Photoshop Projects Volume 14

164 

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Photoshop 

VOLUME 14 

Expert tips for Photoshop ® , Illustrator ® and more! 

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EDITOR’S WELCOME 

The Snake 

For more from Faroe Islandsborn 

photographer Jonfrid 

Eliasen, see page 80 

Editor’s 

welcome 

Photoshop knows no boundaries. Whether it’s age, skill or training, 

you’re only limited by your imagination. In this issue, we talk to 

young guns like Sebastian Andaur, who’s making a name for 

himself as a freelance art director while still in high school. Then 

there are the illustrators and lettering masters who maximise the tools and 

techniques of Photoshop to suit their own needs. Check out Gabriela Fuente’s 

patterns, designed for high-end fashion clients and created in Photoshop. 

The beauty of Photoshop is that it has almost limitless possibilites. Use it 

to take ordinary photos into the realm of the extraordinary. Shane 

Monopoli and Mark Gardner show us how to composite a gothic drama at 

Windsor Castle, while Rachel Lewis goes behind the scenes to create highenergy 

cosplay images. There are also loads of tips and tricks, interviews 

and inspirational articles on everything from lettering and 3D work to 

complex layers and high-end retouching. Happy Photoshopping! 

Lisa Perkovic 

Editor 

PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS | 3

Contents 

Photoshop Projects: Issue 14 

6 Creative Insights 

Photoshop art designed to inspire 

Features 

10 Photomanipulation Tips 

Ben Foertsch shares his tips for taking 

on photomanipulation and doing it well 

16 

16 Calvin Hollywood 

Germany’s superstar photographer and 

master retoucher on making your mark 

28 The Money Shot 

Professional retoucher Anthony Pugh goes 

behind the scenes of the advertising game 

40 The Glamour King 

A look at award-winning photographer 

Shane Monopoli’s portfolio 

54 The Letter Player 

Inside the world of lettering with Spanish 

graphic designer Baimu 

74 Texture Truths 

Texture and pattern designer Gabriela 

Fuente talks shop 

80 Faroe Princess 

Emerging photographer Jonfrid Eliasen 

takes us inside her world 

88 The Queen of Punch 

In the studio and inside the new reality 

of photographer Rachel Lewis 

94 French Toast 

Inside the studio of Antoine Collignon 

54 108 

96 Starting Young 

Young gun Sebastian Andaur is still in 

high school but that’s not stopping him 

108 Otherworldly 

Marta Bielsa’s images capture the imagination 

Tutorials 

12 Photomanipulation 

Ben Foertsch takes the ordinary and makes 

it extraordinary 

22 Capturing the Mob 

Professional photographer Lisa Saad goes to 

the track to get the best results 

36 Wallpaper 

Create a wallpaper that hops with artist 

Vlad Gerasimov 

46 Composite creations 

Shane Monopoli and Mark Galer create a 

period drama with a perfect composition 

60 Lettering 

Artist and lettering master Baimu shows us his tips 

on mastering lettering 

68 Metal Taste 

Bernardo Henriques puts the wow factor into 

sketching in Photoshop 

4 | PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS

94 

CONTENTS 

THE TEAM 

EDITOR 

Lisa Perkovic 

COMMISSIONING EDITOR 

Ewa Samulska 

SUB EDITOR 

Adam Scroggy 

ART DIRECTOR 

Carol Tang 

120 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Paul Cook 

GROUP EDITOR 

Alex Mead 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Lisa Saad, Shane Monopoli, Mark Galer, 

Calvin Hollywood, Anthony Pugh, Rachel 

Lewis, Jonifred Eliasen, Antoine Collignon, 

Sebastian Andaur, Diego Penuela, Denitsa 

Toshirova, Moe Pike Soe, Hugo Ceneviva, 

Nicolas Andrade, Galima Akhmetzyanova, 

Timothy Meakins, Quinny Vu, Kristina Alegro, 

Baimu, Bernardo Henriques, Vlad Gerasimov, 

Ben Foertsch 

ADVERTISING 

Alex Brereton (02) 9186 9109 

96 

102 Life’s a Beach 

Lisa Saad takes Barbie to the beach and 

plays with perspective 

106 Painterly Way 

Diego Penuela defines digital painting 

114 Breathe in the Air 

Denitsa Toshirova flips art on its head 

120 Utopia 

Beauty retouching by Moe Pike Soe 

126 Flying Island 

Nicolas Andrade constructs fantasy 

worlds with his word 

134 Tap’s On 

Digital Artist Hugo Ceneviva’s water works 

142 RAW Pop Colour 

Using RAW techniques to take your image 

to the next level, with Quinny Vu 

148 Trophy Beer 

Packaging design by Galima Akhmetzyanova 

154 Album Covers 

Creating album art with Timothy Meakins 

158 Soul Transmission 

Kristina Alegro makes a splash 

162 Editor’s Choice 

126 

MANAGEMENT 

DIRECTOR 

Jim Flynn 

FINANCIAL CONTROLLER 

Stuart Harle 

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR 

Richard Ryan 

PRODUCTION MANAGER 

Ian Scott 

Distributed by Network Services Company 

in Australia and Netlink in New Zealand. 

Printed by Paramount Printing. 

PUBLISHED BY 

Citrus Media 

PO Box 20154 

World Square NSW 2002 

© 2013 Citrus Media. All rights reserved. No article 

or images may be reproduced wholly or in part 

without prior written permission from the publisher. 

Citrus Media is a division of Media Factory Pty Ltd. 

While every care was taken during the preparation 

of this magazine, Citrus Media cannot be held 

responsible for the accuracy of the information or any 

consequence arising from it. All judgements are based 

on equipment available to Citrus Media at the time 

of review. ‘Value for money’ comments are based on 

prices at the time of publication. Citrus Media takes 

no responsibility for the content of external websites 

whose addresses are published. 


Creative 

insights 

Broaden your horizons with these inspirational images 


RIO TYPE 

This is a tribute to the city of Rio in Brazil! It’s a 

personal work with an Artist from Brazil called Ots. 

Artist: Hugo Ceneviva 

Website: behance.net/hugoceneviva 


IN CORPO 

I did this piece in an inspirational rush in 

just three hours. It represents the point 

where two lovers become one; from that 

way forward there’s nothing you can do 

to go back. 

Artist: Bernardo Henriques 

Website: behance.net/BeBernard 

CORONA 

Artist: Diego Peñuela 

Website: Diegoillustration.com 

CITY 

Artist: Jane Mendes 

Website: regular-jane.com 


THIS IS NOT SIMPLY 

a Photoshop project. All pieces were 

put together like that with strings 

and metal. Photoshop was used to 

get rid of these countless lines. 

Artist: Daniel von Stephani 

Website: art.Davonstart.com 


PROFILE 

BEN FOERTSCH 

Tips and Tricks for 

PHOTOMAN 

Photographer and 

graphic designer 

Ben Foertsch on 

making the most of 


Beginnings 

I started out using Photoshop back 

in 2006 during the year I spent living 

in New Zealand for high school. Back 

then I’d just started photographing and 

learnt how to use Photoshop (self-taught) 

to improve my (amateur) photography. 

Now I do freelancing as a photographer 

for various local businesses and business 

portraiture for private clients. 

Style 

I keep it minimalistic and straightforward. 

After years of using Photoshop, I realised 

the artworks that stand out are the ones 

that are so simple and straightforward 

that you can easily recognise them 

amongst the ocean of artworks. 

What do I wish I could do in 

Photoshop? 

Convert **** into gold? Well, there’s so 

much you can do, I just don’t have the 

IMAGES 

BRAND PICTURE 

» (LEFT) A personal 

project that has 

become my business 

card picture: “You are 

what you eat” 

BOXED 

THINKING 

» (FAR LEFT) They 

always say “think 

outside the box”. 

I took this “problem” 

and visualised it 

RESIZED KEY 

» (TOP RIGHT) Losing 

your keys makes 

quite an impact. It 

was very difficult 

combining huge 

objects with really 

small ones! 

PICK IT 

» (MIDDLE RIGHT) If 

you had all the 

money in the world, 

you could pick 

anything you liked 

BITTERSWEET 

» (RIGHT) Love and 

affection, what a 

bittersweet feeling. 

The background of 

this is an actual bed 


PHOTOMANIPULATION 

IPULATION 

Top 5 tips to 

creating an effective 


time to learn it all… but I’ve always 

wanted to try using Matte Painting 

in Photoshop. 

Three key elements to a 

good photomanipulation 

1. A clear overall light structure 

(shadow/light/contrast). 

2. A perfect colour balance between 

the layers. 

3. The alignment of textures 

and transitions. 

The three Photoshop 

techniques I use the most: 

01. Brushing on layer masks 

02. Converting and adjusting RAWs 

03. Colour balance adjusting 

If you’re just starting out, take time 

to master the art of brushing transitions 

and edges on a layer mask 

Check out more of Ben’s work at art. 

davonstart.com and davonstart.com 

DON’T OVERDO IT 

01 The fewer steps/filters you need, the more 

real it will usually look. 

LAYER MASKS, LAYER MASKS, LAYER 

02 MASKS! 

Using layer masks with an interesting brush is perfect 

for blending layers. 

A BRUSH FOR EVERY SITUATION 

03There are endless brushes so take the time 

to look for some good, high-quality ones. It will make 

working easier and your work look better. 

WORK ON YOUR CONCEPT 

04 If you want to stand out, you need something 

in your artwork to do so. Think about what would be 

nice to see or how it will be remembered. Funny sayings 

are always a good start. 

KNOW WHEN TO STOP 

05 Sometimes the idea just might not work out 

as expected. Sometimes it’s better to stop working 

on it and pick it up some other time. 


TUTORIAL 

Eating Orange 

PHOTO 

MANIPULATION 

Level: MEDIUM | Time: 1 HOUR 

CREATE AN EASY 

PHOTO MANIPULATION 

with great impact. Ben shows 

how to convert an idea into an 

artwork without needing many 

layers, filters or a lot of time. You’ll 

be left with something timeless 

and memorable – like this orange. 


TUTORIAL 

BEN FOERTSCH IS A FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER, VIDEOGRAPHER AND GRAPHIC 

DESIGNER. HE EXHIBITS WORK UNDER THE NAME DANIEL VON STEPHANI IN HONOUR 

OF HIS DECEASED GRANDFATHER. HE HAS HAD SEVERAL EXHIBITIONS DESPITE BEING 

ONLY 24. CHECK HIM OUT AT ART.DAVONSTART.COM. 

01 

Convert 

from RAW 

If you shoot your own 

photographs, it’s best to use 

RAW as you can easily adjust 

colours and light without 

decreasing quality. In this 

case, a bit of brightness and 

contrast is needed. 

02 

Replace and repair 

The background needs to be 

replaced to get one white 

backdrop. Create a new layer and 

use the Brush Tool (B) in white to 

paint over all unwanted 

background. Use a brush with a 

large diameter and no hardness to 

get a good transition. 

03 

Adjust brightness 

As you can see, the background 

is not as bright as the white 

replacement layer. Select the layer 

with the orange on it and carefully 

change the brightness using 

Levels (ctrl/cmd + L) until you 

see no hard transition. 


TUTORIAL 

EATING ORANGE 

04 

Insert mouth 

Copy your picture of the mouth into 

Photoshop as a new layer. Change the 

layer’s transparency to 70%. Use the 

Transform Tool (ctrl/cmd + T) to adjust size 

and position of the ‘mouth’ layer. Then 

change transparency back to 100%. 

05 

Integrate mouth 

Create a Layer Mask (Layer > Layer 

Mask > Reveal All) for the ‘mouth’ 

layer and select it. Erase all 

unnecessary parts of the layers by 

painting over it with a large brush 

with medium hardness. 

06 

Adjust colour balance 

Using the Colour Balance Tool (ctrl/cmd 

+ B) you can tint the layer a bit more 

with yellow and red to make it look 

more realistic. 

14 | PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS

TUTORIAL 

07 

Alter orange 

Now you need to get rid of the 

unnecessary part of the orange. First, 

change the transparency of the ‘mouth’ 

to 50%. This will help you to see where 

to work. Select the ‘orange’ layer and 

use the Stamp Tool (S) to copy the 

background onto the orange. 

Finish up 

Change the transparency 

of the ‘mouth’ back to 100% 

and you should be done. 

Repair any unwanted dark 

spots on the orange if 

necessary or adjust the 

colours and crop the way 

you like. And don’t forget 

to save it. 

08 


PROFILE 

CALVIN HOLLYWOOD 

MR 

HOLLY 

WOOD 

Calvin Hollywood is Germany’s superstar 

photographer and master retoucher. 

Travelling the world to teach workshops 

and shoot stars, he takes some time to tell 

Lisa Perkovic a few secrets to his success. 

When did you first start retouching? 

I first started using Photoshop in 2005. 

In 2006 I realised I needed to buy myself 

a camera because I wanted photos to 

retouch. My photography got better 

and better, and I noticed my retouching 

was getting better too. People were 

suddenly interested in my retouching 

technique and by the end of the year 

I was doing coaching and seminars. 

In 2011 I left the military, where I’d been 

as an instructor for a decade. Since then 

photography and retouching have 

become main job. I live near Heidelberg 

in Germany, I have a wife and two kids. 

My life is my family and my job. 

Why did you choose to specialise 

in portraiture? 

I love to work with people and I love 

strong, unique characters. I do a lot of 

landscape shots just for myself, and street 

photography too, but I don’t publish it. I’m 

more interested in working with humans. 

Do you already know what you’ll do in 

Photoshop when you’re photographing? 

Yes, most of the time before I take the 

picture in the camera, I know what I’d like 

to do later in retouching. I’m not that guy 

that likes to play around all the time, yes 

at the beginning to see what’s possible, 

but then I have a plan and I work with that. 


MR HOLLYWOOD 

IMAGES 

BATTER 

» (LEFT) A shot for 

a German baseball 

team who were 

playing in the first 

league. This is a 

compositing of two 

images for an edgy 

look. The background 

is an HDR shot. 

GOLFER 

» (BOTTOM LEFT) 

For this shot of a 

German golfer I used 

a three-light setup. 

Two lights coming 

from the back 

(striplights) and 

one main light 

(beauty dish). 

Gear 

I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II and two 

lenses, an 85mm f/1.2 and a 25-105mm 

f/4.0 lens. For lighting I use gear from 

Hensel, a great German company. I’m 

not a technical freak; I don’t care too 

much about the technical stuff so I’m 

not the best person to ask which camera 

to buy. I know what works for me. 

I definitely recommend having a plan, 

a goal and then doing the retouching. 

Who are your major clients? 

In seminars there’s a mix of professional 

photographers and people who take 

photos for fun, but it’s mostly industry; 

Adobe, advertising agencies, companies 

etc. My photographic clients are usually 

artists, singers and actors. I occasionally 

work on big advertising campaigns. 

Why do you think clients choose you? 

The images are one part, but I think they 

choose me because of my personality and 

the way I handle things. Of course, first 

impressions are always made based on 

my images – that makes me interesting – 

but you still have to be able to talk budget 

and logistics. Other people can create the 

same images I do, but the personality is 

unique. I try to increase my personality 

as much as I can because my clients want 

to have me, not my competitors. 

What do you want your images to say? 

My images have a strong impact. There 

isn’t always a message, but I want people 

to look at an image and feel like they have 

to look at it, like they’re being drawn in. 

It’s not necessarily a message, it’s more of 

a thought process: “Wow, so many details, 

look at the colour and harmony, I like that.” 

My goal is always to make people look 

longer than five seconds. I don’t like to 

apply too much, because everyone sees 

something unique in an image. 

Can you explain your “Calvinize” 

technique? 

Somebody called my style Calvinize, and 

it stuck, but it’s not my overarching style. 

I think you could define it as working with 

a lot of details and doing everything just 

a little bit more than necessary. There are 

a lot of people using a similar style. I don’t 

want to be bound by one style. I don’t care 

about rules, I just do it. My pictures are 


PROFILE 


Workflow 

I open my images in Bridge 

then I make a decision on 

which image I want to 

retouch. Sometimes I make 

this decision with the client, 

otherwise I’ll send through a 

few suggestions. I then open 

my image in Camera RAW, 

where I only do necessary 

adjustments like sharpness, 

adding detail, brightness, 

colour corrections. In 

Photoshop I think about who 

is looking at this picture. Is it 

a picture with a cold mood, 

warm mood, strong, soft? 

I have keywords in my mind 

and with these keywords 

I can give the retouching a 

direction. The workflow is 

always the same. Making the 

decision, RAW conversion, 

retouching on blemishes, 

maybe a little liquefying, then 

adding the look. The look is all 

about colour, contrast and 

adjusting the lighting. 

What is the longest time you’ve spent 

working on one image? 

I once spent around 60 hours on an image 

for another photographer. It was a 

composition of 10-12 shots so the first part 

was bringing them together and then there 

was a lot of adjusting; colour, contrast, 

light. I try not to spend more than an hour 

on an image but that was a bit different. 

noisy and grainy; it’s something many 

people don’t like in their images, but I don’t 

care. I do it my way, the way I like it, and 

that’s my style. If you want to develop your 

own style, do it your own way and don’t 

listen to other people. Listen to a few good 

friends who have a good knowledge 

of photography but ultimately do what 

you want. That works best. 

Do you have a favourite Photoshop 

technique you use? 

I don’t have a special Photoshop technique, 

years ago I guess I did a lot of dodging and 

burning. Now I enjoy colour corrections. 

Any kind of colour corrections. You can 

give an image so much impact by adding 

a Colour Cast. Again, some people don’t 

like Colour Casts but I love applying them. 

My favourite tool for this technique is the 

Selective Colour Adjustment layer. 


MR HOLLYWOOD 

IMAGES 

I WILL 

» (LEFT) 

This shot was taken 

in a studio on a grey 

background. I added 

the texture of the 

wall and floor in 

the blend mode 

soft light. A very 

easy way to create 

fast compositings. 

FACE 

» (BELOW) I wasn’t 

happy with the 

beauty image so 

I added a texture 

of water reflections 

and blurred them. 

I used the blend 

mode screen and 

was very happy 

with the final result. 

SLAVE 

» (RIGHT) This is one 

of my most popular 

images. There isn’t 

a lot of retouching. 

I added the golden 

colour cast with a 

selective colour 

adjustment layer. 

You can change the 

neutrals to get very 

cool colour looks. 


PROFILE 


Five Tips 

for Portraits 

My portraits aren’t realistic, they’ve 

got a more arty look. However, if 

you’re trying to create a realistic 

portrait, here are a few tips. 

LESS IS MORE 

01 Don’t spend too much 

of your time retouching 

IN CAMERA 

02 Do as much as you can 

during the shoot 

03 PLAN 

Don’t change 

backgrounds. Each time you 

change a background, your 

portrait looks more like a painting. 

Use what you have on the shoot 

GET ADVICE 

04 Show the pictures to 

other people – trusted people – to 

get opinion. Sometimes you can 

lose perspective on your own 

TAKE A STEP BACK 

05 Sleep one night and the 

next day your image will look 

different. You’ll go “wow, I did a 

little too much last night” 

What’s your opinion on plug-ins? 

I like plug-ins, I use them at the end 

of the retouching process, sometimes 

a little at the beginning to add detail, 

but I never use them very heavily. I use 

Topaz Detail to add more detail to my 

images and I use Nik Software’s Colour 

Efex Pro 4. I definitely recommend them 

because they make things a lot faster. 

Your works have amazing texture – 

how do you achieve that? 

I’m using a technique called Freaky, 

Amazing Details. I’ve done a free YouTube 

video that explains it. It works really well 

with my portraits, where I need power. 

I need strong contrast, a lot of detail and 

plenty of texture. People love it because 

“I need a strong contrast, a whole lot of 

detail and plenty of texture” 

they’re naturally more interested 

in images with strong highlights and 

contrasts. This is what works for me 

but there’s plenty of different techniques 

out there for you to experiment with. 

What’s the most important element 

to get right during post-production? 

Time, take your time. Think about it. 

Don’t just retouch. That’s what I did years 

ago. I started with retouching and ended 

with retouching, and the result was just 

an image. These days I start retouching, 

but I think a lot while I do it. What kind of 

person will see this picture? What will 

they think? Once I have an answer, I can 

support my answer by retouching with 

colour, contrast and lighting. 

Check out more of Calvin’s work and 

online tutorials at: Calvintraining.com 

Photoshopfreaks.com, 

YouTube: Calvin Hollywood 


MR HOLLYWOOD 

IMAGES 

TION-LEE 

» (LEFT) 

This is the face 

of my son Tion- 

Lee when he wants 

something and I say 

no. This shot was 

taken on a lighter 

grey background: 

you can easily add 

colour with the 

blend mode colour. 

MISS YOU 

» (ABOVE) Another 

shot of my son, 

taken with available 

light. I added some 

warm colours and 

detail to get the 

gritty look. 


TUTORIAL 

Capture the Mob 

PHOTO 

MANIPULATION 

Level: INTERMEDIATE | Time: 1 HR 

I TRULY BELIEVE THAT in order to change your point of view, you need to change your 

perspective. The brief was to photograph the dogs racing from the rabbit’s point of view at 

the track. This image demonstrates my tenacious attitude towards my craft and also life. 

I love the fact that I have the ability to create something from nothing and to continually 

push the boundaries past my wildest imagination. 

PRO TIP 

Something as simple as CHANGING PERSPECTIVE 

can make a huge difference to a subject. Try 

experimenting with different angles in camera 


TUTORIAL 

LISA SAAD IS A MELBOURNE-BASED, AWARD-WINNING 

PHOTOGRAPHER WITH 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN COMMERCIAL 

PHOTOGRAPHY. CHECK OUT LISASAADPHOTOGRAPHY.COM.AU 

01 

Getting the shot ‘The Mob’ was shot at the 

greyhound track in Lara, Victoria. The image was a year-long 

project to shoot and complete, including all post-production. 

