|
I started with a photograph of a vendor shack
on colorful South Beach, Miami Beach. While I
liked the composition and the brightness of the
image, the colors needed punching up, there
were a few distracting details, and I wanted to
enliven the image.
First I dealt with color. I duplicated the layer,
chose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation,
and increased the Saturation to 65. I then applied
Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with a Radius
of 20, set the blending mode to Multiply, and flattened
the image. To lighten the shadows, I chose Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight
with a tonal range of 40. For a softer sky, I
adjusted the Blues in Hue/Saturation, setting the
Hue to –13, Saturation to –45, and Lightness to
25. To bring out the clouds, I chose Image > Adjustments
> Replace Color, selected the clouds
with the eyedropper, decreased the Fuzziness to
affect only the clouds, and increased the Lightness
to 75. I now had beautiful glowing color.
|
Click to enlarge
|
I chose Image > Mode > 8 Bits/Channel,
then chose Filter > Liquify. I used Liquify’s warp
tool (or the Forward Warp tool in CS) at a large
Brush Size to go over the image once for a
broad warped effect. (Using a Wacom tablet and
pen makes it easier to get the control you need
in Liquify.) You can also paint with the Reconstruct
tool to restore an area to its original
state. Use a small brush for speed and a more
precise undo. To start over completely, click the
Reconstruct button (or Restore All in CS).
|
|
I chose the Liquify filter again to do another
pass of warping. This time, I used the Freeze tool
at a large brush size to mask areas I didn’t want
warped. Use the Thaw tool to undo freezing,
choose Invert to reverse masked areas, and
choose Thaw All (None in CS) to erase a mask
completely. I then used the Warp tool with a
variety of brush sizes to delete distracting details
at the edges of the picture near the horizon, essentially
dragging them off the picture. The Warp
tool only affected the unmasked areas. Note:
In CS, you can mask by clicking Mask All under
Mask Options with Show Mask checked, then
use the thaw mask tool to unmask areas you
plan to effect.
|
|
I applied Liquify one more time. Using the
Warp tool at a small Brush Size, I warped the
stripes on the shack, warped the clouds in
the sky, and “plumpened” the two shacks.
|
Click to enlarge
|
The
final image, shown at left, gives the feeling that the shacks are
almost alive and moving.
TIP: For a more unpredictable effect in the
Liquify filter, choose the Turbulence tool at a
large Brush Size, and hold the pen over an area
to gradually increase its turbulence. Or try the
Shift Pixels tool (Push Left tool in CS) at a small
Brush Size—dragging your pen up pushes pixels
to the left, dragging down pushes pixels to the
right, dragging to the right moves pixels up, and
dragging to the left moves pixels down. Also try
the Bloat tool to swell the area the pen passes
over, or the Pucker tool to contract the region
under the pen.
|
 Don't miss the next Photoshop tip on Graphics.com. Get the free Graphics.com newsletter in your mailbox each week. Click here to subscribe.
|
Teresa Lunt is a computer
scientist at the Palo Alto
Research Center in Palo Alto,
California, devoted photographer,
and passionate digital artist.
See more of her work at teresalunt.com.
|
|
