APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Let's Get Digital

Apogee Photo Magazine


Let's Get Digital Photo Art lesson 5: Complex masking for layer interaction.
If you have paid attention to the photography style of the 40's and 50's, all famous Hollywood portrait photographers used an interaction of blur and sharp focus - mostly very sharp around the eyes, fading to a different level of focus towards the outside of image. This lesson will focus on creating a mask in order to partially reveal edges from layers below which have been blurred. This method also has some great by-products that can be used as stand alone images by themselves.
We begin by making a copy of original layer, so you have a backup in case you want to go back and also so you have a reference image to compare what you have done to where you started. 1. Adjust your color using Level or Curve. 2. Create two duplicate images. Now you should have 3 layers. 3. Select the top layer -->Filter--->Blur--->Smart Blur.
Use the setting as you see on the left image, and click OK. In this layer we have picked the image color edge transition for the sole purpose of creating a mask that is a black and white outline. (Note: By adjusting the radius you can modify this mask image in every way you want.)
4. We want to transfer this layer to a mask. While you are in this layer, use the shortcut method of selecting all (Control A), and then the shortcut for copy, Control C. 5. Now you have the image in ram memory. Select the 2nd layer and create a mask by clicking on mask icon. 6. Hold the Alt key and click on the mask layer. You will see that the mask will open up into a full screen. Paste the image in this mask layer. This is what you should see:
7. The final stage of this process is to blur the bottom or 3rd layer generously. 8. A more extreme blur (13) in 2nd layer causes a very different interaction as seen below.
The objective of this lesson is to give you an idea of the possibilities exists when playing with a creative mask. I hope you will continue with this experiment. Note: There are times that you do need a trace of an image in black and a white. The above method gives you full control over the tracing process.
All images and text are property of Lenscape Workshops . Abe Rafiq, Managing Director of Lenscape Workshops Ltd. URL: http://www.lenscape.com Previous Tips and Tricks: Tip#1: Hands-on evaluation of Genuine Fractals 2 Vs. Photoshop 5.5 bicubic up sampling Photo Art Lesson #1: Recreating an image half photograph - half painting Photo Art Lesson #2: A visual guide to creating a black & white image from a color slide Photo Art Lesson #3: Faded Edges Photo Art Lesson #4: Selective Focus

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