This is a constructed image. Each dog was photographed 

individually. The technical challenge was to shoot each dog 

in motion whilst the camera (Kodak DCS 35mm digital SLR) 

was travelling backwards at 40-50 km/h firing on a 

programmed time of eight seconds with an approximate 

delay at the start. The eight seconds of shooting could only 

be on the straight just before the first turn as the lure the 

camera was attached to became too shaky and violent after 

that point. The camera was mounted in the position of the 

rabbit and was controlled by the lure operator so it sat at 

a distance of approximately 1.2 meters from the lead dog. 

Each group of greyhounds, around four to five dogs per 

group, were suited up in race gear and started in the gate 

in a simulated race. The lure was fired up at different starting 

points until we could work out the correct sequence. Time 

management was crucial as the greyhounds could only run 

once around the track and I had six starts with about 30 

dogs available each time and could only stretch the owners’ 

helpfulness to experimenting with their greyhounds on 

four occasions. The first day was a disaster, with the camera 

dropping to the bottom of the lure and being dragged in 

the sand. The second day was not any better and I felt very 

frustrated as the rigging on the lure was failing. It couldn’t 

deal with the weight of the camera verses a fluffy bunny. 

After much thought we arrived at day three, which involved 

numerous phone calls to the owners, track management and 

a few engineers. We managed to secure the camera but the 

images weren’t pin sharp and the greyhounds were too far 

away in the distance. On day four I was extremely nervous 

because this was the last chance. And it worked! 

(There were six months between day one and day four.) 

Original images 

Images of the dogs from test shots 


TUTORIAL 

PHOTOSHOP 

02 

Composition 

Each dog was removed from its background 

and then placed on a blank canvas. As you can 

see below, my first attempts at the grouping 

weren’t successful. It took me four days to arrive 

at the final composition. When a friend saw this 

attempt she asked, “What is it that you truly see?” 

PRO TIP 

One thing I realised from this shoot is 

the importance of having a good plan at 

the beginning and a CLEAR END GOAL. 

I knew I wanted to “photograph the dogs 

racing from the rabbit’s point of view” 

but it still took me a few days to pull the 

composition of the dogs together. 

03 

Background 

removal 

The removal of the background 

is pretty straightforward. I used 

the Pen Tool (P) to draw around 

each dog and then made a mask 

to delete the background. This 

left only the subject visible and 

the background transparent. 


TUTORIAL 

04 

Shadows 

Once the final grouping was created, 

a shadow was added to the dogs. Each 

shadow is the individual dog image 

flipped, grey scaled, blurred slightly then 

reduced in opacity on a separate layer. 

05 

Backgrounds 

The original background image is a frame from the 

lure/camera set up from one of the days we shot so 

the motion blur is natural. I added a new sky to the 

background by placing another version on top of the 

existing image. I used a mask and brush to add/remove 

areas I didn’t want and to blend the two skies together. 

06 

Adjustments 

Using the Burn tool (O) 

I darkened areas to help 

with composition. 


TUTORIAL 

PHOTOSHOP 

07 

Light beams 

To help with composition, I added 

a beam of light to each of the flood 

lights on the right-hand side. This 

was achieved by drawing a cone 

shape on a blank canvas with the Pen 

(P) tool. The shape I drew needed to 

represent a beam of light, so smaller 

at the top and wider at the bottom. 

PRO TIP 

Adding elements 

like artifical light 

can help an image 

make an impact. 

Think about how 

the light would fall 

and how the beam 

strength will change 

08 

Creating light I filled the shape using the Gradient Tool (G), 

and then blurred the shape using Filter-Blur-Gaussian Blur set to about 

30%. I then erased out (E) the bottom right-hand corner of the beam so 

it wouldn’t fall onto the line of the dogs or on the railing. 

09 

Layer tweaks 

For each light I then 

changed the layer mode 

to screen and the opacity 

to 11%. 

10 

The Layer palette 

You’ll see here the order of my 

layers palette. I kept the image 

structure organised. That’s very 

important with any image. 


TUTORIAL 

11 

The blending 

and adjustments 

Turning to the dogs and their 

shadow layers, I adjusted the opacity 

of each shadow layer and did a few 

final repositions to each dog. 

12 

Lighting layers 

For this piece I’ve used a technique 

I call “lighting layers”. They add some 

contrast and also help with the 

blending of the layers within the 

image. I use this: Knoll Light Factory: 

redgiant.com/products/all/knolllight-factory/ 

and make light shapes 

again using the layer blending 

modes to incorporate them into 

the final image. 

13 

Final 

adjustments 

Using Adjustment layers, 

I adjusted the Hue/ 

Saturation and also the 

Brightness/Contrast. I also 

used a Levels adjustment 

to change the overall 

exposure slightly. 

The final image 


PROFILE 

ANTHONY PUGH 

THEMONEY 

Creative digital retoucher Anthony Pugh 

transforms everyday images into something 

extra special. Lisa Perkovic goes behind the 

scenes in the advertising world and finds out 

what Anthony does to create the money shot. 

How did you get started in the 

industry? 

I started my career in a pre-press studio 

in England as a scanner operator, where 

I formed a strong knowledge base for 

tone and colour values. 

After four years I was given the 

opportunity to learn retouching on what 

was then state-of-the-art retouching 

high-end stations from companies such as 

Hell, Dainippon and Scitex. I went from 

strength to strength and was soon 

leading the entire department. 

When Apple Mac computers first came 

on the scene with a little-known program 

called Photoshop, I relished the 

environment. When layers came along 

in version 3, my world changed. I taught 

myself through video tutorials. 

After 10 years of retouching I was 

introduced to web development, where 

I developed online image libraries. The 

work was interesting but after looking at 

code all day, every day, I was glad to get 

back into retouching. 

I migrated to Australia where I worked 

in one of the first digital photographic 

studios in the country. I was involved 

directly with photographers, creative 

directors, art directors and the end 

clients. The work was far more creative 

as it was agency work with higher 

budgets. Before long I was freelancing 

– I’d built up a great network and wanted 

the challenge of working for myself. 

I created my own website, 

anthonypugh.com, and started to learn 

Internet marketing. I continue to network 

and to build strong relationships with 

photographers, art directors, Studio/ 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Sewed Lips 

Brief: To sew up lips using a cotton thread. Funny story – I was on my 

way to Byron Bay when a client called with this brief. I really wanted 

to do the job and didn’t want to let down the client. Luckily I had my 

laptop and Canon 5D with me, which left me needing a Wacom, so I 

bought one en route. Unfortunately I was camping so I had to do the 

entire job from my powered tent site using my mobile to upload and 

download the images. I think the client would have been horrified to 

know their work was being produced in a tent. I bought some cooking 

string from the local supermarket and coloured it with a red marker. 

I then traced the outline of the lips on white paper directly from my 

screen and sewed across the mouth. I shot this and etched it onto the 

stock shot and added shading and bruising for effect. 

Agency: Cabana Boys 

Photographer: Stock Image 

Client: Mission Australia 


THE MONEY SHOT 

SHOT 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Absolut 

Brief: To create the Absolut Vodka bottle 

morphing into a squeezed paint tube with 

finger prints in the three colours of the 

vodka flavours. I took a shot of a squeezed 

tube and retouched it onto the stock shot. 

I then liquified the bottle text through the 

tube alpha channels so the text wrapped 

around the folds of the tube. I used 3D 

to create the main label text. The 

fingerprints were coloured and warped 

onto the bottle in the same way. 

Agency: Totem Communications 


Client: Absolut Vodka 


PROFILE 

ANTHONY PUGH 

Favourite 


plugins? 

Liquify 

Vanishing Point 

Alien Skin 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Dalmatians 

Brief: To produce a series of three images 

of dalmatians replacing their black spots 

with the colours of the inks the client 

produces. There was a sniffing, a 

balancing, and in this one, a smiling pose. I 

used several shots of the dog in each case 

to create the final images along with 

human eyes and teeth for that comic look. 

The spots were created through 

colourising the black spots and randomly 

painting them in. 

Agency: Blood Sweat and Tears 

Photography: Hugh Hamilton 

Client: Calidad Inks 

production managers and clients alike. 

I don’t specialise in a particular type 

of retouching as there isn’t enough work 

out there to specialise. Having said that, 

most of my work is fashion, beauty and 

jewellery followed by alcohol. 

What are the main characteristics 

of advertising briefs? 

01 DESIGN 

There’s usually less images on a campaign than editorial. 

02 DETAILS 

You’ll be expected to show a lot more attention to detail and quality. 

03 BUDGETS 

The budgets are higher so you’ll spend more time on one image. 

CREATIVE ELEMENTS 

There’s a lot more creative functions involved, maybe even other software packages, 3D, etc. 

04 

How much of what we see in the 

media has been retouched? 

Everything in the media has been 

retouched, even the images some 

companies maintain are not. Some 

more than others, but absolutely 

everything is retouched. Not a single 

image you see in the media is 

definitively true to life. 

Unless I’m doing a composite image, 

which is clearly a constructed piece, 

most of my work is delicate. The clients 

don’t want it known that their images 

are retouched at all. I like to think my 

work for those clients isn’t noticeable, 

although sometimes I am asked to push 

the images past that point. 

What’s the most popular element 

you’re asked to retouch? 

Next to general clean ups, it would be 

colour correcting and fitting garments, 

along with skin tone. 



What are the standard post-processing 

techniques clients expect you to do? 

Clean up, correct colour and tone, correct 

sharpness, stick to the brief and deliver 

work on time. 

Do you receive specific instructions 

on what to modify or are you given 

artistic licence when retouching? 

Mostly it’s specific instructions, but it’s 

up to me how I get there. I’m able to 

make suggestions if I see a way of 

improving the creative. Occasionally the 

brief is loose and I take on more of the 

creative process. This doesn’t happen 

often as the client needs more control 

over the budget. 

Is there an extra cost for a specific 

type of retouching? 

If the retouching requires a lot of 

illustration or a higher level of creative 

skill, it costs more. I don’t charge extra 

for last minute or late work, although I do 

introduce a hidden a-hole tax for awkward 

or late paying clients. Luckily I haven’t had 

to use that yet. 

Do you need special equipment? 

These days an iMac with full RAM and 

hard drives is more than adequate. 

I do have a Canon 5D and small studio 

lighting, and of course a Wacom. Clients 

never ask for proofs as most images are 

going online. 

Your client list includes a lot of 

photographers, how does that 

relationship work? 

It’s a win, win relationship. I get work 

before anyone has altered it and I get 

to have a say in the photography, which 

saves money on the retouching. Also if 

I need to select another image, it’s quick 

and I haven’t got to go through several 

people to get it. 

How many of your clients are using 

medium format cameras? Can you see 

a difference in quality? 

Very few as the majority of work is online 

and medium format would be overkill. 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Baileys 

To create a silky smooth image of Baileys 

dripping into someone’s mouth. This was 

basically a composite of images 

distorted and liquified into position. The 

liquid coming out of the glass was 

illustrated as it couldn’t be shot. 

Agency: David Chambers Creative 

Photographer: Zahn Pithers 

Client: Baileys 


PROFILE 

ANTHONY PUGH 

Five tips for 

retouching 

LESS IS MORE 

01Consider this for composition 

STAY SUBTLE 

02 

Don’t overcook the image; 

simplify. Remember, you’re not 

supposed to be there! 

SAVE TIME 

03 Automate as much as 

possible and save all presets, actions, 

curves, etc. 

SAVE FILES 

04It’s an old one, but save 

regularly, even with CS6. 

BE PREPARED 

05 Remember to back up 

and archive. 

“Most of my work is delicate. 

The clients don’t want it known 

that their images are retouched” 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Stop Spoon 

Brief: To create a stop sign from cough syrup in a spoon. 

The liquid was shot on a flat surface and I used liquify through 

a hexagonal alpha mask and retouched it into the hero spoon. 

Agency: Fame Advertising 

Photographer: Chuck Bradley 

Client: Duro Tuss 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Bundy 

Brief: To combine various shots of the three 

subjects and blend fur and feathers naturally. 

Shooting it was fun, the emu didn’t want to 

play ball! As the animals wouldn’t stay still 

on their own, let alone stand together, 

it became a rather large composite of heads, 

bodies and limbs. 

Agency: Leo Burnett 

Photographer: Chuck Bradley 

Client: Bundaberg Rum 



IN DETAIL 

Title: Dell Computer 

Brief: To create an image of a Dell computer which faded from a wire-mesh 3D effect into 

the original picture. The wires were to take on the look and feel from the film Tron. I deepetched 

the computer onto black with a blue grid behind it. I then created the wire mesh 

frame around the computer in Illustrator using the path tool and blending shapes together. 

This was then imported into Photoshop and masked away to reveal the original. The lines 

were applied using various layering techniques such as screen and softlight. 

Agency: Euro RSG 

Photography: Client supplied stock 

Client: Dell 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Diageo 

Brief: To create the second step in a three-step series of images. 

Ice only Ice, Spirit and Mixer and Final Cocktail. 

I achieved this by using a combination of shots at different stages 

along with illustration where the liquids met in the middle. 

Agency: Station Agency 

Photographer: Ben Rollison 

Client: Diageo 


PROFILE 

DAMIEN BREDBERG 

34 | DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY


Are you ever asked to salvage a 

photographic disaster? How do you 

go about that? 

Usually the disasters are clients trying 

to save money and doing it themselves. 

Often it’s faster and cheaper to start all 

over again. If there’s no time and little 

budget, I’ll try and help where possible. 

I’m hesitant – after all, my name is on 

this. Other than that, you get people 

missing from group shots, or constraints 

on the photography, which leads to 

composite retouching work. 

How much batch processing do you do? 

As much as I possibly can, my time is my 

money. If I do the same thing more than 

once then I automate it (within reason). 

What’s your backup strategy for files? 

Ever since my computer was struck by 

lightning through my studio window, 

I’ve become anal about backing up. 

I mirror archive to two drives and store 

onsite and offsite in fireproof cases. I use 

Apple Time Machine to back up regularly. 

Anything I’m working on which is really 

important syncs with Cloud backup. 

To see more of Anthony’s work, check out 

anthonypugh.com 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Cuban Text Removal 

Brief: To delete the text from a painted 

Cuban poster. I created the texture of the 

paper and used it as a layer above the 

image in overlay mode. This enabled me to 

smear out the text and maintain the 

texture of the original image. 

Agency: Amanda Rollison 


IN DETAIL 

Title: Yellowtail 

Brief: To repair the creased foil top to the 

bottles, delete the air bubbles and deep 

etch. The labels were supplied by the client 

as vector files and I warped them into 

position before liquifing them the rest of 

the way. I then used dodge and burn to 

create the appropriate highlights and 

shadows. 

Photographer: Dario Gardiman 

Client: Yellow Tail 


TUTORIAL 

Frog Shadow 

WALLPAPER 

DESIGN 

Level: MEDIUM | Time: 30MINS 

CREATE A WALLPAPER BY 

following these simple steps. 

Design an impressive artwork 

that looks like a macro photo. 


TUTORIAL 

VLADSTUDIO IS THE PROJECT OF RUSSIAN DIGITAL ARTIST VLAD GERASIMOV. 

IN 1998 HE STARTED TO DESIGN USER INTERFACES FOR WEBSITES AND 

SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS. HOWEVER, WHEN HE HAS SOME FREE TIME, 

HE CREATES DESKTOP WALLPAPERS. CHECK OUT VLADSTUDIO.COM 

01 

Open new 

document 

Start with a new document, 

fill the background with solid 

green. Apply the following layer 

effect: Gradient overlay, 150%, 

white-to-black, radial, blend 

mode = colour burn, effect 

opacity = about 25-30%. 

02 

Foreground 

Set the foreground colour to 

a very dark green (almost 

black but not entirely), select 

the Pen tool, and draw a very 

thin curve, like this. Resize the 

curve (Ctrl-T) so it takes up a 

bit more than half the image. 

03 

Path selection tool 

Duplicate this vector several times, 

similar to what’s shown here. There 

are several ways to do so. One way 

is to select a path with Path Selection 

Tool (A) and hit the Down arrow 

while holding the Shift and Alt keys. 


TUTORIAL 

CREATE A WALLPAPER 

04 

Duplicate 

When ready, duplicate this set of 

shapes and flip them horizontally. 

05 

Layer effect 

Set the following layer effects for these shapes: 

blend mode = screen, black drop shadow with 

blend mode = overlay and size = 2-3px. 

06 

Pen tool 

In a new layer, select the Pen tool and create 

a shape with the silhouette of a frog. When 

ready, duplicate the layer (you’ll need two 

copies of silhouette). Hide one of the duplicates. 


TUTORIAL 

07 

Leaf 

Create a layer mask (Layer 

menu > Layer mask > Hide all). 

Then, with a large soft white 

brush, draw inside the mask 

to reveal parts of the frog 

silhouette touching the leaf. 

08 

Gaussian Blur 

Next hide this layer, select 

duplicated silhouette, rasterize 

it, apply Gaussian Blur (with 

large radius, 10-30 px), and 

set layer opacity to 80%. 

09 

Final touches 

The last touch is 

creating a new layer 

between the frog 

silhouettes and the leaf 

background. Set layer 

blend mode to overlay, 

select a very large 

white brush (300px 

or more) and make 

a very big dot – it 

will be our light source. 


PROFILE 

SHANE MONOPOLI 

The 

Glamour 

King 

IMAGE 

EXTREME 

GLAMOUR 

» (RIGHT)This image 

is an example of 

perfection and 

beauty. I’ve used 

a lot of reflectors 

in the image to 

give it the glow 

I was after. 


THE GLAMOUR KING 

Award-winning photographer Shane 

Monopoli has carved out a nationwide niche in 

glamour photography, transforming everyday 

Aussies into their alter egos. He chats to Lisa 

Perkovic about his special skill set. 

There’s quite a strong fantasy element 

in your work – where does that come 

from? What inspires your work? 

I love the unbelievable, and creating 

images people think are just impossible 

to do drives me. Even watching a movie, 

my choice would always be one with a 

fantasy element, like magic or time travel, 

anything that is impossible in normal life. 

This is what makes life exciting for me 

and keeps me motivated. 

Paris-based retoucher Cristian 

Girotto lives and breathes the world 

of high fashion. Here’s his path to 

high-end retouching and how you 

can get there too. 

You had been photographing for a long 

time before Photoshop was released. 

When did you start using it? What did 

you think of it at first? 

I began using Photoshop pretty much 

as soon as Canon brought out the first 

1DS back in the late 1990s. I waited until 

then as I wanted to be able to edit the 

best-quality image in Photoshop and felt 

at the time this was the perfect camera to 

do so. When I first started using Photoshop, 

I was blown away. All my dreams were 

coming true. Being a lover of fantasy and 

fiction, Photoshop enabled me to do the 

impossible – with no more dodging and 

burning in the dark room to get there. 

I just loved it, anything was possible! 

How important a role does Photoshop 

play in your work now? 

Without Photoshop I am only half the 

man. Obviously as a skilled professional 

photographer, and a photographer that 

has won many awards pre-Photoshop, 

I can still take amazing images using the 

correct lighting, etc. But Photoshop is the 


PROFILE 


icing on the cake; it enables me to make 

a good image great. It also enables me 

to achieve the things that would definitely 

be impossible without it. Another very 

important factor is that it keeps most 

of my clients very happy. With it I can 

remove those unwanted lines and 

wrinkles, blemishes, even birthmarks. 

How much do you try to capture 

in camera and how much do you 

add in later? 

It’s really important that when I’m 

shooting, I still aim to get the perfect 

shot when it comes to lighting, 

composition, expression, etc. Sometimes 

I do already know what I’m going to do 

in Photoshop, like dropping in another 

background, scene or texture, but 

Photoshop will also help me give an 

image the edge that’s required for it to 

be an award-winning shot, and 

sometimes it’s more subtle 

adjustments that you think of later. 

Do your clients come to you for 

a specific style of work? 

A lot of our clients know exactly 

what they want, they might have 

seen something in a magazine, on 

a TV show, or even our website. We 

provide the look they want. 

How much do you use Photoshop 

for clients? Do they request it? 

We use Photoshop for every client, 

without fail. Everyone can use a little 

enhancement. The skill is in how you 

use Photoshop. We try to keep it 

looking real, ensuring it doesn’t look 

like it’s been Photoshopped. That’s 

key to what we do. 

“The skill is in how you use Photoshop. 

We try to keep it looking real...” 

IMAGES 

INTENSE 

MOMENT 

» (ABOVE) This image 

shows how to create 

drama and mood 

using studio lighting. 

OLD PAREE 

» (TOP RIGHT) Shot in 

studio and placed at 

La Louvre in Paris, 

thanks to Photoshop. 

FORMIDABLE 

FOE 

» (FAR TOP RIGHT) 

Windsor Castle 

in the 16th Century, 

all subjects shot 

in studio and placed 

in the setting. 

GHOST 

WHISPERER 

» (BOTTOM FAR RIGHT) 

Shot in the studio, 

overlaid with clouds 

to create the look of 

the heavens. 


THE GLAMOUR KING 

Pro Tip 

Creating the perfect image 

I like to create drama and mood from my 

lighting, have an open mind about the end 

shot and nail the exposure. And with 

Photoshop, the possibilities are endless. 

You’re only limited by your imagination 

How long do you usually spend on 

one image in Photoshop? 

The amount of time we spend on images 

in Photoshop varies from image to image, 

sometimes hours, sometimes days. I’ve 

personally spent weeks on award-winning 

images. It really depends on what needs 

to be done to achieve the required result. 

You’ve won almost too many awards 

to count – what do you think makes 

your photographs really stand out? 

