Water Legs - Photo Manipulation

I've done something out of the norm again!

I got this idea to replace my legs, with falling water onto my shoes.

It really wasn't easy to shoot, but it was fun.

 

Of course, the first thing of any photo shoot is the setup. I mean, focus, position and of course, a proper frame or composition. Remember to shoot a little wider so there's space to crop. It's a real bugger to try and add to a shot afterwards. For this experiment, I used my back yard, well, actually my landlord's back yard. My spot had great light bouncing off the wall behind the camera, allowing me to be in the shadow of a tree, while still getting enough light on me as I posed repetitively until I had a shot I could use (shot about 5 shots in total).

 

I don't have fancy gear, I don't. This was shot with my Sony SLT-A35 and my kit 18-55mm lens set to around 18mm.

 

 

Now once I had a pose that would work, the pouring could begin. 8 or 9 shots (and a wet pair of denims and especially the shoes) later, I had two images I could potentially use to mask over my legs.

 

Here's me now finally getting the left "leg" close enough.

 

Then the right leg.

Each time I would have to walk to the camera, check the shot and try again. The tap I was using was also a walk away, so the bucket constantly needed filling too. Remember, I don't have a remote shutter or anything, so each shot was set with the camera's 10 second timer. In which case I would be running up and down between shots.

 

Problems will arise if your planning is not 100% spot-on. Here I was using a square bucket, because it gave me great walls of falling water. Thing is, somewhere along the line, I got must have bumped the shoes, or the camera just slightly, so the alignment wasn't accurate. Also, the water angle wasn't right. But it's cool, I have Photoshop CS5.

 

When I was masking the water over my legs, I had to adjust the correct them. For this I used my select too, pressed ctrl+T to select the distort option. This helped, but not enough. I then used the rectangle marquee tool to select the parts I needed and ctrl+J to duplicate these. Again, the select tool and, again, the distort function to try align it more. the I used the warp tool (right-click select warp) to bend the shoes back into place and align things properly. Then I added mask layers to the water and blended them in properly. Once I had them all aligned and blended, I cropped the image a bit. I then created a merged image from the layers (ctrl-clicking on merge layers will create a merged layer without losing your previous layers).

 

I then played a little further using Shadow/Highlights and a soft-light B&W layer blended over that to bring back some depth and detail. The result is what you see below. :)

 

Remember, If you want more details, or to book me for a unique and creative shoot, drop me a >mail< and I will pencil you in. All images are the intellectual property of Collin Scott Photography, all rights reserved (C) 2014.

 

If you do share, please remember to respect the creator and to mention them in your post.

 

Thank you, have a great day!

 

 

Flying Apple Slices!

Hey guys!

Been a while and I have had such a major mental block, it wasn't even funny!

 

In October 2012, I took my camera and started to play again... this time, getting tricky!

All the searching for cool ideas led me to try some wayward thinking.

 

In this case, flying apple slices and chunks errupting from the apple.

 

right, if you never knew how to... you do now.

 

I got me some really big, juicy, crisp apples and instead of just eating them, I first played with them. Yes, I played with my food.

Look below... looks cool, doesn't it?

 

 

How?

Easy!

 

First thing to do is... slice your apple, or any other fruit you desire...

Second thing, prop the peices into place with either toothpics, kebab sticks or, in this case, match sticks.

 

Position your uh, model... point your camera at it and shoot!

Okay...

Once you have your photo, it's time to take it into your editor... mine is Photoshop CS5. But, any editor with clone and heal features will do the trick.

Simple!

See the original photo?

 

 

Cool hey?

With a lot of cloning, recloning, close-up cloning and same amount of healing, you can get a good result. All it takes is time and a little patience. Be a perfectionist if you must!

 

Remember, to make it believeable, you need to really treat it well. Take care to notice edges, marks etc that may catch the alert eye.

 

Okay, I did do some of my usual layering afterwards and some minor cropping just to make it seem a little more appealing, especially since I underexposed a little and shot a little wide.

 

Below is another one I did, then ate. If you look close, you can see the attention to detail, it seems really as if the apple bits are floating.

 

Now, don't forget, you do not need major editing skills or any fancy schmancy equipment. This can be achieved similarly, with a cell phone, or basic pocket camera too!

 

If your camera has the ability to do long exposures, you can also have fun that way.

Here, I set up my Sony A200 with my tripod. I switched to manual mode, set the shutter to 30 seconds and set the Aperture to F8 with the ISO at 100.

I have a great little light on my cell phone, so I danced around in the street. Okay, not exactly the street, the end of a road. It took a few attempts to get the manual focus right, but nailed it nicely with this one! My mistake, wearing shorts. So, my multiple legs are noticeable in this one... I was also blessed with a car passing by in the background too!

