04-05-2007, 04:59 PM
Ok, first things first, this is a very simple way of generating a very interesting effect to your screenies, but, as you
possibly know, there are
dozens of ways of doing the very same thing in Photoshop. My way is possibly not the best, well, I know,... it´s not the
best, but that´s the way I do
it, and, well,...it works.
Sometimes when we take a screenshot the center of attention is the aircraft itself, sometimes it´s the landscape and the
aircraft it´s just the
tripode,...We can crop the screenshot and make the viewer pay attention to what we want but we can try someting else:
1.
Take a look at this un-edited screenshot of a 727 about to land. That´s a wonderful bird for sure but those hangars and trees
in the background are
not very interesting (at least for me ).
2.
So we open the screenshot with Photoshop, crop it or resize it and then we choose the Poligonal Lasso Tool.
3.
Carefully we select everything BUT the aircraft itself ( we could select whatever we want to leave out of focus anyway, but
this time we well enhance
the presence of the 727). In the screenshot it looks like we selected the aircraft but it´s just the opposite.
4.
Once selected, we RIGHT click and choose Layer Via Copy, thus creating a new layer with everything but the aircraft.
So now we have 2 layers,
the original and one without the 727.
5.
As you can see on the right, there are 2 layers, Background and Blurred now. With the "Blurred" layer selected
we choose
Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur
6.
I selected a radius of 1.2 for it as you can see, but a higher value would work too.
7.
Note the effect on the FsInn panel for example.
8.
Now right click on the "Blurred" layer and select Merge Down. We have combined both layers again, so any effect
we apply from now on
will be for the whole screenshot. Ok, we have just one layer,...
9.
We RIGHT click on the "Background" layer and choose Duplicate Layer
10.
We have 2 layers again . Now select Filter/Blur/Lens Blur
11.
And use these settings (specially radius 4),...
12.
This will blur it too much so we move the tiny "Opacity"slider thats on top of the Layer Window back to 65. The aim is to get
rid of some aliased
textures in the aircraft, so experiment with the value it suits you most.
13.
Select the Blur Tool ( has a teardrop icon) and check that its strenght it´s more or less 50. Use this tool for those last
details on stencils,
windows, tires and whatever details was left aliased. This tool is REALLY helpful for blurring the sun projected shadow edges
on the tarmac that looks
so pixelated.
We are now ready to edit the screenshot with saturation, lightness or color changes...but that´s another story...
HOPE it helps,
possibly know, there are
dozens of ways of doing the very same thing in Photoshop. My way is possibly not the best, well, I know,... it´s not the
best, but that´s the way I do
it, and, well,...it works.
Sometimes when we take a screenshot the center of attention is the aircraft itself, sometimes it´s the landscape and the
aircraft it´s just the
tripode,...We can crop the screenshot and make the viewer pay attention to what we want but we can try someting else:
1.
Take a look at this un-edited screenshot of a 727 about to land. That´s a wonderful bird for sure but those hangars and trees
in the background are
not very interesting (at least for me ).
2.
So we open the screenshot with Photoshop, crop it or resize it and then we choose the Poligonal Lasso Tool.
3.
Carefully we select everything BUT the aircraft itself ( we could select whatever we want to leave out of focus anyway, but
this time we well enhance
the presence of the 727). In the screenshot it looks like we selected the aircraft but it´s just the opposite.
4.
Once selected, we RIGHT click and choose Layer Via Copy, thus creating a new layer with everything but the aircraft.
So now we have 2 layers,
the original and one without the 727.
5.
As you can see on the right, there are 2 layers, Background and Blurred now. With the "Blurred" layer selected
we choose
Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur
6.
I selected a radius of 1.2 for it as you can see, but a higher value would work too.
7.
Note the effect on the FsInn panel for example.
8.
Now right click on the "Blurred" layer and select Merge Down. We have combined both layers again, so any effect
we apply from now on
will be for the whole screenshot. Ok, we have just one layer,...
9.
We RIGHT click on the "Background" layer and choose Duplicate Layer
10.
We have 2 layers again . Now select Filter/Blur/Lens Blur
11.
And use these settings (specially radius 4),...
12.
This will blur it too much so we move the tiny "Opacity"slider thats on top of the Layer Window back to 65. The aim is to get
rid of some aliased
textures in the aircraft, so experiment with the value it suits you most.
13.
Select the Blur Tool ( has a teardrop icon) and check that its strenght it´s more or less 50. Use this tool for those last
details on stencils,
windows, tires and whatever details was left aliased. This tool is REALLY helpful for blurring the sun projected shadow edges
on the tarmac that looks
so pixelated.
We are now ready to edit the screenshot with saturation, lightness or color changes...but that´s another story...
HOPE it helps,