Knock off a Few Quick Pounds

What one thing do most clients want done to their headshots? That's right, they want the extra weight removed. Here's one quick way that takes advantage of how the brain uses shadow to perceive depth.

Take a look at a thin person's headshot and notice that there's often a shadow right under the jaw line. Depending on the lighting, sometimes it's a very thin line, but sometimes it's wide and fairly dark. The brain naturally uses it to give the perception of an edge at the jaw, so you never notice it until you look for it.

Then look at a headshot of somebody with a little extra weight. The skin under the jaw line hangs down some and catches light, thus there is less shadow.

So, what can we do about it? We simply add a little shadow under the jaw, and while we're at it, along the collar. Here's how I do it.

Note: I use paths (vector shapes) throughout this tutorials, and you should be familiar with creating paths as well as modifying them before continuing. If you haven't worked with vector drawings or paths before, you take a look at an excellent series of tutorials on paths by Peter Bauer.

Working with Vectors, Part 1
Working with Vectors, Part 2
Working with Vectors, Part 3

First, open the picture and create a new layer set above the picture. I always name this layer set "Defatten," though I never tell my client. Type D to set the default foreground and background colors.

Next, create a crescent shape that opens toward the top of the picture.

Select the pen tool and select the "Shape layers" option.

Click at the back corner of the jaw line. Click and drag again closer to the front of the jaw line. Click and drag again near the bottom of the chin. Click and drag along the jaw line on the other side of the face, and again near the back of the jaw line.

Click and drag below the jaw somewhere on the neck. Finally, click on the first point you created to close the shape.

You should have a shape similar to this example.

Next, with the Direct Selection Tool touch up the shape so it lines up with the jaw line. Type Shift-A to toggle between the Path Select Tool (the black arrow) and the Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow--that's the one we want).

Click and drag the anchor points to put them directly on the jaw line.

You may also have to change the curve of the shape to line it up with the jaw line. With the Direct Selection Tool, click a point on the shape. Then click and drag a direction point to change the curve of the path.

Next, we're only going to use this shape layer to create a selection, so turn the layer off by clicking it's eye icon on the layer palette.

Type Control-Shift-N (Windows) or Command-Shit-N (Mac) to create a new layer. Type "Jaw Shadow" to name the layer and click OK. Hold the Control key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac) and click the shape later to create a selection.

You should be on the Jaw Shadow layer. Type Alt-Backspace (Windows) or Option-Delete (Mac) to fill the selection with the foreground color, black.

Type Control-D (Windows) or Command-D (Mac) to deselect. Type 5 to change the opacity of the layer to 50 percent.

On this shadow, the edge near the jaw should have a slight blur. Select Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur. Choose around 1 or 2 pixels (higher for higher resolution images) and click OK.

The bottom part of the shadow should be very light and blurred. Create a layer mask by selecting Layer, Add Layer Mask, Reveal All. Click B to select the Brush Tool, and select a soft edge brush of around 20-50 pixels. (The size depends on the size of the picture.) Type 4 to set the brush opacity to 40 percent, and begin painting on the mask near the bottom of the shadow. You'll end up masking most of the bottom part of the shadow, but don't cover too much just yet.

Change the opacity of the layer to around 20 percent and see how the shadow appears. Make it very subtle by adjusting the opacity of the layer and masking and unmasking more or less of the layer until you have something that looks real.

Finally, if the subject's shirt or jacket collar is touching the skin, put a slight shadow in the space between the collar and the person's neck.

Type Control-Shift-N (Windows) or Command-Shit-N (Mac) to create a new layer. Type "Collar Shadow" to name the layer and click OK. Type P to select the Pen Tool, and select the Paths option.

Type B to select the Brush Tool and choose a 3 to 5 pixel soft edge brush. Type 0 (zero) to set the brush opacity to 100 percent, and click the Paths pallete. Then click the Stroke path with brush icon.

Click on the Paths palette in the blank space below the path to deselect it, and click the Layers palette.

Change this layer's opacity to around 30 percent. If the shadow is still too sharp, blur the layer a few pixels or adjust the layer opacity to create another subtle shadow.

That's a quick fix for a moderately overweight headshot. It doesn't solve every weight related issue, but it quickly takes care of the basics. The key is subtlety. Don't overdo it and don't make the shadows too dark.

Dave Loebig is a graphic designer, writer and instructor in the Tampa area. You can contact him at BrandonBusiness.com.

June 20th, 2006 | dave loebig | Effects, Tutorials | Comments (1)

Quick and Easy Confetti

Here's a quick technique to create a colorful confetti background and colorful text.

Start a new Photoshop file.

First thing to do is create a layer with bright colors in a random pattern.

Create a new layer and name it "Color."

Click on the foreground color and select a bright, rainbow color and click OK. For this example I chose red.

Type Alt-Backspace (Windows) or Option-Delete (Mac) to fill the layer with the foreground color.

Type "B" to select the Brush Tool and select a 40 pixel brush, larger for a high resolution image.

Click on the foreground color and select another bright color and click OK. Paint random squiggly lines on the color layer. Then choose another bright color and paint more squiggly lines. Repeat this with 3 or 4 colors.

If one color gets covered too much, click the foreground color and move the cursor over the color on the layer and click to choose it. Then paint some more lines. There's not much to this part, just paint several colors randomly on the layer. It's supposed to look like a mess.

