©2002 John G. Hendron | [email protected] Photographic Treatments with Adobe Photoshop John Hendron Goochland County Public Schools.

©2002 John G. Hendron | [email protected]

Photographic Treatmentswith Adobe Photoshop

John HendronGoochland County Public

Schools


Why Treatments?

• It’s been done to Photographs for about as long as photography has existed

• Enhance the creative potential of the image

• It’s now easy and inexpensive to do• Preps the image as a design element

for print, web, or video• Can create a sense of style for a

project when applied consistently


Step One

• Begin with a digital image in RGB color space with a resolution that matches the requirements for your final output– flatbed scan– drum scan– negative scan– digital picture– PhotoCD and Stock Art


Treatments

• Conversion to Grayscale

• Toning• Layering and

Sandwiching• Duo-, Tri- and

Quad-Tone• Solarization

• Vignettes• TV Scan Lines• Handcoloring• Lithographic

Posterization• Focus and Blur• Soft Glow (the

Barbara Walters effect)


1. Conversion to Grayscale

• Open your three-channel (RGB) color photograph in Photoshop

• We will use the Channel Mixer to convert the photograph to black and white



• Do not use “Mode > Grayscale”, bad contrast almost always is a symptom of this technique

• Click on the ‘Monochrome’ option

• Select percentages of red, blue, and green



• Try and get the channels to equal 100

• Red and Blue many times may contain “noise” favoring a higher percentage in the Green channel

• Leave Preview checked so you can monitor your changes



• Several of the following treatments will begin with this basic treatment: a high contrast, black and white photograph

• Save your B/W photograph as a separate file in PSD or TIFF format.


2. Toning

• Toning is the act of giving the cast of a particular hue across the photograph

• The most popular example of toning is sepia tone

• For a more creative approach, other tones may be used for a modern twist on a old-fashioned technique


2. Toning

• Open your image (converted to grayscale, but still in RGB mode)

• Open the Hue/Saturation control panel under Adjustments


2. Toning

• Check both the Preview and Colorize options

• Move the Saturation and Hue Sliders to tone your image

• Click OK when your desired result has been achieved


2. Toning


3. Layering / Sandwiching

• Photoshop’s real hallmark is its ability to work with layers

• Really an old fashioned technique, this mimics exposing two negatives on paper

• With Photoshop’s layering modes, you can depart from the traditional method and create more complex results



• Start with your original photograph (color) and a second photograph, imported as a second layer

• At first, the second photo on Layer 1 will completely mask your first photo



• Next, change the opacity of the top layer

• Notice in this example, I’ve changed the Blending Mode for the Layer

• Experiment. Masking and Gradient masking can also be used to combine two or more images



• Here, masking was used to only have a portion of the top layer show-through.

• Try combining disparate subjects, or very alike subjects depending upon your project


4. Duotone

• This technique has roots in printing, but when converted back to RGB mode, still makes for a great effect.

• Duotone uses two ink colors to create a continuous-tone image


4. Duotone

• Start in Grayscale Mode (after using the first technique) and select Duotone Mode.

• You can choose between monotone, duotone, tritone, and quadtone. We’ll use Duotone here.


4. Duotone

• From here you can also adjust how the two colors behave with curves, and which two colors you’d like to combine.

• Traditionally, black is your first (darker) color, but any two can be used.


4. Duotone

• When you’ve completed the duo-, tri-, or quad-tone you like, convert the mode back to RGB for use on the web.

• At high resolutions, Duotone-class images can be separated for use on a press and actually printed with those two spot colors.

• Try enhancing brightness and contrast once in RGB mode


5. Solarization

• Solarization was born out of a process of exposing half-treated photo paper to light

• The underlying image was changed due to this chemical process

• This technique is also called the Sabbatier Effect and traditionally is done with black and white images

• It can also be done with color images from within Photoshop


5. Solarization

• Under Filters > Stylize, try the Solarize filter

• You may wish to fade the filter back depending upon the contrast of your initial image

• For further effect, you may wish to tone the solarized result for color addition

• This example was done in Grayscale mode


5. Solarization

• In this example, a color original was used, and the effect faded with a different blending mode

• Effective treatment for objects and landscapes; avoid for people


6. Vignette

• There are two types of vignette: – low key– high key

• Low key darkens the area around a subject

• High key lightens the area around a subject


6. Vignette

• Start with your photograph in either RGB or Grayscale Mode

• Create an elliptical selection around your subject, and feather the selection

• Invert the Selection (Shift-Command-I)

• Use Levels and/or Brightness/Contrast to darken the background area

• This is a low-key vignette


6. Vignette

• Vignettes can also fade to complete black or white—in this instance, before you invert the selection, copy the subject in the oval selection

• Paste it over a new document with a black or white background

• A high-key vignette fades to white, or a bright color

• This is an alternative used when you have a light background.