 

 

Anyway, thanks for popping by.

 

Go play outside!

 

See you soon!

 

If you've played like this, would be nice to hear about it, share a link in the comment box.

 

Take care

Collin.

Special Effects

Hey everybody!

 

So, I've been asked numerous times on how I get this effect. Well, I was inspired by a technique called the "Dragon Effect" as the linked video will show you. This, is my own variation of this "effect". It's still a bit of work, just like most of the youtube clips will explain to you.

 

Me, I think I've followed most of the steps, but, still doing it my way... I guess I have this thing about following rules... I use them as a guide.

Two more examples at the end of my story.

 

Your initial image should at least look good to start with. This example taken in the middle of the day is a good platform to work with, but not exactly the best.

 

Time to start putting this onion together, one layer at a time.

 

This guy was neglected by his decade long employers and left behind in a small town that is also neglected.

Please note that I do all of this in the fantastic Photoshop CS5 and hope you will understand my tutorial here as I don't go into details. I don't show clips of settings, screen dumps or any of those that you see in other tutorials. I just tell you what I did and how I did it. I will however try to give you as much detail as I can remember.

(I'm glad I saved the .psd file so that I could dismantle it and give a brief on how-in-the-hell I did this.)

 

Right, first thing I did was to shift the shadow/highlights drastically.

(Image -> Asjustments -> Shadow/Highlights)

By shifting these sliders, you can tweak the levels until you find yorself with quite a nice balance between lifted shadows and darkened highlights.

 

 

Then a quick copy of the layer (Ctrl -J Win/Cmnd J Mac), which gets some Gaussian Blur thrown at it (Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur). This is to wipe out any freaky looking ghosting and edge halo's that are caused by the shadow/highlight procedure. There are other ways, but this is what I did. Oh yes, don't forget to now ERASE the subject so that only the background is blurred (this can be achieved in various ways, such as using quick select too, magnetic lasso, or just erasing). I used a combo of quick select and eraser.

 

 

 Ok, cool... So you've noticed a MAJOR saturation explosion, don't worry, we'll get to that. Before that (and this is why I'm not phased by the saturation) I add yet another layer. This layer gets desaturated (Ctrl+shift+U), then more shadow/highlights, then contrasted and finally, the layer filter is set to "Soft Light". Don't really notice it below? Probably because I shifted the fill and opacity just a tad...

 

Again, duplicated that same desaturated layer and gave it a hint of gaussian blur (less than half of the first blur used for the background) and the the fill and opacity brought back up to 100%.

 

 

Now, it's starting to look good and, as you'll notice, the saturation is slowly reducing...

Next steps are "the painter's steps" where I painstakingly sit with different size brushes of black and white and multiple layers (don't get intimidated, this is optional and can be done in different easy ways). Background get first priority... Remember your selection? It should still be available (Select -> reselect), if not, select again the same way you did for the blurred bachground. Cool?

 

Right, inverse this selection so that you now have the background selected and not your subject. Paint with brush, or use the paint bucket... either, or...

Oh, then set the layer to soft light. Background's looking cool, but still a bit of work.

 

Duplicate that layer, use a (reasonable sized) feathered eraser to trim around your subject so that you get a bit of a glow and nice rich, dark bacground, just like below.

This layer will get quite a heavy gaussian blur to blend it in nicely.

 

 

Okay, now the face, this is what can take the most time.

Another layer to the onion, set to soft light (again, sigh...) and this time, very small, feathered brushes will be used. Why? Because, stop asking questions.

This is to work on the details in the face, to accentuate the creases and "character lines" in his face, to make them stand out more.

There is another way, a photocopy layer, whites removed, blurred, but it isn't as effective as being selective and means a ton more erasing... I tried that route... it can be effective, but is just so time consuming.

 

Okay, the next two steps are basically, the same... okay, they are...

New layer, painted bucket black, erase the centre with large, very large feathered eraser with opacity set to around um, 20%. Then it's case if erasing from the centre outwards. Yeah, to create a vignette.

 

 

Duplicate that layer, erase a little more to have a lesser vignette. Play with these until desired effect.

Please note: They ARE optional, but work for me.

 

 

Okay... now it's time to deal with that saturation (which you could probably see, has been changing with each layer added) by using the new adjustment layer tool... selecting saturation and adjusting the master slider. You can, however also opt for selective colour saturation by clicking on the drop down box that says, Master... I just toned down the entire colour spectrum altogether.

 

 

Finally, I added my signature and then saved it.