I think for me, every award I have ever 

won has been a personal project. I have 

a vision of how I want an image to look 

and I won’t stop working on it until 

I achieve that look. 

What tool do you use the most in 

Photoshop and why? 

Layers play a huge part in my workflow, 

and because I photograph a lot of women 

who want to look more beautiful than 

they are in real life, the cloning and 

healing brush tool get a work out. 


PROFILE 


IMAGES 

BLUE BAYOU 

» (BELOW) 

A fashion magazine 

asked me to do 

something different 

with one of their 

journalists. They 

were pleasantly 

surprised. 

PARISIAN 

MOMENT 

» (TOP RIGHT) 

Shot in studio. 

Background 

Palace of 

Versailles 

and sky from 

another shot. 

TAKE ME 

AWAY 

» (BOTTOM RIGHT) 

This image 

expresses 

freedom and 

weightlessness, 

and the use 

of silhouette 

lighting. 


PATH TO PERFECTION 

“I definitely consider Photoshop 

as a creative tool. We are artists 

and this is our paintbrush” 

What do you wish you could do 

in Photoshop that the program 

isn’t capable of? 

I don’t think there is anything I can’t 

already do in Photoshop. I think the 

software already lets you do everything 

imaginable, but I guess in time they will 

surprise me with something I hadn’t 

even thought of doing. 

How big are the finished file sizes? 

The final Photoshop sizes do vary a 

lot but normally they’re around 200 to 

300 MB. I shoot mainly with the 

Hasselblad H4D; most of my final 

images are 1 GB plus. 

Is the way you use Photoshop a 

creative or more technical process? 

I definitely consider Photoshop as 

a creative tool, and feel that’s how 

everyone should use it. We are artists 

and this is our paintbrush. 

High Drama 

The Parisian series was done all in 

one day. Each of the three models 

spent an hour and a half with my 

amazing hair stylist. It’s their own 

hair – no wigs were used at all. A foam 

mould is made and she arranges the hair 

around it to create amazing Marie 

Antoinette styles. I then Photoshopped 

them onto Versailles backgrounds. 

One of the models was my daughter’s 

best friend. The work hangs on her wall 

like a painting. If you go to the Louvre 

and see the size of the paintings on the 

wall, you’ll understand why it’s okay to 

do huge prints of photographs. They 

look like art. 

To see more of Shane’s work, check 

out shanemonopoli.com.au or visit his 

professional photographic studios in 

Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth 

exclusivephotography.com.au 

Five tips for 

working with 

models 

During a shoot I always try to stay calm, 

cool and relaxed. I try to be inspiring, 

I talk to the person and encourage them. 

I show them the back of the camera. It’s 

about getting their confidence up and 

helping them feel good. None of the 

people I photograph are models, they’re 

just people, friends, family, with the 

characteristics or looks I wanted. I talk 

to them and show them what I’m doing. 

STAY COOL AT ALL TIMES 

01 The subject can sense your mood 

ALWAYS KEEP A SMILE 

Again, the mood has to stay 

02 

positive if you want a good shoot 

KEEP THEM AT EASE 

03 Make sure the subject feels 

comfortable, try using music 

SHOW THAT NOTHING 

04 IS A PROBLEM 

Whatever you do, don’t let them know 

if there’s anything wrong 

TELL THEM HOW GOOD 

05 THEY LOOK 

Don’t forget, they’ll be worried about 

how they look as well 


TUTORIAL 

Refine Edge 

CREATE A 

COMPOSITE 

Level: ADVANCED | Time: 2+ HRS 

A common task in professional 

digital image editing is to strip 

out the subject and place 

it against a new background – 

the simplest form of composite 

image. The effectiveness of 

such a composite image is 

often determined by whether 

the image looks authentic 

and not manipulated. In order 

to achieve this, the digital 

photographer often needs 

to modify the edge of any 

selection so that it is seamless 

against the new background. 

A crude or inappropriate 

selection technique will make 

the subject appear as if it has 

been cut out with garden 

shears and is floating above 

the new background. A few 

essential masking skills can 

turn the proverbial sow’s ear 

into the silk purse. Mark Galer 

shows you the essential skills 

you need to complete the task. 


TUTORIAL 

AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER SHANE MONOPOLI AND RMIT LECTURER, 

RETOUCHER AND ADOBE AMBASSADOR MARK GALER TEAM UP TO CREATE A 

COMPOSITE. TAKEN FROM SHANEMONOPOLI.COM.AU, MARKGALER.COM 


TUTORIAL 

COMPOSITE 

01 

Combine files 

In a non-destructive professional 

workflow it is preferable to hide 

or mask the background pixels rather 

than delete them. In this project we 

are going to learn how to make an 

accurate selection in order to create 

a layer mask. We will then need to 

modify and refine the edge of the 

mask so that is suited to its new 

location. To start the project I have 

opened my background image and 

then dragged the subject file onto the 

image preview (this can be from your 

desktop, a folder of images or directly 

from Mini Bridge). Hold down the Shift 

key as you drag the image to centre 

the image in the host file. 

02 

Scale and position 

Your subject will appear as a Smart Object 

and you have the option to scale or move 

the image at this point. You can temporarily 

lower the opacity of the layer if you need 

to see how the subject interacts with the 

background layer. Hit the Commit transform 

icon in the Options bar when you have 

resized and positioned your subject. The 

final position of the subject is to move it 

to the right slightly so that the centre of 

the castle is visible. 

Note: A Smart Object is a non-destructive 

container for an image file that allows the 

file to be re-scaled multiple times without 

progressive loss of quality. The downside 

to using Smart Objects is that the pixels 

cannot be directly adjusted. 

03 

Make initial selection 

Select the Quick Selection tool in the Tools 

panel and a 125 pixel hard-edged brush. 

Deselect the Auto-Enhance option in the 

Options bar and select the Sample All Layers 

option. The Auto Enhance option is best left off 

in this step if you intend to use the Pen tool or 

Magic Wand to complete this selection. Make an 

initial selection of the background rather than 

the subject by dragging the tool over an area 

of the background (it is easier to select areas 

with fewer differences in tone and colour). 


TUTORIAL 

04 

Perfect selection 

Continue to stroke all the areas of the black 

background behind the subject and any areas of the 

background layer that may be visible either side of 

the subject layer. Hold down the Alt key (PC) or 

Option key (Mac) and stroke any areas that you want 

to remove from the selection until only the black 

background is selected. When the background 

selection is complete, go to Select > Inverse so that 

the subject is selected rather than the background. 

Quick Mask 

You can perfect a selection using the 

Quick Mask feature. Set the foreground 

and background colours to their default 

setting in the Tools panel (press the D key). 

Double-click on the Edit in Quick Mask 

Mode icon to open the Quick Mask 

Options. If needed, you can click the colour 

swatch to open the Colour Picker and select 

a colour that contrasts with those found in 

the image you are working on. If you 

cannot easily see some of the dark edges 

of your subject you can add a temporary 

Levels adjustment layer and drag the 

White input slider to the left so that it 

reveals the edge. 

You can modify a Quick Mask by painting 

directly into the mask or by making a 

selection and then filling the selection with 

either the foreground or background colour. 

Zoom in on areas of fine detail and reduce 

the size of the brush when accuracy is called 

for. Editing the mask will change the 

resulting selection when you exit the Quick 

Mask feature. If the initial selection was made 

using the Magic Wand or the Quick Selection 

tool (with the Auto Enhance option switched 

off) it is important to paint into the Quick 

Mask with the Brush set to maximum 

hardness and/or make selections with the 

Feather radius set to 0 in the Options bar 

(this will ensure these modifications match 

the current edge quality). Painting or filling 

with black will add to the coloured mask, 

while painting/filling with white will 

remove the mask colour. 

Modifying a mask 

using the pen tool 

Making a path and then turning the path 

into a selection will create the smoothest 

edges and is often the easiest method for 

modifying the curved edges of a mask. 

Right-click after creating a path to access 

the Make Selection option from the context 

menu. Choose a Feather Radius of 0 pixels 

and then select OK. Fill the selection with 

Black to add to the mask or with White to 

remove a section of the mask (Edit > Fill). 


TUTORIAL 

COMPOSITE 

05 

Scattering 

Now click on "scattering". I have 

chosen to scatter at 1000% with a 

count of one and count jitter of 0%. 

Select Refine Edge 

When the mask is complete press 

the letter Q on the keyboard or 

click on the Quick Mask icon again 

in the Tools panel. The selection 

is now ready to be refined or 

enhanced so that it is a 

comfortable fit with the new 

background. If you have used 

a temporary Levels adjustment 

layer you can now delete this layer 

by dragging it to the trash can in 

the Layers panel. If you have a 

Selection tool selected, click on 

the Refine Edge button in the 

Options bar. If you have another 

tool selected you can access this 

feature from the Select menu. 

06 

Refine Edge: stage one 

In the Refine Edge dialog select the 

On Layers option from the View menu. 

This subject has a mixture of sharp 

edges (the face) and soft edges (the 

feathers on the hat). To optimise the 

sharp edge quality I have raised the 

Smooth slider to +5 (usually required 

when working with selections created 

by the Magic Wand or Quick Selection 

tool) to smooth out the ragged edge 

quality. I have raised the Feather slider 

to 0.5 to soften the edge (essential 

when using either the Magic Wand, 

Pen tool or Quick Selection tool with 

Auto Enhance switched off). Contrast 

can be added if some edges appear 

semi-opaque and move the Shift Edge 

slider to the left to hide any remnants 

of the old background. 

Note > When using the Refine Edge 

with very different edge qualities 

the outcome is often a compromise 

between achieving fine detail in the 

softer edges and high quality sharp 

edges. The Refine Edge dialog box 

works globally (on the entire edge) 

so compromises are often necessary 

if you want to refine a complex edge 

in a single step. It is possible, however, 

to process images that have edges that 

are both soft and sharp twice, and 

avoid the compromise. 


TUTORIAL 

07 

Refine Edge: stage two 

Select the Refine Radius tool and paint over the feathers. When using the Refine Radius tool it is important to paint into the areas of transition 

(where you can see the new background) but not extend into areas of the subject that should be 100% opaque. Any remaining evidence of the 

old black background can be removed by checking the Decontaminate Colours option, in the Output section of the dialog, and then by raising 

the Amount slider (approximately 75% for this project image). The Decontaminate Colours option requires Photoshop to adjust the colour of the 

pixels as well as refining the edge of the selection. Select OK to create a new layer and refined layer mask. 

Note > When using the Decontaminate option the subject should be in approximately the final location as Photoshop will be using the 

background information to calculate the changes to the pixels required to hide the old background colours. 

08 

Apply a blend mode 

Select the original Andre layer in the Layers panel, switch on the visibility of the layer and set the mode of the layer to Screen. This action will 

provide the maximum detail in the feathers and will avoid the need to refine the edge of the mask a second time in order to optimise them. 

Note > If the black background is not absolutely black you will need to clip a Levels adjustment layer to this Screen layer and raise 

the Black Input slider until no evidence of the old background is visible in the composite file. 


TUTORIAL 

COMPOSITE 

09 

Restore fine detail 

Where the brightest feathers on the side of the 

hat have been placed over a bright area of the sky, 

the decontaminate option in the Refine Mask dialog 

has not been successful. This is where the Screen 

layer below is useful. Select the layer mask on the 

Andre copy layer and then select the Brush tool 

from the Tools panel and set black as the foreground 

colour (hit the D key to set the Defaults and then the 

x key to switch the Foreground and Background 

colours). Paint into the mask with a small soft edged 

brush to hide the feathers on this layer so that the 

feathers on the screen layer are visible. Although 

the Decontaminate feature is very good at hiding 

the old background it cannot work with extreme 

differences, e.g. although the feathers on the top 

of the hat are OK, the feathers on the side of the 

hat still show remnants of the old background. 

Scattering 

Now click on "scattering". I have 

chosen to scatter at 1000% with a 

count of one and count jitter of 0%. 

10 

Masking 

Although the Screen layer improves 

the fine detail in the feathers, it also 

compromises some of the harder edges 

that were previously refined. We can 

mask these problematic edges to create 

the perfect composite. Select the original 

Andre layer and click on the Add layer 

mask icon at the base of the Layers 

panel. Select the Brush tool and paint 

over any hard edges to mask them 

on this screen layer. 

11 

Adjust Hue/Saturation 

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer 

from the Adjustments panel and clip this 

adjustment layer to the layer below using 

the clipping icon at the base of the 

Properties panel. Lower the saturation 

until the subject and its background sit 

comfortably together. The white point 

and contrast of the subject matches 

the background image, so no further 

adjustments are required. In other 

compositing projects it may be 

necessary to make further colour 

and/or tonal corrections to achieve 

a good match. 


TUTORIAL 

Adjusting a section 

of a layer mask after 

refine edge 

There are a number of ways we can 

modify the position or quality of the 

edge of a mask in localised areas if 

required (remember the Refine Edge 

is a global adjustment). Click on the 

layer mask that you want to edit to 

make it active. Make a selection of 

the edge you wish to modify. When 

a selection crosses an edge of a mask 

be sure to use a small amount of Feather 

(in the Options bar) so the changes to 

the edge do not result in a step. You 

can now modify the selected edge by 

applying a Levels adjustment. Go to 

Image > Adjustments > Levels and 

then in the Levels dialog box move the 

central Gamma slider to the right or left 

to expand or contract the mask edge. The edge of the mask can be made harder by moving the white and black Input Levels sliders in from the 

edges of the histogram. 

Note > You can also use the Minimum and Maximum filters to adjust the position of the edge of the mask. Go to Filter > Other > 

Minimum to expand the mask (the Maximum filter contracts the edge of the mask by moving it in the opposite direction). 

12 

Add a border 

To complete this project we can add a creative border 

(available from markgaler.com). Select the top layer in the 

Layers panel and then drag a creative border onto 

the composite project preview. This will add the file as a 

Smart Object above the group that can then be scaled to 

suit the composite image. After dragging the handles of the 

Transform bounding box out to cover the composite image 

you can then proceed to hit the Commit transform icon in 

the Options bar. When the blend mode of the layer is changed 

to Screen only the white border remains visible. If you would 

prefer a black border you could rasterise this new smart object, 

invert the layer (Ctrl + I [PC] or Command + I [Mac]) and set the 

mode to Multiply instead of screen. 

This is an excerpt from 

Photoshop CC Essential Skills 

Concept and photography by 

Shane Monopoli of Exclusive 

Photography (edited by Mark Galer). 

Photoshop CC Essential Skills 

by Mark Galer is available from Focal Press: 

focalpress.com/books/ 

details/9780415715713/ and Amazon.com 

Mark Galer is a Senior Lecturer at RMIT, 

the Adobe Ambassador for Photoshop and 

the Sony Alpha Ambassador for Australia. 


PROFILE 

BAIMU 


THE LETTER PLAYER 

Spanish graphic designer Baimu loves letters. 

He takes us inside the world of lettering. 

THE 

I’m a graphic designer, illustrator 

and lettering lover, born and raised 

in Barcelona. I don’t really consider myself 

a typographer, I prefer to think I’m a 

typography modeller, a letter player. 

I’ve been involved in this exciting 

world since 2002 and try to keep 

evolving; always looking for challenges 

that allow me to further develop my 

creativity and test my skills. I love 

experimenting with different styles 

and learning new techniques. 

Getting started in lettering 

Designing type graphics led me to 

develop my passion towards lettering. 

Since I was a child I’ve loved to draw but 

back then I had pretty bad handwriting 

and I was forced to do some writing 

exercises in a booklet. Over and over 

again, the same letters and phrases, 

I think it was my first contact with 

calligraphy. Later, during adolescence, 

I discovered graffiti. It opened up a 

thousand and one possibilities, and 

got me interested in graphic design. 

Finding your style 

I love mixing typography with 

illustration. I wouldn’t say I have a 

defined style, and that’s good because 

you need to be as versatile as possible. 

Trying to make the result as aesthetically 

pleasing as possible and striving to give 

your best with each project means you 

need to be flexible. 

Design production 

I always carry a small notebook with me. 

It’s where I write down or sketch ideas that 

come to mind – you never know where 

you’re going to have that moment of 

clarity. You always need to be prepared. 

From these annotations enters the 

computer game, where I finish polishing 

and shaping those ideas. 

The tools I use the most by far are 

Illustrator and Photoshop. It really depends 

on the type of project, but I usually spend 

a lot of time on the computer. I’m quite 

a perfectionist and sometimes I have 

trouble knowing when to stop retouching. 

I started with Photoshop V7 at school. 

I’d discovered an incredible tool, where 

I could draw directly on the computer with 

an overwhelming amount of resources. At 

first I didn’t use a table and the mouse was 

somewhat awkward to draw with. 

Skills 

I always try to stay motivated and excited 

about what I do, I always try to be aware 

PLAYER 


PROFILE 

BAIMU 

IMAGES 

FROM THE OLD 

TO THE NEW 

» This project is a 

tribute to my tools of 

work. The first thing I 

do is to take a pencil 

and white paper. I start 

to draw something. 

The next step is to 

take my Wacom 

tablet and start the 

digital process. 

GOLD DIGGER 

» (OPPOSITE, TOP) My 

version of Kanye 

West and Jamie 

Fox’s song 

THE DEAD 

WORDS 

» (OPPOSITE, BOTTOM) 

My contribution 

to a project called 

‘The Dead Words’, 

a collective of 

lettering for 

omitted words 




PROFILE 

BAIMU 

IMAGES 

SELF PORTRAIT 

» Made entirely in 

Photoshop with my 

trusty Intuous 5 for 

the Wacom talent 

audition: PIONEERS 

OF NOW. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

HOP 

» (OPPOSITE) The 

premise was 

a modern and 

colourful image that 

had some movement 

in reference to urban 

dance and the name 

of the event (Hop). 



Getting started 

Believe in yourself. It may seem like a cliché, but without trust in 

yourself you’ll find things a lot harder. Above all, hard work is 

what you need to do. No work, no result. Our profession is based 

on what we can show we do, and for that we must do – and that 

means work. You have to be passionate about what you do. 

Remember to have dedication and patience – you need the 

ability to work every detail with care and detail because that’s 

where it makes a difference. 

of the influences of my surroundings, but I 

try to always go further as well and seek 

inspiration in other fields. You need to 

stimulate your imagination and constantly 

think about personal projects or simple 

sketches that might serve on any project. 

I think it’s very important to always have 

your eyes open. 

Working with clients 

There are plenty of scary stories about 

clients being too demanding or ones that 

don’t let you work effectively, but at the 

end of the day the customer experience is 

the most important. I like to hear what the 

customer has to say, because if you can 

understand what they want to 

communicate, and if they know you’re 

listening, everything will be easier. I always 

try to give my point of view so we can reach 

a consensus, a balance between functional 

and artistic. That’s what you need. 

There’s no easy or difficult project – it’s 

all about whether you’re in a moment 

of inspiration or not. Fortunately, when a 

customer comes looking for my work, it’s 

because they like what I do and want just 

that. Then it’s easier. 

I’ve had the experience of having a 

commission from a project with a lot 

of time to complete it, and the more 

sketches I did or more ideas I had, the less 

results I got. It’s easy to fall into 

discouragement and that’s the worst of our 

enemies, so in those moments I’d suggest 

shutting down the computer and going out 

to do some exercise. It’s in those moments 

when the mind disconnects and the best 

ideas come to mind. I’m not saying it’s 

a magic formula, but it works for me. 

Check out more of Baimu’s work at 

be.net/baimu, or 

Twitter: @baimu_studio 

Five 

favourite 


tools 

01 BRUSHES 

Obviously, I love creating my 

own brushes because they give my 

work a personal touch. 

SMUDGE TOOL 

02 I rediscovered this tool 

recently and I must say it’s quite 

funny, my self-portrait is made with 

brush and smudge tool. 

PEN TOOL 

03 This tool allows me to draw 

vectorially and create better ways 

to define. 

FREE TRANSFORM 

04 TOOL 

A great ally when you want to 

generate fake 3D lettering. 

NOISE FILTER 

05 It’s amazing how you can 

lift a flat image with a touch of noise. 


TUTORIAL 

Always 

CREATE 

AMAZING LETTERS 

Level: ADVANCED | Time: 2 HRS 


TUTORIAL 

BAIMU IS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER, ILLUSTRATOR AND LETTERING LOVER. 

BORN IN BARCELONA. ALWAYS EVOLVING, LOOKING FOR CHALLENGES 

THAT ALLOW HIM TO DEVELOP HIS CREATIVITY AND TEST HIS SKILLS. 

CHECK OUT BE.NET/BAIMU 

MAKE AMAZING LETTERS using a 

graphics tablet. It is more convenient 

and useful and it allows to use the 

pressure to change both the thickness 

and the intensity of our tracing lines. 


TUTORIAL 

CREATE AMAZING LETTERS 

01 

Sketching 

After scanning the sketch, place it 

on a layer and adjust the opacity to 

50% so it’s visible but more subtle. 

02 

Creating shapes 

Create a new layer and select the Pen 

Tool (P). Trace the outline of the sketch 

carefully – take special care to ensure 

the curves are as smooth as possible. 

Try to use low number of clicks. This 

will give a smoother look and feel. 

03 

Colour basis 

It is preferable that each path element occupies a 

separate layer for subsequent amendments and 

selections give us that. To colour the basis for the 

various layouts use the tool “new fill”, located in 

the “Layer” window, located at the lower end. 

With our selected path, click on the tool and 

select “solid colour”. 


TUTORIAL 

04 

Gradient glass 

Similarly, in the case of the 

glass of Coke from which the 

liquid of our lettering 

emerges, we will make a 

selection with the pen tool (P) 

and give a gradient fill with 

different levels of red. 

