Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Sometimes we need to separate quickly the image of a tree or shrub from background, this tutorial can achieve acceptable results in a few steps. If you want to get high quality result, then it is better to use classical methods for separating complex objects from the background.

So let’s start by finding photography of tree which we’re planning to separate from background. For this purpose I used this picture. Open up the picture and start with the tutorial.

As we can see the picture is blurred a little bit. It will be better if we will remove this defect by applying Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen.

Now move to the next step: we need to separate tree from the background. Apply Filter > Extract (or press Ctrl+Alt+X). Set the following settings for the filter in the open window:

With Edge Highlighter Tool create selection as on the picture below. If you made wrong line, you can remove it with Eraser Tool. Now fill in the area which you want extracting to do this select the Fill Tool on the left hand toolbar and simply click inside of the drawn outline.

Now press OK in the top right of the window and you should go back to the normal Photoshop window, and if you did the last steps correctly you will have an image without a background.

Ok, move to the next step. Select the Eraser Tool and hard round brush about 5 pixels to make small clear work only on trunk area.

After that create new layer under the current and fill it with white color. Then go back to tree layer and move it to the middle of canvas with Move Tool.

Then go back to upper layer and continue with our tutorial. Select the Clone Stamp Tool and select on of standard brushes from Photoshop brush palette to edit crown of a tree.

After that change brush size to 25 pixels. Hold down the Alt key — the cursor will change to a target. Click the point you wish to use as a sampling point. This will be used as the reference point for cloning. Click and draw where you want the cloned image to appear. As you draw, a cross will appear on the original image while a corresponding circle appears where you are drawing.

Process all the areas of the crown on the same way, don’t forget inner parts also. See the difference now?

To finish off the tutorial get out the Eraser Tool and hard round brush different size to remove separate leaves on background.

That´s it! Very quickly and simply! Hope this Photoshop tutorial vas useful for you.

This Photoshop tutorial can make everyone who wants to know how to create lightning in a bottle and you will be very surprised to learn how it is quickly and easy.

Before starting this tutorial go thru Google Images to find some appropriate picture of bottle to work with. Open up the picture and start with our tutorial.

Use the Pen Tool to create shape around bottle reflection as shown on my screenshot below:

After that open Paths Palette and click on Load path as a selection button on the palette bottom.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate selected area. Then apply Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to add some electric hue to the reflection.

Remove selection with Ctrl+D.

Now move to the next step. I would like to add glow from the bottle. Create a new layer and use Pen Tool again to create shape similar to bottle shape like on the picture below:

Open up Paths Palette again and click Load path as a selection button on the bottom and fill selection with color of #383cc6.

Go back to Layers palette. Remove selection with Select > Deselect (or press Ctrl+D). Then duplicate layer with Ctrl+J and apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur for copied layer:

See the result below:

Go to layer under and use Select > Load Selection to select this layer.

Then we can delete this layer, we don’t need it more. Go to copied blurred copy and press Delete button to clear selected area on this layer.

Time to add the lightning in a bottle. Create a new layer again, then use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to create selection as on my picture below:

Press D button to set up foreground and background colors as black and white. After that use the Gradient Tool to fill selection with black to white gradient.

Then apply Filter > Render > Difference Clouds:

Remove selection with Ctrl+D and invert colors by using Image > Adjustments > Invert:

Then apply Image > Adjustments > Levels to change brightness and contrast for the future lightning.

To finish off the tutorial I would like to change color of lightning. We can do this by using Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation with next parameters:

After that change blending mode to Screen for current layer. That is it for now. We are done with our tutorial. Looks very professional isn’t it?

Now I’m planning to provide a tutorial to you how to create the effect of the Northern Sky step by step. This is not so difficult but very interesting tutorial.

Start with finding appropriate pictures which we can use for creating effect in this tutorial. You can use Google Images to find the pictures or can use my picture of winter landscape and picture of night sky with many stars. Open up the pictures.

Now duplicate picture of starry sky to the canvas with winter landscape and hide upper layer for temporary (click on the eye, which indicates layer visibility).

Move to the layer with landscape and press Ctrl+J (or you can use Layer > Duplicate Layer) to duplicate it, then move a little bit down similar to the position which you can see on the picture below.

