High Contrast Black & White Ad

Source:PSHERO Step 1

The first trick to this effect is to choose the right photo, one with a defined light source and lots of interest. The photo doesn’t have to start black and white, but you’ll need to convert your photo before we get started. I’ve opened a new document and pasted the photo into it, creating a new layer above the default Background layer which is filled with white (also by default)

Step 2

In the layers palette lets switch over to the Channels tab. (*note: For the sake of saving space some of these steps will display a cropped version of my image.)

Step 3

Now lets load the images Luminosity by holding down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and clicking on the RGB thumbnail here in the Channels palette. The luminosity is the measurement of white that each pixel holds, so by loading the luminosity we’ve effectively loaded only the "lightness" of the image. Now lets add a new Alpha Channel by clicking the Create New Channel button at the bottom of the Channels palette. This will also select the new channel which will be called Alpha 1 and hide the other channels by default.

Step 4

Press the D key to reset the foreground and background colors to black and white respectively. Now lets fill the selection with white (which is the background color) by pressing Command-Delete (PC: Ctrl-Backspace). What you should end up with is something that looks exactly like the original image. Don’t release your selection just yet, we’ve got more to do with it.

Step 5

Next lets fill the opposite pixels with black. To do this choose Select>Inverse from the main menu or use the keyboard Command-Shift-I (PC: Ctrl-Shift-I) to invert the selection. Press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the selection with black. This will effectively darken the blacks in the image. STOP! … I see you there, reaching for the Command-D to deselect! … Don’t do it! We’re not done with this selection yet. Gosh!

Step 6

Lets invert the selection one last time just like we did before by choosing Select>Inverse or by using the keyboard shortcut you learned in Step 5. Ok, now we’re going to fill the selection with white once again, but this time lets press the keyboard shortcut three (3) times to really blow out the whites. Hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key once again and hit Delete (PC: Backspace) three times. And now Mr. Smarty Pants, go ahead and desect by pressing Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D)

Step 7

At this point everything’s going to look a little washed out and won’t have much contrast, but not to worry, we’re about to fix that. While still in the Channels palette and with the Alpha 1 channel selected press Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L) to bring up the Levels dialog box. Grab the far left arrow beneath the Levels histogram (this is the one that represents the black point of the image), drag it towards the right until the contrast returns to the image. This is a "to taste" adjustment, but I found that a setting of 60 worked nicely to restore my blacks to where they ought to be.

Step 8

Now I’m going to press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to invoke the Free Transform function and enlarge and reposition my guy where I want him to be for my ad. The trick here is to choose a size and orientation that allows us to black out one side and white out the other. Finding the spot where black and white will connect is what’s coming next.

Step 9

Now I’m going to grab the Brush tool by pressing the B key and then I’ll press X to switch my foreground and background colors, effectively making white the foreground color. With a variety of brush sizes I’m going to paint out all the remnants of black in the areas to the right of my figure as shown below. I’ve found that using a round soft edged brush with an edge hardness of about 88% allows me to paint very close to my subject without lightening the edges of his form. Use the Bracket keys [ and ] to enlarge or shrink your brush as you work. You can also Zoom in and out by using the keyboard shortcut Command (PC: Ctrl) and the plus (+) and minus (-) keys. Holding down the Spacebar will give you the Hand tool and allow you to move around your zoomed image.

Step 10

Now that we’ve got the right side nice and white, lets press the X key to return black to it’s position as foreground color and using the same brushes and techniques blacken the left side of the figure. This is where a little imagination works wonders because you’ve got to find the spot where you’re going to break your figure out of the shadows and let his highlights start to come through.

Step 11

It’s about time to get out of the Channels palette and back to our working document so lets load the Luminosity of our Alpha 1 channel by holding down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and clicking on the channels thumbnail in the Channels palette. Now click on the RGB composite channel at the top of the Channels palette to turn the standard channels back on and switch back to the Layers tab at the top of the palette. This will return us to our working document and surprisingly you’ll discover that nothing we’ve done has effected our original image.

Step 12

Currently we have the luminosity loaded as a selection, but what we really want here is the opposite (the shadows) loaded, so lets use what we’ve learned and choose Select>Inverse from the main menu to flip the selection. Create a new layer by pressing the Create a New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette and then fill the selection with black by pressing Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace). At this point we’re done with the selection, so go ahead and press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.

