of course this is no where near the quality of what you are doing... but here is my first try at this.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...cemountain.jpg
Are you using a mouse or a tablet for editing work?
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of course this is no where near the quality of what you are doing... but here is my first try at this.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...cemountain.jpg
Are you using a mouse or a tablet for editing work?
That's Awesome! I was thinking of doing one very similar but didnt' have a shot of Space Mountain that I liked.Quote:
Originally Posted by timbre
I use a mouse for everything.
12-29-10
Today’s “Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day” is somewhat of a twofold lesson. It shows how to use Saturation Curves and Color Curves to enhance what was an otherwise pretty bland and uninspiring photo.
I took this photo on the first night of the Mice Chat Photo Meet. We had just finished our gut busting snack comprised of Corn Dogs and Spicy Mustard (yes, I brought the mustard) and were on our way over to New Orleans Square to photograph the fireworks. As we crossed Main St, the Castle Lighting Ceremony and snow began. Some of us paused to try and photograph the castle, but I had a little girl on her father’s shoulders right in front of me. I took a few photos of her silhouette and was simply frustrated that she was in the frame. I quickly decided that she should be the subject of the photo instead of a distraction in it. At that time, her dad turned around so I turned on my flash and took this shot.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5009/...73cf9b_z_d.jpg
Upon seeing it on my computer, I was not happy with it because the girl is all washed out from the flash and the castle is such a blur in the background. I just left it alone to see if inspiration would strike me in the future and if I could possibly make something out of it other than just taking up space in my trash bin.
First, lets open it in Photoscape.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5207/...069be0_z_d.jpg
The first thing I want to do is to crop the image so it makes the girl the main focus of the picture and the castle just a shiny background. I clicked the Crop tab, left it on Crop by Original Photo Ratio and drew my crop lines. Once you have the crop lines where you want them, click the Crop button again and that will finalize the crop.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/...5d1f3e_z_d.jpg
Here is the image after the crop.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5207/...3f1062_z_d.jpg
Now we need to make the girl stand out even more. Go back to the Home Tab and click on Bright, Color menu and click on Saturation Curve.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5002/...2f7b4b_z_d.jpg
That will bring up this window with the Saturation Graph on it. Start by placing your mouse on the center of the line and drag it upwards to increase the saturation of the colors. If you go below the line, it decreases the saturation.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5162/...6e0c20_z_d.jpg
You can also click on other spots along that line and make more intricate adjustments to the saturation by moving that section up or down. This upper adjustment made the red in her face painting more prominent.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5284/...82f190_z_d.jpg
By stretching out the lower part of the line, I increased the saturation of the blue in her face painting. When satisfied, click OK
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5085/...8c8eb8_z_d.jpg
Next I want to bring out the detail of the girl, so I click on the Bright, Color tab – Contrast Enhancement – Low. This brought out the detail in her face a little bit.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5088/...1fe64a_z_d.jpg
Now I wanted to make all of her color a little richer & deeper, so I clicked on the Bright, Color tab again Deepen – Low.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5044/...5764a4_z_d.jpg
She has a bit too much red in her skin tone, so I want to bring the redness down a little bit. Once again, click the Bright, Color tab, then Color Curves.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5044/...2fd4aae7_d.jpg
That brings up this Color Curve graph, just like the Saturation Curve graph. Notice on the bottom of the graph there is checked boxes labeled Red, Green & Blue.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5125/...eb9be1_o_d.jpg
I unchecked the Blue and Green boxes, leaving only the Red one checked. This makes it so I am only working on the Red hues in the picture. Since I only want to make a slight adjustment to the lighter shades of red that are in her face, I clicked on the center of the graph line to lock the lower half of the curve and then clicked on the center of the upper half of the line, dragging it downward a little bit. This took some of the red out of her skin tone without taking away from her hat or face painting.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5124/...9abb3d_z_d.jpg
And here is our final image.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5162/...e1f5b9_z_d.jpg
Before / After
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5009/...73cf9b_z_d.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5162/...e1f5b9_z_d.jpg
I hope this little journey around Saturation and Color Curves gives you the ability to make those little adjustments that make your photos shine.
Happy Snapping
© Michael Greening 2010
For a complete directory and direct links to all of these posts, please click here:
http://micechat.com/forums/disneylan...post1056358940
I'm thinking of trying to get a flare behind the one layer so the towers of space mountain stick out a little bit better. not exactly sure yet how to do it but I think it can be done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot Sauce 1
12-31-10
Today’s “Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day” continues the post from a few days ago where we put pictures of space behind our images from Disneyland. In today’s lesson, we’ll go over how to switch that background layer to a different one without having to redo all that slow and painstaking detail work you did on the first one.
