Displacement Effect Tutorial

Information:

In this tutorial I will be showing you how to use the displacement Filter to your advantage and create a stunning black and white illustration. You will learn how to create clipping masks by using splatter brushes and how to manipulate image adjustments to sort out coloring and shadow composition. This tutorial is very easy to follow and you will learn quite a few new little tricks by doing the tutorial. Hope you enjoy it and have fun.

Artist: An1ken from Creativeoverflow
Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Time needed: 45minutes

Resources Used:

• Stock Image on Stockvault
• Splatter Brushes
• Displacement Maps(Must Download for Tutorial)

Final Preview

Step 1:

Let’s start off by opening up the downloaded stock image in Photoshop and then duplicating the background layer by going to Layer>Duplicate Layer. This duplicates your base layer for you, I always do it because I often want to use the base image again and if I don’t duplicate it I won’t be able to work with it. Moving on let’s create a new layer, Go to Layer>New>Layer and then grab your Healing Brush tool from your Photoshop Toolbar (Shortcut: J).
Make sure your sample settings in the top toolbar is set to All Layers and not Current layer, this makes use of all the layers on the layers palette instead of the single layer your currently on. Now we are going to be removing her hair from her forehead, it totally conflicts the focal point as her face and distracts you from what you should be seeing. Hold down ALT on the keyboard whilst you have the Healing Brush selected and then click on a clean spot on her forehead and then let ALT go and brush over the hair that you want to remove. Set the brush size according to your desires.

Step 2:

Let’s go to the Image Adjustments Menu on your layers panel (Half Black Half White Circle) and select Brightness and Contrast. The settings you will be using for brightness and contrast are -12 Brightness and +9 Contrast. Now let’s create some clipping masks, create a new layer – Layer>New>Layer and then grab your brush tool from your Tools, select a nice boasting splatter brush and add it into your image on the new layer. Hide the splatter image and create another new layer. Go to Image>Apply Image – this copy merges your entire document into a single layer. Unhide your splatter layer and then select your applied image layer, go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask or (Shortcut: CTRL+ALT+G). You should now be able to move your applied image layer around within your splatter brush trails. I repeated this process 3 times and came out with the following.

Step 3:

Here comes the interesting part of the tutorial. We are going to be using the Displacement filter to generate a textured feel in the piece. Create a new layer – Layer>New>Layer and then go to Image>Apply Image. Now you will have a merged image of all the layers in one layer, I have provided download links for the displacement maps that I used in this tutorial so that you can follow precisely. With your applied image layer selected go to Filter>Distort>Displace now you will find a option box that gives you options to set the scale and displacement map placement as well as areas. For the first displacement we are going to set the Horizontal Scale to 100 and the Vertical Scale to 100, we will keep the rest of the settings default and hit OK – here is the part where you search for the displacement maps on your computer that you just downloaded and once you find them use the 01.psd file for this displacement and hit open. Suddenly you will see a major change take place on your image, set the blending options to Overlay and grab your Eraser tool. Erase all the unwanted areas in the image that you do not want and then make sure you are happy with the looks of things.

Step 4:

Create another new layer – Layer>New>Layer then apply image once again by going to Image>Apply Image, now make your way up to Filter>Distort>Displace set your Horizontal and vertical scales to 80 and hit OK. Now use the 02.psd file and press open. Now grab your erases tool once again and erase the bit and pieces that you don’t want to have in your final piece.
Now Create a new layer – Layer>New>Layer and then apply image once again – Image>Apply Image. Now go to Image>Adjustments>Threshold use the default value of 128 and press OK. Now go up to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur – Use 100% Zoom blur and hit OK. Now set the blending options to soft light and your opacity settings to 74% erase over bright pieces on the image.

Step 5:

Time to create a few more clipping masks with splatter brushing.  Create a new layer – Layer>New>Layer grab your brush tool with a nice splatter brush selected and brush on the image. Now hide that splatter layer and create a new layer, apply image on this layer by going to Image>Apply Image and then unhide the splatter layer. Select the applied image layer and go to Layer>Create Clipping mask or (Shortcut: CTRL + ALT + G) move the applied image around until your happy with the outcome. I repeated the process 3 times once again and this is the outcome I got below.