Then create new layer with Shift+Ctrl+N. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to create selection as on my picture below, then use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill selected area with color of #555297.

Don’t remove selection on this step. Create new one layer again, select the Gradient Tool and fill selected area with linear gradient using colors of #fcef8f and #ea83f6.

Create linear gradient similar to the screenshot which you can see on the picture below:

After that apply Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection to apply vector mask and fill selected area with linear black-and white gradient:

Remove selection with Ctrl+D. After that go back to the hidden layer and make it visible again, then change blending mode to Screen for this layer.

Then load selection with Select > Load Selection, then use Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection to apply vector mask and after that apply linear black to transparent gradient.

Then create new layer and fill it with any color you want, it doesn’t matter now. After that apply Gradient Overlay (link to 10) layer style for this layer.

See the result on the picture below:

Create a new layer above and merge it with previous to get all layer effects in one layer. Then use Lasso Tool and create selection like on the picture which you can see below. Apply Select > Modify > Feather to blur selection about 20 px.

Again apply Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection to apply vector mask one more time.

Get out the Brush Tool (Opacity: 7%) and soft round brush to add strokes somewhere on visible area to increase opacity effect on it.

On this step this Photoshop tutorial can be done, but I would like to show you more techniques how to add more interesting gradients to Northern Lights. Now apply Gradient Overlay (link to15) to this layer (use standard Spectrum gradient).

After applying blending option your picture should look similar to mine:

After that create a new layer above and merge it with previous to get all layer effects in one layer. Then apply Filter > Blur > Motion Blur with next presets:

After applying filter change blending mode to Pin Light for this layer.

On this step we are finally done with our Photoshop tutorial. The result looks great as for me!

This simple tutorial is dedicated to the event that is happening in the world now — 2010 FIFA World Cup. I’d like to show you how to turn any character into a football fan.

To begin with we should select the appropriate image to make our tutorial on. You can try search in Google Images, or take my image of Orc.

Let’s begin with the clothes. For example, we use an image of a football, you can find it using search in Google Images, or use my image. Further we open the image of the ball and place it on the document with our future fan.

We apply Hard Light Blending Mode to the layer with the ball.

Now let’s deform the ball a little. With help of Edit > Transformer > Scale we miniaturize the ball.

Then using the Rectangular Marquee Tool we select the lower part of the ball, as shown in the screenshot below:

And delete using Delete button.

With the help of Edit > Transformer > Warp deform along the shape of a helmet.

After that using the Polygonal Lasso Tool we select the unnecessary parts and delete them with the help of Delete. As a result we get a helmet painted like a football.

Now using the Eraser Tool we remove the coloring of the ball from the helmet border and rivets. We select a hard-edged brush, opacity 100%, change the diameter according to the situation.

Usually fans make up into colors of their country flag, but as in this tutorial the method is just shown, our fan won’t belong to any country. Let’s continue working with the ball, and decorate the parts of the clothes on the same principle.

It’s worth changing Layer Blending Modes on different parts and choose the one that looks better, in this case it’s better to apply the Soft Light Blending Mode.

We duplicate the given layer by pressing Ctrl+J.

Let’s choose one more detail.

On the football colored belt in the Overlay Blending Mode. Further we use bright colors: red, green, yellow, white and blue, select the Brush Tool and choose Rough Round Bristle in the standard Photoshop palette. Then press F5 and change the parameter Spacing settings (nested in the Brush Tip Shape menu) for 50%, opacity 100%, diameter can be changed at will. In order for the makeup to look realistic, it should be applied slightly chaotically, not trying to line straight, and if you write any text on clothes or body, you should just “draw” it, i.e. not to use the type, but apply it using brush.

The letters will obtain arbitrary incline, it looks very natural, and it concerns the whole makeup.

It’s also necessary to use any typical objects, for example, a whistle. You can take my image (link to Whistle.jpg) or find in Google Images. Place the whistle, cut out with the help of the Polygonal Lasso Tool, upon our picture.

Miniaturize it using Edit > Transformer > Scale and place upon the orc’s belt.

Now we should fasten the whistle to the belt.

With the help of the Polygonal Lasso Tool we cut out the ring from the picture of orc to fasten the whistle. Rotate the ring using Edit > Transformer > Rotate.

