As I’ve been cleaning and rearranging the home these past 24 days, I have found things that I never knew I had….
….such as postcards, Christmas cards, birthday cards, thank-you cards, all unused…. all from a past where I used to send out cards like it was the last day of Earth.
Now we have e-Cards, email…. everything except cards that actually arrive in a mailbox.
That, however, didn’t prevent me from taking some pictures that otherwise had flaws in them, modify them, and create some cards, mostly to put my Photoshop CC skills to the test.
One card that I particularly like started with this photograph:
The wall art is pretty cool but the picture itself needs some work. It’s underexposed, has contrast and clarity issues, is tilting backwards, and simply is a blah picture.
First, I solved the tilting problem using Perspective Crop and then lightened the shadows so the fish were better seen. That also lightened the darker areas, which I think is good, because the shadows were overshadowing (so to speak) the fish.
Then I realized that whomever installed the artwork should have centered it within the wall boards. Notice that the right side has a small slice of board? The fishies should swim over to the left a couple of inches or so….
I tried working with that image but the board slice was really bugging me.
The texture of the boards was bugging me, too. I mean, do fish swim on lumber?
There are several ways to resolve these issues but I thought the easiest thing to do would be to remove the boards.
Using the Magic Wand and a lot of work at high magnifications, I selected the boards I wanted to remove and then inverted my selection. I did that because I didn’t really want to remove the boards. What I wanted to do was to remove the fish from the boards. In other words, I needed to select what I wanted to keep rather than what I wanted to remove.
I highlighted the boards, though, because they were easy to highlight, all of them being the same basic light gray. Inverting the selection then gave me just the fish, fishing line, and shadows. I then saved those to continue to work on them.
It took me a while to get the shadows just the way I wanted them. The final product looks like this:
One fish has escaped from the fishing line. Do you see it?
I can leave those fish on a white background or change the background to another color, such as blue for water. Or I can apply filters to them; this is one of my favorites:
Now that I can cut out pieces of pictures, oh the possibilities are endless as to what I can accomplish. I might never have a real picture in my blog again………..lol
In recognition of the start of another football season:
Give me a P!
P!
Give me an H!
H!
Give me an O!
O!
Give me a T!
T!
Give me an O!
O!
Give me an S!
S!
Give me an H!
H!
Give me a third O!
O!
Give me two P’s!
P!
P!
Give me an E!
E!
Give me a D!
D!
What does it spell?
Photoshopped!
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Photoshop!
This post approved by
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, BRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Russel Ray Photos 
I like the second last picture best.
LikeLike
Wow, I am amazed the way you removed that board.
LikeLike
So cool! I like the second to last one best, too. That’s a framer for sure!
LikeLike
Great stuff Russel.
LikeLike
I really enjoy looking at the before and after shots.
LikeLike
Wow did that take a long time? I can’t believe how many people go to football in Texas.
LikeLike
It did take me a long time, about four hours, because it was the first time I’ve attempted something like that. In the Caturday post I just published, there is a picture of Zoey the Cool Cat’s red ring jar which I lifted out of a photo. That only took about 10 minutes because I knew what I was doing………..lol
LikeLike
You have time to do all that and clean and rearrange the house? I am in awe!!!
LikeLike
Multitasking………….lol
LikeLike
Wow ~ you are quite talented!
LikeLike
Getting there…………lol
LikeLike
Yup, I love Photoshop, too. I am not as proficient at selecting and inverting as you are. Sometimes it works, and sometimes not, but I don’t always know what I did, and since I don’t do it enough, I have to relearn EVERY time! (Or so it seems) I hadn’t gotten a picture of Manny this week, so I created my own. I was really proud of a job I did pasting Manny into Ralph’s new balcony. I had to paint in part of his head, clone in part of the wall, carpet and pottery, smudge around the edges, but I did it! I can do the Photoshop Cheer with you! Thanks, Teach! 🙂
LikeLike
Interesting, I am taking a Photoshop class this year. I really like how you removed the background.
LikeLike
great place to camp out
LikeLike