Step 13

At this juncture we’re finished with our original image, so lets go ahead and drag that layer to the trash. This leaves us with just the white background layer and the layer we just filled with black. The effect is now complete and you’re free to use either the white space to the right or the black space to the left to add copy or additional elements.

Mystic Ocean of Sunken Galleon and City

Final Effect:

Step 1

Create a new layer (Shift + Ctrl + N) and name it as 'Ocean'. Set foreground color as #1a324b and background color as #0c121e. Press G to select the Gradient tool. On the tool bar above tick 'Dither' (Dither helps smoothen the gradient by adding noise). Drag downwards to create a gradient.

Step 2

Create another new layer. Press D to reset the palette. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds.

Step 3

Next, go to filter gallery, select Artistic > Plastic Wrap > Highlight Strength: 7, Details: 4, Smoothness: 7. Do not press 'OK' for now but add in a new effect layer instead by clicking on the highlighted area. With the new layer effect selected, click on Sketch > Chrome > Details: 5, Smoothness: 5. Click 'OK' when done. Rename the layer as 'Surface1'. Before proceeding, duplicate 2 instances of 'Surface 1' as 'Light rays' and 'Ocean rays'. Hide these 2 layers for now.

Step 4

1) Transform 'Surface1' by scaling it upwards
2) Then drag select and drag its perspective points, as shown below.

Step 5

Select 'Surface 1' and click on the masking icon. Start masking off all the hard edges.
1) Identify hard edges.
2) Brush it using a soft black brush or feather a selection and fill it with black. Picture shows mask map.
3) Result.

Step 6

1) With 'Surface 1' selected, go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/contrasts and set contrast: +35.
2) Set ‘Vivid light’ blend mode for ‘Surface 1’.

Step 7

(change background color to black as a visual aid)
Create another new layer and name it as 'Sun'. Select a soft round brush and by using this color (#c5e9f5) click once to draw a circle. Now select a smaller white color brush and draw a circle in the center of the bigger one.

Step 8

1) Transform the sun to a bigger one.
2) Then squish it a little.
3) Place it around the top right area.
4) Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/saturation > Hue: -10, Saturation: -55, Lightness: 0. Set blend mode to 'Linear light'.

Step 9

Reveal 'Light rays' layer. Bring to front this layer (Ctrl + Shift + ]). Access blending option for 'Light rays' and drag the grey sliders as shown (Alt + click to split the sliders).

Step 10

1) Apply Filter > Blur > Motion blur: 500px, Angle: 90.
2) Then, transform the rays by scaling it downwards, lengthening it. Further drag its perspective as below.
3) Set 'Light rays' blend mode to 'Color dodge'.
4) Mask this layer as how you see fit. Most importantly, mask away the bottom part with a soft brush (depicted by red).

Step 11

1) Import Image ID: 3540975 © Moodboard 123RF.com and rename it as 'City'.
2) Mask away the sky. Set blend mode to 'Multiply' and reduce its brightness. Image > Adjustments > Brightness/contrast > Brightness: -60.
3) Create 2 new layers above 'City'. Use a soft black brush to brush the bottom for the first layer created, and soft white brush to brush the top part of the city for the other layer.
4) Set the layer with white in it to 'Soft light' blend mode. Clip both of the layers to 'City' (Alt + click).

Step 12

1) Import Image ID: 2779164 © Paul Maydikov 123RF.com and roughly mask to reveal only the ship. I did it by dragging the blue slider in the blending option (refer to 123RF November Tutorial #2: Extract Filter – Masking).When done, draw a selection around the base of the ship and erase that area.
2) Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Curves and drag according to the sample above.

Step 13

Crop the rocks from Image ID: 4823723 © svl861 123RF.com and drag to the workspace. Apply settings as shown in the picture. (Ctrl+U for Hue/Saturation adjustment, Ctrl+M for Curves)

Step 14

Crop the buildings from Image ID: 2694796 © drimi 123RF.com. Flip it and place it on top of the rock. Mask the bottom with a soft brush so that it looks seamless.

Apply settings as shown in the picture and merge the Rocks and Building layers together.