Then using the Eraser Tool we clean up part of the whistle under the ring.

Now the whistle is hanging on the belt, but to look more natural, the whistle should cast a shadow, so we apply the Drop Shadow (link to 21) Layer Style.

We get such an effect:

It looks better now, but still lacks shadow casting on the whistle itself, so we apply the Inner Shadow (link to 23) Layer Style.

The result will be the following:

It’s time to add text. Select the Horizontal Type Tool and write the phrase, as it’s shown below. Select Wide Latin type (14 pt, Crisp) and write an inscription with any color.

Further we adjust the following settings for the Layer Style:

Drop Shadow

Inner Shadow

Gradient Overlay

Pattern Overlay

Stroke

The colors that are used in the gradient are showed below:

As a result the text in the picture looks like this one:

In the end we got an interesting tutorial, dedicated to the Football World Cup. Feel free to experiment with any pictures!

This tutorial shows how to apply any design on flower petals in Photoshop. As an example we can use the design of a stave for applying it on the tulip-petals.

At first we should find an appropriate photo to work with. You can use search in Google Images or feel free to use my picture with the image of tulips. Open up the picture and start the tutorial.

It is worth improving the quality of the image a little, before we start applying the effects. For this purpose we apply Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen with the following parameters:

Then we should improve the contrast using Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast:

In the upshot we’ll get the following result:

Now we should match the design to apply on the flower petals. I decided to take a picture of a stave (link to Stave.jpg). Let it be any fragment from any musical composition. We open this picture.

Then we copy the notes on the main canvas with tulips, or just drag it using mouse.

The size of the music sheet is too small for a tulip-petal, so we copy it using Ctrl+J and lower it a bit, place it so as it would be a uniform sheet, and merge the layers with the notes using Ctrl+E.

Then we change the layer mode for the layer with notes for Darken. As a result white color was excluded, we see only notes and flowers.

To expand the image we use Edit > Transform > Warp, with the help of this tool we deform the music sheet approximately to the form of a tulip-petal.

Then using the Polygonal Lasso Tool we create petal-shaped selection.

After that we use Shift+Ctrl+I to invert the selection, as it showed on the picture below:

We press the Delete button to delete everything that is contained within the selected area and remove the selection using Ctrl+D.

Then we use the Eraser Tool, choose a brush with soft edge, 50 pixels in diameter, transparency 50% and slightly erase the notes along the edges of the petal. After that we use Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen for the layer with notes:

As there is dew on the tulips, for more natural effect in the places, where we see the drops, we should deform the notes a bit. For this purpose we use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (Feather 4 px) to create selection of the areas, that should be deformed.

For the selected area we use Filter > Distort > Spherize with the following parameters:

On the same principle we deform the image for the rest of the drops on petals. We get an interesting dew effect on the notes.

The rest of the petals are processed in the same way.

As a result we got a wonderful tutorial on design overlay on flower petals. Feel free to experiment and you will get an excellent effect!

You can find a lot of tutorials how to separate complex objects from the background. But I would like to invite your attention to another one unique simple tutorial how to achieve the desired effect in just a few steps. I got this method by experimenting.

In the beginning you should find some appropriate picture to work with. You can use Google Images or also feel free to use mine picture. Open up the picture and start with tutorial.

Apply Filter > Extract with similar settings to these:

This is where we start to extract the image first of all zoom into the image with Zoom Tool so you can clearly see the outline and set the brush size to a suitable size and then simply draw around the outline of the woman’s hairstyle with Edge Highlighter Tool. If you made wrong line, you can remove it with Eraser Tool. Now fill in the area which you want extracting to do this select the Fill Tool on the left hand toolbar and simply click inside of the drawn outline.

Now press OK in the top right of the window and you should go back to the normal Photoshop window, and if you did the last steps correctly you will have an image without a background, if all done correct the edges will look fine, if not then you may find some discrepancies which can simply be erased.

After that create a new layer under and fill it with color of #aed2da.

Now we can see that we have some defects on woman’s hair. It is not a big problem, just get out the Eraser Tool and select one of standard brushes from Photoshop palette:

Reduce brush size to 25 pixels and process areas where you can see visible defects.

