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Chapter 11 Sandbox
From Digital Foundations
Contents |
[edit] Download Materials for Chapter 11
You will need to download this file to start the four exercises in Chapter 11.
You can download our final exercise file here.
[edit] 11. Non-Destructive Editing
In Chapter 9 we referred to Hippolyte Bayard’s Self Portrait as a Drowned Man from 1840 as the first combination print. The history of photographic manipulation extends almost as far back as the first photographic images. Digital tools such as Photoshop are used for small and large image manipulations, such as the slightest adjustment to the tonal range or the creation of an alternative reality.
| Note: See this link for a group exhibit in 2000 at the Laurence Miller Gallery titled Alternative Realities. http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/alternativerealities.htm |
In certain situations, the digital artist must be ethically aware of the manipulation that occurs in such applications. The National Press Photographers Association maintains a code of ethics that journalism students and professionals should abide. Journalists and news photographers strive for accuracy in their image-based reporting. There are historical cases of digital manipulation which are often used to illustrate a violation of the NPPA code of ethics (see the National Geographic 1982 cover image of the pyramids).
| Note: NPAA code of ethics can be found here: http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/self-training_resources/eadp_report/digital_manipulation.html |
For the purpose of art-making, editorial or opinionated commentary, manipulation can be used to challenge the viewer’s expectations. An image can be reinterpreted as it relates to other images within a composition through the modification of scale or proximity. The visual reference to Philippe Halsmann’s Dali Atomicus demonstrates a manipulation of reality, or the laws of physics, made with a 4 by 5 camera in his studio. This image was captured after “six hours and twenty-eight throws,” wrote Halsman in Halsman on the Creation of Photographic Ideas (1963).
The visual reference to Dada artist Kurt Schwitters’ Dada Soiree demonstrates that typography can also be manipulated in the construction of a collage. While neither of these visual works were created in a digital environment (both were made before the advent of digital tools), alternate realities and manipulations are often created with computer software.
Within the exercises of this chapter, we will focus not only on manipulating an image, but also on working in a nondestructive method. To edit the digital file nondestructively is to work in such a way that the original image is preserved. Any edits or modifications to the original file are placed on separate layers or in alpha channels, which we will explore further in exercise 2.
[edit] Visual References
http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalfoundations/2955053067/
Dali Atomicus, Philippe Halsman, 1948.
This version of the photograph shows an element missing in the final print: the hands holding the chair. Also, the final print contains one of Dali’s paintings (“Leda Atomica”) in the frame on the easel.
http://flickr.com/photos/digitalfoundations/2229002687/
Dada Soiree, Kurt Schwitters, 1922.
[edit] Results of Chapter 11 Exercises
Each exercise in Chapter 11 builds on itself to make this final image at the end of exercise four.
[edit] Exercise 1: Using quick masks and alpha channels
1. In Photoshop, choose File > Open to open the downloaded file from the wiki of Salvador Dali holding a cat.
2. Use the Lasso tool from the Tools panel to make a selection around the left part of Dali’s mustache. The Lasso tool can be used to make freehand selections. Click+drag with the Lasso tool all the way around the mustache. The selection is completed when you bring the mouse back to the point where you first pressed the mouse button. Your selection will not be a perfect tracing of the mustache. The Lasso tool serves to make a fast draft of a selection which can be used as a starting point for masks. We will modify the selection in the next step.
3. Enter Quick Mask mode by pressing the Q key on the keypad or clicking on the Quick Mask icon at the bottom of the Tools panel, just beneath the foreground/background color chip icons. Quick Mask will turn all of the image areas that are not selected bright red, leaving the selected areas easily visible.
| Note: Quick Mask is a temporary mask that can help modify a selection. It stores your hidden/revealed states in a temporary alpha channel. When you leave Quick Mask mode, it uses the black, white, and grey of the alpha channel to construct a marquee selection, and throws that alpha channel away. |
4. The Quick Mask is used to modify the selection area. On any mask, the color black will hide part of the image and the color white will reveal part of the image. The red overlay in Quick Mask is used as a guide, so you can easily see where you have painted with black or white to hide or reveal parts of the mask. A red transparent overlay shows where the mask areas, painted with black, are located. Painting with white paint on the Quick Mask will take away red, masked parts. Painting with black paint on the Quick Mask will add red parts. The image that is not covered by the red mask becomes part of the selection when you leave Quick Mask mode.
As you are painting, press the letter Q to exit Quick Mask mode. You will see the resulting selection. Press Q again to re-enter Quick Mask mode and continue painting to modify the mask.
Black paint added to the red area of the Quick Mask on top of Dali’s mustache results in a smaller selection area.
Painting with white paint on top of the Quick Mask adds part of the mustache to the selection.
5. Exit Quick Mask and return to standard editing mode when you are finished modifying the selection. Your selection should more closely fit the contour of the mustache.
Here is an image of our Lasso tool selection before Quick Mask and the final selection after making modifications with the Paintbrush in Quick Mask.
6. Choose Select > Save Selection and name the new selection left mustache. Click OK.
7. When a selection is saved, it becomes an alpha channel. An alpha channel is a grayscale channel that defines which parts of an image are visible. All the types of channels Photoshop creates can be viewed separately by clicking on their names in the Channels panel. Click on the Channels tab in the Layers panel, then click on the name left mustache. The file now shows the left mustache alpha channel. Everything that is not included in the mask is black, and the once-selected shape of the left side of the mustache is white.