Step 6:

Time to bring in some color to the actual black and white image.  Lets create a new layer – Layer>New>Layer and then fill the layer with black #000000 now that you have a filled black layer set your blending options to Linear Dodge. Next I grabbed my brush tool from the Photoshop toolbar and selected a nice big soft brush. I used pink – #ff0072 to compliment the black and white in this piece. Lets brush over her knee and hand to set the ultimate focal point. Next change the size of your brush to a smaller size and select white as your foreground color. We will use this to set the reflection and coloring of the point to a more vibrant expression. Brush inside the pink brushing you did previously. I have shown you the coloring layer below and then the outcome below that.

Step 7:

In this step we are going to be adding a gradient and another color brushing. Let’s go to the adjustments menu (Half white half black circle on your layers panel) now select Gradient Fill – we are going to be using a dark grey/blue to light grey. Color codes are #27333a – #737d86 – #b6bec9 keep the gradient fill settings default, Style: Linear – Angle 90 degrees and hit OK. Change the blending options to overlay and the opacity to 37%.

Now we are going to be repeating the exact same process as in step 6 – create a new layer – Layer>New>Layer now fill it with black #000000 next change your blending options to Linear Dodge and grab yourself a nice soft round brush. I used Pink #ff0072 in this case and brushed it across her shoulder and bottom part of her chin. The color layer is shown below with the outcome of the two sections of this step.

Step 8:

In this step we are going to be adding some image adjustments to the piece to straighten out some coloring depths and composition effects. Firstly lets go down to the image adjustments menu (Half Black Half White Circle on the layers panel) in this case I used the default gradient – Black #000000 to White #FFFFFF and hit OK. Now change your blending options to Multiply and drop your opacity settings down to 14% this will enrich the shadows of your image.
Next let’s go back to the image adjustment menu and select Brightness and Contrast. Move the brightness up +17 and the Contrast to +25. This is going to bump up the brightness of the image and make the effects you created stand out quite a bit.
Last but not least create a New layer – Layer>New>Layer then apply image by going to Image>Apply Image then navigate your way up to Filter>Other>High Pass use the default settings of 10.0 and hit OK this will turn your image into a grey scaling image. Change your blending options to Overlay and your opacity settings to 25% and you’re done.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and had fun. Keep checking back for more.

Photoshop Quick Tips #3 - Enhancing Photos with High Pass Filter

Step 1

Open a regular photo in Photoshop. I used a photo of a cat that I found on sxc.hu http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1069561

Step 2

Duplicate the layer and go to Filter>Other>High Pass. Use 5 pixels. Then change the Blend Mode of the layer to Hard Light.

Step 3

Duplicate the High Pass layer. Keep the blend mode with Hard LIght.

Step 4

Duplicate the original photo and change its Blend Mode to Screen. Then with the Eraser Tool (E) or with a Mask. Delete the dark areas of the photo. Leave just the light areas, the eyes, nose, and mouth. Below you can see the areas I kept, the marquee selection.

Step 5

Group all layers and convert them to Smart Objects, Layers>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Objects. Or if you prefer just merge the layers. Then go to Image >Adjustments>Shadow and Highlights. Use the values from the image below. With this adjustment you can edit how the shadows and highlights will be displayed, and you can simulate the HDR effect by increasing the Tonal Width and Radius on the Shadow and Highlights, and, also the Midtone Contrast.

Conclusion

This is just one way to enhance your photos, you can use the Unsharp Mask filter as well. But I prefer the high pass with hard light, I think it gives a better result, however that will depend the photo you are working on. The most important thing is test and play with the settings and of course add more techniques to your repertoire. If you have a different quick tip, leave a comment sharing and explaining it to us ;).

Click Here for Full Preview

About the author

My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com

Warning: These 9 Photoshop Techniques May Result In Great Photos

Post-Processing (or photo editing) is what makes a good photo great. Cameras produce a good starting point, but post-processing is where the magic happens. If you’re feeling a little bored with your current arsenal of Photoshop techniques, try out some of these creative post-processing tricks to boost your artistic style.

• High Contrast Color

  Boosting the contrast in a color photo can produce some stunning results. Bump up the contrast, play with the colors, and add that sort of “grunge” mood to your photo.
  
