PHOTOSHOP TEXT WORKS

Browsing online, you can find many tutorials for creating fire effects in Photoshop. But most don’t look real. Here is a quick tutorial with a real looking result, a “text flambeau” if you will. Photoshop CS2 is the version…

1. Create a new document using the Preset: 1024 x 768, set the Resolution at 150, and Color Mode to RGB.

2. Press Control + I to invert your foreground and background colors. This will make your background black.

3. Select the Horizontal Type Tool .

4. In your Type options, duplicate the following (I prefer to use a Serif font, so in this case we will use a 60 point Times New Roman that is colored white):

   

5. Type in some text, such as “Hot Type!”.

6. Select the Move Tool in the Toolbar .

7. Then select Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CCW. After doing this, if some of your text is off canvas, simply grab it and drag it back to center.

8. Select Filter > Stylize > Wind. Photoshop will ask you to Rasterize (flatten) the type. Select OK.

9. The Wind filter options will open. Make sure Method is Wind, and Direction is From the Right, then click OK.

10. Now you can see the wind blowing your text.

11. Press Control-F three times to have the wind process repeated. Now you will really see some fierce blowing. Similar to this:

    

12. Select Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CW to bring your text back to a horizontal position.

13. The next series of steps will utilize different layers, some with blurs and some with image adjustments.

14. Press Control + Alt + Shift + E. This will create a new layer that has combined your text and black background.

15. Select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. In the dialog box that opens, select 2.5, then click OK.

16. Now Select Image > Adjustments > Hue / Saturation. In the dialog box make sure the Colorize box is checked, then set your Hue and Saturation each to 40. Then click OK.

17. Now duplicate this Layer by pressing Control + J.

18. Then select Image > Adjustments > Hue / Saturation again. Make sure the Colorize box is unchecked this time, and set the Hue to -40. Click OK.

19. Next, set the Mode to Color Dodge as follows:

    

20. You should now see something like this:

    

21. Now we want to Merge our two adjusted layers by pressing Control + E, so we will have only 3 layers remaining, like so:

    

22. Now for the fun part. Select Filter > Liquify. This filter lets you push, pull, rotate, reflect, pucker and do almost any distortion you like to an image.

23. Set your Brush Size & Pressure to 40 to begin with, then click and drag wavy strokes where you want to create fire movement.

    

24. Try experimenting with different Brush sizes, pressure and density until you find your desired effect. You can always hit Control + Alt + Z to undo your changes. Once you are satisfied, click OK.

25. Now repeat Steps 3 & 4, except this time color your font black. Then drag it and line it up/place it over your fire:

    

26. Now we could stop there, but it doesn’t look real enough yet. We need to make it seem like the text itself is on fire, rather than just have a background effect. This is done by creating a Vector Mask, which simply hides all or part of a layer.

27. Make sure Layer 1 is selected in the Layers panel, then duplicate it by pressing Control + J. Now we have:

    

28. Click drag Layer 1 copy to the top, above the HOT TYPE! layer:

    

29. Then click the Add Vector Mask button in the Layers panel:

    

30. With the Mask selected on Layer 1 copy (as shown above), select the Gradient Tool then click and drag a Black to White gradient line from the bottom of the flames to the where the top of your text is.

31. Finally, to finish, I recommend adjusting the Color Balance and the Brightness / Contrast. Go to Image > Adjustments to make any finishing touches. Our finished project:

SMOKE

Smokin’ Text

To begin this tutorial, change the foreground color to C6C5C5 then grab the “Text Tool” and using “Palatino” as yoyr typeface, at the size of 97, type “smoke.”

Now go to the main menu and select “Filter” then “Distort” and lastly “Ripple.” Slide the Amount bar to 85% and make sure that the size is set to “Large.” Click Ok.

You should now have the following.

Next Go to “Filter” then “Blur” then “Gaussian Blur” at 1.6. Now right click on the text layer and choose “Blending Options.” Then select “Satin” and use the below settings.