8. Click on the RGB channel to return to standard editing mode. Deselect the left side of the mustache by choosing Select > Deselect or use Command+D. Then reselect the left side of the mustache by loading it from the Channels panel by Command-clicking on the icon of the left mustache alpha channel. Practice deselecting and then loading the alpha channel, or reselecting by using Command+D then Command-click on the alpha channel.
9. Use File > Save as to save the Photoshop file. We named ours daliwithcat.psd.
[edit] Exercise 2: Building an image with layers, masks, and transformations
1. Start with the selection of the left side of the mustache loaded.
2. Copy and paste the half-mustache to a new layer by either using the Edit menu or Command+J.
3. Rename your layers. We renamed the Background layer original file and the copied layer left mustache.
4. Use the Move tool to position the mustache on the left side of the cat’s face. Then use Edit > Free Transform to rotate the mustache to the left.
| Watch Out: If the left mustache layer was not active (highlighted) you may have moved the layer containing the original file. Make sure the layer that you want to edit is active before editing. |
We will add a final adjustment for contrast at the end of this exercise, but you can add an adjustment with Levels now to make the mustache darker.
5. To further control how the layer blends with the original image, add a layer mask by clicking on the Add layer mask button in the bottom of the Layers panel.
6. Zoom in to at least 100% before editing the mask.
| Tip: Click on the icon of the layer content or the layer mask to activate either layer component. |
Now we will blend the edges of the mustache using the Paintbrush tool on the layer mask. This will make the mustache appear more realistic on the cat’s face. Black will be used on the mask to hide parts of the layer content. Use the Options panel to set the brush opacity to a number between 50 and 80%. We used 70% but you may be happier with a different value as our monitors are different. Use a big, soft brush. We set our brush at 30 pixels and 0% hardness. Trace just around the edges of the mustache, with the edge of the Brush tool brushing against the edge of the mustache.
7. Zoom out to Fit on Screen viewing mode by using Command+0, and then view the image with and without the layer mask. Shift-click on the mask icon to disable it. Then Shift-click again on the mask icon to enable it.
8. To view the mask by itself in the document window, Option-click on the mask icon. It is possible to edit the mask with black or white paint in this mode, too, although you cannot see the layer content or how it is affected by the mask. Option-click on the icon of the layer mask to return to standard mask editing mode.
9. Now for the true test: repeat all of the steps in both exercises with the other half of the mustache!
10. Once again, repeat these steps for the eyes. Use the Ellipse Selection tool to select one of Dali’s eyes. Then hold Shift while selecting the other eye with the same tool. Make the original file layer active by clicking on it. Press Command+J to float the selected eyes to a new layer. Rename the layer eyes.
| Watch Out: If you see this warning, “Could not make a new layer from the selection because the selected area is empty,” you probably did not make the correct layer active before pasting or floating. |
11. Use the Move tool to position the eyes onto the cat’s face. Since the eyes are far apart on their layer, selecting each eye is easy to do with the Ellipse Selection tool. Select one eye, then move it into place and use Edit > Free Transform to rotate it. Deselect the eye and repeat the transformation on the other eye. Once both eyes are in place, add a layer mask and use black paint on the mask to hide their edges.
[edit] Exercise 3: Adding an adjustment layer and organizing layers with groups
1. Add a Levels adjustment layer on top of the eyes layer. We used the button in the bottom of the Layers panel.
2. Push the Input Levels sliders beneath the shadow and highlight areas towards each other in the Levels Adjustments panel to create more contrast in the image.
3. Now we will organize all of our manipulations into one folder. Click once on the left mustache layer then Shift click on the layer Levels 1 to select all layers above original file. Use the Layers panel pull-down menu to choose New Group from Layers… and name the group manipulations. Now the non-destructive layers are grouped into one folder. The folder can be collapsed or expanded using the small triangle on the left side of the folder icon in the Layers panel.
[edit] Exercise 4: Adding a shape layer
1. Choose the Rounded Rectangle tool from the Tools panel. This tool hides behind the Rectangle tool. All of the tools grouped beneath the Rectangle tool are called Shape tools. In Photoshop, Shape tools and typography created with the Type tool are vector layers.
2. Look in the Options bar to verify that you are using the Rounded Rectangle tool to make a shape layer, instead of a path (which creates a path like the Pen tool) or a pixel layer (which creates a selection).
3. Draw a rounded rectangle in the image near Dali’s fingers. Notice that you will have a new layer named Shape Layer 1 in the Layers panel. Shape layers appear in the Layers panel as an overall color masked by the vector that was drawn.
4. It’s easy to change the color of a Shape layer as long as the document is in a mode that supports color! Try to load a red hue into the foreground color chip. It’s gray! Use Image > Mode > RGB color to convert this grayscale image to RGB color mode. At the “Merge layers before mode change?” warning, choose Don’t Merge.
Now put a red hue into the foreground color chip using the Color Picker or the Color panel. As long as the vector layer is active, use the key command Option+Delete to fill the Shape 1 layer with the color you loaded into the foreground color chip.
5. Use the Type tool to type “Dali and his cat” on top of the rectangular box. We used News Gothic Italic in 62 points with 40 point letter spacing. You can fill your type with black however you like, but try the key command on this layer, too. We had black loaded in the background color chip. Command+Delete will fill with the background color.
