Embedded Files
This project can be done in a single day.
CHECK GOOGLE CLASSROOM TO FIND THE REQUIRED IMAGES. DOWNLOAD THESE FIRST!
PROJECT 2: DISTRESSED PHOTO
Your goal is to take an image and transform it to give it an aged, vintage, distressed look. The idea is it should look like the photo was found in your grandparents' attic in the pocket of an old jacket.
Please hand in your before & after versions as .jpgs.
TUTORIAL (VIDEOS)
PHOTOSHOP
PHOTOPEA
TUTORIAL (WRITTEN STEPS)
This tutorial is based on a lesson from Derek Lea (dereklea.com).
1) Choose a photo from your collection to use. Best subjects are ones without "modern" subjects in them (i.e. timeless shots like landscapes, plants, old objects, etc.). Open it in Photoshop.
2) While not required, it is recommended that you convert your image to black and white. It conveys the old, vintage look better. To do this, click on the Black and White Adjustment button (pictured below). You can then adjust the individual colour channels to create the kind of contrast you like.
3) Open the three downloaded images (rust, scratches, folds) in Photoshop. They will open in separate tabs.
4) Go to the Rust tab first. (This image will be used to create water stain effects). Use the rectangular marquee tool to draw a selection box around the entire image.
5) Copy your selection to the clipboard by pressing CTRL-C.
6) Go back to your original image.
7) Select the Channels tab (next to Layers). If you can't see it, go to Window > Channels to activate it.
8) Create a new "Alpha Channel" (see above). The image should turn black.
9) Paste your selection here (CTRL-V).
10) The rust image does not fill your image yet, so you need to stretch it. Select Free Transform (CTRL-T) and drag out the corner handles until the rust image covers the entire canvas. (If you need to zoom out to see your whole image, press CTRL and the minus key).
11) Press ENTER to accept the selection (or ESC to cancel it and try again)
12) Press CTRL-D to de-select your selection (AKA get rid of the "Marching Ants").
13) OK, now it's time to make the rust image have more contrast (i.e. more black and white, less grey). Select Adjustments > Curves.
14) You are going to "bring in" the bottom-left and top-right handles towards the centre. This graph is called a histogram and is a representation of how many shadows vs. highlights there are in an image. We want to make the lighter shades whiter and the darker shades blacker. You need the "corner" handles to just touch where the "peak" begins. (See below).
15) Now that we have the contrast we need, we want to select all of the black areas (these will become "water stains" shortly). CTRL-click on the thumbnail image of your Alpha 1 layer. This will load the selection (i.e. draw "marching ants" around the areas you want).
16) You may have noticed that you just selected the white areas. Since we want the black areas, we have to invert the selection. Press SHIFT-CTRL-I or select Select > Inverse. Now we've selected what we want.
17) Click on the RGB channel to return to regular view.
18) Select the Layers tab to view your layers.
19) Create a new layer (left-click on the button beside the trash can in the bottom-right of your screen). Name it "Rust" and place it as the top layer. Select that layer. (The "marching ants" selection should still be there.
20) Fill the selection with white. You can either select Edit > Fill > White or....did you know that there's a nifty shortcut? CTRL-Delete automatically fills with your background colour. So, if your background colour is white (if it's not, the D key on its own resets colours to default black & white), you can do this step with a single keyboard shortcut. Either way, you should see something like this.
Yes, it looks like bird poop.
21) Let's make that less obvious. Turn down the opacity (doesn't have to be perfect, will fine-tune this later).
22) Now it's time to add our next image, scratches. Repeat steps 4-20 using the scratches image with the following exceptions:
- You can skip steps 13-14 (the Curves layer adjustment) as the image is good as-is.
- You can skip step 16 (Invert selection) as colours are already the inverse from the first image.
When you paste your scratches layer you should see something like this:
23) Duplicate your scratches layer (CTRL-J). Rename the layer copy "Scratches 2". We're going to make these scratches go up and down.
24) Select the Scratches 2 layer and rotate it 90 degrees. (Select Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 Degrees Clockwise)
25) Now we need to make it fit the image frame. Free Transform (Ctrl-T) and drag the handles to fit the frame. Proportion doesn't really matter here since they're just background scratches.
26) Now it's time to add our last image, folds. Just like you did with the scratches image, Repeat steps 4-20 using the folds image with the following exceptions:
- You can skip steps 13-14 (the Curves layer adjustment) as the image is good as-is.
- You can skip step 16 (Invert selection) as colours are already the inverse from the first image.
Here's what it looks like with all three images in place:
27) At this point, take a minute to adjust the opacity of each of the added layers. Typically the folds should be the most prominent. The lightness/darkness of your own image will determine what looks best. Here's the example image after some fine-tuning:
28) For our final step, we're going to add a vignette to the image. This adds to the vintage, old-timey effect. Select your background layer, then go to Filter > Lens Correction.
29) Select the Custom tab, then go down to the Vignette section. Moving the Amount slider to the left will add a black vignette around the corners. Moving the Midpoint slider will determine how far towards the centre of the image the vignette is applied.
Tip: If your subject is small and is in the centre of the frame, consider moving the midpoint inwards (slider to the left). If your subject takes up most of the frame or is not centered, leave it as is or move it outwards (slider to the right).
30) If you like the effect, you're done! If you don't like it, undo the last step (CTRL-Z) and try again!
Final version:
UPLOAD BEFORE & AFTER IMAGES (.jpg) TO YOUR WEBSITE.
STUDENT EXAMPLES:
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