Gary's Photoshop Blog

Amazing Photo Merge

I may be the last person on the planet to discover the awesome power of Photo Merge. It’s something I never really felt the need to explore, until the other day when I wanted to composite several images shot from the Empire State Building into a panoramic image. I planned on spending hours doing this, [...]

Exploring Hue-Saturation

In this video screencast I explore in excruciating detail some “lesser known” features of the Hue/Saturation adjustment. Most people know that you can edit the hue, saturation, and lightness of an image with the Hue-Saturation adjustment. However, this adjustment is capable of so much more, especially when used as an Adjustment Layer. You can pinpoint [...]

Create Rain

…and learn how to make surfaces look wet! In this screencast we look at how to create realistic-looking rain. It turns out that it’s a lot easier than you might think! The thing is, once I figured out how to do that, I realized that if the surfaces in the image to which I added rain [...]

Extracting a Glass from a Photo

Alpha Channels – Part 4

In this screencast we explore 4 different ways to extract hair from an image in order to composite it into a different background. Once again, Alpha Channels play a major role, but we also explore some Blending options in order to achieve great results. I contend that there is no one “best” way to mask [...]

Alpha Channels – Part 3

More info on Alpha Channels, and we use Color Range to begin a complex selection process. In the end we wind up with 2 different Alpha Channels for separate selections and combine them into one selection from which we make our layer mask. Powerful goodness! Get the image so you can follow along: Get Image [See post [...]

Alpha Channels – Part 2

In this screencast I give some practical application to this whole concept of selections and masking using Alpha Channels in Photoshop. We look at 2 different images and 2 different approaches of creating a mask to knock out an object from the background. [See post to watch Flash video]

Intro to Alpha Channels

A lot of people are confused about Alpha Channels in Photoshop. In fact, Alpha Channels are very useful, very powerful, and not that difficult to understand. In this screencast I introduce you to the basic concepts around Alpha Channels, explain what they do and how you can use them to enhance your Photoshop experience. I must [...]

Masking Another Object – Bee Wings!

Photoshop CS4 is many things to many people….depending on what the goal is. Since I tend to make composite images almost exclusively, masking is super important. I need to select various elements from several diferent photos and combine them into a new composition. In this screencast we take a look at masking another object that has [...]

Masking a Complex Image

In this screencast we take a look at masking an object that has translucent areas…..plenty of fine fibers, and lots of complexity….a “fuzzy” dandelion. We explore complex selections using Color Range, saving selections as Alpha Channels, Layer Masks, and even a Blending Mode Brush trick…….in Overlay mode! There’s lots of useful information here, so I [...]