Basic Layer mask tutorial

Another wet day here so I decided to do a very basic tutorial on masking in photoshop. Using a mask is how I remove unwanted texture from parts of an image, it's a great way to do this as it's fully reversible and adjustable.
Mouseover the image above to see the before photo.
I started with a layer of Chlorophyll @ hard light 80%. It looked okay but the texture was covering the flower a bit too much. So I added a layer mask to that layer. Make sure your texture layer is selected, click on the mask button at the bottom of the layers palette and the white layer mask box appears beside the texture layer in the palette.
(click on the following screenshots for a bigger view)

Select a large soft brush, I used one of around 20 % opacity, and make sure your foreground and background colours are set to black and white -if you press "D" on the keyboard they will reset automatically.
You can toggle between black and white by pressing the "X" key.
Make sure your mask layer is active by clicking in the white square and with black as the brush colour, softly brush over parts of the image that you want to remove texture. If you make a mistake simply change the brush colour to white.  Here is the flower after some texture removal.

On some subjects I use a graduated fill rather than a brush to remove the texture. Once again make sure your colours are set to black and white and that your mask is active.  Select the gradient tool and the type of gradient - for this photo I would choose a  a circular gradient. Then it's just a matter of drawing a line from the centre of your subject outwards to remove some of the texture. This can be redone until you get the effect you like.  On landscapes I often use a linear gradient to remove texture from the sky (or the ground).
Next I added a couple more textures.
Archival Canvas @ multiply 62%
Fly edge 15 @ multiply 78 %

 At this stage I decided that the Chlorophyll layer was a bit too green and dominant  so I reduced its opacity to 43%
And finally added a levels adjustment to tweak the tone

Hope this has been helpful and as always if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

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Watching

Paul is having connection problems at the moment so  yet another photo from me here and one with a human subject for a change :-)
This is the lovely Katiki beach adjacent to the  main highway north to Oamaru, it's a beautiful long golden beach and is one of the highlights of the drive north.
I did two versions of this photo,  the other is rectangular and deserted but has been processed in exactly the same way. You can see it on flickr Here

The processing once again was fairly simple.
Necropolis @ Soft light 100%  toned slightly green and desaturated a little
Concorde @ Overlay 100% this texture has really accentuated the blue/green of the sea and given much of the softness.
Paua nacra @ overlay 100%
It looked okay at this stage but I decided to tone down the yellow a little so I added a Selective colour adjustment layer and tweaked the colours (neutrals and blacks)

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

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Fly Edges Pack

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Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

New Fly Edges Texture Pack!

Click for a bigger view

( Go HERE for more Fly Edge detail images )

Ever needed the original Alice in Wonderland photographic look?
Did you yearn for a natural large plate format photographic feel?
Have you ever wanted natural un-contrived edges that are not the everyday humdrum TTV retro, but something a little bit special?
Then this is the product for you!:-)

At long last, we launch our new one-off, cool toned, metallised glass texture pack! Its made with all those people in mind who over the past months have requested edges from us. However this isn't any old edges pack! This is a connoisseurs edges pack that includes all over iridescent grunge goodness!

These edges derive from 100 year + antique French glass silvered plates, lovingly scanned in TIF, then cleaned and processed in a secret way we have developed ourselves, to show only grunge, without the original image. These were produced to be as widely used as possible, both in their original format, or cut and pulled square.

As with all our products we have a minimum sized side of 4000 pixels by 5000. The length being around 30% wider than our previous textures @ 13" x 17" approx inches in 300 dpi for perfect printing and happily usable with your landscape formats. All our textures can be used in  any editing programme that supports the use of  layers,  Photoshop, Photoshop Elements,  Gimp etc

These edges can be used in conjunction with our Normal flypapers or on their own. We're really looking forward to framing our new look with you over the next few months!

Happy Edging! :-)

Paul and Jill

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

Blue Monday

It's been wet here today with a lot more predicted so it seemed a perfect opportunity to take some photos of this fading hydrangea bloom.
Unusually for me I've only used a couple of textures on this one so the processing is fairly simple.
Ming @ overlay 55%
Fly edge 18 @ screen 33 %
Copy of background @ soft light 25 %
And finally a curves layer to tweak the tone.