For the final touch you can choose a smaller brush and paint some small lines with different colors.

Blur the layer by selecting Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur. Choose around 5 pixels or higher for higher resolution images.

Next create two new layers above the Color layer.

Click the top layer to select it, and type Control-Backspace (Windows) or Command-Backspace (Mac) to fill the layer with the background color. The exact color doesn't matter. Then set the Blend Mode to dissolve and the opacity to 1 percent. You'll see a bunch of dots on top of your random colors.

Currently the layer is a solid color with a dissolve blend mode, which looks like dots. Convert the solid color to actual dots by merging the layer with the empty layer below it. Type Control-E (Windows) or Command-E (Mac) to merge it down. Notice the new layer is at 100 percent opacity and consists of lots of small dots. Name this layer Confetti and move it below the Color layer.

Then select the Color layer and type Control-G (Windows) or Command-G (Mac). (Or select Layer and then Create Clipping Mask.) This joins the Color layer with the Confetti layer as a clipping mask. The top layer shows up only where the bottom layer has pixels. The result is a screen of random confetti.

Next, duplicate the Color layer and Alt-Click (Windows) or Option-Click (Mac) between the two color layers to remove the Color copy layer from the clipping mask. Name this copy "Text Color."

Click on the Color layer and type T to select the Type tool. Then click on the screen and type some text. You won't see the text yet, so on the Layers pallet, click the Text Color layer

Alt-Click (Windows) or Option-Click (Mac) between the text layer and the Text Color layer to create another clipping mask. Then position and edit the text to your liking.

A good final touch is a Bevel on the text. On the Layers pallet, double click the right side of the text layer, and click the Bevel and Emboss effect. You can copy these settings or adjust the effect to your liking.

A Few Final Touches

You can paint a few larger dots or streaks on the Confetti layer, and then apply a slight motion blur to the confetti layer.

Another option is to resize the confetti by selecting the layer, typing Control-T (Windows) or Command-T (Mac) and dragging the corner handles and pressing Enter.

An option for the Text Color layer (for the text) is to spin it 180 degrees so the text coloring doesn't match the confetti coloring.

By the way, this method of making dots can be used to create a star field on a black background.

Experiment with the confetti layer to see what you can come up with and have fun.

Dave Loebig is a graphic designer, writer and instructor in the Tampa area. You can contact him at BrandonBusiness.com.

June 20th, 2006 | dave loebig | Effects, Tutorials | Comments (0)

People Collage

I always suggest using pictures of people on every brochure, flier and web site my clients have, regardless of their products. It makes any marketing material more personal. On the other hand, plugging in a headshot can look forced, so we're often looking for a way to put a twist on posed shots. Here's one that's simple and flexible, what I call a rainbow collage.

You'll need five typical headshots that are the same size. Start a new Photoshop file that's about 2 times wider and since this collage uses five pictures, make it about 6 times taller. You can always crop it to the final size when finished.

Next, in the individual picture files, drag the picture layer to the new collage file. You can close each file once you have its picture in the collage.

In the collage, rearrange the layers so the first picture is in the top layer, the second picture is in the second, layer, etc. If rulers are not turned on, press Control-R (Windows) or Command-R (Mac) and drag a guide from the left ruler to a position just inside the left edge of the image.

Move the first picture so its left edge is on the left guide. Then drag another guide from the left ruler and place it about two thirds across the first picture.

Move the second picture so its left edge is on the second guide, and move it down so the first picture covers its top left corner. Do the same with the third picture but align it with the first guide and finish with the fourth and fifth pictures so the positions are similar to the example.

Click on the layer for the first picture.

We don't want to use any color from the picture, so press Shift-Control-U (Windows) or Shift-Command-U (Mac) to desaturate it. This leaves a black and white image that gives us light and dark areas. Later we'll color it.

We want to add three effects: drop shadow, stroke and color overlay. On the layer palette double click the right side of the first layer to bring up the layer effects dialog box. Click the Drop Shadow effect. In this case, the default settings work, but you can change them to your taste.

Next, click the Stroke effect. In the Stoke dialog box, click the color, choose white and click OK. For this web example, change the settings as shown. Higher settings may be needed for high-resolutions images. It's important to change the Position setting to "inside" so the corners are sharp. Other settings leave rounded corners.

Now comes the fun part, playing with the color. Click the Color Overlay effect. Click on the color and choose whatever color you like. The first picture in the example uses the RGB settings 39, 255, 161. Click OK. Change the blend mode to Overlay or Softlight. The best choice for the mode depends on the color selected and the balance of light and dark shades in the picture. You can experiment, but I've found that Overlay or Softlight work best. Then adjust the opacity until you like the effect. Click OK.

With the first layer's effects list showing, click the word "Effects" and drag it to just below the second layer to copy the layer style. The drop shadow and stroke are the same for each picture. The only things that change are the color, blend mode and opacity for the Color Overlay effect. On the second layer, double click the Color Overlay effect to open the dialog box and choose a different color and tweak the opacity.

Repeat these steps for the rest of the pictures. Once all the pictures are colored, you can go back to any layer to tweak the color, blend mode or opacity of the effect.

Dave Loebig is a graphic designer, writer and instructor in the Tampa area. You can contact him at BrandonBusiness.com.

June 20th, 2006 | dave loebig | Effects, Tutorials | Comments (0)