How to Create Widescreen Wallpaper via Image Merging in Photoshop ?

In this tutorial, I will show you how you can Create Widescreen Wallpaper via Image Merging in Photoshop. Have a try!

Here is a preview of the final effect we will be aiming to achieve: (click to enlarge)

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following 4 images:

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

OK let’s get started!

Load the “Image 1″ stock image into Photoshop, hit Ctrl + A to select the entire image, then press Ctrl + C to make a copy.

Hit Ctrl + N to create a new file, you will notice the width and height of the new file will be set automatically:

Because we have four images here, in order to fit them into one canvas, we need to increase the width of the image to 4 times the width of one individual image:

Once the new file is created, paste the image onto it and drag it to the right side:

Load the rest of the images into Photoshop, copy and paste them on the canvas, as shown below:

As you can see, the edge of each layer doesn’t not line up properly against each other:

Reduce the fill opacity of layer 1 to around 70%:

Reduce the fill opacity to layer 2 to around 70%:

Now let’s find a distintive object which we can use as a guide – I chose this building shown below:

Adjust the position of the layer 2, and merge it into layer 1, using this building as a guide.

Once there is no blur appearing on the image, you’re pretty much done with the merge: (don’t worry about the river edge is a bit rough now, we will deal with it later)

and here is the overall effect:

Now we need to merge the other two photos together. Use the same techique as described in the previous step, reduce the layer opacity and find a distintive object, adjust the layer position to fit them together:

From Image 3 to Image 2:

Result:

From Image 4 to Image 3:

Result:

Once you’re happy with the merge, make sure you go to Image > Trim and trim out the empty white background.

Increase the layer opacity of each layer back to 100%.

Now let’s take a look at the river portion of the image. As you can see, because we tried to align the images in the previous step, we now have some white space on the right side of the canvas:

To tackle this problem, we can simply make a selection with the rectangular marquee tool as shown below:

Press Ctrl + T to bring out the free transform tool:

Drag the bottom center portion down to fill the white space:

As you can see, the white space is now filled:

and here is the overall effect so far:

Flatten the image layers by right-clicking any one of the layers on the layer palette, then choose “Flatten Image”.

Now let’s tidy up the image a bit. As you can see, on the edge of each image we pasted previously, some parts did not blend with each other prefectly. We need to somehow get rid of them.

Now instead of using the blur tool, I found the Smudge Tool prefect for this job:

Set the brush size to around 10-12px, blending mode to “normal”, strength to around 50% for the Smudge Tool, apply it to the edge of the image.

Here is the effect after applying the Smudge Brush:

You can apply the same smudge tool technique to the sky portion as well:

Here is the effect after applying the smudge tool the sky portion:

and here is the final effect for this tutorial:

That’s it! Hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful :)

Till next time, have a great day!

Read More

How to Creat an Abstract Watercolor Wallpaper ?

Hello designers ! 

There are plenty of ways to create a Watercolor Effect in Photoshop. Some are very cheesy and you can easily tell that a simple filter has been used. In this tutorial, we will be using Layer Masking. It is one of the most fascinating and powerful Photoshop method, to use layer masks in your designs.

Preview of the final result : 

You can upload this picture or use any photo you like and you want to make the effect on it ;) 

Let us start off by creating a canvas of 1920X1200 pixels, in RGB mode. Copy and paste the image into our canvas. Use transform and scale it to fit our canvas by holding down the Shift-Key. This keeps the original aspect ratio of the image and it does not look stretched.

Even though the picture I am using here is a small resolution one, it will not matter much since I will be using some filters that will remove any sort of pixelation. Adjust Brightness/Contrast and then duplicate the layer.

Apply Watercolor filter from filter gallery to the duplicated layer. Name this duplicated layer as “Watercolor Filter”.

Select the original layer and NOT the “Watercolor Filter”. Go to Image > Adjustments > Threshold. Name this original layer as “Threshold Effect”.

Set the Blending mode to Multiply, and merge both, “Watercolor Filter” and “Threshold Effect” layers. So, we now have a “Merged Layer”.

Now open some images I took from the Media Militia Sampler Pack, download it here. Get to the “Merged Layer”. Select and copy the image into the layer. Add a Layer Mask to “Layer 1″. Alt + click on the layer mask, and you will see the canvas is in white. Paste the image here, and Ctrl + I to invert the colors. This way, the layer mask hides the Blacks, and reveals the Whites. Click back onto the layer and we can see our image.

Use some paper textures from Bashcorpo, you’ll find it here. Set it to Linear Burn mode.

Finaly, add some more watercolor splashes from the Media Militia Sample and add a fancy text, oriented like what I have in this image below. Now you have an abstract watercolor design. You can use your creativity and innovate more on this effect. Hope you had fun in this tutorial!

