Digital_Camera_World_Issue_192_July_2017

Photo
ProjeCts
START
FINISH
Claire Gillo
ProjeCt 2
Photoshop
trick
Faux infrared
I
nfrared light is not possible to
see with the human eye, but in
photography, it can be captured
in a few ways. The first is to attach an IR filter
to your lens; the second is to use a converted
infrared camera; and the third (and easiest) is
to fake the effect using Photoshop!
In this project, we’re going to show you how
to do the latter, so you can turn your bright
colourful landscapes into surreal Alice in
Wonderland-type scenes. We’ll be using a
mixture of tools including the Channel Mixer
and Hue/Saturation adjustment layers.
When it comes to selecting a good starting
image, the same rules apply as if you were
shooting an infrared image. For example,
green foliage and bright blue skies work best
once converted. The blue sky is especially
important: if you have thick grey clouds, your
image will appear black and white, which in
this instance isn’t the desired effect.
To help you get going, we’ve provided the
starting image via www.bit.ly/dc192files so
you can have a practice.
Step 1
Step 2
Open the start file we’ve provided. Add an Invert adjustment
layer and change the Blend mode to Color. Next, add a Channel
Mixer adjustment layer. Under the Output Channel, select Red
and swap the Blue and Red channels – in other words, change
Red to 0 and Blue to 100. Then change the Output channel to
Blue and alter Blue to 0 and Red to 100. You’ve now got a
surreal-looking landscape, but there’s plenty more to do…
Next, add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Under the dropdown
menu, change Master to Reds. In our image, we adjusted
Saturation to -23 and Lightness to -84. However, this type of
creative decision is up to you, as are the rest of the colour
adjustments. In our image, we altered the Yellows (-29
Saturation, -47 Lightness); Greens (-29 Saturation, -58
Lightness); and Magenta (-100 for both settings).
Step 3
Finally, add a Color Balance
adjustment layer and change
the Tone setting to Shadows.
Adjust the Reds (+12) and
Blues (+7), then under Tone,
select Highlights and change
the Yellows to -12 (a). Finally,
make the foreground lighter
using Curves and mask the
top of the layer mask to keep
the sky dark (b).
STEP 3a
STEP 3b
30 Digital Camera JULY 2017 www.digitalcameraworld.com