05 

Volumizing 

To start Volumizing lettering, create a new 

layer and select a golden hue and adjust the 

flow of our brush (B) to 50%. To be able to 

paint more comfortably go to the path you 

want to layer colour and, positioning the 

cursor over the thumbnail of the layer, the 

select using the command “Cmd + click on 

the layer.” 

06 

More details 

We will create a new layer 

and apply a red tint with 

the same flow in our brush 

(B) and varying the size 

(ctrl+alt+drag your mouse) 

as we are interested in each 

case. It is highly 

recommended to go 

looking at reference 

images – in this case, of a 

cola drink – to orient better 

in colours and shapes. 


TUTORIAL 


07 

Ice 

We started with the ice. As in previous steps, start by creating a base layer and select the pen 

tool of our ice forms. In this case I’ve cast two layers, one for the ice in front of the liquid and a 

different layer to the ice in the background. In both cases we will give a white base and adjust 

the layer opacity to 8%. Select the contour using the command “cmd + click on the layer” and 

carefully painted selections edges to delimit the form of ice. 

08 

Ice inside 

Create a new layer to define the 

interior of the ice cube: Layer 

Opacity to 70% and Softlight 

layer mode. Brush Tool (B) 

select white base with a brush 

opacity of 10%. The interior of 

the cube is quite irregular, so 

you have to paint in a circular 

motion, planning on giving 

depth to the cube. 

09 

Lights 

Now we will focus on giving a light to the whole. This 

point is very delicate, poor lighting can take harmony 

from the final result. 


TUTORIAL 

10Lights II 

Create a new layer and with the pen tool (P) we 

will create the shapes most like. Click “Make 

selection”. Fill the selection with white, and 

switch to the Erase tool (E). Fill the selection with 

white colour and erase tool (E) with a flow of 

22% to subtly delete both ends of the stain. 

11 

Bubble time 

Create a layer above all 

the layers we already 

have to add the details 

of the gas bubbles. 


TUTORIAL 


12 

Creating a custom rush 

Cmd + N to create a new file of 500 x 500px. 

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M), create a 

Circle holding the Shift button + drag to 

create a perfect round circle and fill it with 

black colour. Now go to the top menu and 

Select > Modify > Contract current selection 

30px to create a circle within the one we have 

already drawn. Erase the content of that new 

circle to obtain something like a ring. Now to 

create our brush, with the layer selected go to 

the top menu and we click on Edit > Define 

Brush Preset. Put the name that we like, in my 

case “bubble_brush”. 

13 

Preparing the gas 

Select the brush tool (B) and go 

down on the window to locate 

your custom brush (“bubble_ 

brush”). Adjust the flow to 30% 

and resize the brush to a small 

enough size. 

14 

Brush 

Before you start drawing, select 

the Brush panel from the tools 

column on the right. Once here 

do small changes to make the 

brush work properly. With the 

Brush Panel open, select the 

following sections: 

- Shape Dynamics> Size Jitter> 

100% 

- Scattering> Scatter> 1000% 


TUTORIAL 

15 

Blur 

Select the desired amount of 

blur. I’ve chosen 95.8 pixels, as it 

gives the edges a soft feathering 

effect. With this we will make our 

brush draw bubbles in a more 

random way, and it will be more 

easy and fast to draw. 

16 

Adding textures to 

the background 

Finally add some noise in our 

background with the Filter > Noise > 

Add Noise and select an amount of 5%. 

And then on a new layer on the bottom 

will draw some shadows cast from 

our objects with a “soft round brush 

opacity” and playing with the flow 

and opacity of the layer to get the 

right result. 

17 

More depth 

To give a little depth to our lettering, add a 

radial gradient from black to transparent in a 

new layer multiplied over the background 

and adjust the opacity of the layer to 40%. 


TUTORIAL 

Metal Taste 

DIGITAL PAINTING 

SIMPLE CONCEPT 

Level: MEDIUM| Time: 4 HOURS 


TUTORIAL 

BERNARDO HENRIQUES IS A STUDENT AT THE FACULTY OF FINE 

ARTS IN LISBON, PORTUGAL. HE IS EXPLORING ALL THE FORMS 

DIGITAL ARTWORK CAN TAKE – INCLUDING AT THE 3D LEVEL. 

01 

Shape and sketch 

First of all I tried to make a shape and 

start on a sketch of what I wanted to 

achieve just to know about composition 

settings and to get a sense of space. I 

need to say that this piece was done 

without any visual references but in 

many of my artworks I trend to use 

photography as a visual aid to get to the 

point of my concept. In this initial phase I 

pretty much wanted to do this freaky 

mouth in a hardcore way. 

02 

Shape and sketch II 

As I continue to work on this piece I 

extend my hardcore feel into it, so 

now you can see that this mouth is 

just on a piece of skin. At this point 

I’m starting to “block” the visual value 

of the mouth, applying the darkness 

from the inside out as well as 

progressing on the main sketch. From 

here forward it’s going to be all about 

the mouth realist appearance. 

03 

Painting and anatomy 

Now I’m more focused on the realism 

of the mouth and how the mouth is 

expressing an emotion. This is the 

part where I get more creative and 

have more fun by giving personality to 

a mouth not caring about the whole face. 

I’m using one single brush for the whole 

painting part of the tutorial; it’s not the 

usual way to do it, but it provides a real 

controlled feeling of the brush stroke 

allowing you to know exactly how to 

define your own boundaries. 


TUTORIAL 


04 

Painting and anatomy II 

I’m moving forward and reaching a point 

where the mouth is a concrete piece, and 

you can see all the elements with the right 

size and place. Around the brush I just 

change some settings where I feel the need 

to, mainly on hardness and opacity values. 

05Detail 

I started to isolate both inside and 

outside of the selected area to reach a 

sense of distance between the elements 

of the mouth. In this case it gets the 

realistic form in a fast and easy way. 

06 

Detail II 

Now I reach the detail levels on the upper lip (the 

darkest one of the two) as well as a more 

“teethness” feel on the teeth themselves. On 

both corners of the lips I paint with the same 

brush but with a low level of hardness. 


TUTORIAL 

07Clean 

At this point I organise the image and 

erase the nose and all the others elements 

that were part of the initial sketch. You can 

feel the gradient coming from the 

boundaries of the image; those are the 

lines that guides my light and your eyes. 

08 

Environment and 

final composition 

I have done all my painting textures on the lips, 

tongue and tooth with brush painting. I may use 

textures from photos, but in this way I get a much 

stronger line of composition. I tried to redefine all the 

visible parts of the image with one of my favourite 

tools, Liquify, as you can see in the lip corners. 

09 

Personality and 

character feeling 

I wanted a hardcore feeling to my 

piece, so I create those three 

elements like piercing holes just 

using some strokes and arrange 

them with Liquify on a new layer. 

Next, the piercing itself, which I 

do on a new layer with the usual 

brush where I’m trying to give a 

metal light effect. 


TUTORIAL 


10 

Work it all together 

Adjusting the composition and 

all the elements involved and, 

in addition to simple touches, to 

redefine edges. I create a couple of 

layers just to more easily manage the 

secondary elements. 

11 

Final touches 

With the Liquify tool and 

different gradients I 

create the rip-off tissue of 

skin, and with a low 

hardness level I create the 

skin reaction and mouth 

muscles in a simple and 

discrete way. 

12 

Tone and contrast 

I manage all the contrast of the 

image using a low opacity level on 

the brush to reach it in a clean way 

as well as the contrast tool to 

accentuate the darkest spots. 


TUTORIAL 

13 

Light and shine 

Little steps to give a more human sense 

to the elements with a white value brush. 

I add a noise texture on the skin for a bit 

of realism. 


Colourise 

As a finishing touch I just 

create a new overlay layer 

and paint with a soft brush 

the elements I wanted to 

pop up in the composition. 


FEATURE 

GABRIELA FUENTE 

Truth 

about 


THE TRUTH ABOUT TEXTILES 

IMAGES 

CARLOS MIELE 

COLLECTION 

» (ALL) Gabriela 

Fuente Studio 

for Carlos Miele 

Collection Spring 

Summer 2013 

CUSHIONS 

» (CLOCKWISE FROM 

TOP LEFT) Blast of 

summer; Splash; 

Spring Fell; Vintage 

Flower II 

Textile designer Gabriela Fuente uses Photoshop to create patterns and prints for 

studios around the world. She explains what’s involved in her niche industry. 


I first started to use Photoshop in FASM 

(Faculdade Santa Marcelina – it´s a well 

known Fashion College in Brazil). We 

started to use it for presentations and 

photo manipulation, collages and 

other artwork creation. 

My first job after college was as a 

product developer for Adidas apparel. 

At the time it was my dream job and 

dream company, until I realised I didn´t 

enjoy designing or developing clothes. 

What I really wanted was to create textile 

prints. I decided to go to London to take a 

few courses, to get a better understanding 

of the print creation process. I did some 

short courses at Central Saint Martins and, 

during a course on digital print, I learned a 

few very useful techniques and tools. 

I learned how to create an artwork on 

paper and how to make it into a pattern 

in Photoshop. I also learnt how to ensure a 

pattern works. 

Freelance work and internships at design 

studios in London and Copenhagen 

helped me develop better ways to work 

with patterns and designs in Photoshop. 

Now I’m back in Brazil and I work 

as a freelancer for a print studio in 

Copenhagen called Fusion CPH. I have 

my own studio where I create and sell 

my work to some of the big names in 

Brazilian fashion. I also love creating 

new artwork for websites like Society6, 

Kess Inhouse and Front Row Society. 

Print Design 101 

A print designer is a person who will 

create a design that will be placed or 

made into a repeat. Designing a print 

can take anywhere from one to nine-plus 

hours. It all depends on the result you’re 

after and the complexity of the piece. 

Photoshop helps with everything from 

composing the pattern to making sure 


FEATURE 


IN DETAIL 

Title: Wild Brush – iPhone cover (Top) 

Aim: I started this with a pen and paper 

design scanned into Photoshop. I used the 

Photoshop pen to paint in another layer 

with the bucket. The next step was 

defining the inside colour of my design, 

also using the bucket. The design is nice 

and clean. 

Title: The Vintage Flower – iPhone cover 

(Bottom left) 

Aim:- I started this with a pen and paper 

design scanned into Photoshop. I used the 

Photoshop pen to paint in another layer 

with the bucket. The next step was defining 

the inside colour of my design, also using 

the bucket. The design is nice and clean. 

I get the colours I want or need in the 

print. It helps me to get to a clean and 

perfect final design. 

I start a design in Photoshop or on 

paper – it depends on the brief. I always 

think about the result I’m after, before 

I start to design, so I can decide on the 

best tool to use. 

Often I use watercolour, pens, 

pencil and ink to create the first part of 

the print. I then scan the art and open 

the file in Photoshop. I correct colour 

and light if necessary, then clean up 

the image so it’s nice and fresh. The 

next step is pattern design. I create a 

nice repeat area with good balance. 

I test the pattern and save. 

Next I put in the right colours and 

save the final version once I’m happy with 

it. Sometimes I hold off from saving the 

final version until the end of the day 

because I like to do the colour last, 

If you’re an emerging 

designer… 

Design as much as you can and don´t give up. It takes a lot 

of time and hard work to be a designer. 



“Photoshop helps with everything from composing 

the pattern to making sure I get the colours I want” 

especially if it’s part of a collection and all 

the prints need to be balanced. 

Designing textiles for objects 

I love to design so it doesn’t matter that 

much to me what the object is. Of course 

you need to take into account the object 

if you’re going to make a design that will 

relate. You need to think about the size, 

colours and shapes that will make that 

specific object look nicer and be more 

appealing to people’s eyes. 

IMAGES 

SPEZZATO 

» (TOP LEFT AND 

OPPOSITE TOP) 

Gabriela Fuente 

Studio for 

Spezzato Spring 

Summer 2013 

Top five 

tips for an 

emerging 

designer 

STRIPED 

GLITCH 

» (TOP MIDDLE) 


pattern 

WIND 



pattern 

IPHONE 

COVERS 


Wild Brush, The 

Vintage Flower 

SWEET GIRL 

BACKPACKS 

» (LEFT) Gabriela 

Fuente Studio 

for Sweet Girl 

01 PRACTICE 

Design as much as you can. 

You can never get too much practice 

if you want to be excellent at what 

you do 

02 FEEDBACK 

Look for critiques from 

people in the market whom you’d 

like to work for. And also from people 

you trust. It’s important to have 

people looking at your work 

INDUSTRY WORK 

03 Do internships but never do 

unpaid internships. Always make sure 

they will at list cover you travel and 

food expenses. The experience is 

great for your portfolio 

STAY AWARE 

04 Observe and research as 

much as you can. You need to know 

trends in the industry 

HAVE FUN 

05Enjoy what you’re doing 

and have fun 


FEATURE 


IMAGES 

HUIS CLOS 

» (ABOVE AND 

TOP RIGHT) 


Studio for Huis 

Clos Spring 

Summer 2013 

“Clients pick me because 

they know I can deliver the 

result they need” 

Style and inspiration 

I think I’m a chameleon. I’m always 

changing and I can work with any style 

of design. I feel the need for change and 

will constantly try new things. My main 

inspiration comes from nature. I live and 

work surrounded by huge tropical 

trees that inspire me all the time. 

Client challenges 

Working with clients 

I don’t have one major client, although 

I do work with some clients that demand 

very exclusive and specific pieces. I’ll 

always try to meet the needs of my 

clients. I’m there to make sure their vision 

will be well translated to the design, so I 

try to go above and beyond. 

Last year one client came up with the idea of working with a very low resolution 

photo they took with a bad camera and I had to redesign the image first. That took 

me a long time and required a lot of patience before actually starting the design 

process. Then they wanted new textures and a completely different colour 

pattern. It wasn’t easy to recolour because of the design contrast. In the end I was 

happy with the final result. It didn’t remind me of the first low-resolution image at 

all – it was a completely new image that looked amazing. 

Five tips for 

keeping the 

clients happy 

01 INFORMATION 

First know your client, 

know their needs and wishes 

02 PERSPECTIVE 

Always try to see your work 

from the client’s perspective 

03 LIMITATIONS 

Understand your client’s 

limitations in terms of techniques 

or budget so you can advise them 

on the best technique for them to 

use when printing 

BE REALISTIC 

04 Never sell what you can´t 

deliver, it doesn’t work 

HAVE FUN 

05Enjoy what you’re doing 

and have fun 

And remember, every client will be 

different, so take each one as they 

come. Don’t be afraid to ask for 

more information and find out 

what they see for the final product. 



Five P’shop 

tools I use 

the most: 

MAGIC WAND 

01It’s a huge help when you 

need to select and clean in your 

design. Don’t underestimate it 

PAINT BUCKET 

02 Use it to recolour the 

selected image. It’s simple yet 

extremely effective 

LIGHT AND 

03 SATURATION 

for experimenting new colours 

and changes of light or saturation. 

Great for getting texture 

EYE DROPPER 

04 Keep your colour palette 

open so you can pick the exact colour 

and use it in your design. It will make 

your workflow a lot smoother 

DODGE AND BURN 

05great for adding shade and 

light when you want to create a deep 

sense of space in a design. A sense of 

space makes a big difference in the 

long run 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Spring Stroke – iPad Cover (left) 

Aim: It’s a design you can see on Society 

6 and Kess inhouse. This design was 

made from a watercolour design that 

took me a long time to create. It’s full of 

watercolour layers; I scanned them 

into Photoshop and then decided to 

change the colours. I added more layers 

in Photoshop and made a Photoshop 

collage. I experimented new colour 

changes and WOW, it became this 

amazing colorful collage Layer design 

that I really love. 

society6.com/GabrielaFuente/Spring- 

Stroke_Print 

Clients pick me because they 

simply know I can deliver the result 

they need. I always ask the client 

what techniques they’ll be using in 

production (I have a product developer 

background). That can really define how 

and what I can design. 

Some of my clients want a two 

colour way print because they want 

to save money on printing and they 

have minimalist aesthetics. Other 

clients like to print using digital prints 

so I can make the most of the colours 

and just blow them away with a really 

rich design. Ultimately my main goal 

is to make sure they are happy and 

end up with the right design. 

See Gabriela’s work at gabrielafuente.com or 

facebook.com/GabrielaFuenteStudio.com; 

check out her designs at: 

society6.com/GabrielaFuente 

kessinhouse.com/pages/gabriela-fuente 

IMAGES 

IPAD 

COVER 

» (BOTTOM LEFT) 

Spring Stroke 

QUEENS 

HANDBAGS 

AND PURSES 

» (BELOW) 



FEATURE 

JONFRID ELIASEN 

FAROE 

Princess 

Jonfrid Eliasen grew up on the Faroe Islands. 

This Scandinavian-born, Brisbane-educated 

photographer takes us inside her creative world. 

IMAGES 

SELF-PORTRAIT 

» (ABOVE) 

PROWLESQUE: 

THE FOX 

» (RIGHT) 

The brief was to 

create a fashion 

series with archetypal 

women taking on the 

personalities of 

animals. I captured 

the landscape in the 

day so I changed it 

to night by taking 

out the reds and 

adding blues. 

Artist at Work 

I’ve always wondered where my interest 

in photography came from. Many people 

have known all their life they’d grow 

up to be artists. I wanted to be an 

astronaut – until I realised I wasn’t 

good at maths or science. 

I’ve always had big ideas and dreams. 

When I was little I thought anything was 

possible. I wouldn’t just dream about 

being a princess, I was going to be one. 

No discussion. My parents have been 

wonderful in that regard. They’ve been 

right behind me, in every crazy adventure 

I could think up or attempt to pursue. 

I’m sure it’s because of them I remain 

convinced that no dreams are too big 

and no idea is unachievable. 

We never really had artists in the 

family. But we’ve always been crafty 

people and my grandmother was 

one of them. She also liked to snap the 

occasional photograph. I think that’s 

where I got introduced to it. 

I didn’t know I wanted to be a 

photographer. It hadn’t even occurred 

to me, after I’d packed all my stuff and 

travelled half way around the globe to 

Brisbane to study a Bachelor of 

Photography. I’d never owned 

a DSLR prior to my arrival in Australia. 

All I left home with was the feeling that 

I might have the ability to perceive things 

differently; to see photographs and 

beauty in things others disregard. 

As it happens, I graduated 

my Bachelor degree three years 

later in 2011 with an “Excellence in 

Creative Advertising” award and later 

my Honours degree in 2012 with a Griffith 

award for “Academic Excellence”. I was lucky 

enough to be asked to work as a university 

tutor while I was studying Honours. 

Moving to Brisbane was without 

a doubt the scariest thing I’ve done. 

I realised later that it was the best 

decision I’ve ever made. 


FAROE PRINCESS 

Gear 

I’m a Nikon user. I still use 

my first DSLR, a Nikon D90 

and the lenses that came 

with it. I’ve got some old film 

lenses that I like to use too. 

I find there’s nothing like 

solid metal and glass. 

At the moment I have 

no lighting equipment or 

studio, so I use natural light, 

reflectors and improvise 

my results mostly. 


FEATURE 


“A photograph reflects the vision of 

the person who pushes the trigger” 



Style 

My style is commercial fashion fused 

with art photography, and a dash 

of fantasy and imagination. 

My personal projects tend to be vastly 

imaginative. They’re highly detailed worlds 

with hundreds of things happening all at 

once, and much more artistic. The 

commercial work needs to be simplified; 

I usually like to keep work and personal 

projects separate. It keeps the passion alive. 

Then again, it depends how much freedom 

and time the client gives me. 

Inspiration 

I find inspiration in everything. I was 

born and raised on the Faroe Islands, 

a tiny group of islands in the middle of 

the Atlantic Ocean. The landscape and its 

people are still left untouched by big-city 

craziness. You’re surrounded by nature 

wherever you go and you can always 

see to the end of the horizon. Nature 

is therefore, undeniably, a huge 

inspiration for me. I believe that my 

culture, with its rich myths and legends, 

and my Scandinavian heritage are closely 

connected to the more fantastical and 

dreamlike aspects of my work. 

I find inspiration by continuously 

looking at other peoples’ work; modern 

and postmodern, not only in Photography. 

I find inspiration in fine art, installation, 

design, games, books, music and cinema. 

Occasionally I’ve had a dream that will 

spark a new idea. I’ll watch a movie that 

will give me lighting or compositional 

ideas. I might listen to a piece of music 

that inspires a certain kind of mood or 

takes me on a journey to somewhere 

else. To be able to create something 

new and different as an artist, you have 

to know what was before and what 

is now in all the arts. 

Purpose 

I think all photographs are works 

of art. A photograph reflects the vision 

of the person who pushes the trigger. 

The photographer has made a 

conscious creative choice, in terms 

of perspective, lighting, crop, etc. They 

show you what they want you to see. 

I think my photographs have the most 

artistic flair when I get creative in 

Photoshop. My models are often placed 

in environments that I’ve built from scratch, 

by combining different images that I’ve 

captured. By doing this, I introduce the 

viewer to a place that doesn’t actually 

exist, in the form that it has been 

presented. It becomes surrealistic. 

The audience gets to peek into my 

IMAGES 

SUSANNA 

HERALVSDOTTIR 

» (LEFT) The Faroese/ 

Danish singersongwriter. 

Through 

her music and texts 

she seeks back to 

her Faroese roots. 

I wanted her 

surrounded by the 

rough yet beautiful 

Faroese nature that’s 

a big part of her 

music and 

background. She 

wears a traditional 

Faroese nationaldress 

of black silk 

Top Tip 

One of the most useful things I’ve learnt is to keep a visual 

diary. I’ll research images by other artists and put all my 

inspirations in the book. I’ll write and draw the ideas as they 

come to me. Through this process I’ll find lighting techniques, 

poses, environments, etc., that I want to try out and I’ll preplan 

most of the image before the shoot. If anything needs to 

be absolutely certain before a shoot, it’s how to achieve the 

lighting that I want. Everything else is subject to change. 