• An example is on the next slide…


6. Vignette


7. TV Scan Lines

• Simulate the “look” of images seen on a TV screen with horizontal lines that grace a photograph

• It starts with the creation of a pattern…


7. TV Scan Lines

• Create single, double, or triple thick lines on a small (4-6 pixel high) document over transparency

• Leave a transparent row of pixels; the others are colored medium-gray

• Define the entire document as a pattern


7. TV Scan Lines


7. TV Scan Lines

• Open a photograph, RGB mode

• Create a new layer, and fill with your pattern of lines

• Adjust the blending mode to overlay or screen, and adjust opacity


7. TV Scan Lines


8. Handcoloring

• The earliest color photographs were painted: black and white prints were painted to add color

• In recent years, this technique has proven to be of interest

• It’s easy to do in Photoshop


8. Handcoloring

• Tips for hand coloring:– use a different layer

for each section you paint

– for the layers you create for painting color, use the COLOR blending mode

– use a feathered-edge brush to paint on color

– modify the opacity of the layer to reduce or control saturation

– use black to “erase” any mistakes you make using the color

– the color won’t cover extremely bright areas, such as white


8. Handcoloring

• Begin in RGB color mode with a photograph that’s been coverted to gray tones (Treatment 1)

• Be careful with people--hints of colors are most effective

• Using bold, saturated colors lends a different, but interesting look


9. Posterize

• This technique came about from the use of lithographic films and processes

• This technique is often used with large format prints, or posters

• It reduces the number of “inks” or “shades” that can be used in the print

• It’s an effective way to add interest to a photograph


9. Posterize

• The Quick RGB Way:– Image >

Adjustments > Posterize

– Choose the number of levels you want

– Try changing levels, curves, or make adjustments in the channel mixer after this process


9. Posterize

• Another method involves Treatment 1

• Next, decrease contrast through Brightness/Contrast

• Posterize to 8-11 levels

• Add color (Treatment 2)


10. Focus and Blur

• Focus and Blur is a technique that simulates an advanced treatment that is traditionally done with lenses on a camera

• It isolates areas of a photograph that are in focus, and other areas which become blurry

First: Isolate the area you’d like to blur, or move


10. Focus and Blur

• I used the magnetic pen tool to isolate a head.

• Next, turn the path into a selection

• Feather the selection (Select > Feather)

• Copy the selection and duplicate it on 3-4 layers


10. Focus and Blur

• Next, apply different levels of blur to the individual head layers

• Change the opacity of the layers as well

• Finally, rotate & resize (Free Transform) different “versions” of the head to mimic movement


10. Focus and Blur

• You can also leave portions of a picture “in focus”’ while you blur the background

• Use selection techniques appropriate to the picture (such as a gradient mask) and apply Gaussian Blur

For this selection, a radial gradient was applied in QuickMask mode. Exiting QuickMask will make our selection.


10. Focus and Blur

• Once the selection is made, you can apply any number of effects or filters to the selected (background) region.

• We will use a blur, and later desaturate the background to heighten the effect


10. Focus and Blur

• The finished project:– focus is made upon

the subject at the computer

– the farther away from the subject, the more blur was applied due to the gradient mask

– color is intensified too at the subject’s location


11. Barbara Walters

• I call this last effect “Barbara Walters” because this technique—the use of a soft focus lens filter—is always used on her famous television interviews.


11. Soft Focus

• Soft Focus is achieved by duplicating the image onto a second layer.

• Gaussian blur the top layer and reduce opacity

• Sharpen the original layer underneath


11. Soft Focus


Photographic Techniques

• This is just the beginning! The history of photography is rich, and new digital tools open up new possibilities.

• Use these techniques as a starting point, or as the beginning of your own creative process.

• Some sites on photography of interest:– http://www.rleggat.co

m/photohistory/– http://www.urtonart.c

om/history/photography.htm

– http://www.niepce.com/home-us.html

– http://www.photo.net/history/timeline

©2002 John G. Hendron | [email protected] Photographic Treatments with Adobe Photoshop John Hendron Goochland County Public Schools.

Documents

toning slide

white slide

green slide

changes slide

toning toning

grayscale toning layering

stock art slide

mode grayscale