discussion Photo Manipulation

[Guest]

As we seem to have had a few photo manipulations recently I thought I would pull a few out of my collection for you to have a look at. Explanations as follows:

1) Just a bit of a play around with the car. Two copied layers, one changed to B&W and blurred laid over the top of the original and then carefully erased away.

2) This doesn't look too exciting but I carefully removed a large advertising hoarding from behind the train before changing to B&W.

3) This is actuall a statue in Treviso, Italy. I got Annette to stand next to it and took a shot of her and then the statue so that the light was in exactly the same attitude for both. I then cropped her eyes from her portrait and resized & superimposed onto the statue.

4) This is a shot of my Cossack model on the pond with an internal picture from a Heinkel found on the net. Unfortunately the Heinkel shot was not very good but I enjoyed playing around with it.

5) This is two shots taken of one of ourt engine crankcases. The first was with the door fitted and the second was without it. I copied the closed one on top of the open one and erased away the door to reveal the con-rods in side.

6) Two layers again, one blurred and sepia tones and then erased from over the original.

7) Same process as the engine crankcase.

8) Same process as the bike. I quite like this technique!!

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[Guest]

very nice job i like the, i like the train the best, simple and sweet.

 

[Guest]

very nice work there Richard.

i think the one with your car where you can see the engine is the best!!!

you will have to explain to me in more detail how you do that!

what program do you use?

i only have psp, hope it can be done on that!

 

[Guest]

I have always used PSP ever since PSP 4 was a free download on the net.

Never that far behind Photoshop and certainly not enought to justify the 5-600.00 pounds for the extra bits. I now use PSP 8 and think it's a great program.

The car with the engine is really simple and can, of course be done, with all sorts of subjects. For this particular one though first set the camera on a tripod in front of the car. Sort out the framing, lighting etc and take a shot with the bonnet up. Then under exactly the same conditions take a shot with the bonnet down.

In you photo program open up the two pictures and copy the one with the bonnet closed and paste as another layer over the top of the one with the bonnet open. Then working on the top layer use the eraser tool and remove parts of the top layer so that the bottom layer shows through. You can make as small or as large a hole you like and play around with the edge opacity, softness, size etc to give you the opening you like.

Have a play it is really good fun. You could do it with a model car if it has some sort of removable cover or a bike if it has a piece of fairing that comes off.

 

[Guest]

Howdy Bunker

Really nice work espcially with the color/b&w pics, did you know that companies pay top dollar for people who know how to do work like that, especially with video. Currently the color/b&w effect is one of the more requested advertising techniques, the international brotherhood of electrical workers union shop stewards handbook has been done entirely like that recently, it wqas a very high dollar project for the unions to pay to have it done like that.

I now realize that I had better watch who I make these photos of.....some of you guys can "shoot back" lol

Really great work ,

have a good evening,

Greg

 

[Guest]

thanks for that Richard

I'l be sure to show you my results

i have psp.7 i did have psp 8 but never got along with it. no more features really just nicer looking buttons if you ask me!

 

[Guest]

Howdy guys,

One more thing, I have about 4 different photo editing programs, but the one that I like best is the oldest, its adobe photo deluxe home edition 3.0 (it is no longer in production....hasnt been for yrs). I can do just about everything with that program so, being that it is almost the oldest adobe photo editing program out there, most anyone should be able to do the same things that have been seen in this thread and others recently. So if you have a photo program, have a go at it, you will be suprised what you can do if you put your mind to it.

have a good day,

Greg

 

[Guest]

I stopped with PSP 8 which, as Richard says, was not a vast improvement on PSP7. 9 was also not a major change but then Jasc was bought out by Corel and PSP X has really been messed around with. I didn't like it one bit so I won't be buying any more.

Shame really when something like that comes to an end!

 

[Guest]

sorry for bringing up a old thread but how did you do the one with the rover showing the engine through the bonet

i wanna have a go at it but not too sure on how to do it

 

[Guest]

Some Very Clever Stuff there and very effective too !!