I find that the images never turn out exactly as I’ve planned 

it though, it always evolves to something else – and that’s 

really what you want to happen anyway. 


FEATURE 


IMAGES 

SUSANNA 

HERALVSDOTTIR 

» (ABOVE) The 

Faroese/Danish 

singer-songwriter. 

PROWLESQUE: 

THE SNAKE 


Part of the same 

series as “Fox”. 

HAMFERD “EVST” 

» (FAR RIGHT) 

This was a promo 

cover for Hamferd’s 

album. I turned the 

boys into ghosts by 

using a low opacity 

brush on the layer 

masks containing 

each figure. Dodging 

was used to make 

them look more 3D 

NORRONAR 

DOTTRAR - 

BYRJAN 

» (TOP NEXT PAGE) 

This translates to 

Northern Daughters 

– Beginnings 

xxx 

NORRONAR 

DOTTRAR - 

SAGNIR FRA 

VATNI OG VINDI 

» (NEXT PAGE, BOTTOM 

RIGHT) This translates 

to Northern 

Daughters – Myths 

from Water and Wind 

PROWLESQUE: 

THE ZEBRA 

» (NEXT PAGE, RIGHT) 

Part of the same 

series as “Fox”. 

imagination. They would never have 

seen the place in the photograph, 

if I hadn’t created it in the first 

place, and that’s what captivates me 

about this method. It’s the same way 

a painter can paint scenery based on 

his imagination alone, or the fantasy 

writer speaks of places and things that 

don’t exist in reality. 

Clients 

My client base seems to change with 

each new project. I always experiment 

with new things and make sure to be 

as versatile as possible – thus the clients 

and projects change. They’re presented 

with more possibilities. 

I’ve found that I need to work on 

the things that keep my creativity and 

imagination active. For me, that’s fashion, 

beauty and portraiture photography, 

where I can express my artistic side 

rather than just technical. Photography 

is not just my job; it’s my passion. 

At the moment most of my clients 

are in the Faroese music scene, both 

in terms of photography and 

video. I’ve only worked professionally 

in the industry since early 2013. But 

I’ve worked with others on personal 

projects and assignments whilst 

studying, since around 2010. 

Using Photoshop 

I experimented with Photoshop before 

starting at QCA in 2009, but I knew 

nothing about working with layers and 

masks. We had one single course for one 

semester about the basic principles 

surrounding the vast world of Photoshop. 

Other than that course, I’m self-taught 

and have learnt it all by getting tips from 

Photoshop-savvy friends, and combing 

the Internet for workshops and tutorials. 

Most important were the countless hours 

spent by myself working with images on 

Photoshop. That way I’ve gradually built 

up a workflow that works with my style. 

Photoshop is important to my 

images because that’s where I can 

really bring in my own personality and 

style. With it, I can create the impossible. 

I never show my work unless it has gone 

through some sort of post-production 

Five tips for using 

Photoshop to retouch 

beauty images/skin/faces 

PERFECT SKIN 

01 Beauty images are closely cropped on the face, so the skin is crucial. 

We want to see pores, beauty spots and freckles. Remove blemishes carefully 

and prepare to spend a lot of time making it look natural. 

02 BURN/DODGE 

This tool is your best friend, but should be used carefully on the skin. 

CORRECT MAKEUP 

03 

No matter how professional your MUA’s are, there’ll always be places 

that need cleaning up when you’re shooting this close. Particularly the eyes and 

lips. The studio light will make makeup look dull and this needs to be picked up 

in contrast and saturation. 

ENHANCE ITEM OF SALE 

04 If it’s jewellery, create focus on it. Make sure that what the model 

is selling is absolutely flawless. Whether it is jewellery, nail polish, makeup, 

hair products, etc. 

05 

GOOD HAIR DAY 

There will always be flyaway hair, so remove anything that is out of 

place. Burn and dodge tool is great for creating shiny, healthy looking hair. 



“It’s the same way a painter can paint scenery 

based on his imagination alone” 


FEATURE 


Five tips for 

using Photoshop 

on fashion 

images 

BURN/DODGE TOOL 

01 It’s your best friend. But don’t 

go overboard with it. 

RETOUCHING SKIN 

02 It shouldn’t look creamy and blurry. 

Go nuts, and play with opacity and mask 

out/in until it’s where it looks natural. The 

Healing brush is great for smaller 

corrections – always sample similar quality 

and tone of skin, as what surrounds the 

imperfection you want to remove. 

03 LAYERS 

Use them continuously; one 

for facial skin, one for makeup, one for hair, 

one for body skin, one for clothes, etc. This 

way it’s easier to control what you’re doing. 

04 EXPERIMENT 

Have an initial idea of the final 

outcome, but don’t be afraid to do 

something out of the box. If you work 

smart with layers, you can always go back. 

REST YOUR EYES 

05 When you’ve reached a point 

where you think you’re done, leave the 

image for a day and then look at it again. 

The mistakes will pop out at you. 



process. Not until I feel it’s at a quality 

that I’m satisfied with and that lives up 

to industry standards. 

That being said, I’m very careful with 

over-retouching an image. There’s nothing 

worse than skin without pores; obviously 

warped body shapes or heavily 

Photoshopped landscapes with extremely 

over-burnt skies. It really gets to me when 

I see photographs like that. It’s like telling 

people they’re fat or throwing litter into 

nature for good measure. I don’t like the 

message that it sends to the audience. 

We must not forget that there is beauty 

to be found in the imperfections too. 

It depends on the brief and the client, 

how much Photoshopping is involved. 

I often shoot images where I capture 

everything in camera, where next to 

no Photoshopping has been done. 

Photoshop 101 

1. When the image opens in Camera 

RAW, I always take out all the black, 

which they for some reason add on 

automatically. This way I have as 

much range as I can get before 

I do anything. 

2. When opened, it varies what I’ll do 

first. Usually I’ll correct skin, dust, 

remove things I want taken out first. 

Then I’ll do sharpness, contrast, burn/ 

dodge, etc. When satisfied with the 

image, I’ll move onto the ‘creative 

process’ of adding filters, colours or 

similar until I’m happy. 

3. The very last thing I do is to flatten 

the image, size it, and crop it. 

To see more of Jonfred’s work, check out 

jonfrideliasen.com 


PROFILE 

RACHEL LEWIS 

The Queen 

of Drama 

IMAGES 

THERE’S 

NO WAY I’D 

REGRET THIS 

» (BEFORE) Aim: 

capture the sadness 

and loneliness felt 

for this character. 

» (AFTER) Increased 

overall vibrance, 

blacks and clarity, 

split toned with dark 

blue in shadows, light 

blue in highlights. 

and 

Punch 


THE QUEEN OF DRAMA AND PUNCH 

Coffs Harbour-based 

photographer Rachel Lewis 

goes beyond the realm of the 

real into the imagination with 

her cool images. We find out 

how she turns the ordinary 

into the extraordinary. 

How long have you been a 

photographer and using Photoshop? 

I first learnt to shoot with a Film SLR in a 

photography course 16 years ago. I learnt 

how to use Photoshop at a different 

course and through trial and error 10 years 

ago. Now I shoot with a DSLR and external 

lights. My entire workflow is managed 

in Adobe Lightroom. I process in LR and 

finish off with Photoshop. 

How would you describe your style? 

Drama and more drama. My style would 

easily be a meld of fashion, film, theatre and 

fantasy; the fantasy aspect heavily 

influenced by comics, video games and 

animation. I shoot almost exclusively with 

off-camera lighting and I apply my 

technique to portraits, fashion, modelling, 

wedding and, of course, costuming shoots. 

What inspires your work? How do you 

come up with the ideas for your 

elaborate images? 

For costuming I’m usually re-creating from 

an existing film, animation or videogame, 

so the ideas and inspiration come straight 

from the work in question. It’s easy to get 

excited as it’s almost guaranteed to be 

a work or subculture that I’m already 

passionate about. For fashion, wedding 

and portraiture, I like to bring some of 

those fantastical elements to the table. 

If I can, I love to stray away from the 

industry standards for these areas of 

photography so I can imagine I’m still 


PROFILE 

RACHEL LEWIS 

working with costuming and a theatrical 

type arrangement even though I’m not. 

Who are your main clients? 

Models and competitive costumers 

dominate, and then come a mix of roller 

derby, families, couples and everyday 

folks wanting pictures to be proud of. 

What do you love most about using 

Photoshop on your images? 

Easily one word: PUNCH! I always strive to 

get my work in camera as close 

as I can to the final product; postprocessing 

adds the punch I need to 

finish it off. I almost always do my colour 

grading in Lightroom first though, and 

then move into Photoshop. 

What tools do you use the most? 

I’ll talk about tools and filters as I’m 

always using a mix of them. Tools-wise, 

I mainly use the spot heal. I remove 

distractions from the image on both 

the model and the background and 

do basic retouching for blemishes, stray 

hairs, etc. I’ll use the clone tool to tone 

down harsh shadows, which are sometimes 

a problem with off-camera lighting, and a 

combination of clone, spot heal and 

content aware fill to remove major 

unwanted elements from the shot. Filterwise 

the most common would be pre and 

post sharpening. I use these techniques 

because they’re what give the images the 

punch I like. With pre I’m looking at a 

“surface blur sharpen” and for post a 

Pro Tip 

Get the look 

The clarity slider in Camera RAW and 

Lightroom is your tool for creating a faux 

HDR look or getting the most details out of 

the RAW file. Couple that with the contrast, 

blacks and shadows slider, increase the 

vibrance and you’ll really bring your image 

to life before it’s even in Photoshop. 



IMAGES 

IN THE 

TORRENT 

OF GUILT 

» (ABOVE) 

MY BELOVED 

(FAR LEFT) 


capture a theme 

of forbidden love. 

» (AFTER) Lightroom: 

clarity, shadows, 

vibrance increased, 

split toned with 

amber in highlights 

and blue in shadows 

standard “unsharp mask.” I also cannot live 

without my layer masks. While layers allow 

for less destructive editing, masks allow 

this even moreso. Applying an effect to an 

entire image (even pre/post sharpening) is 

something I rarely do. I only apply it to 

certain areas that I’d like to pop; like eyes, 

hair, details in outfits, etc. 

Do you envision what the photograph 

will look like after post processing 

when you’re actually taking it? 

Never – except for cloning out items. 

I never envisage what the photo will look 

like post processed because I can’t. I was 

never good at art in school and even 

doing multimedia in further studies, 

I just couldn’t envisage a final product 

when planning the most basic projects. 

It was because of this shortcoming that 

I decided to go full steam ahead into using 

off camera lighting so I could undergo a 

process of shoot, modify, experiment and 

shoot again, watching each manifestation 

of the shot unfold and studying it in real 

time to learn. 

As mentioned, I will often shoot knowing 

what I can clone out. That’s the only time I 

do consider post processing while shooting. 

I regularly shoot with my light stands and 

lights in the frame and other objects that 

shouldn’t be there; this is usually because I 

cannot achieve the photo otherwise. For 

example, some may say move your light 

stands out of the composition or move in 

closer, but lights lose power when they 

are pulled further back and composition 

can be far too cramped if you move in. 


PROFILE 

RACHEL LEWIS 

How do you use deviantArt? What role 

does it play in your photographic style? 

When I joined dA there was no 

Facebook and MySpace had only 

just started. I initially used it for 

networking and now I use it to 

showcase my favourite images in 

high resolution because Facebook’s 

resolution hurts my heart. It also has 

a large community of users with similar 

interests as myself and I can keep up 

to date with the progress of costumers 

and photographers that I enjoy. This 

is where dA wins over other sites that 

allow high-res showcasing. 

I also use it to gauge the quality of 

my images, not just through comments 

but also with views, favourites and how 

regularly my dA images are shared on 

larger sites. While views and favourites 

are not the end all of what makes an 

image good, when I have some images 

that have 200 views and others which 

have 20K or 50K, it’s makes me stand 

back and critique my work to see what 

patterns I can see and I’ll look for areas 

to improve. 

The role it plays in my photographic 

style is as a learning tool. I find works 

on dA which make me think “How did 

they shoot that?” and then I’ll go off and 

try to figure it out how they did it. This 

way of thinking helps to expand my 

knowledge so I’m always learning. 


IMAGES 


FLCL – HARUKO 

HARUHARA 

» (LEFT) 

OUT OF MY WAY 

(BELOW) 


Capture the 

determination & 

strength of the 

character. Taken 

atop a WWII Bofors 

Anti Aircraft Gun. 

» (AFTER) Exposure 

increased but sky 

kept dark, clarity, 

shadows, highlights 

increased, extensive 

cloning and healing. 

THE WORLD 

ISN’T JUST ONE 

(BELOW) 


Showcase the outfit 

with a fairytale feel 

» (AFTER) Reduced 

exposure on 

background, 

cloned out 

modern elements, 

yellow added to 

highlights and 

shadows for warmth 

What’s the most elaborate shoot you’ve 

ever worked on? 

The shoot that required the most refining 

and perfecting would be the 2013 Roller 

Derby Calendar. Each shot had a different 

theme, each image shot over two and a bit 

days. Some of the shots required five 

different off-camera lights and some of the 

locations were cramped. All of the shots 

needed to have punch (like nothing else, 

considering the content) and none of them 

allowed for preparation. It was fast moving 

and a dive-in head-first situation. There 

were 25 models and a big team to organise 

hair, makeup, wardrobe and brainstorming. 

Both myself and my assistant got the 

biggest photographic workout we’d 

ever collaborated on together. The only 

exception was the group shot – it was 

basic in comparison. 

What’s the most elaborate post 

production you’ve ever done? 

I’m fairly slow when it comes to photo 

manipulation, but retouching is my forte. 

Of the few manips I’ve done, the most 

elaborate would be a toss-up between 

a “Hope and Alexander” picture and the 

“What Creates Life is a Wish” (which I didn’t 

actually shoot). 

“Hope and Alexander” involved heavy 

colour grading and a massive amount of 

cloning as the subject was manipulated to 

be standing in the hand of a giant robottype 

creature of which the source material 

was actually not photographic. It was 

probably drawn, coloured and rendered on 

a computer, so it looked more like a 

painting. The two subjects needed to look 

like they were both real, somewhat. This 

one took around five hours to finish. 

“What Creates Life is a Wish” was a 

rescue picture to show the true power 

of post processing and the power of using 

the RAW file format when shooting. You 

can check out the final edit online on my 

YouTube channel as I did a three-part 

tutorial on this one because it was so 

extensive and it involved bringing together 

three versions of the photo, all rendered 

“All of the shots needed to have punch 

like nothing else, considering the content” 

first in Lightroom to expose and colour 

grade for each component, then masking 

them and blending them accordingly in 

post. As LR doesn’t have layers, I felt this 

was the best course of action to regain 

detail and achieve the effect I wanted. 

The skin was very noisy once the exposure 

was brought up and I prefer LR’s noise 

reduction. The sky barely contained any 

detail as it was overexposed and the 

subjects and background were 

underexposed. Overall I wanted an intense 

sunset-meets-fantasy feel, with a bit of a 

post-apocalyptic mood to the final image, 

so the colour grading was a challenge. The 

crop needed to be redone and items in the 

background had to be ‘created’ using a 

combination of content-aware fill, healing 

and extensive cloning. This took six hours. 

To see more of Rachel’s work, check out 

fiathriel.deviantart.com; 

facebook.com/pages/Rachel-Lewis- 

Photography/ 206601839352294; 

youtube.com/user/fiathriel

PROFILE 

ANTOINE COLLIGNON 

IN DETAIL 

Aim: We wanted to create something 

mystical yet powerful around the strong 

Code Black DJ. 

Inspiration: Egyptian pyramids, geometric 

objects and old-school movies. 

Challenges: The challenge was to create 

something black’n’ white and deep. 

Techniques: We used a lot of standard 

vector tools from Photoshop. Triangle, lines, 

custom shapes. Then we added some 

brushworks with the pen tablet. 

FRENCH 

TOAST 

Belgian designer Antoine Collignon 

takes us behind the scenes and into the team 

required to run French Toast Design Studio. 

It’s been 10 years now since I first opened 

Photoshop. At the time, it was probably 

the version 6.0, but I knew even then that 

it would be my passion. I was already 

spending hours and hours trying to 

create something artistically appealing. 

After a few years of freelance media 

designing and working on various other 

artistic endeavours, my best friend Tarek 

Okbir and I decided to create French 

Toast Design Studio. Our common 

goal is to reach the best artistic skill 

level possible. We’re both media 

designers and we split all the work 

we have week by week. So we’ll both 

do everything from artwork and logos 

to T-shirt designs and posters. 

At French Toast, we mainly work with 

people involved in the music scene and 

we love it. It gives us more freedom than 

IN DETAIL 

Aim: We wanted to create an amulet fading into an abstract background with a deep feeling. 

Inspiration: Old amulet, jewellery. 

Challenges: Usually we work with restricted tint schematics but this time we worked with a 

lot of different colours with ease. 

Techniques: 3D/pen tablet. 


FRENCH TOAST 

IN DETAIL 

Top Five 

Tools 

1. Density 

2. Path 

3. Brush 

4. Healing brush tool 

5. Smudge tool 

you’d usually have with a lot of clients. 

Having said that, we still work with all 

kinds of clients from different industries. 

We have the ability to adapt our style 

to the client 100%. 

Sometimes we get clients that don’t 

understand the artistic feeling you’re 

going for. You’re trying to do your 

absolute best, but they won’t appreciate 

that. They want the basic work. It’s rare, 

but it does happen. You adapt to that. 

Social media is a key to expanding our 

business. We’re using it to keep in touch 

with our best fans, but we also use it to 

promote our artwork and get new clients. 

We’re actively involved in the digital 

communities too. We upload our works 

in galleries so we can get peer feedback. 

IN DETAIL 

Aim: This piece was about an escape into happiness so we 

wanted to create something warm, something like the sunrise 

at the horizon, something magical, evoking a sense of freedom. 

Inspiration: Nature, magic kingdom. 

Challenges: It was a real challenge this time. We wanted to achieve 

the right mix between a dream artwork with elements of the 

mainstream, because at the end, it’s still for a Festival event. 

Techniques: Lot of fusion mixes, lots of photomanipulation 

and Red Bull! 

Aim: We wanted to create something 

minimal yet powerful. 

Inspiration: Minimal design, geometry, 

glitch... 

Challenges: We wanted to make 

something new and this work was very 

technical. We were experimenting with 

glitch mixed with 3D modelling. We still 

used basics tools, because sometimes 

less is more. There was some brushwork 

with the pen tablet. 

We shoot our own images or we get 

them from stock, here and there. 

It always depends on the job. 

Process 

At the beginning, every project looks 

bad. Then you work on it, again and 

again, and finally something happens 

and it will go from “cool” to “OMG 

AMAZING.” That’s what I like about it. 

The process is always interesting; you 

never know where it’s going to end up. 

I’m personally inspired by music and 

nature. I can find inspiration just looking 

at clouds, with some drum’n’bass going 

on in my ears. Inspiration is everywhere, 

you just have to be in the right mood 

to catch it. Founding and working at 

French Toast is my dream job and that 

really helps the process. Although, I would 

love to do my job with some sun. We’re 

based in Belgium and it’s always raining! 

Check out more of Antoine’s work at 

frenchtoast.be 


PROFILE 

SEBASTIAN ANDAUR 

Five top 


tools 

Brush, gradient, curves, pen 

tool and the shape tools. I use 

those tools on every work; 

they're useful for any kind of 

situation. Curves are a really 

vital part of my work and I’m 

always amazed at how the 

shape tools have become 

powerful tools on CS6. 

Starting Young 

Sebastian Andaur is a young gun 

in the design industry. He tells us 

how he got started and what you 

can do to get there too. 

Age is no boundary 

I’m Sebastian Andaur, and by the time this 

magazine is out, I’ll be a 19-year-old Art 

Director and self-taught designer based 

in Santiago, Chile. I’ve been working for 

about five or six years. I started young, 

doing simple projects, and over the last 

few years I’ve been working with clients 

like HBO, Puma, Nestlé, Samsung and 

a few others. I love colours and I love 

getting paid to play with them. 

I’m still in high school – yeah, I’m that 

young! The plan is to go to design school 

next year and end up working on 

something I’m already planning called 

‘Polygono’. It’s a multidisciplinary design, 

TV and media agency. 

I think clients are starting to understand 

that age doesn’t matter if you have the 

taste, the talent and a great portfolio. 

Of course, it’s difficult find the right 

clients and get older people to trust 

you to take on a complex job, but lately 

people are more and more accepting 

of young guys, especially when there’s 

so much young talent out there. 

Design in Chile 

The Chilean design scene is diverse. 

We have designers working at an office 

eight hours a day and guys like me 

working from home with clients in 

Australia – there’s a lot of talent. Shout 

out to Joia Magazine, a Chilean design 

magazine which does an amazing job 

of getting the community together and 

searching for emerging talent to be 

featured in their pages. 

I think you have to be inspired by 

your environment. There’s no other way to 

be happy with what you make. Santiago is 

a pretty diverse city – there’s almost 


SEEING IT THROUGH 

IMAGES 

METAL MEAL 

» (FAR LEFT) This was 

a quick experiment 

I made in CINEMA 

4D – using simple 

elements to create 

a minimal scene of 

a floating meal 

(sounds like a lot 

of fun right?) 

CORE 

» (LEFT) An 

experimental journey 

through design and 

digital art. I’ve been 

working with 3D for 

a few years but this 

is a new one. e 

and 

everything here to be inspired 

by, from the downtown to the hills. 

