Photoshop Advice Megathread

[VictoriaGooner]

Hi,

This is such a great little thread on Photoshop techniques. I am fairly new (6 months) to Photoshop/Illustrator/Inkscape and the creation process. I am trying to convert skyline photos so that it only employs two main colors. I was hoping you could help me out in how to create the effect with both the coming through the photo.

I have been playing around but have hit a wall with this. I know you set the photo to "greyscale" first. I can make it so I have the primary color and either black or white (depending on using Multiply or Screen blending). But I can't figure out how to get the second color to take the place of the black or white. Is there a way to convert the secondary color in the "greyscale" to any other color so that when you use Multiply it allows the blending of the two colors? I just can't figure it out plus there is no actual thread on here or any forum I can find on this process. Can you please help me out. Thanks.

[derschwigg]

Hi,

This is such a great little thread on Photoshop techniques. I am fairly new (6 months) to Photoshop/Illustrator/Inkscape and the creation process. I am trying to convert skyline photos so that it only employs two main colors. I was hoping you could help me out in how to create the effect with both the coming through the photo.

I have been playing around but have hit a wall with this. I know you set the photo to "greyscale" first. I can make it so I have the primary color and either black or white (depending on using Multiply or Screen blending). But I can't figure out how to get the second color to take the place of the black or white. Is there a way to convert the secondary color in the "greyscale" to any other color so that when you use Multiply it allows the blending of the two colors? I just can't figure it out plus there is no actual thread on here or any forum I can find on this process. Can you please help me out. Thanks.

You could do a Gradient Map of the image and make your process a lot simpler. Here's a good write-up on how to do that. http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/gradient-map/

[Darth Brooks]

Download link. (yup, that's DOWNLOAD link, as in the download the template)

http://darth-brooks.deviantart.com/art/DM-Template-Publish-447816664

The other one will uploaded after a bit.

(The file needed to be fixed. The white layer was trashed somehow. It's all good now.)

[Darth Brooks]

Hi,

This is such a great little thread on Photoshop techniques. I am fairly new (6 months) to Photoshop/Illustrator/Inkscape and the creation process. I am trying to convert skyline photos so that it only employs two main colors. I was hoping you could help me out in how to create the effect with both the coming through the photo.

I have been playing around but have hit a wall with this. I know you set the photo to "greyscale" first. I can make it so I have the primary color and either black or white (depending on using Multiply or Screen blending). But I can't figure out how to get the second color to take the place of the black or white. Is there a way to convert the secondary color in the "greyscale" to any other color so that when you use Multiply it allows the blending of the two colors? I just can't figure it out plus there is no actual thread on here or any forum I can find on this process. Can you please help me out. Thanks.

Upload the picture you are wanting advice on.

[pattymus01]

Download link. (yup, that's DOWNLOAD link, as in the download the template)

http://darth-brooks.deviantart.com/art/DM-Template-Publish-447725988

The other one will uploaded after a bit.

Darth, that is awesome. Will be a great learning tool. Thanks

[St Louis Cardinals]

Pants look a little bright. other then that, great work!

[STL_ArchMadness]

ok so i really dont want to clog up this thread, but i dont know where else to post this...

I'm trying to make my own template from this thread, it has beena huge help!

I started with this picture of AJ McCarron because Bama's jerseys are so simple and i liked the angle.

and i cleaned up the colors (very rough, not done yet but just an example) and added a visor so you couldn't see his face. Also very rough and not done yet. So here's where im at

but i don't know what to do after this. Can anyone possible help me out?

Thanks!

[Darth Brooks]

One thing is to desaturate the helmet and then make a white and black master with it. Basically, you're making one version of the uniform that looks like it would if it was black, and one (that you already have) of a white uni.

The helmet should give you some flexibility because it's a gray value (it's not a strongly white or black helmet) so you should be able to get some highlights and some shadows out of it.

[STL_ArchMadness]

ok so i worked on it tonight, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! this was my first real attempt, and I would've never been able to do it without your help and this thread! so i just wanna say thanks and show you the results

original:

plain jersey (minus tattoo):

under colors:

finished template:

example:

[Darth Brooks]

I probably need to explain what I meant by black and white masters.