So here we are with our finished image. At this stage, make sure you go to File – Save As – and save it as a jpeg for your own viewing and web purposes. Also MAKE SURE!!! you save it as a PSD (photoshop document). This way you can open it at any time in the future and still have all your layers intact like you just did it.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5087/...ec65dd_z_d.jpg
Now, let’s say that you aren’t sure if you like the picture of space that you used and want to use a different one. You can see in the Layers box that we have our original Background image with our Levels Adjustment Layer above it, showing the area we have painted over and the image of space above that.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/...4bb1fc_o_d.jpg
If we click on the layer containing the space photo and then Right Click – Delete Layer it will delete just that layer with the space photo in it.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5245/...b41aebbd_d.jpg
Next, go up to the top left corner of the screen and click File – Place.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/...94e22a_z_d.jpg
When this window appears, select your new photo and click Place.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5001/...52a832_z_d.jpg
That will place that image as a Smart Object on our Background Layer.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/...182907_z_d.jpg
All we have to do is stretch and place that new space photo how we want it and click the green check mark.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5245/...8e0618_z_d.jpg
You can see in our Layers Box that it put the new space image on top of our Levels Adjustment Layer, just like the previous photo was.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5041/...976afcc9_d.jpg
Now all you have to do is press Control + G, just like we did the first time and it will apply the Levels Adjustment Layer work we did on the first one to this image and it’s all done. Then just save that new one as a jpeg and you can continue to change it until you find the one you really like.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5245/...42bb4d_z_d.jpg
So with just a few clicks of the mouse and about 30 seconds, you can change your backgrounds over and over again.
Here’s a few that I threw together very quickly just for fun.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5008/...756251_z_d.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5087/...9c33d2_z_d.jpg
For this one, I just flipped the space image 180 degrees for a different look than the one above.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5164/...773d16_z_d.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5006/...a63234_z_d.jpg
Happy Snapping
© Michael Greening 2010
For a complete directory and direct links to all of these posts, please click here:
http://micechat.com/forums/disneylan...post1056358940
P.S. I won’t be able to do another post until early next week, so I’ll see you in the new year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Um, freaking awesome, last shot with nebula is way cool.
I'm loving this whole series, Michael! I'm going to have to try this pretty soon! I've always been thinking about ways of ditching the typical brown anaheim sky and was thinking about trying to find stars for the past few months, and then you come up with this! I love the look it gives to shots of Tomorrowland!
the last tomorrow land pic is amazing now only if it could look that cool in real life lol
Glad you like them. Some people say that I'm cheating by blending two photos together. They are for my own enjoyment, so I say "WHY NOT!"Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac Daddy
When I was at Disneyland a few weeks ago and had the horrible mucky sky that looked like chocolate pudding, I did an exposure fusion of the castle and once again, the sky was hideous. I found a shot of showfall bokeh and thought it fit my Castle shot really well.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5122/...337085_b_d.jpg
Just wait till my post next week. It's a DOOSY!!! It will take me several hours of work, but if I can pull it off, it will be awesome.
ok now I'm anxiously awating next week. The ones you say are doosies are usually really really good.
I have to pull it off first, but the preliminary tests are looking really cool.Quote:
Originally Posted by timbre
Eagerly awaiting this post! All of your tips our helpful, and I especially love the second-to-last Astro Orbitor composition.
Nice tutorial. One thing though--it seems when you brought down the red, it made her skintone a lot greener. Would it have been the same if you toned down the yellow instead?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot Sauce 1
Oh and happy new year :) Looking forward to a new year of these tutorials!
It did make her a little too green. I did this one on my laptop and it's terrible for color adjustments. Once I saw it on my regular computer, I think it was better before taking down the red.Quote:
Originally Posted by niklj
I was playing around tonight with putting some new backgrounds into a few pictures and came up with an idea that I am trying right now. First go into photoshop and make a .jpg that is a solid color. I chose 0,255,0 (full green). I painted the entire canvas and saved it at high resolution.
Then when I go in and do the first edit with the place command I use this "green screen" as my first background to edit in. This gives me the ability to sharply define the borders of each object becasue I know what color I am either adding to or erasing from.
When the entire image is done, save it as a .PSD and then go back and follow Hot Sauce 1's steps to replace the image.
It seems like one extra step but allows for precise editing from what I have experimented with tonight.