photoshop
Photo Retouching
2008/07/08 19:43 Filed in: Art and
Designs
A friend asked me to do a personal favor of
retouching a photo. Here is the progression.
The original image (cropped to the face—the whole image is much larger, but I wanted to show the details):
Brightness adjustments:
Color adjustments:
The eyes could not be salvaged from the original data, so I redrew them from scratch in Photoshop:
The original image (cropped to the face—the whole image is much larger, but I wanted to show the details):
Brightness adjustments:
Color adjustments:
The eyes could not be salvaged from the original data, so I redrew them from scratch in Photoshop:
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Our Heritage - Rock Skipping Photo
2008/05/15 18:10 Filed in: Journal
| Art and
Designs
The first installment in my series "Our Heritage"
appears in the June 3ABN World magazine. I
wanted a creative introduction to this first story,
and this is what I came up with:
I stand at the edge of a small lake. It’s quiet here—a good place to meditate, to think. As I skip a rock across the water, I notice the ripples. At each point where the stone strikes the surface of the lake, waves radiate outward. Together they look like a series of points, each sending out signal waves in every direction. In a sense, that’s what this series is about. Our Christian heritage is a string of pivotal events, each with its own lasting repercussions in the stream of time. It’s a story that inspires me every time I think of it.
I thought it would be cool to add a little thumbnail illustration. I tried to look for stock photos of a rock skipping across a pond, but couldn't find any. So Adam and I headed down to the nearest little pond, and this is what we got:
The original photo:
Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts, we couldn't quite capture the feel of skipping stones. The surface of the water was really icky. We did get some nice splashes, but they just didn't look like what I wanted to convey.
Add "Pond-Scum-Be-Gone" (aka, Photoshop):
Ripples:
A nice reflection:
Some nice early morning mist, and we're done!
I stand at the edge of a small lake. It’s quiet here—a good place to meditate, to think. As I skip a rock across the water, I notice the ripples. At each point where the stone strikes the surface of the lake, waves radiate outward. Together they look like a series of points, each sending out signal waves in every direction. In a sense, that’s what this series is about. Our Christian heritage is a string of pivotal events, each with its own lasting repercussions in the stream of time. It’s a story that inspires me every time I think of it.
I thought it would be cool to add a little thumbnail illustration. I tried to look for stock photos of a rock skipping across a pond, but couldn't find any. So Adam and I headed down to the nearest little pond, and this is what we got:
The original photo:
Unfortunately, despite numerous attempts, we couldn't quite capture the feel of skipping stones. The surface of the water was really icky. We did get some nice splashes, but they just didn't look like what I wanted to convey.
Add "Pond-Scum-Be-Gone" (aka, Photoshop):
Ripples:
A nice reflection:
Some nice early morning mist, and we're done!
Apollo 13
2007/09/28 14:49 Filed in: Art and
Designs
UPDATE: Art has been
updated since the original post.
For the November issue of 3ABN World, we needed to illustrate a devotional article based on the famous Apollo 13 mission. After a futile search for a useful clipart image, I decided to take the plunge and make my own composition. Keep in mind that I do not have much experience in 3D — I think I could count my 3D illustrations on one hand — and I had only six hours or so across two days to work on this. Besides that, my tools were a clunky 3D application called Swift 3D 4.5 (nothing "swift" about it), SketchUp 6, and Photoshop CS2.
I found a number of 3D models. Interestingly, each one was different in various ways, including in regards to the colors and materials used for major pieces of the Apollo command module. So I compared them all, noted the common features, and also perused some online articles about the Apollo 13 mission (characterized by fuzzy, black and white images). In the end, I went for as accurate as I could guess, along with adding a few random stylistic elements that are almost certainly not true to life, but which make it look more believable.
Here is the base model that I downloaded. Note the absence of color and detail, and that the dish antenna is completely missing:
I added basic colors, materials, and textures in Swift 3D, and got the angle set to what I wanted. Then I exported it as a PNG image, and opened that in Photoshop. Then I added more color, shading, and texture. I also added lettering, rivets, the words "United States," and other little do-dads. In the background I added stars (using a real photo of the night sky, not just random stars), and a view of Earth.
