How to Cheat in Photoshop

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Posted on 26/03/20 11:59:20 AM

josephine harvatt
Gag Gadgeteer
Posts: 2596

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

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Posted on 26/03/20 5:41:44 PM

DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4939

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

The Ostrich! Ha Ha. Took me a moment to catch on. Nice sketch effect.

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Posted on 27/03/20 01:12:48 AM

tooquilos
Wizard of Oz
Posts: 2800

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

Beautifully done Michael. The day image is fabulous.

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Posted on 27/03/20 05:01:16 AM

srawland
Pixel Perfectionist
Posts: 885

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

Josephine, Thanks for the gallows humor.

My cat is doing better, or perhaps isn't doing any worse. Focusing on him is distracting me from what's going on with COVID-19. For the record. I am staying inside.

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Posted on 27/03/20 06:43:15 AM

DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4939

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

Sara. I think that is one of the best I haxe seen from you. 'Very impressive.

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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 27/03/20 09:29:44 AM

Steve Caplin
Administrator
Posts: 6835

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

First to Victorianise this week’s street was GKB, with plenty of period features, and a welcome return for the bier from a couple of weeks ago. The wet cobbled road has splendid reflections, and that pothole makes a good foreground feature. I like the change of road name, and the weathering of the wooden door on the left.

Atmospheric fog from DavidMac, with a neatly cobbled street and a fine cast of toffs and no-so-toffs. I like how you’ve extended the street to the right, and the way you’ve recreated the road names. Best of all, though, is the conversion from electric to gas lighting, not only above the pub and in the street lamp but in the windows too. Beautifully done, David.

A muggy pea-souper from Frank, with urchins aplenty and a fine example of a penny farthing (and I hope you found that already cut out). Good work changing the road names; and really, really good work closing the pub - not just taking the light out of the windows, but from the name over the doors and the wall above. You’ve done such a good job I almost overlooked it.

A deserted street from tooquilos, with an equally empty pub. Good new lighting, with the electric lights on the pub neatly removed. A really funny animated version, with a fun toy theatre intro. Couple of points about speech bubbles: why are Victoria and Albert talking out of their knees? And if you want people to read Victoria’s speech first, you have to put it on the left - or, at least, higher than Albert’s. I like the rolling wheels on the bier, and the cast of Victorian notables.

A sepia entry from Ben Boardman, with a cobbled street and a large cast of characters - with Isambard Kingdom Brunel searching his pockets for his missing chains. I like the lamp lighter, and the new road names; good work taking the lighting off the pub, and turning the corner window into a door. The new gas lighting works particularly well.

Entertaining work from michael sinclair, despite setting a new record for going off-topic - this one doesn’t bear even the slightest relevance to the subject. It’s OK, Michael, but why post it in the Friday Challenge section of the Forum?

It was at our last Christmas lunch, I think, that Gordon suggested a night-to-day challenge. I said I thought it was impossible. But Mariner's entry this week has proved me wrong: this is astonishingly well done, with the sunlight effect particularly appealing. The shadow of the pub sign is an eye-catching feature, the new foliage over the reconstructed pub sign is excellent, as is the lettering - the falling T is a treat. Seriously, Michael, this is one of your best pieces yet. However, since you seem to like me nitpicking, a couple of minor issues:

1. The sun is a very long way away. So shadows cast by the sun are always crisp: it’s only close-up light that casts soft-edged shadows.

2. The horse and carriage look as if they’re floating. I think that beneath them, as there’s not only no sunlight but no reflected ambient light, the shadow should be somewhat deeper.

3. Watch the wiggles! It’s easy to misalign when using the Clone tool. The left of the three windows on the right hand wall, and the sign below it.

4. Don’t overdo perspective. The road sign above the pub is too strongly in perspective. It can be tricky to match when the object is so small; a good solution is to make a larger rectangular selection around the layer, which makes it much easier to align the transformation:

Hard to adjust Free Transform handles

Make a larger selection around the sign first…

…then it’s easier to align with the brickwork.

Social satire from Josephine Harvatt, with a Victorian Boris promising that something will turn up, Micawber-style, on Corona Street. Nicely done, and some good gags. Watch that your choice of font doesn’t become illegible at small sizes, though!

A beautiful entry from srawland, with excellent puddles and reflections. The neatly emptied pub is immaculately done. I like the conversion of the electric lights into gas lights, although given the design of the lamp I’d question the fact that they’re still casting their light upwards. Can’t read the name of the pub, I’m afraid. Great to see you fully engaged once more, Sara.

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This has been a splendid week for the Forum, with as high a quality of entries as I’ve yet seen.

You may have noticed my plug for a possible virtual meet next week. I’d been going to suggest that those of you without webcams find an Internet cafe - but of course all the cafes are closed, at least in the UK. A real shame. It would have been a great way to celebrate the 800th Friday Challenge.

Posted on 27/03/20 10:23:07 AM

josephine harvatt
Gag Gadgeteer
Posts: 2596

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

For some reason the computer made me reduce the image far more than normal to get it down to the required MB limit - not sure why - which resulted in pixellation although if you are talking about the handwriting font it is quite tricky to read anyway but I wanted something roughly in keeping
Thats my excuse anyway

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Posted on 27/03/20 10:25:30 AM

Mariner
Renaissance Mariner
Posts: 2820

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

Thanks Steve, it is definitely one of my better efforts.

... The sun is a very long way away. So shadows cast by the sun are always crisp: it’s only close-up light that casts soft-edged shadows.

Now I don't know why but I have never noticed that before. I shall be looking more at shadows from now on.

The horse and carriage look as if they’re floating. I think that beneath them, as there’s not only no sunlight but no reflected ambient light, the shadow should be somewhat deeper.

Of course! Why didn't I see that?

Watch the wiggles!

Yes, I missed that.

... perspective. It can be tricky to match when the object is so small; a good solution is to make a larger rectangular selection around the layer, which makes it much easier to align the transformation...

Thanks for that hot tip and examples. I was having trouble with that sign. The perspective tool made it not enough or too much.

Posted on 27/03/20 12:36:54 PM

DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4939

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

Steve Caplin wrote:
Beautifully done, David.

Thanks Steve. I really enjoyed myself doing this one.

To Mariner: Make a larger selection around the sign first, then it’s easier to align with the brickwork.

Now that's a neat tip Steve! Thanks

Stay safe everyone.

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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 27/03/20 2:56:27 PM

Steve Caplin
Administrator
Posts: 6835

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Re: Challenge 798: The King's Arms

josephine harvatt wrote:
For some reason the computer made me reduce the image far more than normal to get it down to the required MB limit - not sure why

It's all that bitty rain. Should have waited for a clear night!

Posted on 27/03/20 3:10:21 PM

GKB
Magical Montagist
Posts: 3726

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