You should now have the following.

Next, duplicate the layer and set the “Blend Mode” to “Muliply” and the “Opacity” to 20%. Then, click on the original smoke layer and go to “Filter” then “Blur” then “Gaussian Blur” at 1.6 again.

Create a new layer and using the “Pencil Tool” draw a series of black lines as I have done below.

Now go to the main menu once again and select “Filter” then “Distort” and lastly “Ripple.” Slide the Amount bar to 85% and make sure that the size is set to “Large.” Click Ok. Next Go to “Filter” then “Blur” then “Gaussian Blur” at 1.4.

Now right click on the duplicated smoke layer and choose “Blending Options.” Then select “Color Overlay” and use the below settings.

The Results!!!

You can also grab the “Smudge Tool” if you feel you want to do more for the smoke effect, but as far as I’m concerned, this tutorial is done. Enjoy.

METALS

Metallic Text

We’ll begin this tutorial by drawing a white rectangle using the “Rectangle Tool” on a 340 x 184 pixeled canvas. Name this layer “Rectanlge” then rasterize this layer by going to the layers palette and right-clicking and choosing “Rasterize“. The background is a dark blue to black gradient by the way which can be applied by using the “Gradient Tool“. On the background layer click and drag starting from the top to the bottom or visa versa. This will get you the gradient.

Now, right click on the rectangle layer and select, “Blending Options…“. Now click on “Drop Shadow“.   use settings at left Do not click OK yet… still more to do

Now click on “Bevel and Emboss“.   use settings at left Do not click OK yet. Still more to do.

Now click on “Gradient Overlay“.   use settings at left and in fig 1. You may now click OK.

Fig. 1 (or download gradient here)

You should now have the following:

Now type in “HeavyMetal” using the following settings:

You should now have the following:

Now, right click on the text layer and select, “Blending Options…“. Now click on “Drop Shadow“.   use settings at left Do not click OK yet. Still more to do.

Now click on “Inner Shadow“.   use settings at left Do not click OK yet. Still more to do.

Now click on “Gradient Overlay“.   use settings at left and in fig 2. You may now click OK.

Fig. 2

You should now have the following:

Now type some new text below the original and use steps 8 and 9 for the style. The typeface that was used for “Music” was “Exocet” (download typeface here) while “my ears” was “Verdana“. The color used was 696678. I also eliminated step 10.

Now “Ctrl” click the text layer “HeavyMetal” in the Layers Palette to create a selection around it. Go to the main menu and click on “Select” then “Modify” and lastly “Expand” set it to 4. Next, using the “Rectangular Marquee Tool” and holding the “Shift” key in on your keyboard, add to the selection where the selection dips down in between the letters. Still holding the “Shift” key in, draw a selection over the “Music 2 my ears” text. Now grab the “Polygonal Lasso Tool” and add a selection around the base of the “2“. Once the selections have been made, inverse the selection by going to the main menu and selecting “Select” then “Inverse“. Next, select the “Rectangle” layer in the layers pallet, then go to “Edit” and lastly “Cut“.

The Results!!!

Hope you liked this tutorial.

GLASS EFFECT

Glassy Text

We’ll begin this tutorial, by creating a new canvas with a size of your choice. Now hit “X” then “D” on your keyboard to make the foreground black and background white. Next setect the text tool and choose the text you wish to work with. I chose “Palatino” as text at a size of 91.

Right click on the newly made text layer and select “Blending Options” then click on “Drop Shadow“.   use settings at left and in step 8 below. Do not click OK yet… still more to do

Now click on “Inner Glow“   use settings at left and in step 8 below. Do not click OK yet… still more to do

Now click on “Bevel and Emboss“   use settings at left and in step 8 below. Do not click OK yet… still more to do

Fig. 1

Go ahead and adjust the graph so it is the same as mine. Click OK

Now click on “Color Overlay“.   use settings at left and in step 8 below. You may now click OK

The Results!!!