Originally I had added a dish antenna borrowed from another model, which I retouched in Photoshop. But I was not happy with the result. The new graphic below shows the new antenna that I made from scratch using SketchUp, Swift 3D, and Photoshop.
Here is detail of the craft:
Here is a small version of the final image. The full size one is 11 inches wide at 300 ppi.
For the November issue of 3ABN World, we needed to illustrate a devotional article based on the famous Apollo 13 mission. After a futile search for a useful clipart image, I decided to take the plunge and make my own composition. Keep in mind that I do not have much experience in 3D — I think I could count my 3D illustrations on one hand — and I had only six hours or so across two days to work on this. Besides that, my tools were a clunky 3D application called Swift 3D 4.5 (nothing "swift" about it), SketchUp 6, and Photoshop CS2.
I found a number of 3D models. Interestingly, each one was different in various ways, including in regards to the colors and materials used for major pieces of the Apollo command module. So I compared them all, noted the common features, and also perused some online articles about the Apollo 13 mission (characterized by fuzzy, black and white images). In the end, I went for as accurate as I could guess, along with adding a few random stylistic elements that are almost certainly not true to life, but which make it look more believable.
Here is the base model that I downloaded. Note the absence of color and detail, and that the dish antenna is completely missing:
I added basic colors, materials, and textures in Swift 3D, and got the angle set to what I wanted. Then I exported it as a PNG image, and opened that in Photoshop. Then I added more color, shading, and texture. I also added lettering, rivets, the words "United States," and other little do-dads. In the background I added stars (using a real photo of the night sky, not just random stars), and a view of Earth.
Originally I had added a dish antenna borrowed from another model, which I retouched in Photoshop. But I was not happy with the result. The new graphic below shows the new antenna that I made from scratch using SketchUp, Swift 3D, and Photoshop.
Here is detail of the craft:
Here is a small version of the final image. The full size one is 11 inches wide at 300 ppi.
Pancake Supper
2007/09/25 19:58 Filed in: Art and
Designs
In the November issue of 3ABN World magazine
there is a recipe for Blueberry "Buttermilk" Pancakes
(dairy-free), contributed by Jill Morikone. In her
short introduction, Jill tells how these pancakes
became a weekly tradition in her home. For the design
of this page, I decided it would be nice to show a
married couple eating pancakes at a candlelight
dinner, as Jill had described the tradition in her
home.
This is original photo was taken by my assistant, Kenton Rogers. The couple at the table are Jill and her husband Greg:
It's a fine photo, and we could have run it just the way it was. But for this intimate candlelight dinner shot, I decided I wanted something more romantic. I also thought the lighting looked a little flat.
In this version, the highlights have been diffused, the candle's flame is a little softer, and I added additional lighting around the candle and at other places to help illuminate the scene a little more dramatically:
Like many designers I know, I often set out with a general idea of what I want to achieve, but along the way I toy around with other possibilities. It is often through play and experimentation that new methods and styles are developed, and sometimes there are very pleasant surprises to be found.
While playing in Photoshop, I also stumbled across a technique that produced this image. Notice the very soft color transitions (especially the candle), the effect on the cabinet in the background, and the hard dark lines defining the shapes. I think it has a very artistic, painterly feel to it. Although I decided not to use it in the layout, I thought it was an interesting effect to file away for possible use on another occasion:
This is original photo was taken by my assistant, Kenton Rogers. The couple at the table are Jill and her husband Greg:
It's a fine photo, and we could have run it just the way it was. But for this intimate candlelight dinner shot, I decided I wanted something more romantic. I also thought the lighting looked a little flat.
In this version, the highlights have been diffused, the candle's flame is a little softer, and I added additional lighting around the candle and at other places to help illuminate the scene a little more dramatically:
Like many designers I know, I often set out with a general idea of what I want to achieve, but along the way I toy around with other possibilities. It is often through play and experimentation that new methods and styles are developed, and sometimes there are very pleasant surprises to be found.
While playing in Photoshop, I also stumbled across a technique that produced this image. Notice the very soft color transitions (especially the candle), the effect on the cabinet in the background, and the hard dark lines defining the shapes. I think it has a very artistic, painterly feel to it. Although I decided not to use it in the layout, I thought it was an interesting effect to file away for possible use on another occasion: