rip18
Senior Member
Had a question about the ibis pic - and it didn't come from our favorite mounted cowboy...
I took the picture at 3:16 in the afternoon - way too much hard light for the sensor to capture blacks & whites well (usually anyway...). I adjusted levels to get the majority of the picture to look "right", but I still didn't like the pale color of the feet & beak, so I added a layer.
I added a levels adjustment layer & adjusted the image so the colors of the beak & feet were "real."
Then I used the black paint bucket to block the effect of the levels adjustment from the whole image, and then a soft white brush to reveal the layer only on the feet & beak. Note that somehow when adding this layer & then blocking it, that I created the (unwanted in this case) halo around the whole bird.
Okay, so then I went back & did an example for this post....
Layers are a very versatile tool in Photoshop. They can be used to do a LOT of different things. Think of layers like layers of clear overlay material that you write/spray different things onto - like a map or old flip chart.
Once you do something to a layer, you can block the effect by coloring the area you want blocked with black paint. You can reveal the effect by painting with white paint. BLACK BLOCKS/WHITE REVEALS. You can use any tool to apply the color - including the paint bucket, brushes of any style, etc. You can paint & repaint & repaint - blocking and revealing until you get what you want. You aren't changing the data in the image at ALL, just how you SEE it.
I used the exact same adjustment layer (because I had saved a "master" copy with all the adjustments in Photoshop format). I then used a black brush to block the effect from the left half of the image, so that you can see what the levels adjustment layer was doing.
Then instead of choosing an appropriate brush to "fix" the details on the beak, I used 4 different brushes to swipe down the image so that you can see what the brushes do. I used a small "soft" brush, then a larger "soft" brush, then a small "hard" brush, and then a larger "hard" brush. Soft brushes just mean they have a fuzzy or "soft" edge. I use a soft brush so there is a gradual transition between where I want the effect and where I don't (kind of like feathering the edge of a selection area). I'd use a brush size & "soft" amount appropriate to the thing that I am "painting".
Hope that description & the illustration help folks understand a little about layers & some of the ways they can be used...
I took the picture at 3:16 in the afternoon - way too much hard light for the sensor to capture blacks & whites well (usually anyway...). I adjusted levels to get the majority of the picture to look "right", but I still didn't like the pale color of the feet & beak, so I added a layer.
I added a levels adjustment layer & adjusted the image so the colors of the beak & feet were "real."
Then I used the black paint bucket to block the effect of the levels adjustment from the whole image, and then a soft white brush to reveal the layer only on the feet & beak. Note that somehow when adding this layer & then blocking it, that I created the (unwanted in this case) halo around the whole bird.
Okay, so then I went back & did an example for this post....
Layers are a very versatile tool in Photoshop. They can be used to do a LOT of different things. Think of layers like layers of clear overlay material that you write/spray different things onto - like a map or old flip chart.
Once you do something to a layer, you can block the effect by coloring the area you want blocked with black paint. You can reveal the effect by painting with white paint. BLACK BLOCKS/WHITE REVEALS. You can use any tool to apply the color - including the paint bucket, brushes of any style, etc. You can paint & repaint & repaint - blocking and revealing until you get what you want. You aren't changing the data in the image at ALL, just how you SEE it.
I used the exact same adjustment layer (because I had saved a "master" copy with all the adjustments in Photoshop format). I then used a black brush to block the effect from the left half of the image, so that you can see what the levels adjustment layer was doing.
Then instead of choosing an appropriate brush to "fix" the details on the beak, I used 4 different brushes to swipe down the image so that you can see what the brushes do. I used a small "soft" brush, then a larger "soft" brush, then a small "hard" brush, and then a larger "hard" brush. Soft brushes just mean they have a fuzzy or "soft" edge. I use a soft brush so there is a gradual transition between where I want the effect and where I don't (kind of like feathering the edge of a selection area). I'd use a brush size & "soft" amount appropriate to the thing that I am "painting".
Hope that description & the illustration help folks understand a little about layers & some of the ways they can be used...