How to do a crazy effect with Photoshop 7.0

The “Crazy Effect Tutorail ” is a very easy one.To begin, I will show you the final result :

To start, create a 500px by 500px document.

Use a 72px text size and write the word you want.

Use the shortcut Ctrl-E to have only one layer and go to the menu Image–Adjustement–Invert to invert the colors.

Go to the menu Filters–Stylize–Wind and do it twice.(use Ctrl-F after you did it once because it is the shortcut)

Now, rotate the Canvas of 90CW and do the same thing.

Repeat this until your picture is like this. 

Use Ctrl-U to adjust the color and here it is!

Photoshop Tips

Cut a photo into a mosaic or collage

This is a great way to present a photo when you want to portray a broken or fragmented look. It uses the concepts used at one point by fine and modern artists like Andy Warhol by the assemblage of individual snap shots, all taken of the same model, at the same time. It can be quite dramatic.
Reader example #1
Another reader suggested this example

We’re going to show you hot to do both methods, random and organized. We’ll also show how layer styles can be used, stroking inside and outside, as well as how to get a jump start using the slice method. That way you can make decisions based on which method is best for the project you’re working on.

First: The Slice Method

Here we put Photoshop’s SLICE function to work to make even divisions of the image a quick snap. Use this one if you plan to build a border outside the image slices, or you don’t mind losing a bit of the image when you stroke inside the image.

First, we’ll set up the file. This is a photo of a little girl, perfect for our Thanksgiving card. We’ll set up the card to print at 300dpi, at 4.25 x 5.5 inches — which is a standard card. We will reduce the image size a bit to allow room for borders, shadows and a textured background — so we’ll add about 100 pixels to both dimensions, using the Image > Canvas Size menu item.

Grab the Slice tool (tap ‘K’) and hover over the image. Right-Click for the popup context menu and select: “Divide Slice”. A dialog will open where you can set “Divide Horizontally into 3 slices down…” and the same for vertically. Click Okay and it’s done.

In order to actually assemble your project, you’ll need all those split into layers. The fastest way to do that is to choose
File > Save for Web > and then set up your file attributes. I’ve set this one for “no optimization” and “BEST” quality, since I don’t want to disturb the 300ppi, for printing.

When you click Okay, Photoshop will split the files apart and place them in a folder called “images” in the same directory you’re working in. (I changed my name to “slice” and Photoshop auto numbered them for me.)

Bring slices together for your mosaic or collage

Now, simply select all those slice files and drag them over onto the Photoshop icon. They’ll all open, one by one — and you can quickly begin dragging each into the 300dpi work file using the MOVE tool. Don’t bother about arranging them now, we’ll do that later. After each drag, hit your keyboard command to close the slice file.

Once you’ve brought all your files together, you’ll see they’ve arrived on separate layers. Before arranging into your final grid, you’ll want to set the layer style to get your photo border and drop shadow. This way, as you arrange the photos you can do so working with the shadows, etc.

Since this is a large file, and the photo borders are only going to seal about 12 pixels from the edges of the photos, I’ll go ahead and do an inside stroke to get the white border.

Open the STROKE Dialog now to see the settings. Notice the stroke is added to the inside of the layer image — which effectively cuts off some image. Notice also it gives you a nice, sharp, cornet. (If we selected “outside” for the stroke, you would get a rounded corner — not what we want here. I’ll show you that one a little later.)

Now open the SHADOW Dialog to see my settings. Since these settings are dependant on your resolution settings, I’ll not impose them on you. However, just adjust the settings until you get the effect you like.

Once your layer styles are perfect, you can replicate the same style to all the tile layers. There are various ways to do this — however, I like to drag them one-by-one to watch as they affect each layer. Sometimes, after the second or third, I’ll want to tweak it a bit, and bulk apply forces me to bulk remove.

Click the “Expand” arrow at the right of the layer in the Layers Palette to expand the styles. Now, simply hold in the Option key (Mac, Alt for Windows) click on the effect and drag the effect down to the next layer. You’ll see it instantly applied. Repeat for each layer.

