok what they've done is made the figures (the two models) stand out more

- the background has been blurred
- the colours of the clothes, skin, etc of the two models have been 'saturated' ..to make the colours stronger

i'm afraid there is no easy slap-on instant filter but i don't think it's very hard to do

------

you can do it in layers
make 3 copies of each layer
one for the background
one for the two figures
and one that will just be the original
(and do it in this sequence)

for the background layer, use gaussian blur in Filters.. it's up to you how much
then use your mouse to erase where the two figures are
they will then appear clearer than the background

in the second layer, the two figures layer
you can use gaussian blur again on a lesser amount , just so that for example the pores of their skin will disappear and the shadows will smoothen out
Finally, erase the "key" areas.. such as the lips, eyes, the outline of the body, etc. to bring out these details -----you can play with the strength of the eraser (moving it from 0% - 100%) to show how much detail you want

i hope that makes sense ?

 

[fourboltmain]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

Also in Photoshop there's a filter called lens blur, try that one out too.

 

[Mchunu]

i want photoshop so bad!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gius]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

Also in Photoshop there's a filter called lens blur, try that one out too.

good point

you could also just set your camera to "detail shot" or "portrait" for closeups
the background will blur automatically

 

[Street_a_Licious]

so, the magic lies in using the blur?

awesome.

 

[gius]

^yes precisely

and also you can edit to your taste the colours .. how strong they are, etc.

 

[Street_a_Licious]

i used to use Paint Shop Pro for those kinda things. the gazillions of options on PS confused me lol.

 

[ElectricAlyce]

Also in Photoshop there's a filter called lens blur, try that one out too.

Please, please don't!
If you want to fix photographs JUST in term of light, colour, shading etc. then I reccomend Apperture (on a mac) or Adobe Lightroom (both mac and PC), if you don't want to do photomanipulations then you don't need photoshop at all.


a little sidenote to the student version of adobe photoshop. There are some legal limitations to it. So TECHNICALLY, if you buy the student version, and someone asks you to retouch a photograph for a magazine for 100$, you (again, technically) can not do that. It's illegal to sell/barter anything made with a student version. So when it comes to sending things off, it doesn't matter if you got the student version or a downloaded version, it's illegal anyhoo. (Nobody will of course ever care, but just so everyone knows).

And I'm sorry, I don't think there are any sudden-improve-filters. Lots of people would be without a job in that case You always got the fake-tool though

 

[gius]

what do you mean by "or a downloaded version" ? ^
downloaded version doesn't mean student version, does it...

 

[ElectricAlyce]

what do you mean by "or a downloaded version" ? ^
downloaded version doesn't mean student version, does it...

Nah, meant that if you use photoshop for a paid job, then it's equally illegal to supply a file from the student version as an illegal piratey-copy-torrent-download, if that made more sense

 

[gius]

ah i see

you mean student version
and pirate version
both illegal


er that's too bad really...

 

[Kaki]

^ illegal to sell, but of course not to use for personal use!

I agree about using the blur filter to achieve depth of field - there really is no quick fix, and even blurring the background may look cheap, no matter how well you "cut out" the person in the foreground. There are digital cameras that will give that effect, granted they are tons more expensive than typical digital cameras, but many people will be able to tell when depth of field is simulated and not natural.

 

[ElectricAlyce]

^ illegal to sell, but of course not to use for personal use!

I agree about using the blur filter to achieve depth of field - there really is no quick fix, and even blurring the background may look cheap, no matter how well you "cut out" the person in the foreground. There are digital cameras that will give that effect, granted they are tons more expensive than typical digital cameras, but many people will be able to tell when depth of field is simulated and not natural.

Indeed. If you want to use it for purely educational purposes then the student version is the way to go on the legal side of the fence! There are also places that gives you a student-discount on all software, normal version or student. But the normal legal version costs a surreal amount of money (concidering it's a piece of software)

Also, when you want a depth to your images (like in the DKNY-ads on the previous page) you will achieve MUCH better results by doing it manually with a digital reflex-camera, then adjusting the depth of view so that, say the models are two meters from the camera, then everything within one to three meters of the camera is in focus and everything behind is unfocused. It's close to impossible to do this 100 percent realistic in photoshop, and takes alot of time and patience. And just as a sidenote, the camera-adjustments mentioned is easier said than done

Digital single-lens reflexs cameras are getting cheaper and cheaper, and if you are more or less serious about photography you'll need one, only thing is that they tend to weight a ton Not something to put in your purse in other words

 

[Fashion_Girl22]

I have a Question! I don't know how to to word it well though. How do I get that circle that is usually around the brush thingy. Now it has like arrow thingys. So that my explition sounds so immature, its just hard to put into words.

See circle in screencap:

​

 

[gius]

what is this circle thing supposed to do ...? draw a circle or make a mask/selection

 

[Fashion_Girl22]

It just shows the brush size.