My Entry in Phill Price’s “Edit My Photo” Contest

Here is my (scifi themed) entry in Phill’s “Edit My Photo” contest. The contest ends on March 21, so there is still time to get your entry in!

Technorati Tags: photoshop, digital, moon, scifi

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Grunge made easy

The “grunge” look is quite popular and it is easy to achieve by using a few Photoshop tricks. Here is an example of the effect:

You can add a grunge effect to your photos by following these simple steps:

1. Open the primary image in Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements)
2. Make any adjustments that you would like to the primary image
3. Under the “File” menu, choose “Place” and select a high contrast background image** to use as your “grunge”
4. Position and resize the background image as necessary
5. Now to create the magic…change the blend mode of your background image from “Normal” to “Overlay” (you should also try soft light and hard light)
6. Adjust the opacity of this layer to your liking
7. Eliminate any unwanted “grunge” by adding a layer mask or simply erase it

**these types of images are all around you – try taking some shots of your stone fireplace, your tile floor, an old door, a sheet of rusty metal, etc.

Technorati Tags: grunge, photoshop, digital, processing

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Desaturation with Aperture

Aperture offers a number of tools for editing your digital images. I’ve been experimenting with the desaturation option included in the Dodge and Burn plug-in.  This tool allows you to quickly remove all color from selected areas of your image, resulting in a selectively colored black and white image.  The plug-in gives you control of brush size, softness, and opacity.

Here is an example of an image produced for a Photrade contest using the desaturation tool:

BEFORE

AFTER

You can purchase Aperture 2.0 at B&H

Technorati Tags: aperture, edit, desaturate, leatherwing beetle, Photrade

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