Finishing : at this point, I select all those layers and use the Layers menu to “group” the layers. This tucks them neatly away into a layer folder, getting them out of the way.

As you can see from this example, I’ve added a little Thanksgiving message, styled it, and also added a tan layer behind with the Texturizer filter set to a fine grain — just for a little seasonal texture. Everything looks great, so I can save the file — then flatten the file and save it again, using the Save As… to rename it and make it a TIF file for import into my awaiting Quark file.

At right, you can see my finished card.
Time elapsed: 20 minutes.
I’ve also provided you with the 300 dpi version, all ready for your Thanksgiving greeting, so you can have a little fun with it! (tgiving_card.jpg 1300 x 1650, 812K)

At this point, I must say that while this is by far the easiest and fastest method, I may not like the way the white borders cut into my image. I think I would also like a little more randomness to the tiles on the design.

Now, let’s manually

Manual slicing for a mosaic or collage

As you saw before, slicing is fast and easy. It also divides the image perfectly, with Photoshop doing all the math necessary to split the image in as many cells or tiles as you want. We used the “Inside” method of stroking — but it cut off parts of the image. In order to use the ‘outside’ method, the slice function won’t work. We’ll have to cut them out manually.

Not being particularly fond of math, I usually divide images using this little trick. It won’t take but a minute.

Draw a square shape into a new layer. Here I drew one, filled it, and then set the opacity for about 80% so I could still see my image. I used the Move tool to Option/drag (Alt/drag) the second, and third squares. Then I did the same to drag copies of each row until I created a grid of nine squares.

Pop open the grid.

Now, I will carefully select each tile, using this grid, but select outside the image rectangle to compensate for the width taken by the “Stroke Inside” layer style. This gets a little tedious.

Upon making the selection using the Marquee tool, I click the original image, and float a copy of that selection to its own layer. Float by hitting Command/J (Control/J). The tile on its new layer will be de-selected, so Command click its thumbnail in the layers palette, return to the original image, and still using the Marquee tool, move the selection alone (without image) to select the next tile.

After moving the selection rectangle to the next position, again, return to the original image layer and float a copy of that selection to its own layer. Walk your way through the file until you’ve picked up all nine tiles. If you view them all at the same time, you should see a seamless copy of the original image.

Once you have all nine tiles lifted to their own layers, you can turn of the view of the original, set layer styles and duplicate styles as described in the previous section.

This adds another 20 minutes or so to the time, but in my opinion, makes the finished piece better. The images look as if they would match up.

Now, if you don’t mind rounded corners on your images, you can use the Slice method, and simply set the Stroke style to the outside rather than inside…

Above, you can see the impact of rounded corners. If these are okay, then use the slice method and set the Stroke style to the outside. Notice here, I’ve also played with the layout a bit, slanting or tilting the images to give the presentation a more casual look. I think the rounded corners add to that as well. At this point, you know the technique — it’s just your call as to how to apply the stroke.

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Painter: Creating a Woodcut from a Photo

Open a photo and clean up the background; copy the Canvas to make a new layer; create a color woodcut plate on the Canvas; create a black woodcut plate on the new layer; retouch the black plate; add clouds and texture.

At right you see John Derry’s original digital photo of the pagoda, contrasted with the woodcut we’ll be creating in this tutorial. (expand)

With Painter’s Woodcut filter you can start with a photo and achieve a look similar to a conventional wood block print. You can simply use the color arrived at by the Woodcut filter defaults, or you can enjoy complete control over choosing the colors.

The traditional wood block printing process involves simplification of detail in the lines and color areas. Inspired by Japanese wood block prints from the 1800s, John Derry created Pagoda, which is based on one of his own digital photos. Painter’s Woodcut filter helped him to reduce the number of colors in the image and to fine-tune the colors for the final artwork.