Colour play 

Colours, shapes and the feel of the work 

– they’re the three key elements in every 

work I do. I’ve realised that I’ve literally 

been playing with colours for the last five 

years, so it seemed like an obvious choice 

to be my tagline. 

I’m inspired by music, colours, and other 

artists. I feed my mind with music, I search 

for colours and look for inspiration on the 

internet and in magazines. 


Your work needs to be on the internet. 

Get yourself a Behance page and start 

using Cargo Collective – it’s amazing for 

folios. That’s where someone sees my work 

and sends an email – I obtained clients like 

HBO, Nestlé, Puma and more all the same 

way. They all saw my work online and 

wanted to get in touch. 

I don’t have main clients – lately I’ve 

been working a lot on a motion graphics 

studio called Feels, doing style art and art 

direction for a lot of projects and briefs. 

Often there’s a script with a palette and 

a brand behind it that I have to implement 

into their new ad or video. 

Using Photoshop 

I learnt how to use Photoshop by watching 

other people work in YouTube and by 

following very basic tutorials on each tool 

in Photoshop CS (the first version I started 

with). I’ve been using Photoshop for about 

six years and it’s a powerful tool – my 

number one tool. 

In some cases, 100% of my work 

is created in Photoshop, but I also use 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Core 

Brief: Core is a personal project, and the 

main aim was to make a 3D work that 

combined all the techniques I’ve learnt to 

do with the Photoshop 2D tools. Combining 

these tools and CINEMA 4D gave me a new 

look and an incredible result. 

Inspiration: 3D works are all over the internet 

these days, but my main inspiration was the 

core idea of the heart being the centre of the 

work – while I was looking for reference pieces, I 

stumbled upon an image of a gold 3D type 

piece and I loved that look so I used it as a part 

of the final artwork. 

Post-production: Loads of layers and adjustment 

layers on Photoshop. I brought the heart from 

CINEMA 4D with an alpha channel and made all 

the corrections from there, adding background 

and making the shapes using Photoshop CS6. 


PROFILE 


CINEMA 4D with VRay for a lot of the 3D 

work. Lately I’ve been using more CINEMA 

than Photoshop – 90% CINEMA with all the 

tweaks and colour correction in Photoshop 

CS6. It makes everything looks awesome – 

that’s the only way to describe Photoshop. 

The most complicated technique I use 

is colour correction. I know it sounds 

simple, but little tweaks have taken 

weeks of work. I just want to get the colour 

right; it’s one of the key elements, so colour 

correction is pretty time consuming. I also 

spend a lot of hours playing with curves 

and levels. 

Workflow 

My workflow is pretty straightforward. I get 

the brief, start thinking of ideas, research 

for reference and watch what others have 

done on something similar. I then start 

using Photoshop or CINEMA 4D. There’s no 

sketch, just notes on the note app that 

comes with Mac. Loads of ideas come to 

my mind at night, so I write them down 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Puma Clyde 

Brief: I love this work — my favorite 

magazine is Joia Magazine, an amazing 

Chilean design and visual arts magazine. I 

got an email last year asking to be part of 

a section called Puma King. I had to make 

a piece based on the new Puma Clyde 

shoes, which included an interview and a 

photo shoot. 

Inspiration: The white sneaker is just 

inspirational – a blank canvas to make 

whatever I want really stand out. 

I decided to keep it simple. 

Challenges: Time. I had to make 

everything in four days – two illustrations 

for Puma, along with the interview. I did 

well though, even if it was a fast project. 

Post-production processes: I only used 

Photoshop. They sent me the RAW 

image of the show so I cut it off and 

composited everything inside Photoshop 

using adjustment layers and a bunch of 

tools and blend modes. 

“It makes everything looks 

awesome – that’s the only way 

to describe Photoshop” 


SEEING IT THROUGH 

IN DETAIL 

Title: GO / Make — Playground project 

Brief: Since June I’ve been working on a 

series of 3D works made on C4D + VRay. 

I’ve been having a blast experimenting 

with these kinds of geometric pieces 

and playing with colours. 

Inspiration: Life. Everything we see in 

our daily life is 3D so everything can be 

made on it. Colourful and powerful 

colour palettes have been a big 

inspiration too. 

Challenges: The challenge is making 

a bunch of pieces and I have five so far, 

but only two completely done. 

Post-production processes: Photoshop 

– just colour correction so far. Usually 

that’s enough for 3D work. 

IMAGES 

PUMA CLYDE 

» (OPPOSITE, TOP) 

A piece for 

Joia Magazine. 

CHEVROLET 


This piece is a 

personal experiment. I 

made it as a challenge 

to play with new tools 

in Photoshop – loads 

of colours and loads 

of work. 

GO/MAKE 

PLAYGROUND 

» (THIS PAGE) 

Experimenting 

with 3D tools. 


PROFILE 


IMAGES 

MAKE 

» (THIS PAGE) Part of 

the Playground 

Project, this is one of 

the many 3D posters 

I’ve been making, all 

colourful and shiny. 

DIGITAL DECAY 

» (OPPOSITE, RIGHT) 

Exhibited at OFFF 

Barcelona 

THE POWER 

OF NATURE 

» (OPPOSITE, LEFT) 

My first Threadlessselected 

design! 

I made this for my 

shop and shortly 

after sent it to 

the online T-shirt 

community 

Threadless.com. 

A month later 

they selected it 

and now sell it. 


STARTING YOUNG AND SEEING IT THROUGH 

IN DETAIL 

Title: Digital Decay 

Brief: DesignCollector magazine was holding 

a contest to exhibit in OFFF Barcelona and 

win cool prizes. The jury selected me over 

hundreds of portfolios and then I started working 

on this piece – I was one of the 15 selected and 

the fifth winner. This work was exhibited at OFFF 

Barcelona in front of thousands of people. 

Inspiration: I’ve been doing a lot of 3D work 

lately, and since there was a ‘digital’ theme, 

I thought I’d make a 3D piece. 

Challenges: The main challenge was time. This 

piece is based on a test I did some months ago, 

and the colour palette is based on my Core work 

– so those elements helped me stay on time 

when working on the lights and the model, along 

with the rendering. It took 12 hours to render for 

full resolution. 

Post-production processes: Basic compositing 

in Photoshop, some glows and obviously 

adjustment layers were used to make the piece 

look way more appealing than when it came 

straight out of CINEMA. 

on my iPhone and they’re magically in 

my computer the next day. Then there’s 

a few emails with the clients, some 

tweaking of the work and just like that, 

you’ve got a work completed and get paid 

at the end of the month. 

Wacom tablet 

I’ve been using a Wacom since 2010 and 

I haven’t used a mouse since. I’m currently 

using the Intros 5 Medium and it’s great. 

It makes everything faster and simpler 

and for me it’s just a more natural way 

of working. The major change in 

Photoshop is pressure sensitivity; the fact 

that we now have the ability to change 

the brush size depending on how hard we 

want to make a stroke is just phenomenal. 

Kudos to Wacom for making awesome 

products for everyone to use. 

3D work 

I do loads of 3D these days. I’m currently 

working on a series called ‘Playground’ - 

just 3D works and little Photoshop tweaks. 

The most important tip for using 3D is to 

remember lighting – please, please light 

your scene well and ALWAYS colour 

correct your stuff in Photoshop. No work is 

100% done straight out of your 3D 

software. It may look awesome but trust 

me, a set of curves can make your work 

look 1000 times better. Just light it well 

and play more in post-production. 

What’s the longest amount of 

time you’ve spent on one image? 

Well, I have images that have taken more 

than four months to complete because 

I haven’t had the time to make them 

– I work on personal stuff in between 

client work so there’s a lot of unfinished 

work in my design folder waiting for final 

touches and to be uploaded to Behance. 

To see more of Sebastian’s work, check out 

work.andaurstudios.cl and 

behance.net/andaurstudios 

Five tips for setting 

up a studio 

DO MORE WORK 

01What you have is not enough! You need work 

to showcase plenty of your work to clients. 

BE ORGANISED 

02 Keep everything in a specific spot. Try to work 

in a place that doesn’t make you get out of there. 

WORK HARD AND LIVE YOUR LIFE 

03 I did a poster with that phrase on it and it makes 

a lot of sense. You need to follow it if you’re working on 

your own studio and your own brand. 

04 BRAND 

Please, have a logo, an identity and a portfolio. 

Those things will make your work unique to someone 

who’s trying to hire a designer. 

PROMOTE YOURSELF 

05Get your studio online – a portfolio is the first step. 

Put your stuff on Behance, promote it on Twitter, Facebook. 


TUTORIAL 

Life’s a Beach 

PLAYING WITH 

PERSPECTIVE 

Level: INTERMEDIATE | Time: 1 HR 

BRIEF: Shoot a full size scene and pop 

bite-sized Barbie in it. Yep the doll! 

PRO TIP 

Always have a plan of where you 

want your final image to end up 


TUTORIAL 

LISA SAAD IS A MELBOURNE-BASED, AWARD-WINNING 

PHOTOGRAPHER WITH 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN COMMERCIAL 

PHOTOGRAPHY. CHECK OUT LISASAADPHOTOGRAPHY.COM.AU 

01 

This tutorial is about mixing 

real, lifesize backgrounds with a regular Barbie 

doll and giving it a realist feel. Pre-production 

for this type of imagery is important as you’ll 

need to work out what backgrounds and which 

foregrounds you’re going to use and also how 

Barbie will be interacting within it. I suggest you 

shoot the backgrounds/foregrounds and Barbie 

at the same time, with the same lighting set up 

so you have some consistency when you merge 

the two together. Start with a plan! 

Use layer tint effects as well as the lens effects 

as much or as little as you want. I used the layer 

tint effects for colour and masked out areas that 

I didn’t want effected. The lens effect was used 

to give it a more fantasy feel and also helped with 

the selected focus and depth of field. Have fun 

with this tutorial. It’s a starting point but the 

possibilities are endless. 

Original Images 

Lifesize beach and umbrella and Barbie on a beach towel 

02 

To make a layer mask 

Open the file you want to contour or 

remove subjects from the background. 

Choose the Channels window. Window > 

Channels and duplicate the green channel. 

03 

Select the object using the Pen (P) 

tool and use your brush (B) to fill in. 

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY | 103

TUTORIAL 

LIFE’S A BEACH 

04 

Choose black for what you don’t want 

and white for what you do want. Use the X on the 

keyboard to change the Brush (B) fill from Black to 

white. Make sure all the areas that are brushed in, 

either Black or White, are completely filled in so 

there are no gaps in your mask. 

05 

Open the background image 

and drag the Barbie image using 

Move Tool (V) onto it. Position and 

resize her until she’s on scale with 

the scene. Free Transform (command 

T) or File > Free Transform, to select 

the layer and size as required. 

06 

Because Barbie has a layer 

mask, you can now fine tune her edges 

so she blends in better, using your Brush (B). 

Any objects that should be in front of the 

subject, in this case Barbie’s cup, you should 

select using the Marquee Tool (M) and copy 

and paste it onto a new layer. Blend by 

making a mask. On the bottom of the layer 

window, select the circle in the rectangle to 

add a layer mask to that layer). Using your 

Brush tool (B) delete and blend as required. 


TUTORIAL 

07 

Using the clone tool (C) and 

the Healing tool (J), clean up any areas that 

are distracting. I cleaned up the sand and 

removed the seaweed in the foreground. 

PRO TIP 

Don’t forget to use 

Dodge & Burn (O) to 

darken or lighten. 

You can also 

selectively change 

colour of objects 

in the scene. 

08 

Using the Dodge and Burn tool (O) 

dodge and burn any areas that you want to be darker 

or lighter. Use a light-hand as you don’t want it to be 

noticeable. I burned in the top of the umbrella, along 

with some of the beach boxes in the background. 

09 

Add some colour/ tint and lens effects. 

These effects will give Barbie her glow. You can make these 

effects but I’ve decided to use ones that were readymade. 

These effects are from florabellacollection.com and are 

a great resource to use when you’re enhancing images. 

If you’d like to make your own layer tints, Select the Gradient Tool G, 

click to edit the gradient (usually a window with a sample gradient). 

10 

Change the colour of the 

gradient via the paint cans along the bottom. 

To add a paint can, double click just under 

the colour gradient. To change the paint can 

colour, click on it and the colour selection 

window will open. 

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY | 105

TUTORIAL 

LIFE’S A BEACH 

11 

Add each effect on a different layer 

and play with each layers blending mode. 

Soft light, Overlay, Multiply and Screen are 

the ones I would use if adding this effect. 

12 

You’ll notice there’s one 

layer of the tint (the pink hued 

effect) and three layers of the lens 

effect. I’ve added an adjustment 

layer at the top of my layer in order 

to adjust brightness and contrast. 

PRO TIP 

By adding an 

Adjustment Layer 

you’ll affect all layers 

directly underneath. 

You can add any sort of 

adjustment layer, 

choose from Colour 

Balance, Vibrance, 

Curves and more 

13 

Selectively change the colour 

of a specific object in the scene if you want. 

I changed the stripes on the umbrella to red 

by using the Lasso Tool (L) to select the area, 

then using Image/Adjustment > Hue/Saturation 

panel, changed the colour of each stripe. 


Nearly there. We’re going 

to keep playing with levels and effect 

layers as well as adding a Vibrance layer. 


TUTORIAL 

PRO TIP 

I used BARBIE DOLLS in this series just to 

create something different. Apply these 

techniques to any sort of image 

15 

Finished image You can see the final 

image looks a lot more realistic than if I’d just 

plopped Barbie on the beach. 

16 

Options. Think about 

the light in each scene your 

using. That’s what makes it 

look real. 


PROFILE 

MARTA BIELSA 

TIPS & 

TRICKS 

to Illustration 

Artist and illustrator Marta Bielsa’s otherwordly 

images capture the imagination. She shares her 

story and a few tricks to mastering the trade. 

Background 

I live in Madrid, Spain and have a Fine 

Arts degree and an Art History degree. 

During the last three years I’ve exhibited 

my work in different galleries and art fairs. 

I started using Photoshop a few years ago, 

during my courses. I learnt how to use 

basic tools, but I learnt the most when 

I jumped into the experimentation. 

I’d describe my style as Oniric, 

romantic and with a touch of humour 

thrown in. 

Clients 

A few years ago I opened a small design 

studio with two friends. Back then our 

clients were companies and freelancers. 

Right now, I spend my time working on 

personal projects for exhibitions in art 

galleries and fairs. 

Process 

I usually work with the pictures I take 

myself. I bring them all together in a 

photo library to make my compositions. 

Sometimes I also work with handmade 

items that I use to add to my images. 

The amount of time I spend on each 

image depends on amount of picture 

elements, complexity of background, 

number of figures and details. The idea 

and how it develops is by far the most 

difficult step. 

Once I have the concept, I make a 

sketch including the composition and 

the chromatic range, and then I usually 

spend anywhere from one to two weeks 

finishing the picture. 

Photoshop techniques 

I usually start by using different pictures 

to build the main lines of the composition. 

After this comes the most important step: 

digital paint using layers. To finish, I create 

the atmosphere through different textures. 

The three key elements 

to a good illustration 

I think a good illustration needs to tell 

an interesting story, be original and have 

good technique. 

“The idea and how it 

develops is by far the 

most difficult step” 

IMAGES 

BLUEBEARD 

» (ABOVE) Digital 

illustration printed 

on cotton paper 

FISHERMEN 

» (LEFT) A piece 

from Landscapes 

Collection on Dibond 

at 130x84cm 

DANGEROUS 

IDEAS 

» (MIDDLE RIGHT) 

Digital illustration 

printed on 

cotton paper 

LANDSCAPE 

WITH MONKS 

» (TOP RIGHT) Dibond 

printing 140x89cm 

SOUND OF 

THE SEA 

» (BOTTOM RIGHT) 

Digital illustration 

printed on 

cotton paper 


Top 5 tips for creating 

an effective illustration 

BACKGROUND WORK 

01 Start researching everything about the illustration 

topic to get more inspired 

02 PLANNING 

Make a sketch to define the structure of 

composition and the chromatic range 

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE 

03 Save all the files of each different version. 

You may want to turn back later to a previous rough 

04 EXPERIMENT 

Don’t be afraid of experimentation, it’s a great 

way to discover new possibilities. 

DON’T GIVE UP 

05 Never settle, work hard to get the best result. 

See more of marta’s work at martabielsa.com 


TUTORIAL 

The Painterly Way 


DIGITAL 

PAINTING 

Level: MEDIUM | Time: 1 HR 

TUTORIAL 

DIEGO PEÑUELA IS A COLOMBIAN FREELANCE 

ILLUSTRATOR, CURRENTLY BASED IN THE USA. 

HE LOVES COOKIES. DIEGOILLUSTRATION.COM 

Take your traditional media 

illustrations to the next level 

by using Photoshop as your 

digital canvas. 

01 

Open traditional and digital 

I usually start my pieces with a traditional technique – in this case, 

an acrylic under painting that’s scanned at 400 dpi and saved as a 

TIFF file to ensure I’ve got a good-quality image to work with. 

Once scanned, I open a new PSD file, usually 13 x 19” at 300 dpi, 

and bring in the acrylic piece as a new layer. If I need to, I’ll adjust 

the levels of the scan using adjustment layers. (Layer > New 

adjustment layer). Since I try to give my illustrations a traditional 

look, with heavy textures and brushstrokes, it’s good to start 

with a traditional media piece, since it gives an initial surface that 

has a better feeling than trying to get the same texture digitally. 

02 

Selections 

Using the Lasso Tool I select the different elements 

of the scan layer, and create new layers out of those 

selections (ctrl + shift + J or Layer > New > Layer via cut) 

so I can work on each element separately. Sometimes, 

when the selections are too complex and I know that I 

will use them more than once, I save them as new 

channels (Select > Save Selection), which allows me 

to load the selection from the channels panel quickly 

at any point (ctrl + click on the channel thumbnail 

on channels panel or Select > Load selection). 


TUTORIAL 

DIGITAL CANVAS 

03 

Digital Painting 

The next step is to create new layers and start painting over 

the original scans layers with customised brushes. The idea 

is to highlight and darken areas, define shapes and contours, 

correct structure problems and refine details and colours. 

I always create new layers for the digital painting and leave 

the acrylic scan layer untouched so that I can go back to it 

if necessary. The main objective is to carefully combine and 

balance both the digital and traditional media. My digital 

painting technique is similar to that of digital matte painters. 

I rely entirely on the brushes and the colours I’m using and 

treat Photoshop as canvas; hence I rarely use too many digital 

filters or tricks and, if I do, I try not to lose the traditional look 

of the image. Another important part of my process is to use 

good references, and I usually take my own references based 

on the image I’m working on. It will save you time and effort. 

TOP TIP: To achieve ideal results, 

it’s worth spending some time 

customising brushes with the 

Photoshop brush engine. 

Depending on your preference and 

style, you can create really funky 

brushes or nice traditional medialike 

brushes that will blend nicely 

with real media images. 

04 

More layers! 

From here on, I continue painting until I feel fairly 

confortable with what I have, always trying to save 

as much of the acrylic painting as possible. Since 

I like keeping the number of layers reduced, I merge 

the digital and original layers when I think it’s 

appropriated. It’s worth playing with the brush 

modes to see what colour variations you can get; 

I often use screen or soft light modes for darkening 

and lightening areas. You can get similar results if, 

instead of changing the brush mode, you create 

a new empty layer, change its blending mode 

on the layers palette and paint on it. 


TUTORIAL 

05 

Time to experiment 

I like to experiment a bit with the layer blend modes and see 

what colour, texture, or shape variations I can introduce to the 

image (sometimes you can get unexpected but really 

interesting results). In this case I created a layer with some 

abstract and geometrical shapes (using a customised brush), 

set it up to screen mode and reduced the opacity to 80%. 

I liked the result and, after adding some adjustment layers, 

(Selective colour and Levels), I merged the layers once more 

in a new group and continued painting. 

06 

Put in some colour 

In this step I created one more Photoshop 

file exclusively to do colour correction with 

adjustment layers; then I worked on some details 

and added one more layer of painting to refine 

details and colours. I never have specific values 

or numbers in mind when I use the adjustment 

layers; I try to trust my intuition and move 

the values until I see something that I like. What 

I do know is that I generally use Levels, Selective 

Colour and Colour Balance since they give me a 

lot of options to manipulate and change colours. 

I will often use masks to block pixels and have 

more control over the areas that I want to 

be affected by the adjustment layers. 

07 

Final touches 

The final step is to create one last PSD file with 

all the layers merged so that I can concentrate 

on final colour adjustments and fine details. 

Once more I used adjustment layers and even 

used the masks to leave some transparencies 

and have more colour nuances. With the final 

layers, I enhanced the highlights and created 

the bubbles with the aid of layer styles, in this 

case Inner, outer glow and stroke. 


TUTORIAL 

Breathe in the Air 

PHOTO 

MANIPULATION 


CREATE SOMETHING using ordinary-at-first-sight portraits and one very 

well-known technique – double exposure. All you need are three key concepts: 

preparation, experimentation and imagination. 

114 | PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS

TUTORIAL 

DENITSA TOSHIROVA IS A BULGARIAN-BORN PHOTOGRAPHER CURRENTLY 

BASED IN EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. SELF-TAUGHT AND TENACIOUS, SHE IS 

CURRENTLY AT EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY. BEHANCE.NET/TOSHIROVA 

01 

Choose your image 

As this photograph is part of an ongoing 

project, I composed it so that I could use 

the dark scarf space for the double 

exposure effect. I usually have in mind 

exactly what I want to create and which 

photograph I’ll use for the double 

exposure. It’s good to have prepared 

everything before beginning the postproduction 

process. 

02 

Black and white 

This series is in black and white, and most of the 

photographs are “high key”, so the first thing I do is turn the 

photograph into a black and white shot, making a few minor 

brightness and contrast adjustments. You might decide you 

want your photographs in colour, so this is up to the author. 