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and Two!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

Pommes

Today I went to our city's huge 24 hour second hand book sale held in the theatre it raises funds for. There are thousands of books on sale with more put out all the time so it's a great way to stock the shelves. Book dealers are there in force and you can spot them a mile off both from the huge stacks of books they carry and the avid look in their eyes as they search for a high priced rarity amongst the mundane. I came home with a copy of Micahel Ondaatje's The English Patient; I've seen and loved the film but haven't read the book, inside the front cover of the book I bought is a lovely inscription, it reads:

To Anna, Thanks for looking after me this week....I've been your English patient,. love Johnny xxx

I'd love to know the story behind it :-)

Now the photo, I decided to give this the a soft slightly desaturated treatment, this works better if your photo isn't too bright to begin with.
Fly edges #8 @ soft light 33 %
Sail Cloth @ hard light 22%
Apple Blush @ Overlay 55 %
I removed a little of the texture from the fruit in the edges and Apple blush layers.

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and Two!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

Softly

I've been busy cataloguing my photos for the past few days; it's going to be a long job!
I started off using AdobeBridge but someone suggested that Lightroom was the way to go. I've tried using Lightroom once before but gave up, preferring the extra control that Bridge and ACR gave me in processing my Raw files.  Anyway I decided to give it another chance, even if I just used it for the keywording. I duly imported my photos and  I do like the way you can see all your images at once rather than in folders. The keywording  is fairly easy to do but when I imported all my files I also imported all the keywords I've added in fits and starts over the years -this might have been a bonus but unfortunately it's messed up the carefully constructed keyword list and hierarchy I'd created in Bridge. So until I figure out how to get rid of all the duplicates and triplicates and suchlike, I've gone back to the slower but more accurate Bridge.
One of the bonuses of all this is coming across photos you'd forgotten about, the one above is one of these.
I quite liked it plain, but textures are too addictive!
I used
Fly edge 28 @ soft light 35%
Peach Blush @ hard light 100 % desaturated
Cyprus Haze @ overlay 47 %
Fly edge 3 @ overlay 20 %
Added to this I also did various curves, levels, and brightness contrast adjustments to get the tone I wanted

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and Two!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

red car - green car

 Over on Flickr we have a surrealist image group called  Man Ray
In this group we run image contests, where a donated start-off image is used by everybody who enters, to be manipulated in a surreal way.
Its a great way to flex your photoshop skills and learn from some real post production masters. Jill's Rabbit caught in Car Headlights - featured in this blog went on to win last weeks contest!

This weeks start-off image is a red hot rod car. The base shows the car slightly desaturated, and above is my finished manipulation.
Firstly, I selected Flypaper Leadenhall as a background, to this I added some winter bushes and Lime Plaster to beef it up.
I then desaturated the red car, changing the colour with the sliders and carefully cut it out, placing it into the background, as above.

Next I followed the recipe below, I used my free green water texture to brighten and pull the colours together.
Other tweaks followed, like adding the missing shadow at the back of the car.

Stone carving layer - Luminosity @ 34% (desaturated) brushed from car
Leaden Hall - Linear Light @ 22%
Free Water Texture - Soft Light @ 62% (link below)
Volcanic Larva - Soft Light @ 33% brushed from car
Labyrinth - Hard Light @ 86% brushed from central area & car

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and Two!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.
Free water texture is from my flickr free water textures, here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2650/3694983482_926bd7f95d_o.jpg

Daisy had issues

The story came about with the bar code idea.
Daisy is a radicalized cow, she always has issues and frequently stomps around the fields with slogans painted on her sides.
Today's protest is not wanting to be just a number. Her long-suffering farmer owner loves to see what she's come up with every morning.
Naturally she's the head of the herd, and always gets the best milking position.
She's one clever cow!

In this Flickr Challenge we had to use textures on Jill's start-off Cow image.I think this surreal cow idea came after seeing Swiss Chocolate advertising many years ago in Hamburg. Its not so new, but I like to think my texturing is! :-)

First I took a photograph of a bar code from a newspaper, and overlaid it onto the cows back after first roughly cloning out the black saddle markings.
I used a quick magic wand to remove the white newspaper background and defringed by 6 pixels.
I then applied a simple warp mode with the 50% visible bar code to roughly get it onto the back in the right position,
it takes a little practice but is fairly easy once mastered.
I softened the bar code and made it slightly fuzzy with gaussian blur @ approx 1.5%.
Next I flattened and made the whole thing B/W and then chose a sepia tone. To pull the whole thing together I used these flypaper textures:

Flypaper Edges #27 - pulled square - Hard Light @ 71% softly brushed away from cows features
Leaden Hall - Hard Light @ 100% softly brushed away from cows features.

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and Two!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

Interview with Lys

For our fourth interview I'd like to introduce Lys, a famous Paris based artist and designer, who works with La Marelle, a superbly hip publishing company! These are to be found in the best card shops world wide, or can be ordered online HERE .

