Are You Getting Deep Into Photoshop Or Gimp

Photoshop CS5 here. This is my latest image, and shows where I do use some blend layers and the settings I chose. I prefer to use adjustment layers were possible because they're non-destructive, but this image shows some examples of physical layering to achieve the final result.

Image is too big to embed, click or copy/paste to see it.

http://www.curious3d.com/Dp-WIP-PS.jpg

i only use photoshop. all my colorized things uses blend modes.

blend modes are hard to describe because they affect colors differently depending what they are.

overlay creates a stronger contrast over another color. white will make things brighter, black things darker. softlight is a hazier version of that and tends not over do things. multiply adds color over a layer, but you have to use color half as strong or it will be too much. difference is used when i want to align an image. the blacker it gets, the closer it is. vivid light is when you want intense color. it should be used very lightly because it will burn into the colors. i don't use too many more than that. occasionally lighter or lighter color and the darker version, but not often. the rest is really ignored.

styles are used often depending on the piece. master those and you can expand what you can do.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Cythnia,

Great image. In some ways it reminds me of what people USED TO try to achieve with trick photography, but better.

Dave

Mike,

I am finding that by looking at YouTube videos my education on blend modes broadens out with often really defined ideas and definitions.

Are you using videos to gain some insights?

Addition Mike, I have not yet figured out at all when to use styles. I know you have said it before, but I forget altogether where to apply them.
I do not generally do anything repetitive where styles would be useful. At least that is my first impression, you are getting some work done and
need to repeat it often so you have something sort of automated. But admittedly I dont get the whole concept.

Dave

High pass sharpen for photographs.....working on massaging skies.......color correcting.......compositing....overlaying single image pieces into HDR works.....just a few uses of blending modes off the top of my head.

What exactly is meant by blending in photo shop?

Mike,

Watching this right now. About ten minutes in. I used a style mode for my rustic works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrjOoSUC8QU

I used stroke prior.

I can use the color overlay and the gradient overlay later. Thanks


The drop shadow is going to make my life easier.

Dave

i've seen some videos, but only to get ideas, i usually make up my own methods after.

@mario - blending color is when you take a layer mode and combine it with another layer.

color mode is typically used when people do colorized things. though i never really use that mode because its too basic.



for this one, i use inner shadow to get the 3-d look on the elements. the wires use shadow, inner shadow, gradient and i think bevel (depending which style i used). the light has glow on and in it.



this uses early versions of some styles, but the beveled glass is a style.


all the lights and glowing are styles.


when i made my alphabet series. the styling for the letters was a style. i made a pattern, shading etc, and just ran the style. same with the shading on the pipes, inner shadow and gradients.


a style allows the same modification over and over. so adding a drop shadow, and pattern and so on, would be a style. from there you can use blend modes to work it in.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Mario, blending is the effect you use when you place one layer over another layer. It's how the top layer changes the layer(s) underneath it.

Mike,

I just went to a new level in PS. Thanks.

Tomorrow as time permits I need a video on adjustment layers, per Cynthia.

But the real test is when any of us apply these techniques. Studying them does not get the job done.

Dave

Most of the time I use blending mode: multiply in Photoshop.

Mario,

If I have an image with lights and dark, and then add a layer of a white fill, I can take the upper white fill layer and apply a blend mode.
Using my opacity level I can see through to the layer underneath.

The mode is set to normal. But if I set it to lighten the white and the underlying image will lighten even more. If I set it to darken then that will pull
out the dark parts of the image underneath more. Multiply is more darken. Soften is more softer lighter parts. Everyone of the blend modes is different.

You can then take one blend mode to darken on one layer and another blend mode on another layer to lighten, the results will be different than just normal on the
bottom layer.

Dave

I don't think I've ever completed a piece that didn't use blend modes or layer styles, but I think it would benefit you to watch some videos on layer masks to use in conjunction with your blend layers for greater control.

Blend modes I use all the time: multiply, linear burn, screen, overlay, soft light, hard light, vivid light, pin light, luminosity, hue, and color.

Layer styles I use: bevel, gradient overlay, color overlay, stroke, inner glow, and (rarely) satin.

April,

I agree. I have only begun to use layer masks. And you are definitely right, much more control.

Dave

Dave, I really like your color choices in the top 2 images in the OP!

Yeah, you pick up little things along the way. I used to use the tiled pattern overlay function in layer styles (many moons ago) until I figured out that I could just overlay texture images right on top of my picture and use a layer mask to non-destructively cut them into the shape I needed. It opened up a whole new world for me about 10 years ago, but that was elementary stuff. I learned a lot about Photoshop on the job as a graphic designer with deadlines looming over me. All I can say is that Google and YouTube are my friends for life.

Kathleen,

I appreciate the compliment. I had to redo those two a few times over looking for the right blend modes and opacities.
It is not hard work, but it is a judgement call.

Thanks,

Dave

One of these days, I need to really learn how to use Photoshop. Need to find the time....

I have recently been learning to use luminosity masks and saturation masks with adjustment layers.

luminosity masks allow you to apply adjustments to specific ranges of lights, darks or midtones using adjustment layers with the luminosity channels selected and then placed inside the layer mask of an adjustment layer.