I use the Burn and Dodge tool to straighten or lighten 

shadows or certain details from the face and the body of the 

model and to make the photograph a bit more expressive. In 

this case I wanted the lips and shadows darker. Save this 

version of the photograph and then continue. 


TUTORIAL 

DOUBLE EXPOSURE PORTRAIT 

03 

Double exposure effect 

Import and select the photograph for 

your double exposure effect. After you’ve 

imported the desired image, use the 

Rectangular Marquee Tool to 

select the image. 

04 

Paste the selected area 

After you’ve selected the area of the photograph 

you want to use, use the right button and select 

Layer via Copy. After that you can just go on the 

other photograph and choose paste. You can also 

just “drag and drop” the image using Move tool. 

05 

Place your photographs 

The next thing I do is rotate the photograph 

and place it in the desired spot. I already know 

that in the end I will vertically flip the image, 

so I vertically flip the forest photograph. 


TUTORIAL 

Pro Tip 

You’re going to 

stare at this image 

and work with 

it for a long time. 

Sometimes, when 

the position of the 

model, the framing, 

etc. are too unnatural 

and awkward for the 

eye, this can result in 

mistakes you didn’t 

see at first. Take a 

step back, take a 

break and look 

again. It will help. 

06 

Scale 

Using Scale you can place the 

image in the perfect position 

and size for your work. 

07 

Apply an image 

This step is where the magic happens. 

Using the Apply image option from the 

Image menu, choose from a couple of 

different options to connect to two layers. 

In this case I’ve used the Lighten blending 

option. Make sure that the Layer is set 

to Background. 

08 

Remove the unwanted parts 

Using the History Brush Tool (make sure you’ve 

used a saved black and white and adjusted 

version of your photograph newly imported, 

because otherwise the History brush will 

erase all the changes made since the importing 

of the photograph) I get rid of the parts of the 

exposed image I am not happy with. Usually 

these are the parts going through the body 

and the face. Of course, this is up to you, 

because sometimes the exposed image creates 

interesting effects you wouldn’t want to get rid of. 


TUTORIAL 

DOUBLE EXPOSURE PORTRAIT 

09 

Adjustments 

When you’re happy with the created 

photograph, you can do final Brightness 

and Contrast adjustments, but make 

sure you don’t over or underexpose 

the photograph. With digital 

photography it’s always tricky because 

of the different settings of the different 

monitors, but you can always use the 

Histogram to check if everything is ok. 

10 

Extra effects (optional) 

This isnt necessary, but because I wanted a more 

dynamic photograph, I decided to use one of the 

ready-to-use filters and effects from Photoshop 

called Radial Blur. Again, you can use the History 

brush and remove whatever you feel is needless (as I 

did), applying the same rule about the use of the 

History brush tool. 

11 

Flip vertically 

And here is the final step. I flip 

the final image vertically to 

create the interesting and 

surreal effect I was looking 

for. And this is it. 

Use your creativity! 


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27/08/13 2:25 PM

TUTORIAL 

Utopia 

PHOTO 

MANIPULATION 


SOME SAY THAT people with symmetrical facial 

features are the most beautiful and the most attractive. 

This similar concept is behind ‘Utopia’. 


TUTORIAL 

MOE PIKE SOE IS A 20-YEAR-OLD SELF-TAUGHT DIGITAL ARTIST/ DESIGNER FROM 

YANGON, MYANMAR. HE’S THE FOUNDER OF “THE BEAST” STUDIO AND CURRENTLY 

STUDYING AT AN ART COLLEGE IN THE UNITED STATES. THEBEASTSTUDIO.COM 

This artwork is created for the 7th chapter 

of BlankHiss Art Collective. The theme is 

about Utopia and perfection. The artwork 

is constructed using only one side of a stock 

portrait photo. Hence the facial features of the 

model become symmetrical and able to 

imitate ‘perfect beauty’. Following this tutorial 

and you’ll learn to create a ‘full’ face using just 

half of a portrait, with the help of tools such as 

cloning, adjustment layers and blend modes. 

01 

Setting up 

Download the image from Dreamstime. If you want to test out the tutorial 

without using the same picture, try finding the photo that is shot directly 

in front of the model’s face. Once the stock is ready, create a new document 

at the size of 3500 pixels by 5600 pixels. Fill the background with #c49db9 

and place the model as shown. 

02 

Breaking down the face 

This is the part where we will half the model’s face. 

Create a mask on the model layer and mask out the 

extra part just like in the reference picture. The trick 

is to create both hard edges and soft edges using the 

brush tool and pen tool. 


TUTORIAL 

PERFECT BEAUTY TUTORIAL 

03 

Full face 

If the model’s face is masked out, 

duplicate it and put both layers 

into a group. Flip one of the 

layers horizontally using 

transform and arrange it so that 

the face becomes ‘full’. 

04 

Editing the face 

The face will be not perfect and it’s 

possible you’ll see a visible line between 

the two halves. Grab the clone tool (S) 

and clone the part from one of the 

model layers. Paint carefully on the 

center of the face to fix the line. 

05 

Adjustment layers 

Now we’ve figured out how to combine to 

get the face, we’ll improve it using 

adjustment layers. We’ll use more than 

one adjustment layer to achieve the 

‘blend’ between model and the 

background. So create the adjustment 

layers according to the reference picture. 


TUTORIAL 

06 

Creating the cap 

Creating the cap is quite easy. On top of the model’s group, 

create a circle and fill it with white. Then select circle marquee 

tool (M) and create a selection in the bottom center part of 

the white circle. After selecting it, create a mask with the 

invert selection. That will leave you with the cap shape. 

07 

Improving the cap 

Create a new layer and clip mask that layer upon the cap 

layer. Then paint in shadows using a darker shade of the 

background colour. After that copy the white cap and 

nudge down about 20 pixels using shift + down arrow 

keys. Now we’ve got ourselves a ‘thinking cap’. 

08 

Improvements 

Put all the cap layers together and create 

a group. Duplicate the group and place it below 

the model layer. Within the duplicated group, 

delete the mask of the white circle and adjust 

your shadow layer to make it look like the inside 

of a cap. After you’ve finished it, create a mask 

on the group layer. Grab a big soft brush and 

mask it out behind the model to appear faded. 


TUTORIAL 

PERFECT BEAUTY TUTORIAL 

09 

Creating atmosphere 

Now we’ll focus on the background and foreground to 

create a light atmosphere for the artwork. Create a new 

layer above the background layer and paint with white 

using a soft brush from top to bottom. After you’ve 

finished, open the ‘sphere.png’ and place it above all 

the layers. Now you’ve got the sense of the model 

floating among white haze or fog. 

10 

Details 

We will now add mode details to the model face. You can do this in many 

ways, and the simplest way is to create a new layer on top of the layers of 

the model group and set the blend mode to ‘soft light’. Start creating 

different shapes and lines on the face. With the soft light blend mode, you 

will still be able to get the highlights and shadows of the layers below. 

11 

Adjusting exposure 

The top part of the face is underexposed 

compared to the bottom and the 

background. We will fix that by creating 

a new layer within the face group and on 

top of all layers. Paint a soft white brush 

onto the top part of the face and set the 

blend mode to ‘soft light’. 


TUTORIAL 

12 

Final touch-ups 

Now everything looks 

great but still lacks the 

feel of Utopia. Create 

a new colour balance 

adjustment layer and 

move the blue slider 

in the highlint tab. Then 

reduce the vibrance with 

a new vibrance 

adjustment layer. 

Congrats! You’ve just 

created Utopia. Hopefully 

you’ve learnt a few new 

techniques along the way. 

Check out thebeaststudio.com for more works 


TUTORIAL 

Flying Island 

CONSTRUCTING 

FANTASY WORLDS 


THIS WORK STARTED AS AN ATTEMPT 

BY THE ARTIST TO CONNECT WITH HIS 

HOMETOWN, BUT AS HE LET THE MIND 

FLOW, THINGS TOOK A LITTLE BIT OF A 

DIFFERENT CONNECTION 


TUTORIAL 

NICOLAS ANDRADE IS A BRAZILIAN MUSICIAN AND DESIGNER WITH 

7 YEARS EXPERIENCE FOCUSED ON WEB DESIGN AND DIGITAL ART. 

CHECK OUT HIS WORK AT:BEHANCE.NET/ANDRADE_NICKO 

01 

Creating the ground 

The first thing we need to do is to set 

the basis for everything, and for this 

you must first define what will be the 

foreground. Create a circle using the 

Ellipse Tool (U). Use the Warp Mode to 

give the wavy shape, which will give 

the idea of proportion to the ground. 

02 

Growing grass 

Open the image “grass.tif” and cut 

the grass to fill the ellipse. After 

making sure that you fill in all the 

form, create a Clipping Mask and 

create a new layer for the shadow. 

Draw a black line, using the Soft 

Round Brush at around 100px at 

the base vector and then apply 

the Blend Mode Overlay. 

03 

Base work 

This process is very 

similar to creating 

the floor – you must 

create a stone base 

with a vector and 

define the Warp Mode 

shape that will be 

used as a mask. 


TUTORIAL 

CONSTRUCTING FANTASY WORLDS 

04 

Earth + stone 

Open the images “land-and-water.tif” 

and “land.tif”, cut out the parts that best 

fit (Stone and Earth) to fill the base of the 

Flying Island. At this stage you should use 

Reveal Masks to erase and overwrite elements 

so you get the right look. Next, create a new 

layer for shadow and repeat the final step of 

Growing Grass, only this time on top of the vector. 

05 

Cracks 

To give a more realistic feel to the 

island, you need to create small 

cracks, both on the ground and 

in the base. Create a Reveal Mask 

on the vectors and erase with 

various-sized Hard Round brushes. 

06 

Gears 

Open figures “gears-1.tif” and “gears-2.tif” to cut gears, 

place them behind all the layers already set up here but 

ensure they’re in position so the island looks like it’s being 

raised up to the heavens. Add more cracks in the base 

Reveal Mask for added realism – only this time use the 

default format of the cogs so they’ll appear embedded. 

No need to overdo this part, because two or three gears 

are enough to make it look real. Create a shadow layer 

on top. Use several layers for the small sections of the 

shadows because they provide proportion. 


TUTORIAL 

07 

Closing the base 

Open the image “house.tif” and cut some 

bushes for the end of the island. These 

will serve as the base for the flying city. 

Use Masks to Reveal, the same 

03 

way as was 

done in step 4, cut and overlap the elements. 

08 

Buildings 

This is one of the easiest parts of the 

tutorial. Simply cut out the buildings 

of “land-2.tif” and “building.tif” and 

position them behind the greenery. If 

you’re going to repeat some of them, 

ensure they’re different heights and 

sizes. A good option for better aspect 

ratio is to use the Blur Tool (10%), to 

give a little blur to the background. 

09 

Trees 

Open the image “trees.tif” and select the trees you 

want to mount. Cut them out and scale them 

proportionally to the ground. For most shadows on 

objects, I use the Soft Round Brush, and in some cases 

a little blur, depending on where I want it to come to 

light. In such cases, I usually get as close to the shape 

of the object reflected on the floor and then apply and 

let Overlay with an opacity enter 40 and 60%. Repeat 

this for all the trees, noting that the direction of light 

should always be the same, but with slight differences 

in size, depending on the distance. 


TUTORIAL 


10 

Lake 

The lake should follow the same vector for the construction 

of the floor and the base. After positioning and giving 

shape to the vector, place the new layer behind the first, 

taking half the opacity for the shadow. For objects that 

are glued to the ground this is the best way to make them 

seem part of the assembly. The concept of shadows is too 

complex to explain, but it’s important to remember that we 

have several incidences of light by multiple angles and with 

different intensities, which results in various shades. Every 

shadow has colour. It’s important to pay attention to these 

details so that the shadow doesn’t get fake looking. 

To fill the lake, use the image “lake.tif” and adjust size and 

shape. At the end use the Clipping Mask into the vector. 

11 

Ship 

The whole assembly was based in the city where I live, 

Campinas, Sao Paulo, in Brazil, so I sought local elements 

to compose the Flying Island. This is a replica of one of the 

caravels which arrived in Brazil from Portugal, with those 

responsible for the colonisation of our country. It’s one of the 

most popular parks in the city, the Portugal Park, and currently 

found in restoration period, but as it’s an important landmark of 

the city, I found an image that was more quiet to work, with 

respect to angle and proportion, and found the image “boat.tif”, 

which is a 3D reproduction of this replica. To apply it, and adjust 

the size of the lake, used a Reveal Mask to crop and then redo the 

shadow, as in the previous steps (Tree and Lake) for added realism. 

12 

Appearance of objects 

Here’s a secret that I use to light the 

bright objects with similar aspects. I duplicate 

the same object once, twice or even more 

(depending on the case) and leave these layers 

with one Overlay, adjusting opacity as needed 

to make the brightness close to the other objects. 

I prefer to do it this way because I find it easier 

to control intensity. Depending on the image 

quality, use the second duplicate layer to add 

the High Pass filter (between 2 and 5), and 

add Overlay to highlight more clearly. 


TUTORIAL 

13 

Tower 

For the image of the tower (Fig. “tower.tif”), you need 

to complete the sides of the base. Use a vector in the 

same format and the Stamp Tool to fill the spaces. 

After positioning it, use the same vector to create the 

first shadow (follow the Lake Step), creating a layer to 

Overlay. Ensure the shadows work with the light 

direction for the tower, footpath, grass and left 

side of the tower. Try repeating some of the 

pieces over the grass so all the elements fit together. 


Street and bus 

Import Bus Station (Fig. 

“bus-station.tif”). You’ll also need 

to build a street. In the same way 

you built the lake, make a vector 

(which we’ll also use to shade the 

ground) and applied the Gradient 

Tool to end it. Then use the image 

“street.tif” and apply the part of 

the asphalt as a Clipping Mask. 

Repeat the Appearance Step for 

the image of the Bus (Fig. “bus.tif”) 

and snap it on the street. 

15 

Street Light 

After applying the statue 

(Fig. “statue.tif”) following 

the same steps used for the 

tower, put some light poles 

(Fig. “bollard-light.tif”) in 

so it looks like Bollard 

Lights. After fitting them 

and leaving them with 

overlay, use the Lighting 

Brush in white colour and 

apply Overlay to leave the 

lights with aspect lit. 


TUTORIAL 


16 

Balloons, birds and airplane 

For these elements (Fig. “house.tif”, “birds.tif”, 

“airplane.tif”) apply an Overlay in a second layer 

and use the Reveal Mask to add cuts to them. 

Once positioned in the sky, trying to fit the 

objects proportionately. 

17 

Heaven 

To create heaven, 

make a layer and 

degrade the Blue (C:100 

M:94 Y:17 K:5) for White, 

before applying the 

clouds, and then with 

a white bottom layer, 

apply 60% opacity. 

18 

Clouds 

Cut out the images 

clouds “land-2.tif”, 

“sky.tif” and “cloud.tif” 

and go about applying 

the sky. Leave some 

above the base of the 

island, to give the 

impression it’s floating 

on the clouds. For 

transparency use 

rubber opacity of 

about 50%. 


TUTORIAL 

19 

Sun 

To make the sun, you should use the Lighting 

Brushes. Try two different sizes with different 

arrangements. The first with 1200px in white with 

60% opacity, and 1800px, in the same colour, Overlay 

and 90% opacity and a second, more defined with 

lighting 800px white in colour, in which you must 

delete the centre with 500px of Eraser Tool. 

20 

Texture 

Open the image “texture.tif” and 

with the Colour Range choose 

the darkest corner and Fuzziness 

200 with Selection. Crop the 

image left and position on the 

mount of the island. Apply 

Multiply with 50% Opacity. 

21 

City 

Finally insert “landscape-city.tif” 

behind the clouds repeatedly to 

Darken Blend Mode and Opacity 

30%. It will add even more realism 

to Flying Island. To cut use Reveal 

Mask and overlap for a better result. 


TUTORIAL 

Water Hand 

PHOTO 

RETOUCH 

Level: ADVANCED | Time: 1 HR 

AD FOR WORLD WATER DAY - CLIENT: ELEKTRO 

Art Director: Andrew Morelli 

Editor: Demetrius Rock 

Retouching: Hugo Ceneviva 

Posted on the website Ads of the World, 

We Love Ad and others. 


TUTORIAL 

HUGO CENEVIVA IS BRAZILIAN DIGITAL ARTIST WORKING FOR ELEVENDY 

INC, USA. HIS PASSION IS RETOUCHING AND CREATING UNREAL IMAGES FOR 

HIS CLIENTS. BEHANCE.NET/HUGOCENEVIVA 

Taking a concept from 

a rough idea and bringing 

it to life with image fusion. 

01 

Open original image 

Open an image with the texture of bathroom 

tiles. I’ve put it on a perspective angle as the 

first step before we manipulate it. 

02 

Gradient adjustments 

Make a gradient using soft light and direct the 

light to come from the right side of the image. Add 

another gradient and adjust until the light looks good. 

03 

Saturation and curves 

Use saturation to make the scene all black 

and white, then use curves to add more light 

to the scene. 


TUTORIAL 

PHOTO RETOUCH 

04 

Start on shadow 

Grab an image of a tap and adjust the perspective to 

fit on the wall you’ve created. Now you need to add a 

simple shadow on the wall. To do this, duplicate 

the image, put it on black and then add on soft 

light, with a gradient to make it look more realistic. 

05Brush up 

Use the brush to add more shadows 

on the tap on the left side. Again, 

use soft light. 

06 

Colour the tap 

Use the blue colour to add colour on your tap. 

Use blend mode colour at 20%. 


TUTORIAL 

07 

A helping hand 

Open an image of a hand, then create three 

duplicate layers. Invert the image using 

cmd + I to that. You’re going to put one in 

multiply, one in soft light and one in luminosity. 

Use masks to make it look more realistic. Start to 

add in the water splashes. This will help you 

model your water splash with more perfection. 

08 

Water direction 

Use your brush to make the water look 

like it is flowing in one direction so it looks 


09 

Add details 

Start to model water 

into the shape of a 

finger. Use your water 

splashes on multiply to 

make it more realistic. 

Remember that water 

is transparent. 


TUTORIAL 

PHOTO RETOUCH 

10 

Extras 

Use the water splash to create one more 

finger over the tap. 

11 

Splashes 

Start to play with the splashes by using a 

mask to get the directions right and 

perfect the shape of your hand. 

12 

Water drops 

Put some water drops around your image. 

Use all the drops on multiply. 


TUTORIAL 

13Multiply 

Now we want to create a splash coming out of 

the tap. The water should fall naturally – you can 

work with a different splashes in multiply and 

use masks. Remember to pay attention to 

creating a good curve. The form of the splashes 

is important when it comes to design harmony. 


Final splashes 

Add more splashes to balance out your 

composition. Remember to always use 

multiply. 

15 

Mask 

Fill your composition 

with a lot of splashes 

using mask. 


TUTORIAL 

PHOTO RETOUCH 

16 

Top of the tap 

Now you’re going to fix the water 

splash on the top of the tap. Make 

a mask to adjust and make it go 

beyond the water. 

17 

Contrast 

Use the contrast tool 

to put more contrast 

on your scene, it will 

help the water look 


18 

Overlay 

Make a gray layer, on 50% 

black, put the filter noise with 

4% monochromatic, and use 

overlay to add a little noise 

to your scene. 

140 | PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS

TUTORIAL 

19 

Lights 

Make a black effect with 

the brush so you can 

regulate the light of the 

scene. Ensure light goes 

on the water splash, put 

this layer on soft light. 

21 

Final touches 

To finish, put a layer in blue, in colour 

on the blend mode, set up to 18% on 

the fill. Now you’re done! 

PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS | 141

TUTORIAL 

RAW IMAGE 

CREATE COLOUR POP 

FOR YOUR IMAGE 


DISCOVER BASIC FEATURES of Photoshop 

Camera Raw and learn how to turn your work into 

a striking attractive colour. You also learn different 

techniques in masking and apply various masks 

on each part of the image. 


TUTORIAL 

QUINNY VU IS A YOUNG DESIGNER FROM VIETNAM, CURRENTLY STUDYING 

AND WORKING IN SINGAPORE. QUINNY IS A CONCEPTUAL THINKER, WITH A 

GREAT BELIEF IN THE LANGUAGE OF IMAGE AND TYPE. 

BEHANCE.NET/QUINNYVU 

01 

Open RAW 

image 

At first I focus on bringing out the 

shadow by decreasing the Dark and 

Shadow. My favourite tool is Clarity, 

where a small adjustment will make 

a big difference. 

02 

Colour adjustment 

To bring out the pop and striking 

colour, I need to fix each of the 

channels. In this picture, we focus on 

Red, Orange and Yellow. Don’t worry 

about spending a lot of time on HSL/ 

grayscale until you get the correct colour. 

03 

Sharpen image 

Go ahead and sharpen. 

The more you adjust the 

sharpening, the more you 

adjust the noise reduction. 

Tip: Zoom in 100% while 

adjusting. 


TUTORIAL 

CREATE POP COLOUR 

04 

Clean up 

Always duplicate the original image as a back 

up. I create a new layer and use the clone tool 

to clean up all unnecessary elements on the 

image. Always tick the Current & Below box 

so Photoshop can copy from all the layers. 

05 

Masking for specific 

adjustments 

In order to get a sharp selection of the fork, 

use the pen tool to draw around it. Then hit 

right click > Make selection. Choose Select > 

save selection to use it later. Create a new 

level adjustment layer by Adjustment > New 

adjustment layer > Level. Create a mask by 

clicking the mask button, click Cmd/Ctrl + I to 

invert to black. Load the fork selection, Select > 

Load selection and fill it white. Now you can 

make any adjustment on the fork without 

affecting other parts of the image.

