Photoshop CS Timesaving Techniques For Dummies [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Blending Layers

Using layer techniques, you can create beautiful colored sketches. Think of them as mixed media — for instance, a graphic pen sketch colored with watercolors, or a pastel sketch outlined and defined with charcoal.

The following directions show you how to filter layers and then blend them. Which filters you use is up to you. Use your imagination when combining filtered layers. You may be surprised at some of the great results that you get. If you’re trying these steps for the first time, stick to the directions so that you can get an idea of what’s going on.

Open the image that you’re going to use.

For this example, I’m using the boat photograph shown in Figure 41-2.





Select the layer containing the image in the Layers palette.





Press Ctrl+J/z +J or choose Layer>New>Layer via Copy.

A copy of the selected layer appears in the Layers palette.





With the copied layer selected, choose Filter>Sketch>Charcoal (or one of the other two filters).





Use the Filter Gallery dialog box that appears to adjust the filter settings.

For the boat photograph, I set Charcoal Thickness to 3, Detail to 5, and Light/Dark Balance to 62. You may need to adjust these settings to suit your image.





Click OK to close the Filter Gallery and apply the filter to the copied layer.





In the Layers palette, select an option from the Blending Mode drop-down list.

For my image, I selected the Soft Light option.

You may also want to try the Overlay blending mode. As shown in Figure 41-3, the upper charcoal filtered layer blends with the lower layer to fill in detail and color. Use your imagination because this book is in black and white!




Figure 41-3: When the Charcoal filtered layer is blended with the original photograph, the result is quite lovely.








Tip

If you want to experiment, choose the Graphic Pen filter in Step 4 to get the blended results shown in Figure 41-4. Figure 41-4: The same photo with the Graphic Pen filter applied to the upper layer instead and the layer’s Opacity set to 60%.








Tip

You can apply a filter to the lower layer (the original photograph) to create a mixed media illustration. Figure 41-5 shows a blend of the Charcoal filtered layer on the top with the Rough Pastels filter applied to the lower layer. Figure 41-5: When the Rough Pastel filter is applied to the lower layer, the blended layers create a really stunning drawing.