Saturation masks are made to create a grayscale channel which corresponds to the amount of saturation in an image. It can be used then be used inside a hue/sat adjustment layer to adjust saturation of under or over saturated areas of an image without affecting other areas.

Dave Gordon
http://dgportfolio.net

Jeff,

If I read this thread a year ago I would have turned back for good, be careful.
What DG just posted is way up there in complexity.

DG how do you set up different masks? All I know now is to hit the icon at the bottom of the screen.

Is there a selection process somewhere that I have not yet found?

Dave

Thanks to all who answered my question, I will try that, even though I'm not sure how to, but I'll play with some more of the buttons that say blend.

Mario,

It says "normal" and you can scroll down on it. Right hand just above the layers.

Dave

Ah! I got it, so using these effects is called blending?

They are blend modes. But the button is small. Or the scroll bar is small. No room.

Also normal might as well be neutral.

Dave

you can get shadow, but not perspective shadow. its just a straight drop or you can set the angle of light


however you can create shadows where there weren't any. if you make a shadow, them make a white box (in my case), and set that to multiply. the white will become invisible. you can use this to make a floating shadow text, or in this case, drop shadows for the bars (it was flat when it started).

the nixie tubes is a style as well. along with the border around the buttons, cloth background of that, wires, light glow, the floor was a style made into an image so could stretch the perspective. the button bevels also a style. it can be tricky using the bevel mode, but you can get neat effects. gradient - you have to grab the gradient line with the mouse and drag it to where you want it. same thing with any of the gradients like shadow i think, and inner shadow.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

check out the new blend if in photoshop haven't played with it yet but here's a good video about it

I am really enjoying this thread. I have used blending modes for the textured work I used to do. But I had no idea there was a "layer style." And my Photoshop Elements 11 has it!

Thank you everyone for all the tips and videos. I'm off to study more about blending and style.

You can select by color range or lightness value, you can hand select using the lasso or polygonal lasso, or you can load in images to serve as alpha (mask sources) and use those as selections. As with everything in photoshop, there are a multitude of different methods to achieve anything.

You can see on my image that I have just the elephant selected and use it as an alpha channel to create adjustment layers.

I use EasyPanel. It is free. There are other free ones too. You can download EasyPanel that you install and then you just push a button on a panel and it will create or delete the luminosity masks:

http://www.shutterevolve.com/photoshop-powerpack/

Once you have EasyPanel downloaded and installed, you just click a button, go to the channels palette, command click (mac) or control click (win) on the channel for the mask you want to use (for example a brights, darks or midtone channel). Once the channel is selected, you go back to the layers palette and create an adjustment layer such as levels, curves or whatever and the luminance channel you selected will automatically be in the layer mask for that adjustment layer. Then just make the adjustment.

Dave Gordon
http://dgportfolio.net

then as you explore, you can get into the wide world of brushes. and make all kinds of interesting effects with those. most of what i do, i can do with the custom brushes i made.

there are many things i don't use in photoshop though, the 3-d function stinks and tends to crash my machine. calculations, i never figured out. there are many legacy things that i don't use much more.

learning how to use curves will let you get pretty far as well.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

To create a saturation mask, duplicate the background layer. then use filter-other-HSB/HSL. It will change that layer to a weird psychedelic looking thing. Go to the channels palette and activate the green channel by command/control clicking on it. Then delete the newly filtered layer. It is no longer needed.

The green channel is a grayscale map of the saturation in your image. White areas are least saturated, black areas most saturated. While that green channel is selected create a hue/sat adjustment layer. The saturation channel shows up as a layer mask in the new hue/sat adjustment layer. When you increase or decrease saturation with this adjustment layer, it will mostly affect areas that have the lowest saturation.

You can also reverse this effect by inverting the layer mask.

Dave Gordon
http://dgportfolio.net

Kathleen Bishop "Dave, I really like your color choices in the top 2 images in the OP!"

I agree. But I wonder if Ulysses is happy about his ship exploding under his feet, Lol.

Been seriously into Photoshop for almost twenty years. Still learning. Most of my images end up with about 200 layers. Some even more. Its myriad editing functions let the imagination run free.
Cheers.

I am finding this thread very helpful! Just the effects I wanted to learn, mainly with light and shade, Thanks Mike Savad and Daivid Gordon and everyone who is sharing their knowledge.

To answer the question directly - no, since I don't have either ps or gimp on my machine. I use PhotoPlus5 by serif - mostly crop or perhaps adjust contrast and light - not much else.

If you want to see what else it does for me, visit my other account AW site at Digital Abstract Fine Art

Here.. Let Deke tell you all about it.....

I wish April could tutor me more in the craft, but I'm like Roy. I usually try to get a good picture, then use Adobe PS CC 2014 to crop, color, work with the vibrancy and that's about it. I'm usually taking color away rather than adding it.

Andy,

Ulysses would have approved my power.

Peter Krause,

We come at our work from very different view points. I personally avoid surrealism, I like your work. Two different things.

Bob,

Great video, very useful. Brings this thread back on topic, but it is important that this thread has gone all over PS werks.

Dave