1 Choosing a photo.
Open a photo with good contrast and color. A bold image with a strong focal point will work best for this effect.

2 Cleaning up the sky.
To focus more attention on the pagoda, Derry simplified the sky by selecting it and applying a blue fill. Choose the Magic Wand in the Toolbox and click in the sky. Adjust the Tolerance in the Property Bar until most of the sky is selected; at this point, edges are most important, since you can clean up any small internal “debris” by painting on the mask later.

Save the selection as a mask in the Channels palette by choosing Select, Save Selection.
In the Channels palette, open the eye icon to the left of the mask’s name.
Choose black in the Colors palette and paint on the mask where you need to add more mask; use white to remove areas of the mask (for instance, to remove debris). To use the mask to isolate the sky, choose Select, Load Selection. (See Chapter 5 to read more about working with masks and selections.) Next, fill the selection with blue by choosing Select, Fill with Current Color.

Above, left: The Image viewed with the mask eye icon open, and (center) the active selection with the blue fill applied

3 Setting up layers.

The Woodcut process is easier to control when the color elements are on a separate layer from the black elements. Derry started his layering by making a duplicate of the original image. To put a duplicate of the image canvas onto a layer, choose Select, All (Ctrl/1-A), press the Alt/Option key and choose Select, Float. In the Layers palette, turn the new layer’s visibility off by toggling shut the eye icon to the left of its name.
(Above right: The visibility of Layer 1 is turned off and the Canvas is selected.)

4 Cutting the color “wood block.”

In the Layers palette, click the canvas name to activate it for the colors. To access the Woodcut dialog box, choose Effects, Surface Control, Woodcut. When the dialog box appears, disable the Output Black check box. The options for Black Output will now be grayed out. In the lower portion of the window, accept the default number of colors (16), and smooth out the edges of the color blocks by adjusting the Color Edge slider to the right. (Derry set it at approximately 11.46.)

Increasing the Color Edge to make simpler, smoother shapes (left) and brightening the gold color (right)

Woodcut previews
It’s possible to view two previews in the Woodcut dialog box: the working woodcut image and the original image. By default the woodcut image is visible. To see the original image, drag the Grabber hand in the Preview window. When you release, the preview of the woodcut will be visible again.
The Woodcut dialog box with the standard preview showing a color woodcut image and dragging with the Grabber hand to reveal the original image

When the edges were as he liked them, Derry fine-tuned a few of the colors. For instance, he chose a tan color swatch (at the bottom of the dialog box) and made the color brighter. Click on a color square to select it; a red outline will appear around it. Now that it’s selected, you can choose a new color in the Colors palette and the swatch will change to the new color. To sample a color directly from the image Preview window, press the Ctrl/1 key and click on the Preview. To change the color, choose a new color in the Colors palette.

To see other areas of your image in the Preview window, drag with the grabber hand cursor to move around the image preview. When you’re satisfied with the colors, click OK to accept.

Next: Woodcut Previews and Cutting the Black Plate

Use Photoshop Match Color to match colors of two files

The Match color command in Photoshop is probably one of the more misleading and seldom used functions we see. It’s actually quite simple, and can go a long way to changing images. Photoshop attempts to evaluate and then match the general color and contrast of one image, and then apply it to another. Actually, it’s a very powerful function and can work on photos with a lot more difference than this one. It also has a lot of potential as an “artistic” tool, because changing the settings can result in some spectacular images.

Well, it’s not always perfect. In fact, it’s almost NEVER perfect. Adobe and the book authors make you think it’s perfect so you’ll buy the product. But it’s been my experience that you really have to tweak it a bit to get it working properly.

You can help along by choosing sections of the image most representative and try again…

Well, the second try is not quite getting it either. We selected a good cross section of the image, but as you can see the little dress, as well as the ground area went way too much red — while the sky STILL didn’t make it to the intensity of the other shot.