, The Staff '

Read More

How to make an awesome manipulation in photoshop ?

 Hi everyone, so in this tutorial, you should have a big time to make this manipulation , so if  you're free, 

Let's begin !!!!

So this is how the result will be : 

So for this , you should use many pictures and some brushes ! 

So you can download or copy everything : 

Room : ~blontj of DeviantArt

Picture Frame : ~malchik stock

Shark : ~wrydgrendal

Kitten : ~lugburzoxay

Cloud : ~jotamyg

Water Fall Brush Set : Readhead Stock

Water Splash Brush Set : Brusheezy

Puddle stock image : Rosaline Stock

Ready ? Ok ! 

Before starting the tutorial. I am presuming that you are quite familiar with basic commands in Photoshop and hence I will clearly explain the relevant and most important elements or adjustments that I make and for all the minor details, I shall explain it in words without screen shots. I have presented them in a down-to-earth language so I’m pretty sure you will cruise through the tutorial. I hope you can forgive me for this lack of commitment :) However, I have tried my best to keep the tutorial as detailed as possible. This tutorial is mainly intended to highlight the advantages of the adjustment layers and how important they are while creating some intense photo manipulations. So, Lets move on.

Download the Room Stock image and Paste it in your document. Now download the Picture frame and open the PSD file after unzipping it and paste the frame in your document. Using theTransformation Tool (Click CTRL + T), rotate the frame as shown below

The frame looks too bright and out of contrast to be fit into such a dark room. So, let us meddle with the brightness, saturation and pretty much everything.

First, Create a ‘CURVES’ Adjustment layer. This is can be done as follows. Below the Layer’s Palette, click on CREATE NEW FILL OR ADJUSTMENT LAYER, the small icon that looks like a circle (half black and half white) and select CURVES.

Now, adjust the settings as shown below :

ADDING A CLIPPING MASK:

If you notice, the entire image (including the room) has been adjusted but we want only the frame to get adjusted. So, we need to ALT + Click between the CURVES Layer and the FRAME Layer (this will add the curves layer as a clipping mask)

Alternatively, you can RIGHT CLICK on the adjustment layer and select ‘CREATE CLIPPING MASK‘.

The frame still seems a bit colorful, so let us add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer in the same way we added the Curves Layer. Set the Saturation level to -53. After setting the saturation, add a Clipping mask for this layer too.

Now, the frame still looks a bit bright, so let us add a LEVELS Adjustment Layer. This layer darkens the dark areas even more thus providing a depth to the image. Use the following settings or you can experiment with it, until you feel you get the right one.

I also added a Exposure Adjustment layer, as I wasn’t satisfied with the result after the Levels Adjustment. This is not necessary but its left for you to decide :)

This is how the frame looks at this point of time.

Now, I hope you kept on clicking ALT + Click (Creating Clipping masks) after you added every adjustment layer. Take a look at my Layers Palette for reference.

Now grab the Shark Illustration and Open it using Photoshop. As you can see, we need toEXTRACT the shark from its blue background. There are so many ways to achieve this but I prefer to use the most flexible one, PEN TOOL. It takes a lot of time to extract the image from its background using the PEN TOOL but it is definitely worth it.

So, using the PEN TOOL (P) start creating anchor points around the boundary of the shark. Make sure the options it set to ‘PATHS‘. You can also use the Rubber Band Feature for an added advantage.

Once you finish creating a path around the shark, right click and select ‘MAKE SELECTION‘ and use 0.5 as feather radius. Now Invert the selection (SHIFT + CTRL + I) and press DELETE to remove the background.

Now, copy the shark and paste it onto our document. Now, we need to create the image as if the shark is coming out of the Picture Frame, so as to depict the ‘Out of Bounds’ Illustration. So, carefully place the shark as shown below

Now, obviously we need to remove the tail and the fin of the shark. So, using the PEN TOOLagain, let us create the selection as shown below. You need to imagine how it will look when the shark is about the jump out of the frame :) I reduced the opacity of the shark image to get a better selection view.

Now, right click and MAKE SELECTION. Invert the selection(SELECT > INVERSE) and Click onADD LAYER MASK (Below the Layer’s palette) OR you can also just delete the selection. Either way, make sure it looks something like this:

As you can see, using a layer mask, you don’t destroy the original image but just mask certain areas of the image. This is how my layers palette looks at this point of time.

Now comes the tricky part. The one thing that makes any photo manipulation work awesome is the lighting and the contrast of the image and the elements. If these are perfected with precision, it will blend with the background seamlessly and will never look like it is manipulated.

As this is my first photo manipulation tutorial, I have tried a lot of experimentation and have narrowed down my choices to these adjustment layers and settings. If you think it can be improved, please let me know and I shall work on it.

