| » Forum Index » 100% Photoshop » Topic: Clouds |
|
Posted on 21/09/10 04:57:51 AM |
|
trevor
* Posts: 35 Reply  |
Clouds
I got a bit stuck with the clouds in the old cottage scene, in that I was having difficulty lifting them off the black background. It looks in the book, as if the clouds are solid white, and that the filters give them their wispy look, but I had chosen to use brush jitter, and to build them up with low opacity. This gave the body of the cloud detail, and Quick Mask was arbitrarily trimming the soft edges, and spoiling the effect. So I went back a step and painted the clouds on an empty layer and forgot about the filters. Looking out of my window I noticed that distant clouds are tucked behind the nearer ones, so additional reality was gained by placing more distant clouds on a separate layer, and moving them up behind the nearer clouds. The burned in lower surfaces delineated the cloud layers, and gave the scene a 3D effect. It was also surprising how much darker the underneath of a cloud can be compared to its upper and sun-ward surfaces. It's funny how we usually look but don't 'really' see. |
Posted on 21/09/10 07:34:03 AM |
|
Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 6994 Reply  |
Re: Clouds
You're absolutely right. It wasn't until I wrote that chapter in the book that I really looked at how clouds were formed, and realised how strong the perspective effect is. For years I'd been putting montages together using any old clouds I could lay my hands on - and these were usually photographed straight up into the sky. The perspective really does make all the difference. You're right about the distant clouds being tucked behind closer ones, of course. Making separate layers is a great solution. There are many, many different ways to draw clouds. In 100% Photoshop I was trying to provide a relatively straightforward solution that anyone could use; if you have the skill to draw them by hand then of course, that's a great alternative. |
Posted on 29/09/10 10:08:33 PM |
|
Jota120
Ingenious Inventor Posts: 2615 Reply  |
Re: Clouds
On the perspective, here are my clouds from Finland, well the weather was very clear, its quite flat and horizon showing maybe a bit of earth curvature? 
|
Posted on 10/03/11 8:42:20 PM |
|
Delightful Light
* Posts: 2 Reply |
Re: Clouds
RE: the bottom of page 20 of 100% Photoshop in the box marked Clouds and color. I've attempted many times to apply foreground and background colors other than the default to this filter. No matter the colors I select, the filter is always rendered as a combination of black and white. The Difference Clouds filter renders the different colors but not the Clouds filter. Am I doing something wrong or is this not a feature in CS4?  |
Posted on 10/03/11 9:35:58 PM |
|
Delightful Light
* Posts: 2 Reply |
Re: Clouds
 Never mind. I found the answer quite unexpectedly. 8 bit documents render the back and foreground colors while 16 bid require the use of a chosen colored object to which the filter is applied followed immediately by the Fade (Edit Fade) command. |
Posted on 11/03/11 07:43:41 AM |
|
Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 6994 Reply |
Re: Clouds
Glad you found - and posted - your solution! Yes, 16-bit documents do behave differently in a variety of subtle ways. Do you really need to be working in 16 bit, though? |