We played with the settings and no matter what we tried, the color could not be matched. Why? This kind of shot is almost impossible to match. Both photographs are nearly perfect, but they’re different because of the metering system in the camera. By taking a reading of the intense, close up subject, the shot was captured with a misleading richness. So, when trying to match it in the second shot, which is probably the more accurate of the two, Photoshop wants to enrich everything, where only the sky is necessary.

Yes, there must be an easier way.

Grab the Eyedropper, (tap “i”) and sample the rich sky at the very top (1), and then hit “x” to reverse the foreground and background colors — sample again at the very bottom (2). This ‘loads’ the color palette.

Now make a selection in your image to cover just the area which would be the “sky” … you’ll need to include some of the trees in this scenario — or else create a good, accurate selection of those trees to mask only the sky with a selection. I used a regular rectangle marquee because a blending mode will knock out the rest…

Now set the Gradient tool (tap “g”) and make sure the gradient settings are for “Foreground to Background colors” — which you’ll find in the Gradient tool options bar.
Then drag from the top to the very bottom (#3 to #4) and presto, a great sky.

Here you see the photos are now very much matched. By setting the blending mode to “Darken” I avoided having to outline the trees. The layer was “darkening” only lighter colors — which was the sky and not the trees. The child, dress, dirt and overall luminosity of the two are nearly identical. I did go in and lighten just a slight amount using Levels — simply because I feared the richness of the sky would look artificial.

Next time you want to ‘match color’ try this command under the Adjustments menu. But don’t necessarily expect magic. If it doesn’t work after a few tries, look for other methods.

I’ve also provided another tutorial on color matching, produced by someone named Denmuel. It gives a pretty good look at using the match where the above problems would not be encountered. 

Photoshop gradient map uses…

I could spend about 20 pages here describing and stepping through a Curves tutorial to accomplish this task. But I won’t. One of the seldom mentioned tools in Photoshop and Elements is the Gradient Map. This tool can do many things — one of which is accomplish this reader’s goals…

As you can see, these examples were toned down, or “tinted” as we called it in the old days. The technique de-saturates color until the image is almost grayscale. Rather than desaturating using the Hue/Saturation functions, the Gradient Map has a much softer hand, and I think does a better job.

Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map…
You can simply hit ‘okay’ to dismiss the opening dialog, or play with the settings. The Mode should be set to normal, so if the image looks like a negative, then reset that pull-down. Leave it set to 100% and do nothing else.

Now, use the Opacity slider to adjust the effect of the Map. At 100% the image will be grayscale. I have found this to be the best method of converting color photos to grayscale for newsletters and other print projects that use a PDF to print to a Duotech or other “rapid” on-demand printing process.

Here’s the final compare. I’ve also posted another comparison just to show flesh tones in a natural “green” setting… which looks almost like an old fashioned hand color tint photo. (Open the other example.)

Use this tool when the occasion arises where the complexity of Curves is overkill! Thanks for reading

Creating Black & White from Color

                                            Black-and-white photography is as powerful today as it was when color photography was just a distant dream. A different set of skills is required when working with black and white, as the absence of color means the interplay of shape and contrast must work harder to tell the story or set the mood, but when it works, it’s very effective.

Some cameras have a dedicated black-and-white mode, but even if yours doesn’t, you can still work in black and white. In fact, it often works better to shoot in color and convert later on. Photoshop offers a breathtaking array of techniques for converting color to black and white (or more correctly, grayscale), and these enable you to control the process with a degree of finesse that would be difficult to match in the field.

Method 1: Desaturation

This shot was taken early one winter’s morning in New York. The sky had a dramatic quality and there was a fine haze rising to meet the colder air at higher altitudes. The image works well in color, but it also has potential for a striking black-and-white impression of the city.

The most obvious way of converting color to black and white is to convert the mode to grayscale (Image > Mode > Grayscale). This is okay, but there are better alternatives.

The first is desaturation — removing the visible color information but maintaining the RGB status of the file. This means that if you wanted to add a tint later you could do so without having to change color mode again.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (or press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + U).