Now, move to the next step. After processing problem areas with Eraser Tool we may have not so clear image parts, for example like we have from the left and right parts. For removing this problem select the Smudge Tool (Brush: 2 px, Mode: Darken, Stregth: 95%) and add a few strokes as shown on the picture below:

Then increase the sharpness for these areas with Sharpen Tool (Brush: 60 px, Mode: Normal, Stregth: 30%).

We are done on this step. Isolated picture looks nice and all parts of hear looks realistic. If you don’t have the same good results, just try to experiment to get the best results!

You can find a lot of tutorials how to paste another face to the picture. Here I’m planning to show you my own way how to do this step by step and explain how to process every small detail in this design. You will look as a real real star!

Let’s start by finding the poster where you wanna be main actress or actor. For example, I will use Twilight movie poster (download here) or also feel free to use another posters from another movies what you like. Ok, then I need to put our picture on it. As for me, I just decided to use a picture of serious young lady (download here). Open up your photo and use Polygonal Lasso Tool to select face on the picture.

Press Ctrl+C to copy selected area, then open up canvas with movie poster and paste (Press Ctrl+D) there copied part of image from you picture. If you need to rotate your face to find suitable position and size for it, just use Ctrl+T for free transform.

After that we can move to next step. For now use the Eraser Tool and a soft round brush about 50 px to remove hard edges from face fragment layer.

As we can see, skin color of face fragment is bit different from original color face on the movie poster. How we can resolve this problem? Very easy! Just apply Image > Adjustments > Color Balance with similar presets to these:

Now the result looks better as before. We got much correct saturation for face skin.

Ok, now use Dodge Tool (Brush: 30px, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 30%) to make some parts of face a little bit lighter.

See the difference now:

After that we have to make some burn work with the opposite side of the face. Select the Burn Tool (Brush: 25px, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 40%) and process eyes area with it.

Move to the next step. Now we need to add global shadow to the left part of face. Create new layer, after that use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to create selection and fill it with color of #1d0d08 on the new layer.

Remove selection with Ctrl+D and Apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to blur current layer content about 3,8 pixels and change layer mode to Multiply.

Now will be the hardest part of doing this tutorial. We need to clear shadow layer with Eraser Tool and soft round brush with different sizes to get realistic view of shadow presence. I think, for the beginners in Photoshop it will be a little bit harder to get realistic result, but you have to try anyway. I got something like this:

We are finished with our tutorial! Now you’re looking like a great actress on that movie poster!

Are you hungry for new tutorials how to create objects in Photoshop? Ok, I have one interesting tutorial for you.

Ok, let’s start! Create a new document sized 500×500 pixels. Drag a linear gradient with colors of #eaf8fb and #d0dee1 as shown on a picture below. It will be background for putting gear wheel on it.

After that start with creating gear wheel. Select Shape Tool and choose on of standard Photoshop shapes

Designing Gear Wheel in Photoshop

and draw out it in the middle of our canvas with white color.

Then reduce height about 60% for this shape and rasterize it with Layer > Rasterize > Shape:

Load selection of shape with Select > Load Selection and fill it with grey to transparent gradient on the same layer (use color of #6d848c).

Remove selection with Ctrl+D. Now, we should add lower base and process lateral surface texture. Duplicate current layer with Ctrl+J and move lower layer 20 pixels down.

Then use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to connect the top edges and bottom edges of the gears with selection and fill it with whatever color you want.

After that deselect chosen area with Ctrl+D and apply Color Overlay (link to 08) layer style for current layer.

Then create layer under and merge it with previous to get all effects in one layer. Ok, now we need to add glares and shadows to lateral surface to show metallic sheen effect on it. Use Polygonal Lasso Tool again and select some area between two nearest lugs of gear wheel.

Then use Burn Tool (Brush: 15 px, Range: Shadows, Exposure: 50%) to add shadow in between two lags.

After that reduce brush size to 5 pixels and add dark shadow line in deepest part to increase metal texture reflection.

Change Burn Tool to Dodge Tool (Brush: 15 px, Range: Midtones, Exposure: 70%) and add a few glares from the left and right sides:

Remove selection with Ctrl+D. Add the same affect to each visible area between each lug.

