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Posted on 27/06/09 3:14:45 PM |
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Scott
* Posts: 40 Reply |
Help! Am I missing something here?
Hi HTCIPers I have an issue. It's probably basic but I am stumped. I am trying to follow this tutorial... http://psdessential.com/photomanipulation/you-will-stand-alone-photomanipulation/ As you can see it's a straightforward montage construction. My issue is this. On Step 2, Adding The Footprints, the first bit is easy. The bit that gets me is blending the foorprints layer so that the colour & contrast matches that of the desert. The tutorial is far from clear for a beginner like me. Add Vector Mask? I am sure it is referring to Layer Mask?? Anyway, after painting black around the footprints to hide the rest of that layer, when I go to apply the contrast & colour correction, instead of just the footprints themselves changing colour, I get the 'ghost' of the area I just painted out returning leaving a ghastly shaded box area. remedied I guess by painting black again around the footprints (sigh). Is there a way I can colour correct just what is left (in this case the footprints) without the area I just painted out returning?? Thank you in adavnce. Scott |
Posted on 27/06/09 8:19:21 PM |
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LonnieK
Diorama Dreamer Posts: 238 Reply  |
Re: Help! Am I missing something here?
Hi Scott. I think that tut is a bit iffy. To your question: Yes, I'm sure he means Layer Mask. He says paint with solid gray, I believe he means black (soft edge). If you paint with gray you will not mask completely and, as you've seen, areas may return when you make blend changes or add adjustment layers later. |
Posted on 28/06/09 07:09:32 AM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply  |
Re: Help! Am I missing something here?
Hi Scott I've been at Photoshop since early 2004 and during that time one of the biigest issues faced has been the use of PS terminology in tutorials. Even with the level of understanding I have now, some tuts leave me thinking 'what the hell is he talking about! This has not been helped by the fact that Adobe have changed the terminology they use and Steve covers this in the introduction to the book. Another factor is that there are numerous ways to achieve the same result and each individual with have their own preferences, I suspect driven by the authors they have chosen to follow. Some artists use Vector Masks extensively in their workflow, whereas others prefer the layer mask option. Basically the VM is 'Path' related, i.e. driven by numeric coordinates and artists will use shape layers to make little aliens and things to go on cereal packets etc. LMs are pixel related, i.e the way a photo is constructed and therefore used more by photographers in montage work. The issue I've described is illustrated perfectly in the tut you have cited. Someone here knows their subject, but has difficulty in conveying the facts. I would suggest that people who post these should start by explaining the degree of difficulty to the reader, but if the terminology used is confusing that will not really help. Anyway, what the author means is layer mask. When you paint black the layer is hidden and vice versa with white. Painting with shades of grey will partially hide the layer and using grey at 100% opacity is useful when you want to hide or reveal in a uniform way. If the brush was set to say 50%, every new stroke will add more paint to the mask and therefore change the way the layer is hidden/ revealed. The beauty of masks is that you are not deleting any pixels, you are merely hiding them. When the footprints have been added, painting 100% black on the mask around them will hide everything but the prints, so effectively you have 'erased' them. Therefore, any adjustments you make to that layer will not affect the hidden pixels. Im not sure of the exact steps you have taken, but suspect that you may be adjusting the mask, or you have not created a clipping mask. If you create a colour balance adjustment layer, as suggested, hold ALT when you click on the create new layer mask icon and keep the left button depressed. The menu will appear and drag the mouse up to colour balance. A dialogue box will appear and click the small checkbox which says 'use previous layer as a clipping mask, or something like that. A normal adjustment layer will affect all the layers under it, whereas a clipped AL will affect only the layer beneath it. You can convert a normal AL into a clipped AL by holding ALT and move the mouse around the line between the layer and the AL and you will see an icon appear. When you click, the AL will move slightly to the right. You can have multiple clipped ALs on a layer. Finally, I find 'hide all' masks extremely useful. Instead of removing what you don't want, you paint in (with white) what you want to keep. For example, to fix red eye in a large crowd, say a wedding picture, you would need to make numerous selections. The method I use is to create a Hue and Sat Adj Layer and select Reds from the drop down box. Reduce the saturation and lightness to 0. The picture will look terrible, but thats because the AL is making a global change. If you invert the AL Mask, so its black, it will hide all the adjustments. It's then just a question of scanning around each pair of eyes and painting in the adjustment with white. This is slightly off topic, but the principle is very useful. I hope this helps you. Nick |
Posted on 28/06/09 10:35:04 AM |
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Scott
* Posts: 40 Reply |
Re: Help! Am I missing something here?
Thank you The process I follow is, and I simplify.. 1. open the desert and the footprint images. 2. "select all" on the footprints image and drag onto the desert image. 3. position the footprints then add a layer mask to the footprints layer. 4. select the brush tool, paint black (opacity 100%) around the footprints, completelt hiding the rest of that image. this is where it starts to wrong.... 5. hold 'Alt' and click footprints thumbnail, then to the color balance adjustment layer.... get the shape of the pixels I just masked out coming back when I move the sliders. So that is the wrong step. or 5b. hold 'Alt' and click the layer mask thumbnail, which puts marching ants around the area I just painted black but then the colour balance effects the areas I didn't touch or didn't need to touch. (in short step 4 would have to be paint black around the footprints and the whole layer, instead of just around the foot prints, this way it would work I guess.) I am thinking maybe instead of dragging the image over as in step 1, I just be defeatist & select the lassoo tool and draw around the footprints then copy and paste them onto the desert? I seem to remember the last time I tried adding a clipping mask to the foorprints layer the footprints disappeared from the canvas completely which of course is no help.  What is the purpose of the clipping mask?
Sorry, I'm a bit thick outside of my Ps comfort zone. Rgds Scott p/s can I suggest that HTCIP has its own Youtube channel for tutorials? videos are so much easier to follow. Photoshopmama and gavin hoey can only take you so far, photomontage is not really their strong points. |
Posted on 28/06/09 12:16:06 PM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply |
Re: Help! Am I missing something here?
Re step 5, press CTRL D to make sure there is no live selection. With the top layer active, i.e. the footprints, hold ALT and click on the create new adjustment layer icon and follow the steps I have outlined above. Nick |
Posted on 28/06/09 5:21:24 PM |
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LonnieK
Diorama Dreamer Posts: 238 Reply |
Re: Help! Am I missing something here?
A clipping mask constrains the effect of an adjustment layer to ONLY the contents of the layer below it rather than the whole image. In this case you wish to adjust the color of only the footprints. You would create the clipping mask on the adjustment layer added above the footprints layer, not to the footprints layer itself. In this case, your step 5 should be (using menus rather than keyboard shortcuts): Add a color balance adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance...; in the New Layer dialog that comes up, tick 'Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask'), then make the adjustments. |
Posted on 28/06/09 8:40:38 PM |
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Scott
* Posts: 40 Reply |
Re: Help! Am I missing something here?
Thank you very much Rgds Scott |