Most items that you look at will have shadows and reflected light. Take this Soccer ball for example.

Even though it's a white ball, it's not a perfect white. The shadows and reflections give the ball it's shape. Same with a football helmet. If you try to just use either Multiply or darken or any single tool, you're not going to get a good image.

Let's go with Multiply.

We have a black set up for highlights (reflected light) and a white set up for shadows. Just using multiply white is ok but dull and the black is awful What about Screen (which we saw above is a better way to lighten a subject)?

This time around the black is, well, it's there. Neither image is dark enough. Let's combine techniques.

Now we have a nice solid looking image that runs the gamut of values from light to dark. It comes out feeling real rather than that puzzling "I know something's wrong but I can't figure it out" feeling.

What you need to make is this:

The helmet comes out like this:

Instead of

Look at the reflections on your helmet, the white is washed out into a light green rather than a proper highlight. Doing this will mean a consistent image no matter how light or dark the colors will be. Also, don't be afraid of painting in stuff. On the white I painted out a highlight because I knew the black would still have it.

[colinturner95]

You masked what you didn't want to change on the Doug Martin image. Could you give a step by step on how to do that?

[SG89]

You masked what you didn't want to change on the Doug Martin image. Could you give a step by step on how to do that?

Duplicate the image so you have two copies. You can use either the top or bottom layer, as long as it looks proper. If needed, name one "Details" or something, so you know which one is not to be changed.

Create a layer mask, and fill it black. Brush over all you want to keep (ie- facial details).

[Prefix270]

This is one badass thread. Darth must be a photoshop Sith Lord or something. Great stuff!

[Darth Brooks]

Well the sith lord is unemployed at the moment and looking for work. So if you know of any openings ...

[Darth Brooks]

Here's the other template.

http://darth-brooks.deviantart.com/art/Doug-Martin-Template-450283476

[HailGoldPants]

Here's the other template.

http://darth-brooks.deviantart.com/art/Doug-Martin-Template-450283476

Many thanks.....you complete me.

[Djruggs]

Any way you could find a way to have an editable pant-swoosh, as well as the gloves and cleats? I've tried but can't get it right.

[Darth Brooks]

The swoosh you just have to paint in underneath the "Leave alone" layers. For the gloves you'll have to mess with one of the "Leave alone" layers.

Go to the group that's labeled "Leave alone" in the psd. One of the layers is labeled The Man. It's a copy of the image with the sections I want unchanged. It's in front so that all the changes happen behind/below it and don't affect it.

Take the freeform selection tool and select the gloves and booties shoes. Copy and paste what you've selected and make sure it's lined up in the right spot.

Go to Image> Adjustment>Hue/Saturation.

What you're wanting to change is mostly red so instead of leaving it at "master" (which changes all colors) select Red and adjust away.

[Darth Brooks]

Copying a request from j26 over here:

whats up guys. I have a request to make these two images into a .PSD template if possible with those masks. I'm not allowed to start a separate thread, so i posted this here as I saw it had some views. Let me know if I should post it somewhere more appropriate, and my bad if its way out of place. These are some good neutral colored straight up views for football I think would be a good addition to the other templates we seen posted before. Thanks.

(two images were posted here)

First bit, find the biggest image you can find. Google image search came up with these two.

http://helmetgame.co...met-game-18.jpg

http://hurricanespor.../img/wide/4.jpg

Bigger is better because. You can do detailed work better then shrink it down to a presentation size.

Also, pick one image and work on it. Make your mistakes and then learn for the next time.

Give yourself time to think about what you want. Charles Shultz said that people would see him staring off in the distance and assume that he wasn't working so it was OK to come up and talk to him. What they didn't realize is when when he was staring off in the distance, he was thinking, and that was when he was doing his hardest work.

[J26]

thanks for the repost Darth Brooks, still new to the forum so I haven't actually realized there has been a lot of content loaded to this thread since I've last check in here. I'll be sure to go through and do my homework.