The problem with desaturation is that it often delivers a flat, uninspiring rendition. We can improve this, however. Analyzing the photo, we need to strengthen the texture in the sky by darkening the shadows and midtones, but the buildings below need a general increase in contrast to remove the haziness. It’s best to treat the sky and the buildings as separate entities. Make a feathered selection of the sky, using the natural division of the rising dark haze as a guide.

Press Ctrl/Cmd + J to copy and paste the selection to a new layer, and rename it “sky.”

Add a Levels Adjustment Layer to it, making sure the two layers are combined as a clipping mask.

To bring out the sky texture, drag the Black and Gray point markers to the right as shown.

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER images, which will pop open in a new browser window.

Depending on the amount of feathering and the position of your selection, you may see a dividing line after the Levels adjustment has been made. This is easily removed by adding a layer mask to the sky layer (set to Reveal All) and painting on the mask in black until the edge disappears. Work carefully with a soft brush at a low opacity and the result should look something like this.

We could use a Levels adjustment layer to add contrast to the buildings, but there is an alternative route.
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves to add a Curves adjustment layer to the background layer.

Applying the curve shown increases midtone contrast, at slight expense to the highlights and shadows. This diminishes the haziness in the area of the buildings.

The final image is far more striking, and much closer to what the photographer originally envisioned.

 Method 2: Single Channels

In traditional black-and-white photography, color filters are often used over the lens to create dramatic contrast, the reason being that hues that are quite different in real life can merge into one when seen in grayscale. For instance, a strong blue sky with white clouds can appear weak in a black-and-white photograph.

A red filter placed over the lens will darken the blue sky, making the white clouds stand out, because the red filter blocks the blue color waves more effectively than it does colors that are nearer to red. As a result, a red car in the same scene would look lighter. In short, when a color filter is used in black-and-white photography it lightens elements of its own color and darkens elements of its complementary (opposite) color.

We can see this principle in action in Photoshop and use it to create some very different styles of black and white. In this photograph of a mountain stream in the French Alps, the combination of strong contrast and lighting with the sensual curves of the glistening snow makes it an ideal candidate.

1 Go to the Layers palette, click the Channels tab, then click on the Red channel.
The image seen will resemble the result that a red filter over the lens would have generated, with a darkening of the blue-tinted areas that makes for a moody, sophisticated image.
For comparison, click on the Green channel.
The result is similar to the Red channel but less pronounced.
Finally, look at the Blue channel — it’s lighter, since most of the image is blue.

2 Without doing any work, we have three different ready-made black-and-white effects.
All we have to do is choose our preferred option: dark and moody.
Click on the Red channel.

The following keyboard shortcut sequence makes light work of turning it into a new document:
Ctrl/Cmd + A (selects all)
Ctrl/Cmd + C (copies the selection to the clipboard)
Ctrl/Cmd + N (creates a new document of the same proportions as whatever we have on the clipboard. The document will also be a grayscale as we only have one channel selected)
Enter/Return (to confirm the settings. No changes are necessary)
Ctrl/Cmd + V (to paste the contents of the clipboard to a new layer)

That’s all there is to it. Use Levels and Curves if you want to fine-tune the result.
(Here’s a side-by-side comparison)

Method 3: Calculations

Using the channels straight out of the box works brilliantly, as long as one of the channels gives you the desired result. If not, some manual mixing is the best solution. The Calculations command is your best resort — don’t let the name put you off, as no math on your part is required. This image of the bell and cross is our next challenge.

1 Checking the channels shows that the Red channel offers the best contrast between the sky and white cross. However it’s not very strong and the range of tones isn’t varied enough to create a strong result.

2 Keep the Red channel active and go to
Image > Calculations.
Because the Red channel was active, the Red channel appears in the Calculations dialog box. Source 1 and 2 are set to the same document, layer, and Red channel, which means they will be combined for the calculation to take place.