Step 15

Reveal 'Ocean rays' and bring to front. Duplicate this layer as 'Ocean rays 2'. Hide 'Ocean rays 2' for now.
1) Resize and add perspective to 'Ocean rays'.
2) Mask to reveal 'Ocean rays' so that it covers the entire city.
3) Access its blending option and drag the black sliders to remove some of the black.
4) Change the blend mode to 'Color dodge'.

Step 16

Using 'Ocean rays 2', do the same for the Building + Rocks on the right, but make sure the rays are resized a bit bigger and have it clipped to the building layer. You can alter the opacity of this layer if the rays are deemed to bright.

Step 17

Cropped an image of a diver from Image ID: 2475500 © Olga Khoroshunova 123RF.com and rename as 'Diver'. To match the overall colour tone, apply the adjustments above.

Step 18

Create a new layer. Ctrl + click on the thumbnail of 'Diver' layer and fill it with black. Apply motion blur around -70 degrees angle and transform it. Set blend mode to 'Soft light'. Mask off excessive areas.

Step 19

Apply 'Ocean rays' effect on the diver by using the same method as in Step 15.

Step 20

Import bubbles and mask it roughly. Drag blending sliders and change it's hue.

Step 21

These steps will enhance the overall look and feel.
1) Copy a small portion of 'Surface 1' and bring this layer to front.
2) Scale it to a large size, covering the whole canvas.
3) Set the blend mode to 'Multiply' and set opacity 20~25%.

Step 22

Increase the contrast just a little bit more. Result:

Final
I've introduced some extra elements to my final image, like enhancing the surface's texture, adding schools of fish, and a simple eerie glow effect behind the galleon to spice up the whole picture.

Storm Effect

See the image below? Transform this cloudy country side picture into a stormy and dramatic evening by adding simple lightning effects!

Start off by duplicating the default layer (CTRL+J) as Layer 1.

Reduce brightness of duplicate image by dragging center point of the Curves tool (CTRL+M).


Duplicate Layer 1 as Layer 1 copy. Go to Filter > Radial Blur > Zoom : 80. Set the blend mode for Layer 1 copy as 'Multiply'.


You should get something like this:


Now, create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and name it as “storm”. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds.


Next up, select Filter > Render > Difference Clouds. Apply the same filter (Ctrl+F) several times (preferably 5 times or above).


Bring out the Levels Window (Ctrl+L) and apply settings until you see lumps of clouds appearing (Input Levels: 30/0.75/175).

NOTE: Results/settings may vary as each clouds/difference clouds rendered may differ.

Once done, set storm’s blend mode to 'Color Dodge'.


Transform (CTRL+T) and scale the image. You can also adjust the perspective a little, based on the nature of your chosen image. Press Enter to apply the transformation.


Next, we should remove areas which are too bright. Follow these sub-steps:
1) Go to Windows > Channel (to bring out the channels window).
2) Hold CTRL and click on Red channel (to make a selection).
3) Go to Select > Inverse (or press Shift+CTRL+I) to invert the selection.
4) Go to Select > Feather (or press CTRL+ALT+D) and set radius : 10 pixels.


Click on the masking tool to hide the brighter parts of the layer.


Select layer mask of 'storm' layer and further adjust the levels (CTRL+L) until you have something like this (Input Levels: 0/1.70/180):

NOTE: Again, results/settings may vary as each clouds/difference clouds rendered from previous steps may differ.

I’ve decided to remove some bright areas of the storm by brushing over the layer mask with a soft black brush.


Now that we have got the storm going, lets add a few bolts of lightning.


First, create a new layer (Shift+CTRL+N) and name it as ‘lightning’. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), select a square box (holding down the Shift key while dragging will create a perfect square). Bring out the Gradient tool (G) when you are done.


Create a gradient by dragging through the center of the selection.

The gradient should look like this, preferably.


With the selection still active, go to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds (or just press CTRL+F as it is your last applied filter).

NOTE: Difference Clouds rendered differs as it is randomly generated.

Press CTRL+I to invert it.


And adjust the level (CTRL+L).


Apply the lightning's blend mode to ‘Screen’.


Next, use the eraser tool to remove any hard edges. Make sure the hardness is set to 0%.


Transform (CTRL+T) the bolt of lightning to which ever way you like.


I’ve tweaked mine a little bit more; adding glows, reducing brightness, and etc. This is my final image.

Before & After