(okay, I might have tweaked the  brightness once more after)

 

 

That's it, as easy as that.

Do enjoy, let me know if there anything you'd like to know.

csphoto76@gmail.com

 

Okay, two more examples.

 

This one, I managed to get it better, practice...

 

 

the first one I did, this was done using the photocopy layer story I mentioned earlier.

 

 

In Black And White.

Greayscale, as it is also known, is sometimes a great way to express mood or just enhance an image. Other times, it's just a way to better handle an image that was maybe shot with the wrong settings... Best part of only seeing the B&W image is, you'll never know... 

I would take my camera for a walk around the neighbourhood to see what would catch my eye.

Spotted this little car parked so perfectly on the side of the road, couldn't resist but to spend a few minutes to best compose the image and still grab all that I want from the shot.

I did do some post processing to enhance the mood and atmosphere.

This was just a pop of thought, I spotted this leaf wedged in between two planks and it immediately planted a thought into my head. A thought of being trapped, waiting for that one thing that would free it. Sometimes, all of us can relate...

This kid, watched him for quite a while, spends his days outside a local KFC in hopes of some food, or money. Always happy, even when he is ignored by passers by, he still enjoys himself and his dog.

Here, sportsmen practice, even though they don't have the best facilities, they make do with what they have and overlook the things that could bring them down.

Sometimes, the road can lead one's mind astray...

Sometimes, it's what's on the side of the road that catches the eye, we should not be too hasty o get to our destination, but to rather enjoy the journey.

Out on the beach, the weather can play a major role in your image, in this case the wind blowing the clouds over the peak of Signal Hill, Cape Town, made for a great, dramatic image.

My 74-300mm kit lens working hard to get the best capture it can from Blouberg Beach.

Technically, this image is wrong, technically (referring to rule-of-thirds etc.). But, as art, it's perfect... do like the scale though of the ship, the stadium and the mountain.

Ah yes, this one caught my eye... I liked the shape of the rock, that near foot-like shape intrigued me. I noticed all the tiny shells lying around there, that could easily end up underfoot. I neatly placed a few on the rock and worked around the sunlight to get a great image. This is the result...

Close-ups can also create great pieces of art. In this case, a bee collecting pollen was readily captured. Of course, it came down to flipping the camera from landscape to portrait until the composition was right. This was the final result of many shots while chasing the bee around the flowers.

On the beach again, I managed to cach this gull just after snatching up a mussel shell. He'd fly up, and then drop it from a height to try and get it to crack open. He succeeded and enjoyed a great lunch.

Well, that's it for this episode, will follow up with some more soon again. Still trying to pick out some good ones and share a little secret with you guys.

Cheers for now.

Among Giants

Living among us giants, faeries still do exist. But, it is the rare few that see them, or at least where and how they live in these modern times... I don't know if any live here anymore as this old house seems quite abandoned. I wonder if they had to move because of all the development that has taken place around them over the last 6 or 7 decades. Sad actually, to think that once there lived the most magical of creatures and we as human beings have forced them out of their habitats...

Okay, not really, this was just me getting creative and adding to my artistic editing. You see, the image below is the original 30 second exposure that I took a few days ago. Note the skew horizon, the very dark foreground and all round poor detail.

While I was looking at this in my photo viewer, ACDSee Pro 2, I wondered what it would look like with lifted shadows and straightened horizon, it brought an intriguing look and feel to it and I wondered about the its potential. Hmmm... PhotoShop!

Okay, so I never did very much in PhotoShop besides a pinch more lighting and a colour boost to give it a bit more life... but I felt it had a void, something was missing, it seemed interestingly boring...

So, now I got creative. First thing I did was go into my archives of photos taken, I rememberd having the perfect picture of an old house that would work, cut and trimmed it to fit. I then had the task of making sure that the old house fits the colour tone and mood of the rest of the image, so some time later, I was happy. Gave the over-all image a complete boost of colour and contrasted brightness.

Threw in another image layer, a high-contrast B&W version which I filtered down to be barely noticeable but to add some more shadow.

Once I'd gotten it to look a little more intersting I decided to give it a more interesting and mystical look... by adding another layer, but this time with a gaussian blur (set to 12.5% blur) and filtered that layer over the others. It, of course, made the foreground a bit too blurry so I erased some (with a 25% eraser) just to add some sharpness back. The end result is quite impressive if I do say so myself. Let's take a look at that one again...

Well, not being completely satisfied (and a little curious), I went forth and converted... to black and white... just to see what it would look like. Well, that's it... another installment done... hope you all liked and enjoyed... take care... take pictures... and have fun!