The blending drop-down is set to Multiply. This works in exactly the same way as the normal layer blend modes. Multiply will darken the image, but based on the red channel. Therefore blue elements or elements with a blue cast will become darker than other elements.

Set the Result drop-down box to New Document to create a new multichannel file based on the calculated result.

3 In this case, multiplying the Red channel works perfectly. The blues are darkened, creating this bold final image.

Combine Red and Green Channels

For a slightly less dramatic result, try combining the Red and Green channels, again using the Multiply blend mode. The difference is subtle, but it demonstrates the fine control you have using this technique.

The Channel Mixer

Staying within the context of mixing and calculating channel values, another powerful option is the aptly named Channel Mixer. This command allows us to mix the values of each of the channels, providing us with an enormous variety of combinations. In this shot there should be no mistaking the flower from the leaves and stem. However, after desaturation the greens and pinks merge.

1 Make sure the RGB composite channel is active, then go to
Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer.
Enable the Monochrome checkbox.
Changing the percentage values for each of the Red, Green, and Blue channels will dramatically influence the image. Traditional black-and-white photographers might consider using a green color filter here, as this will lighten the greens of the foliage and darken the pink flower (pink is almost complementary to green).
To emulate this in the Channel Mixer, change the values by boosting green and diminishing red.

2 The result is very different from the original desaturated version. We can use the idea of a color filter as a guiding principle here, or just adjust the settings by eye. The main thing to keep in mind is that the total percentage value of all channels combined should be roughly around 100% with a variance of 20% or so.

Your eyes will tell you this as you experiment — any extreme value above or below 100% simply won’t look good.

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Saving Bad Photos: Badly Underexposed

Quite frankly, I would much rather have a dark, under exposed photo then an overly bright over exposed photo. With a dark photo, at least there’s a chance that there will be enough color data and detail to save the shot. When they’re blown away and too bright — there’s little you can do to put pixels where none existed before.

Sad to report however — so many variables come into play that sometimes the shot cannot be saved no matter what techniques you use.

One reader who enjoys photographing food on trips sent this photo of the appetizer at the Kia Lodge restaurant at the foot of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. This was a shrimp and cucumber moose, and it looks delightful. Too bad we really can’t see it. Yes, I would certainly try to save that shot because you might not be going back too often!

Fixes in Layers: The next series of shots will progressively show the layers I added, and their results. After that, I’ll walk through some “auto” fixes provided in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

My first attempt will be to SCREEN the photo over top of itself.
Drag a copy of the layer to a new layer and set the Blending mode to SCREEN. But the results are still wanting… so I’ll just drag that same layer to the “New Layer” button and screen it again…

Once again, the image lightens, and we’re a little closer to where the photo looks somewhat realistic. To kill much of the incandescent lighting effects — making the shot too yellow and warm, next, I’ll try a cooling filter…
Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter > Cooling

This is going in the right direction, however it needs more. There is a slider in the cooling filter which applies more or less of the effect, but I’ll leave well enough alone, and simply duplicate this Adjustment layer as well.

At this point the color seems close, but the shot is still murky and dark. Now it’s time for LEVELS

LEVELS are your “all purpose” adjustments, second only to Curves as the real power adjuster. As you can see from this shot, by tightening the RIGHT slider toward the middle, and the MIDDLE slider toward the left, the photo now looks comfortable and realistic. Let’s compare:

The photo is still a little warm — evidenced by the lack of ‘whiteness’ in the plate, but it probably approximates what the diner saw that evening. The photo still has major problems:
It’s not sharp, probably due to the low lighting and slow shutter
It’s probably also suffering from some hand-held camera movement

Before throwing away a shot that really looks too bad to save, try levels and the assortment of adjustment layers available under the Layer menu. With some experimentation you can save the photo without learning hundreds of pages of Photoshop training material.

Now, let’s take a look at some of Photoshop’s “Automated” correction tools, and see if we could have done a better job with those… Next: Auto Color, Auto Levels, Auto Contrast