First of all can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm a French graphic designer and Illustrator from Paris, working mainly in the cultural editing field. But I'm also involved on several other projects as a pure collage artist : this part of my work remains voluntary more personal, orchestrated by my desires, experiences and interrogations…

We notice you specialise in surreal photo-montages, can you tell us how they come about?

I consider my art as the mirror of my inner self, and so I use a lot of personal drawings and photographs material in my collages. I also often put myself as a character of my stories. It's a way to pull out my interrogations and feelings. 

Inspirations?

From Sarah moon to Kerry Ropper. I also always keep an eye on fresh art from internet, magazines, galleries…

You’re a frequent user of Flypapers and textures, can you share any processing tips?
As my illustrations are full of small and complicated details, I try to have a soft use of Flypapers textures. One rule : I always put a paper texture, lighted by a small halo, on the first layer of my Photoshop file. This give an old fashioned look to my collage and make me feel I'm recreating a kind of old fairy tale on every work.

What processing equipment do you use?

A Mac, a scanner, my drawings, old family photographs and Photoshop. For my exhibitions I usually order prints on real canvas.

Tell us a bit about your upcoming shows?

My next show "ll be at the Cell 63 art gallery, Berlin - Germany, during this summer. I'll be part of the of the "Mail Art Exhibition", next august, at the Galleri KG52 , Stockholm - Sweden. I"ll be also featured at the next Kholn Art festival next autumn.

Website and blog info
Website
Blog
Flickr
You can also find and buy my products there
http://fr.dawanda.com/shop/lysdesign
http://www.lamarelleenpapier.net under the artist name "Lys"

Many thanks!:-)

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and Two!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

Caught in the Lights

Something a bit different today! I produced this image  for a challenge over at our  Man Ray group on Flickr . The starting image was a photo of a French gatehouse or pigeonair provided by Paul. After a bit of thought I decided to do a night scene with a car on a road, the rabbit (or hare) was the  next logical step.
Rather than a texture recipe today,  I thought I'd tell you a bit about how I did this.
 I started by gathering together my source images, then it was a matter of cutting the components out, I usually use photoshop's quick selection tool and then a quick mask to clean up the edges. After placing them on the background I then "grounded" them and added shadows The entire image was darkened by using a levels adjustment, this turning daylight into twilight.
Adding the lights from the car was fairly complicated but in general I  used selections and fills to do this.

Once the image was how I'd envisioned, I added a couple of layers of our Chlorophyl flypaper to pull the elements together; one layer added the green tone to the sky, the other helped add depth to the rest of the image.
So many, many layers later, it was done! 

The photo looks much better on  Flickr 

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and Two!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

steps at the end of the beach

Whilst looking for other things I came across this old beach picture from a Thailand trip a year ago. I'm not sure where it was shot,
perhaps its same The Beach movie location again!
At night Martine and I would walk barefoot home from town, holding our sandals in the warm surf, and see large rats feasting on the huge fallen jaca tree fruits..

As we were so unlucky with the end of season weather, we flew north to Chiang Mia after just a few days, where it was much drier.
The photo shows a moody afternoon sun, just before yet another rain!

I used Flypaper textures to bring out the green tones under the trees, and lighten those brooding shadows.

Antique Liaisons Soft Light @ 41% (blurred)
Raw Linen Overlay @ 41% (blurred)
Apple Blush Hard Light @ 32%

Final tweaks with curves when merged!

Don't forget our earlier packs...click on the sidebar links, the combo offer for packs One and Two is still running too :-)

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Both texture Packs!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.

Snow Seeds

Happy May Day!
For a slight backward step, as I produced this image several weeks ago, when still experimenting with the new Fly Edges.

It's always a leap of faith when trying something you've never done before. I'd taken these last snows of the year pictures, and had a kind
of Lomo effect planned for them, but thought I'd just give them a try with the pre-launched edges first, and what an epiphany!

The new edges when used in a very hard way like this are ideal for classic, timeless minimal image enhancing.
However, its still early days and we hope to show many more such leaps of faith!
Though I say myself, I was quietly pleased with the outcome, as was Getty Images, who snapped it up!
Happy days:-)

Base image
Fly Edge #24 Hard Light @ 98%
Base image Soft Light @ 100%
Base image Soft Light @ 100%
Fly Edge #24 Multiply @ 97% texture removed from middle of seed heads - to lighten

Flatten image or merge all.
Slight brightening in curves to finish.
Please note;
This fly Edge texture #24 was first flipped before using in this image.

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Both texture Packs!

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

Please note that this is big, almost 400 mb file so the download may take a while. Average reported download time for this pack varies from 15 to 20 mins.