As Greg says, there are companies out there paying Big Money for this sort of stuff, Might be worth sending a small portfolio off and see what happens.

I agree with the other posts too, Normally Once you have found a program you are happy working with then stick to it, it is so hard to change to another program..it is usually a whole new learning curve all over again. If you get best results with what you are using then stick with it....As stated on here, sometimes even the upgrades of these programs are only minor cosmetic changes and not generally worth bothering with (unless they have a super new "must have feature" which is worth the investment)

Music Software Programs (Which I work with) are pretty much the same, They all do the same job and most now have similar features to each other, but for ease you tend to stick with working with the ones you know best...that's what gets the results.

Regards......Mark

 

[wonwinglo]

This is fascinating stuff,oddly enough I have never tried layering,is it easy to do ? all of the pictures recently featured are taken at arms length over actual backgrounds,I jusy go out in the car into the lovely countryside around here and armed with a few models shoot scores of images,then select the best and airbrush out my hand,it is simple but effective.

Certainly an art form in itself as can be seen from Bunkers pictures.

 

[Guest]

Thanks guys. I had actually thought this thread had bitten the dust due to lack of interest but it seems to have resurfaced.



Just keeping it generic, as its been a long day and it’s now after ten and I’m wilting, but you obviously need a program that handles layers. It is well known that Photoshop is the most proficient but I find it too complicated and way out of my league at 5-600.00 quid.



As I have said I use Paint Shop Pro as it isn’t far behind Photoshop, is considerably easier to understand and it costs about 90.00 quid.



The way I have used layers in these examples is like this:



Your base picture is considered a background layer when you first open it. You can make a copy of it and paste it onto the background as another layer. You then have to imagine that you have two pictures, one laid above the other, completely separate, that you can work on individually. One easy thing to start with is to perform an effect on the top layer, say sepia tone and blur it, and sharpen the bottom layer and maybe increase the contrast a bit. Don’t forget to switch to the correct layer to perform the functions otherwise it will all go pear shaped!!



Then zoom right into the picture and erase the top layer away with the eraser brush so that the lower layer shows through. This is the tedious part and can make or break it. Carefully erasing the top layer away will create a window that you can then look through to the bottom layer. Because it starts out as two copies of the same image you will end up with the two pictures matching up perfectly but with different effects in different areas of the picture.



The car was a bit different. I put the camera on a tripod and took a shot of the car with the bonnet closed. I then opened the bonnet and took another shot with exactly the same position and conditions. In Paint Shop Pro I copied the bonnet closed picture and pasted it as a new layer on the top of the bonnet open picture. You then need to imagine just what you have. Two pictures of the car, laid on top of each other with the closed bonnet picture the only visible one above the open bonnet picture. If you then erase away the top layer the bottom one will show through. If you erase the wing area away you won’t notice anything as both layers are the same but if you erase away the bonnet area you will reveal the open bonnet picture below.

The final stage is to merge the two layers into one picture. I once did one with three different picturea and layered them all and erased the top in two differrent areas to the differring layers below.



Playing around with things like this are great fun and can produce all sorts of really interesting effects. Just have a play and see how easy it is. In a way it is a bit like diorama’s as the really creative bit is the thought that came up with the composition.



You could do some really good ones with models that have removable panels and take a shot with the panel fitted and another with it removed.

 

[Guest]

i was just about to have a go at this and my battery died on my camera so i will give it a go tomorrow.

 

[Guest]

You probably could use any one of many pictures you already have to start having a play around.

 

[Guest]

well...here is a quick go i had.

my dads tripod is broken so i had to resort to trying to hold the camera still and get the same picture twice!

its not very good but you get the idea!

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[Guest]

There you go, limited only by your imagination.

If you don't have a tripod try to set up the camera on something solid and use a remote trigger if possible.

 

[wonwinglo]

Yes camera shake at that close distance is a real problem,but the imagination is good RJ.

 

[Guest]

thanks guys. Il have a propper go later and try and get better pics and try resting the camera on something.