  Photo by kk+. Kris Krug is also a
  great Vancouver Fashion Photographer
  

• High Contrast B&W

  I love black & white photos, but I really love a good high-contrast black & white. This method creates a focus on the shapes, lines, and patterns rather than the tones. Also be sure to read my other black and white photography tips.
  
  subway moments by Gregor Winter
  

• High Color Saturation

  One way to make your photo “pop” is to really push up the color saturation. Just be mindful of color clipping and banding if you push it too far.
  
  Fishing Apocalypse by Anoop Negi
  Anoop also has a photography blog
  

• Vintage Look

  Making a photo look older than it really is gives it a lot of character and mood. To get this look, you can toy with color saturation, color tinting, and adding imperfections.
  
  Welcome to the past by Marko Kosovcevic
  

• Lomo Look

  The real lomo photos have a very distinct look to them, but it’s a look that can be replicated through post-processing. They tend to be saturated in a very interesting way.
  
  Lomo by Sigh Lens
  

• Oversharpen

  Most photos need to be sharpened anyways, but some photos can actually benefit from oversharpening. This method gives the image a “harder” look and feel.
  
  Blown by Brian Auer
  You’re already at MY blog!
  

• Texturize

  Overlay texture to bring in subtle elements to your image. It’s a great way to deal with flat and bland portions of the photo by introducing detail and complexity into it.
  
  Unflinching by Ali Sharif
  

• Add Vignette

  Some images really stand out with some applied vignette. It helps create a natural frame around the image and it draws the eye toward the center of the photo.
  
  Sunflower through the Viewfinder by Kaddy
  

• Add Noise & Grain

  This is another way to spice up the bland parts of your image. Adding noise or simulated grain adds texture and feeling to a photo, and can sometimes produce very “gritty” results.
  
  i wanted to walk over the edge by Emily Higginson
  

As you can see, many of these photos apply multiple Photoshop techniques in addition to other techniques not listed here. So if you see a photo that intrigues you, ask yourself why. If you like it partly due to the post-processing, try to imitate the technique on your own photos.
And as for how to do some of these things… maybe we’ll save that for another day.

The hidden power of Photoshop brush tool

In this micro tutorial, I will describe my favorite features of Adobe Photoshop Brush tool. To learn all features, you can simply open Brush palette (Window menu - Brushes), change each setting and try the result when you draw a stroke. The first setting is Tip Shape. You can choose from pre-loaded shapes or you can create your own... more on that later!

 

Brush Tip Shape has one interesting setting: Spacing. It is usually around 20-25% but when you set it larger than 100-150% you will get very different result.

 

Using Shape Dynamics checkbox, you can randomize sizes and angles of brush dots.

 

Using Scattering, you can randomize locations of brush dots - as you draw a straight stroke, dots are added randomly around your mouse.

 

You can use Count setting to control amount of dots.

 

Dual Brush is very interesting feature, which will get you very different results depending on which brush and which mode you choose. Compare the two lines on this screenshot - first line made with simple brush, second - with Dual Brush enabled.

 

You can use Color Dynamics to randomize (or fade, or control with tablet pen) brush color. I do not use this often, though :-)

 

 

Wet Edges is simple and self-explanatory feature :-)

 

The most exciting thing is that you can easily create your own brush. Let's make a star brush for example. Create new image with transparent background (square for our star). Set foreground color to Black, switch to Shape tool (U), select Polygon tool on toolbar, open Polygon options, check Star checkbox, set Indent sides = around 90%, and sides = 4.

 

Draw a shape, rasterize it (Layer - Rasterize - Shape). Select all (Ctrl-A).

 

Go to Edit menu - Define Brush preset. Choose name for new brush, click OK.

 

Now, when you open Brushes palette window (from Window menu), you can see your new brush in Brush Tip Shape list.

 

Now you can enable and adjust Size Jitter, Scattering and Color Jitter, and with single mouse move, get result such as this!

 

Another example - I took the shape of snow flake, created brush preset from it. With Size Jitter, Scattering and Color Jitter, this is what single brush stroke looks like.

 

And another example - heart-shaped brush. Again, this screenshot made with only one brush move!

 

Author: Vlad Gerasimov
URL:    http://www.vladstudio.com