Ok, we are done with lateral area surface. Move to the next step. Go to the upper part of gear wheel and bring some glare there also. For this effect use the Polygonal Lasso Tool again, create the same selection which you can see on the picture below and feel it with white color on the new layer.

Remove selection with Ctrl+D and apply Filter > Blur > Radial Blur with similar settings to these:

Your result should be the same as mine:

Then apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with next presets:

We received picture like so:

Now, press Ctrl and click the upper part layer thumbnail in the layers palette to create selection and use Ctrl+Shift+I to invert it, then press Delete button to clear selection.

Remove selection with Ctrl+D and after that merge all layers in one except background layer. Move to the next step. We need to create a hole inside the gear wheel. Get out the Elliptical Marque Tool and create selection similar to mine and fill it wit color of #6d848c.

Select Burn Tool again to make some small dodge work.

Deselect chosen area with Select > Deselect. Ok, now time to add the verge of gear wheel. For this effect use the Line Tool (Weight: 1px) and add white lines on each verge of gear wheel.

Merge all layers with white lines in one, then use the Eraser Tool (Opacity: 50%) and a soft round brush about 70 pixels and make little clean work.

Move to the last one step. To finish off our tutorial we gave to add some shadow under the gear wheel. Merge all layers except background layer in one and apply Drop Shadow (link to 25) layer style for new received layer:

Now we need to extract shadow effect to separate layer. Use Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer for this option. Move to new layer with shadow under the current layer and apply Filter > Blur > Motion Blur for it.

Now, we have something like this:

After that select Smudge Tool (Brush: 70 pixels) to increase the drop shadow on the sides just a little bit.

We are done with this tutorial. Now we have realistic view gear wheel created by ourselves.

Today I will show you how to imitate evening eye make up in Photoshop CS3. This lesson will be very useful to those who process the photos for fashion magazines.

So, let’s start by finding some appropriate picture of girl’s face. You can also use your own photos to experiment with, if you’re girl of course Go to Google Images and find needed photo or feel free to use mine also. Open up the photo and start to work with it.

I think it will be better to start with adding eye shadows to eyelids. Get out the Polygonal Lasso Tool and create selection similar to mine on the picture below:

Then holding Shift button and when the plus sign near cursor will appear just add second eye area selection. After that fill selected area with color of # 806475 on the new layer.

Remove selection with Ctrl+D and apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with next presets:

Change layer mode to Overlay:

To correct eye shadows borders we can apply Smudge Tool (Brush: 50 px, Mode: Normal : Strenght: 70%).

Then create a new layer and start with creating eyeliner effect. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool again and create one more selection as on my picture below, then fill it with color of #282a37 on the new layer.

Deselect chosen area with Select > Deselect and apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with similar settings to these:

The result should be next:

After that apply Smudge Tool for this layer again.

Time to add white shining under the eyebrows. Create new layer, then select the Brush Tool and a soft round brush about 35px to color some area under eyebrows with white color.

After that apply Filter > Noise > Add Noise with similar settings to these:

Then change layer mode to Soft Light:

After that apply Blur Tool a little bit.

Ok, now make some clean work with Eraser Tool to bring shining realistic view.

Tome to color eyebrows. Create new layer, then select the Polygonal Lasso Tool again and create selected areas similar to mine and fill it with black color.

Remove selection with Ctrl+D and apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to blur current layer content about 1,5px, then reduce opacity to 40% for this layer.

And the last one thing that I would like to add is eyelashes. I’m gonna show you one interesting method how we can add it by using Pen Tool. Before we start making it, just get out the Brush Tool before and set up with the following settings for it:

Then set foreground color as black. After that select the Pen Tool (you need to make sure that you’re working with Paths instead of Shape Layers). Draw out the line using paths:

Then right-click and select Stroke Path.

A little dialog box will appear as in the screenshot. Choose Brush and make sure there is a tick next to Simulate Pressure. This is important as it will give your curve tapered ends which will make it rock!

You should get result similar to mine:

Next right click again and select Delete Path. Create more eyelashes on the same way.

Looks cool, isn’t it? Hope, you got the same good results as me, if not, just keep on training and you will good the best results! Good luck!