TUTORIAL 

06 

Type adjustments 

Follow step 4 for sharpness. I’ll 

still use the pen tool because 

I want my selection to be sharp. 

Brighten the dark area on the type 

by reducing the darkness level. 

07 

Adjust background 

Now let’s make the background pop. Create 

a new level adjustment layer, pull down the 

Green curve and pull up the RGB curve. 

The new adjustment affects not only the 

background but also the type, so in the 

next step we’ll need to mask the type again. 


TUTORIAL 


08 

Masking background 

Create a new mask, then Select > 

Load Selection and fill it with black. 

Use the brush tool, set the softness 

to 0% and start to draw on the 

shadow area to bring it back. 

PRO TIP 

Option/alt + click on the mask 

to see your mask in detail so 

you can make changes

TUTORIAL 

09 

Lighting adjustments 

To lighten the dark area in the conner, 

create another level adjustment layer, 

and pull all the arrows to the left. Then 

create a mask, invert it to black by clicking 

Cmd / Ctrl + I, and use the white brush to 

paint white over the corner. 

10 

Final 

sharpen 

The final touch is to 

sharpen the image. 

Cmd + Option + Shift + 

E (Ctrl + Alt + Shift +E) 

to copy a new merged 

visible layer. Filter > 

other > High Pass and 

set it to 1.2px. Change 

the blending mode to 

Linear Light, then 

change fill to 30%. 


TUTORIAL 

Trophy Beer 

THE TROPHY BEER 

concept was designed in 

collaboration with a friend. 

Each of the four illustrations 

was represented by an 

animal with an associated 

distinct personality. We 

identified the ram as the 

wild one. 


PACKAGING 

DESIGN 


TUTORIAL 

GALIMA AKHMETZYANOVA IS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER/ 

ILLUSTRATOR AND FREELANCER. CHECK MORE AT 

BEHANCE.NET/HELLOGALIMA 

BEFORE YOU START: Search through different 

stock photo sources in order to find a useful 

image. Google search provides miracles. Keep 

all your findings in one folder. 

01 

Research 

Do a bit of research on the internet to find images for your 

intended illustration. It might be funny accessories, drawings or 

realistic photos of animals. This stage is the basis of your work. 

02 

Making a rough sketch 

The main idea in this particular stage is to 

work on the whole image. So, don’t work on a 

single detail. Try to see the composition. This 

approach is also applicable with other stages as 

well and will keep your composition balanced. 

Create a new file. My particular need was to create an 

illustration which would be used in 3D visualisation 

and didn’t require a very high resolution. Compose 

all main elements such as background, ram’s head 

and horns. Separate the right horn from the head so 

you’ll have two layers: head and right horn. Create 

tongue, mouth and left horn using the Pen Tool. 

TIP: A combination of 

freehand Lasso (L) and 

Pen Tool (P) will help 

you do selections 

quickly and 

accurately. Pressing 

Shift while you’re 

choosing a tool 

switches between 

different options. 

TIP: Always use Auto-Select 

and Show Transform 

Controls options. They allow 

you to select and transform 

every layer quickly. 


TUTORIAL 

PACKAGING DESIGN 

03 

Ram (part I) fur 

First, you need to create a brush for fur. 

Create a new file (100х100 px, Grayscale). 

Make four or five different circle selections 

and fill them with black colour. Select your 

circles, go to Edit Menu and Define Brush 

Preset, then name your brush. You’ll be able 

to change presets in the Brush pallette. 

Duplicate a layer with the ram’s head 

(Ctrl+J). The original image should stay 

the same the whole way through. It gives 

you an idea of how far you’ve progressed. 

Start to work on the fur with the brush 

you’ve created. Keep the same direction 

of the fur and place every stroke accordingly. 

Also, consider using the Dry Brush Tip Light 

Flow, which is a custom Photoshop brush. 

Just change spacing to 38%. The main 

concern at this stage is to create the 

correct construction of the head by 

using a combination of light and shadows. 

Sometime later, you will find yourself adding 

more natural highlights to the fur. 

IMPORTANT: Press Alt 

when using dodge/burn 

tool to switch between 

the two. Exposure can 

be changed by pressing 

numbers on your 

keyboard. For example, 

1=10%, 3=30%, etc. 

04 

Horns (part I) 

You need to now put colour on the right horn by 

using Hue/Saturation (Ctrl+U). Using the soft brush, 

fill in the gaps in the selection. Add a layer mask to 

the right horn and start to slice it. 


TUTORIAL 

Tip: Changing Opacity and Fill 

gives different results with Dodge 

Mode. Experiment with them. 

05 

Details (part I) 

Now you can work on smaller details such as ears and tongue. 

Add leaves to your composition. As you can see, there’s just 

one image, which I duplicated and transformed. This diversity 

makes the illustrations more dynamic. 

06 

To make a pattern for the horn, you need to use Illustrator. Create a new 

file in Illustrator and place your psd file into it. Lock the image (ctrl + 2). 

Create four lines with equal anchor points. Select these lines and apply 

Blend Tool to them. You can edit lines in order to make them look 

natural. Copy the blended lines and paste them in your psd file as pixels. 

To make the pattern look more realistic, you need to create shadow and 

light on the horn. Change the mode from normal to multiply and reduce 

the opacity from 100% to 60%. This is the shadow side. To create a light 

side you need to duplicate the layer and move it to a couple of steps. 

Invert the colour from black to white (Ctrl + I). Then change the mode of 

the layer to Colour Dodge and reduce the Opacity to 20-30%. Intensity 

of the shadow layer should be reduced on the borders. Make a mask and 

brush away to reduce texture as desired on the layer. Add the polka dot 

pattern to the left horn. 

Horns (part II) 


TUTORIAL 

PACKAGING DESIGN 

07 

Background 

By using the Pen Tool, draw an 

abstract shape. Use a Gradient Layer 

Effect to apply the gradient you need. 

Duplicate the layer and move it a 

couple of steps below. Lighten it by 

using Hue/Saturation or Curves (Ctrl+M). 

The floral pattern was chosen for the 

illustration in order to make it look more 

sophisticated. I found a random pattern and 

colourised it so it didn’t look like a patch. 

Then I applied Overlay Mode (Alt + Shift + O) 

to it and reduced the Opacity to 16-20%. 

IMPORTANT: Try to 

experiment with different 

layer modes. You might 

discover a cool visual effect. 

Tip: God is in the details 

08 

Details (Part II) 

Here you need to work on small details such as a 

string, tassel, leaves, etc. Use Transform Tool if you 

want to change a shape of an object. It’s pretty 

difficult to make a transformation of the string 

according to the horn, but you can still cut it to 

different layers and move them accordingly. Don’t 

be afraid to make changes in your illustration. This 

is a digital work, so every action can be undone. 

But being a little bit mad will make an illustration 

more emotional. At the beginning I was going to 

hang a bottle with acid on the horn but then 

changed my mind and inserted another object. 


TUTORIAL 

Tip: Keep your eye on 

the bone structure. Use 

09 

soft brush for dodge/ 

burn to sculpt the shape. 

Ram (part II) 

Go back to the ram and continue to work on the fur by using 

the dodge and burn fur brush. This will help to add depth to 

it. I don’t use option Protect Tones because the resulting 

colour looks nasty in my opinion. 

TIP: After all the final touches, Stamp visible layers 

by pressing alt + ctrl + shift + E and change the mode 

from Normal to Linear Light. Then reduce the opacity 

from 100% to a small number. This will provide your 

illustration greater depth and contrast. 

10 

Shadows and sharpness 

At this stage, you’re about ready to finalise your masterpiece. 

You need to add shadows to every object to give it depth 

and make the whole illustration more realistic. Use a pan tool 

to create a shadow under the head. Use Multiply mode for 

the layer and reduce the Opacity from 100% to 40%. Then 

apply a mask to it and use Gradient Fill Tool to reduce the 

intensity of shadow as it goes away. 

Create a new layer with Multiply Mode. Bring the layer 

to the top and use soft brush and erase tool to draw other 

shadow parts. After all the final touches, you might like to 

add sharp your illustration. Stamp visible layers by pressing 

Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E. Go to Filter > Other > High Pass and 

apply it to the layer. Then change the mode from Normal to 

Linear Light. If it is too much, you can reduce Opacity of the 

layer. In my opinion this operation helps to bring every 

element of your composition together. 


TUTORIAL 

Simple Album Covers 

CREATING ALBUM COVERS 

can be hard without direction. 

Use photography and turn 

these simple images into a 

stunning space scene. 


CREATE INTRIGUING 

ALBUM COVERS 


TUTORIAL 

TIMOTHY MEAKINS IS A 19-YEAR-OLD PERTH- 

BASED GRAPHIC DESIGNER CURRENTLY STUDYING 

BEHANCE.NET/TIMMEAKINS 

01 

Gather the 

images 

Pick two images that 

provide the basis of the 

design. I chose an image I 

took of a hedge and a tree, 

both overlooking the sky. 

Choice of image is extremely 

important. The images must 

be of high quality and 

resonate with each other. 

02 

Additives 

For the colour adjustments I fiddled 

with brightness and contrast then 

started using a radial gradient, 

playing around with the blending 

modes until I was happy with the 

result. Try to use block layers of 

colours to give the image a more 

interesting look. It’s always a good 

idea to use texture – grab one of the 

many free textures out on the web. 

Saturate the image and multiply 

to give it a more vintage feel. 

03 

Multiply the 

2nd image 

Now with the second 

image (of your choice) 

multiply it on top of 

the image already 

adjusted for the front. 

For my needs I used 

this image primarily 

on the back. 


TUTORIAL 

CREATE ALBUM COVERS 

04 

Add the planet 

Add a circle with blank colour 

(colour choice is totally up to you) 

Put this circle beneath the texture 

so it will blend nicely. Add specks 

and a large spot with the dodge 

tool at roughly 50%. This will give 

the circle a 3D feel. 

05 

Stars and light leaks 

Add extras such as stars/nebula 

(create your own using noise and 

colour selection) and light leaks as 

I’ve done. I like to grab a colour and 

erase it until I get the right result. 

06 

Type 

As this is an album 

cover, I had to put 

type on the back/ 

front but you can still 

do this to keep the 

image interesting. 


TUTORIAL 

07 

Finishing the back 

When designing the back, keeping 

the typography simple, effective and 

readable is a balance that’s hard to 

grasp. Depending on the design, try 

to position everything according to 

image; i.e., as the front is centred 

therefore the back is centred as well. 

I created the type on Illustrator CS5. 

TUTORIAL 

08 

Mock up 

the design 

Mock up the design 

to make it look 

professional and 

also to get a 

different outlook. 


TUTORIAL 

Soul Transmission 

ABSTRACT PHOTO 

MANIPULATION 


IF YOU WANT TO ADVERTISE, sometimes a mixture of 

liquids and its splashing effect is good idea to stand out. In 

this tutorial we will explain how to use different textures to 

add dynamism to our dance shot. 


TUTORIAL 

KRISTINA ALEGRO IS A SLOVENIAN FREELANCE 

GRAPHIC ARTIST WITH PASSION FOR DIGITAL ART AND 

GRAPHIC DESIGN ALLEDESIGN.DEVIANTART.COM 

01 

Background 

First we need to set the background, so we go to Rectangle Tool 

(U) > Blending Options > Colour Overlay # f5f5f7. In the middle 

of the background, draw the eclipse using Ellipse tool # 7c7c7c > 

Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and lower the opacity down to 8. 

Play with different options and colours until you get the 

background that’s the most suitable for your further work. 

02 

Adding model stock 

Load ‘girl_jump.psd’ from project files 

into Photoshop and copy/paste 

to our previously made background. 

Duplicate the ‘model stock’ layer and 

hide it, so you’ll have a backup in case you 

don’t like the way the next step turns out. 

03 

Adding nebula and circles 

First load the nebula image into Photoshop 

and set it under our image model. Change the 

blending mode to Overlay and use the Eraser 

Tool (E) to delete parts you don’t want to have 

on the picture. After that we need to add some 

circles. Grab the Ellipse tool, set the colour to 

#b6c9e9, lower the opacity to 41% and draw 

some circles as you can see on the picture. 


TUTORIAL 

ABSTRACT PHOTO MANIPULATION 

04 

Adding water splashes 

to our image 

Import “water textures – splashes” from 

project files. Use the transformation tool 

and warp tool to combine them as you 

can see on the picture. You can also use 

your own technique with other textures, 

other settings, blending modes, etc. 

05 

Changing blending mode 

You can add different textures, play with the 

warp tool and change blending modes as you 

wish. I used several blending modes: Overlay, 

Linear Burn and Divide, but you can try a few 

and find what works out best in your case – 

be creative. 


“2”, “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION”, “ ”, “ ” and “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “SONY” and “ ” are registered trademarks of Sony Corporation. 

“make.believe” is a trademark of the same company. Tearaway ® 2013 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Developed by Media Molecule. 

“Tearaway” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. All rights reserved. *At participating retailers. 

OUT 20TH 

NOVEMBER 

PRE-ORDER NOW *

EDITOR’S CHOICE 

Church in 

Novgorod 

by Marta Bielsa 

Metallic paper 

on Dibond 

Church 

of Design 

“I learnt the basic tools from my 

courses, but I learnt the most when 

I jumped into experimentation” 

Marta Bielsa 


64 | PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS 




BEN IS A FREELANCER WORKING FOR BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS. HE IS 

PHOTOGRAPHER, VIDEOGRAPHER AND GRAPHIC DESIGNER. UNDER THE NAME 

DANIEL VON STEPHANI HE PUBLISHES HIS OWN ARTWORKS AND HAS HAD SEVERAL 

EXHIBITIONS DESPITE BEING ONLY 24. CHECK HIM OUT AT ART.DAVONSTART.COM. 

photographs it is best to use 

RAW as you can easily adjust 

colours and light without 

decreasing quality. In this 

case, a bit of brightness and 

contrast is needed. 

not as bright as the white 

replacement layer. Select the layer 

with the orange on and carefully 

change the brightness using 

Levels (ctrl/cmd + L) until you see 

know hard transition anymore. 

The background needs to be 

replaced to get one white 

backdrop. Create a new layer and 

use the Brush Tool (B) in white to 

paint over all unwanted 

background. Use a brush with a 

large diameter and no hardness to 

get a good transition. 

DENITSA TOSHIROVA IS A BULGARIAN-BORN PHOTOGRAPHER CURRENTLY BASED IN 

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. SELF-THOUGHT AND TENACIOUS, SHE IS CURRENTLY IN HER 

SECOND YEAR AT EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY. 

As this photograph is part of an ongoing project, I 

composed it in a special way so that I could use the 

dark scarf space for the double exposure effect. I 

usually have in mind what exactly I want to create 

and which photograph exactly I will use for the 

double exposure, so I could pretty much say that I 

have prepared everything before the postproduction 

process. 

PHOTOSHOP PROJECTS | 65 

The series are black and white, and most of the 

photographs are “high key”, so the first thing I do is to turn 

the photograph in black and white and make some 

brightness and contrast adjustments. You could always 

decide you want your photographs in colour, so this is up 

to the author’s will and point of view. I use the Burn and 

Dodge tool to straighten or lighten shadows or certain 

details from the face and the body of the model and to 

make the photograph a bit more expressive. In this case I 

wanted the lips and shadows darker. I save this version of 

the photograph and then continue. 



Level: ADVANCED | Time: 4 HOURS 

QUINNY VU IS A YOUNG DESIGNER FROM VIETNAM, CURRENTLY STUDYING AND 

WORKING IN SINGAPORE. QUINNY IS A CONCEPTUAL THINKER, WITH A GREAT 

BELIEF IN THE LANGUAGE OF IMAGE AND TYPE. SHE IS OPEN FOR ANY 

OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER AND INVOLVE IN ART AND DESIGN. 

turn up the Raw image adjustment. At 

first I focus on bringout the shadow by 

decrease the Dark and Shadow. My 

favorite tool is Clarity, a bit adjustment 

here make big difference. 

Sharpen the image and the 

more you adjust the 

sharpening, the more you 

adjust the noise reducing. Hit 

Open the image once when 

we ready. Tip: zoom in 100% 

while adjusting. 

To bring out the pop and striking colour, 

I need to fix each of the channel. In this 

picture, we focus on Red, Orange and 

Yellow. So dont worry to spend 

sometime at HSL/grayscale box till get 

the correct colour. 



Level: MEDIUM| Time: 4 HOURS 

Level: ADVANCED | Time: 5 HOURS 

BERNARDO HENRIQUES IIS A STUDENT AT THE FACULTY OF FINE ARTS 

IN LISBON, PORTUGAL.HE IS EXPLORING ALL THE WAYS THAT DIGITAL 

ART WORK CAN GIVE ME AND OF COURSE ENTERING IN THE 3D LEVEL. 

First of all I tried to give a shape and 

start on a sketch of what I wanted to 

achieve just to know about composition 

settings and to get a sense of space. I 

need to say that this piece was done 

without any visual references but in 

many of my artwork I trend to use 

photography as a visual help to get to 

the point of my concept. In this initial 

phase I pretty much wanted to do this 

freaky mouth in a hardcore way. 

Now I’m more focus on the realism of 

the mouth and how the mouth is 

expressing an emotion this is the part 

where I get more creative and have 

more fun by giving personality to a 

mouth not caring about the whole face. 

I’m using one single brush for the whole 

painting part of the tutorial it’s not the 

usual way to do it, but it provide a real 

control feeling of the brush stroke 

allowing you to know exactly how to 

define your own boundaries. 

As I continue to work on this piece I 

extend my hardcore feel in to it so now 

you can see that this mouth is just on a 

piece of skin. At this point I’m starting to 

“blocking” the visual value of the mouth, 

applying the darkness from the inside out 

as well as progressing on the main sketch. 

From here forward it’s going to be all 

about the mouth realist appearance. 


NICOLAS ANDRADE IIS A BRAZILIAN MUSICIAN AND DESIGNER WITH 7 

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE FOCUSED ON WEB DESIGN AND DIGITAL ART. 

CHECK OUT HIS WORK AT: BEHANCE.NET/ANDRADE_NICKO 

The first thing to do is to set the basis 

for everything, and for this you must 

first create a circle using the Ellipse Tool 

(U) to define that it will be the ground. 

Use the Warp Mode to give the wavy 

shape, which will give the idea of 

proportion to the ground. 

The process is very 

similar to the floor, 

because you must 

create a stone base 

with a vector and 

define the Warp Mode 

shape that will be 

used as a mask. 

Open the image “grass.tif” and cut the 

grass to use it to fill the ellipse either be 

used as a Clipping Mask. After making 

sure that you fill in all the form correctly, 

create a Clipping Mask and create a new 

layer to create the shadow. Draw a black 

line, using the Soft Round Brush at least 

100px at the base vector and then apply 

the Blend Mode Overlay. 


ON THE DISC 

Use the image resources on your free CD 

to help in these tutorials PLUS many more! 

TUTORIAL 

Eating Orange 

PHOTO 

MANIPULATION 

TUTORIAL 

TUTORIAL 

Metal Taste 



TUTORIAL 

01 

Convert 

from RAW 

If you shoot your own 

01 

Shape and Sketch 

02 

Replace and repair 

02 

Shape and Sketch II 

CREATE AN EASY PHOTO MANIPULATION 

with great impact. Ben shows how to convert an 

idea into an artwork without needing many layers, 

filters or a lot of time. It makes it timeless and 

rememberable like this orange. 

03 

Adjust brightness 

As you can see, the background is 

03 

Painting and Anatomy 

PHOTO MAGIC 

Turn the ordinary 

into the extraordinary! 


Tips and tricks for 

brilliant compositions! 

© Citrus Media 

TUTORIAL 

Breathe in the air 

PHOTO 

MANIPULATION 

TUTORIAL 

TUTORIAL 

Flying Island 

CONSTRUCTING 

FANTASY WORLD 

TUTORIAL 

01 

Choose your image 

01 

Creating the Ground 

02 

Black and white 

02 

Grass 

CREATE SOMETHING using ordinary at 

first sight portraits and one very well-known 

technique – double exposure. All you need 

is the three key concepts: preparation, 

experimentation and imagination. 

TUTORIAL 

RAW IMAGE 


FOR YOUR IMAGE 

01 

Open raw 

image 

Open a Raw image in Photoshop will 

TUTORIAL 

CREATE A FANTASY WORLD THAT MADE A 

BRAND CONNECTION WITH HIS HOMETOWN 

WAS THE BEGINNING OF ALL THIS WORK, BUT 

LETTING THE MIND FLOW IS THAT THINGS 

HAPPEN. 

03 

Basis 

SIMPLE TECHNIQUES 

Layering and masking techniques 

for creative situations! 

DISCOVER BASIC FEATURE of Photoshop 

Camera Raw and learn how to turn your work into 

a striking attractive colour. You also learn different 

technique in masking and apply various mask on 

each part of the image. 

03 

Sharpen image 

02 

Colour adjustment 

ADVANCED SKILLS 

Master techniques to 

create complex designs! 

STUNNING LETTERING 

Everything you need to know 

about 2D and 3D lettering!


Expert tips for Photoshop ® , Illustrator ® and more! 

PROJECTS 

PROFILES 

Interviews with some 

of the world’s biggest 

Photoshop names 

INDUSTRY EXPERTS 

Behind the scenes with 

professional retouchers, 

directors and designers 

TIPS AND TRICKS 

Everything you need 

to know on Photoshop 

techniques and styles 

RETOUCH 

AND REVAMP 

Take portraits to the 

next level with these 

cool sci-fi techniques 

MANIPULATION 

TECHNIQUES 

Transform ordinary 

objects into the 

extraordinary

Photoshop Projects Volume 14

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