Let us add a Hue/Saturation Layer with the following settings. Do not forget to add it as aclipping mask so that only the shark image is edited and not the entire document.

Now add Levels, Brightness, Curves adjustment layers with similar settings as shown below.

This is how my layers palette looks at this point of time. I also added a SOLID COLOR adjustment layer with a color : #131313 and set the blending mode to Soft Light and Opacity to around 30%. This will give a gray color contrast to the shark image

Now, grab the cloud Stock image and paste it onto the document. Using the Transform tool,rotate the cloud image to match that of the frame.

Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, create a selection as shown below. This is to create a landscape in the picture frame, so that to give an idea that the shark is swimming or something :P

Now, Invert the selection (SHIFT + CTRL + I) and delete the part of the cloud image which does not belong to the frame. Now, add a Gaussian Blur of around 8 px radius. (FILTER > BLUR > GAUSSIAN BLUR)

Let us now create a drop shadow for the frame. Just double click on the frame layer and select DROP SHADOW and apply the following settings.

The shadow doesn’t look as realistic as it should be. Here are a few elements that are missing and which I spotted.

1) To add another drop shadow on the left, I duplicated the ‘FRAME’ Layer and set the color overlay to black. Then, I added a Gaussian Blur of around 10px and slightly re positioned the shadow using the Transform Tool (MOVED IT)

2) I also did the same for the Shark as well, duplicated the SHARK Layer and added a color overlay of Black and applied a Gaussian Blur Filter and moved it a bit towards a left.

3) Using the BURN TOOL, I applied some burns on the frame near the area where the shark is about the leap :)

Download this Kitten image and open it in Photoshop and Using the PEN TOOL, extract it from its background. Make sure your path is a bit inside the boundary of the image you want to extract, to avoid unnecessary bits of background being extracted too. This process is similar to the extraction of the SHARK image.

Now, We need to adjust the lighting, contrast and stuff. We will add adjustment layers, just like we added for the SHARK and FRAME layers.

These are the adjustments that I made. You can follow the same as well.

This is how the image looks after the adjustments.

Now, we need to add a shadow where the kitten stands and darken some layers to create a realistic lighting effect.

To add a shadow, click on the ELLIPSE TOOL and set the option to SHAPES and create an ellipse. Now, go to FILTER > BLUR > GAUSSIAN BLUR and apply a 5 px blur as shown below.

Now, Using the BURN TOOL and setting the range to MIDTONES, brush the part of the feet which is closer to the ground.

Let us now add the water splash effect. Grab the Water Fall Brushes from here and load them onto your Photoshop document. Create a new layer and using the Brush Tool, add a water fall just below the shark. You may have to remove certain parts of the water fall using the PEN TOOL method we discussed above.

Now, Grab these Water Splash brushes and add some water splash in a new document to create the splash effect where the shark is coming out of the frame.

Then, download this puddle stock image and paste it on the document. Move it down so that it appears on the floor. Desaturate the puddle image, Set the Blending mode to SCREEN, and anopacity of around 50% and using a Transformation tool, change the perspective of the puddle to match that of the floor. Using the eraser with soft brush, erase certain parts of the image. Use the below image for reference

At this point of time, the image looks something like this:

Click on CHANNELS in the layers palette. Select the Green Channel and press (CTRL + A) then go to Edit > Copy. Select the Blue Channel and go to Edit > Paste and then select the RGB Channel. This adds a very surreal appearance for the image.

The image appears a bit bright, so let us add a level adjustment layer to rectify that. Use the following settings.

Create a new layer and add a BLACK to TRANSPARENT Radial Gradient to darken the corners of the room and to add a directional spot light effect.

Now, Merge all the layers (FLATTEN) by selecting all the layers and pressing SHIFT + CTRL + E and duplicate the layer by pressing CTRL + J.

Now, Its all about minor editing. Go to FILTER > OTHER > HIGH PASS and apply a filter on the dupicated image. Set the blending mode to OVERLAY and set the opacity to around 20%.

One of the main reasons, I have used the High Pass filter technique is because it works so well at sharpening images. Areas in the image which are not an edge are left untouched. The only areas that have sharpening applied to them are the edges, which is exactly what I need to give a detailed yet fantasy appearance for my image. Sometimes, applying the Smart Sharp Filter also works, but not as good as the HPF and moreover you don’t have to get confused with many options and parameters :) So this makes our job easier.

This is the final result : 

Well, we have come to the end. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial as much as I did. This is my first tutorial on Photo manipulation, so there are bound to be some errors in the lighting and contrast as we can see clearly, it is not that perfect. But, still there are lots we can learn from this tutorial. I am open to any kind of suggestions and critiques. So, feel free to drop in your thoughts and opinions. Thank you

, The Staff '

Read More