Photoshop Basics Unit 05 - Painting, Repairing, Selections & Transformation Tools

This is the original .psd file from chapter 8 in the Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book, reduced in size from 10 X 8 inches to 5 X 4 > saved in jpeg.

I changed file size to 5 X 4. Worked with the layers.
Adjusted the background hue saturation. Added a gradient layer on top with a saturation of 49%. Duplicated the tree layer > flipped > transformed distort > adjusted the hue saturation. Painted in some shadows and highlights on both trees as described in the lesson. Next I reated a new layer above the under painting of the umbrella, grouped it and put on a gradient. Scaled the umbrella figure smaller and moved. Locked the transparency of the umbrella frame and filled the spokes with black. Added some snow with a stipple brush in white and made the layer overlay so that the white blended with the background. Finally I darkened the area around the umbrella in the background. Since I had made a copy of the original background I then set the blending mode of the copy above to multiply.

I took this picture of Samantha, with a digital camera, adjusted the light with the levels tool and then sharpened it slightly with the filters tools.

I scanned this picture at 200 dpi from a Martha Stewart book on gardening. The original measured approximately 8 X 10 inches. I then reduced the size to 72 dpi and 4 inches across.

I opened the images of Samantha and the arbor then dragged the image of Samantha on to the arbor image to create a new layer in that file. Next I created a mask for the Samantha layer and painted out the portion where I wanted the foliage to show through. "Save for Web" in jpeg at 80.

I made more contrast between Samantha and the background by changing the levels of the arbor layer. Changed the color balance of Samantha layer adding more yellows. Used the "sponge>saturate" tool on Samantha’s pants to bring out the color which had grayed out when I added more yellow to the image. I did the same thing on bits of the tiger and part of Samantha’s hair. Finally I used the "burn" tool around the edges of the tiger. I created a brush using my name and painted it into the picture

Began with the scanned Martha Stewart Arbor image. Then I changed the levels to make the image darker. I created a brush in the shape of a star and painted a number of stars in different colors on a separate layer. I placed this layer above the Arbor layer and applied a glow effect to the layer. On the Arbor layer I used the burn tool to darken the light in spots in between the trees above.