Photoshop Masking Compositing

Designers, photographers, and artists use Photoshop to create fantastic and realistic images for illustrations, fine art, and editorial content. Whether they're landscape or portrait photographers, illustrators or fine artists, masking and compositing are essential skills to master for combining images to the extent that it is impossible to tell where one image stops and the other one begins. In this completely revised edition of her best-selling guide to masking and compositing, Photoshop artist and educator Katrin Eismann--along with compositing experts Sean Duggan and James Porto--takes readers through numerous step-by-step examples, highlighting the tools and techniques used for masking and combining images. Featuring work by leading artists and photographers, this book focuses on the techniques used to create compelling compositions, including making fast and accurate selections, mastering Photoshop's masking tools, and implementing the concept and photography from start to finish. The book addresses working with Photoshop's selection tools; selecting and maintaining fine details and edges; and working with difficult image elements, such as cloth, hair, or translucent objects. All-new photographic examples, updated instruction to cover the latest version of Adobe Photoshop, and an expanded section on shooting photographs for composite work make this a must-have guide for anyone interested in photographing and creating professional composite images. Visit www.peachpit.com/pmc2e to download dozens of the images featured in this book and practice the illustrated techniques with the same files used in the book. Also, download a full, free chapter on how to use the Pen Tool, one of the best selection tools in Photoshop.

Unlocking the Key to Perfect Selections and Amazing Photoshop Effects for Totally Realistic Composites Compositing is one of the hottest trends in Photoshop and photography today for portrait photographers, designers of all walks of life, and even retouchers. Everywhere you look, from group photos, to school graduation or sports portraits, to magazines, movie posters, and DVD covers, chances are, you’ve seen compositing. In Photoshop Compositing Secrets, Matt Kloskowski takes you through the entire process behind creating convincing, well-executed, and captivating composites. You’ll see how to create images that run the gamut from real-world portraits for corporate, graduation, or group photos to sports portraits, templates, and collages, and even the surreal, dramatic composites that clients clamor for. You'll learn: One of the most important secrets to compositing: how to master selections in Photoshop (yes, even wispy hair), What background color, and camera and lighting setups work best for compositing, How to move a subject from one background to another, and the Photoshop lighting and shadowing techniques to make it look real, And all the Photoshop tips, tricks, and special effects you need to pull off a convincing, professional composite. No matter if you're a professional, an aspiring professional, or a hobbyist, Photoshop Compositing Secrets will sharpen your skills and open up a whole new avenue of photographic expression in an easy-to-understand way that will have you creating your own composites in no time.

In Real World Compositing with Adobe Photoshop CS4, Photoshop experts Scott Valentine and Dan Moughamian explain the key elements involved in planning and executing a composite imaging project. Readers will learn about the importance of the planning process, including tips on how to develop creative ideas and stay organized as their project evolves. In addition, they will pick up vital techniques for acquiring and perfecting source images in Photoshop CS4, before bringing them together as a seamless composite. The powerful new 3D features found in the Extended edition are also discussed as part of a 2D-3D workflow. Serious photographers and digital artists wishing to produce photo-realistic imagery or surrealistic artwork by blending—or compositing—multiple images and light sources can learn all they need to know right here. Building from the reader's existing skill set of Photoshop fundamentals, the authors provide detailed examples and explanations that cover the newest features in Photoshop CS4 and also utilize a variety of tools and software applications. More than just a Photoshop guide, this book takes a holistic approach, instructing readers on photographic planning and techniques, key design concepts, visual perception, and robust image editing techniques. This is an increasingly popular approach which requires the digital artist to become more involved in the presentation and concept of their images. Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4 delivers the information readers need, to produce the best possible composite imagery.

In Bret Malley’s world, a father is suspended in the air among his baby’s collection of toys . . . a big-box store and parking lot can be transformed into a scene of reclaimed nature . . . and an ordinary person can sculpt fire with his bare hands. And in Adobe Master Class: Advanced Compositing in Photoshop, Bret shares the techniques he uses to elevate an image from the everyday to the extraordinary, showing you how to make seemingly impossible scenarios come to life. Starting with an overview of the Adobe Photoshop interface that focuses on the hidden tools you need to know to create stunning composite imagery, this fun yet informative guide walks through all the necessary stages–from the first planning sketches to the final finishing touches–of making all kinds of unique creations. Beyond the orientation of tools, layers, adjustments and more, Bret uses step-by-step tutorials to break down a wide variety of his Photoshop artworks. Additional detailed project walkthroughs offer tips on everything from creating a superhuman to compositing an epic fantasy landscape. And interviews and spreads featuring various established and emerging artists provide a range of inspirational imagery, creative insight, and professional know-how. • Features an engaging, writing style that makes learning advanced Photoshop techniques fun • Provides detailed, step-by-step examples, walking through complex compositing projects from start to finish • Includes “Visual Masters” spreads that highlight beautiful and innovative work by current digital artists to inspire you to bring what’s in your imagination–the wildly impossible–to reality • Includes access to downloadable resource files so you can work through the projects along with the author Bret Malley is an award-winning digital artist and full-time college instructor living in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Erin, and new baby boy, Kellen. He has an MFA in Computer Art from Syracuse University and teaches photography, design, and Adobe Photoshop to university and college students of all levels and backgrounds. As a computer artist, he is crazy about digital tools and art-making of all kinds, and especially enjoys working in Photoshop, his ultimate favorite of all applications.

MasterPhotoshop CS4 with this visual, hands-on guide to using layers, under the expert guidance of digital imaging specialist Richard Lynch. Layers, Photoshop's most powerful feature, is the core of a nondestructive image-editing workflow. Step-by-step instructions and practical examples illustrate how to. * Polish: correct and enhance color, fix composition problems, and repair damage or flaws * Manipulate: isolate image areas for changes, adjustments and experimental concepts * Understand: use all forms of layer blending, including transparency, clipping masks, opacity/fill, layer masks, layer modes, channel targeting, Blend If, and Effects/Styles The accompanying DVD comes complete with a generous library of practical actions based on techniques from the book that add functional power to Photoshop, along with practice images for all the exercises in the book. This focused, highly accurate, comprehensive, and practical guide offers invaluable advice for all users of Adobe Photoshop CS4.

The Photoshop Workbook: Professional Retouching and Compositing Tips, Tricks, and Techniques reveals the creative skills that photographer and retoucher Glyn Dewis uses for his global clients. In this guide you will learn not only his step-by-step Photoshop techniques, but how and when to apply them so that you, too, can take your images to a whole new level. Glyn starts by covering the individual Photoshop skills that are the essential building blocks of his process: • Mastering selections and cutouts with the Pen tool and other important tools • Dodging and burning, adding textures, transforming a location, and using the “power of gray” for composites • Applying lighting effects such as spotlights, beams, realistic shadows, reflections, and street lighting to images • Creating special effects, including snow and debris, and turning day into night using a nondestructive workflow It’s one thing to learn the techniques, but to master them you need to understand when to apply them and in what order. In the second part of the book, Glyn brings everything together with his real-world projects. He covers six complete, start-to-finish projects—including all the images for you to download and follow along—that show you how to apply the techniques to a variety of scenarios, including character portraits, themed composites, and a landscape.