Adobe Photoshop CS6 Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent

CREATE A PASTEL DRAWING from a photograph
Pastels are sticks of colors made from ground
pigment and bound with resin or gum. Pastel
drawings, popular since the 18th and 19th centuries,
show broad painterly strokes, with rich colors blended
or smudged in semi-opaque layers. Pastel papers
generally have a rough surface texture to capture the
pigment, and the paper texture often shows through
the pastels in areas on the drawing.
You can re-create the look of a pastel drawing without
knowing how to draw using Photoshop and a
reference photo. This pastel drawing technique works
best on a photo with one main subject and few
distracting details. Start by opening the photo in
Camera Raw and reducing the noise. Use the sliders
in the Detail tab to reduce the luminance and color
noise. You can instead apply the Noise filter in
Photoshop and select Reduce Noise or Median to
slightly blur the photographic detail. You can also add
white around the subject with a vignette in Camera
Raw or add a white border with a reverse crop as in
task #32.
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1 With a photo open, press Ô+J
(Ctrl+J) to duplicate the
Background layer.
2 With Layer 1, the duplicate layer,
still selected, click and drag the
Opacity slider to 5%.
2
3 Click the original Background
layer to select it.
1
4 Click Filter.
5 Click Filter Gallery.
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The Filter Gallery appears.
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6 Click Stylize.
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7 Click Glowing Edges.
8 Click and drag the Edge
Brightness slider until the edge is
bright.
9 Click and drag the Edge Width
slider until it just outlines the
main subject.
0 Click and drag the Smoothness
slider until the lines appear
smooth and smaller lines
disappear.
! Click OK.
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