Adobe Photoshop comes loaded with a full complement of nice filters that will transform your images without much effort. As I teach my wife how to work through each of the filter sets I will keep on writing here and letting you in on some nice basic information about them. This is not an advanced tutorial, this is strictly for beginners.
First the image that I am working on:
Filters are an excellent way of quickly applying an interesting twist to your images. With just a couple of clicks, you can make an image look as though it’s hand painted, sketched, apply textures, make patterns and distort it beyond all recognition. Most filters have specific settings that give you even greater control over the final look, and when you find a particular pleasing effect, you can save it out to use in the future.
You can apply a filter to either an entire layer or a selection. If you choose a selection, you can apply a feather so that the transition between filtered and non-filtered areas isn’t horribly jarring. There are some limitations in what type of images you can apply filters to – they can’t be used on Bitmap or Indexed color images, and there is limited availability for Greyscale, Multichannel, Lab, CMYK, 16-bit and 32-bit formats. However, if you work with RGB images, you get the pick of them all. You can apply filters directly from the Filter menu, but a better way is to open the Filter Gallery. This gives you access to all the filters and in addition to previewing the effects, you can also apply multiple filters and change their order – think of it as filter layers.
The first set of filters is the Artistic filters. These are perfect for giving traditional media effects and when coupled with a texture filter, can give the impression of paint on canvas. Once you get used to how the filters work with each other and how their different settings give different effects, you can use them as a viable artistic technique.
Colored Pencil
The success of this filter depends on what you have your background color set to. Colored Pencil keeps important edges in the image, giving it a rough, crosshatch appearance. In the smoother areas, the background colors show through. If you have a horrendous background color set, this filter will look terrible. The Pencil Width slider adjusts the pencil strokes, and if you make various selections of the image, you can build up different effects. The Stroke Pressure dictates how much color is picked up from the image. The Paper Brightness sorts out how much background color shows through.
Watercolor
The Watercolour filter is a quick way of getting a traditional media effect. By playing around with the Brush Detail slider, you can determine how ‘wet’ the picture looks. Shadow Intensity lightens or darkens the image, while Texture gives a 3D quality.
Labels: Artistic effects Tutorial, Free Tutorial, Photoshop, Photoshop Effects tutorial, Photoshop Tutions
