Photoshop Exercise 2

Developing X

In this exercise, you will learn to take original photographs and combine

them, using special effects. The objective is to create a portrait of

someone

special x

What is it? That’s up to you!

Set your camera to record the largest size photos it will take

high-resolution

exposed photograph with the f

You will need:

• A white background

• A skeleton

• A picture frame

• An object of your choice

• A willing model…you can take pictures in clas

group gathering and take a variety of pictures there to select from

For this project you will combine three or possibly four photos:

• A photo of someone

• A photo of the Skeleton in the same position as the person

• An image of the “other” thing

Let’s walk through this exercise step by step:

Photoshop Exercise 2

Developing X-ray Vision:

this exercise, you will learn to take original photographs and combine

them, using special effects. The objective is to create a portrait of

someone holding an x-ray frame that reveals their bones. With your

x-ray vision, you can see something else lodged in there as well!

What is it? That’s up to you!

Set your camera to record the largest size photos it will take

resolution photos for printing. Think about lighting and getting a well

exposed photograph with the frame pointed directly at the camera.

A willing model…you can take pictures in class, or take a frame with you to lunch or another

group gathering and take a variety of pictures there to select from

For this project you will combine three or possibly four photos:

A photo of the Skeleton in the same position as the person

thing

s walk through this exercise step by step:

1. Go to our shared folders on the Google Drive (Graphic Design Class Folder – 1st Quarter / Visuals /

Photos)

and download the pictures you have taken

on the desktop labeled

“LastName_Working_Documents”.

this exercise, you will learn to take original photographs and combine

them, using special effects. The objective is to create a portrait of

ray frame that reveals their bones. With your

else lodged in there as well!

Set your camera to record the largest size photos it will take--you need

Think about lighting and getting a well

rame pointed directly at the camera.

s, or take a frame with you to lunch or another

Go to our shared folders on the Google Drive Quarter / Visuals / X-Ray Skeleton Student

and download the pictures you have taken into a folder

2. Open the Photoshop Elements software, select EDIT and use

the drop down menu under FILE to OPEN your photographs in

the editing window. You will navigate to the desktop folder to

find your photographs.

3. Use the FILE / SAVE AS command to

create a copy of this picture in the same

desktop folder. Name it:

Graphic_Design_LastName_FirstName_PhotoshopEX1

.

4. Right click on the picture and use the command duplicate layer to

create a background copy. I’m going to work on that copy in order to

preserve my original image.

When you click on the copy

layer it will turn dark, indicating

that you are working on that

layer. Turn off the background

layer by clicking on the little eye

icon.

5. Use the CTRL + key to zoom in on the picture frame in the photo. (CTRL-Zooms out)

Use the polygonal lasso tool to select the inside of the frame where you will need to position

the skeleton’s face. (You will adapt these instructions based on what body part you are

working with.) If a different lasso tool is visible, click on the tool and you will see a choice of

lasso tools. Pick the polygonal tool for straight line selections. As you click in each of the

corners of your

frame, you will see a

line extend. When

you come back to

the first corner it will

complete the

window. You will see

the little “marching

ants” to show the

selection. Use DELETE

or EDIT / CUT to eliminate the

inside of the frame. The gray

and white check pattern will appear to tell you that it is transparent now. SAVE YOUR WORK.

6. Click on the skeleton

picture. Repeat the

steps used to create a

copy of your

background layer. Click

on the background copy

and then hold down the

CTRL+I shortcut to inverse

your skeleton and make

it look like an X-ray.

SAVE YOUR WORK.

7. Use the ENHANCE / ADJUST LIGHTING / LEVELS tool

to increase the contrast between your skeleton and

the background. Slide the arrows under the graph of

your input levels, adjusting black, mid-tones, and

highlights until

they look like you

want them to.

If you’re going to

add an extra

object, this is

probably a good

time to do it.

8. Use the ENHANCE /

ADJUST COLOR / ADJUST

HUE SATURATION tool to

colorize your skeleton if

you want to give it a

different tone. You can

select the background

around the skeleton using

a selection tool and fill it

with black if you want a

solid black background.

You can use IMAGE /

MODE / GRAY SCALE if you want to change it to a black and white X-Ray. SAVE YOUR WORK.

9. Use the SELECT / ALL command or the keyboard shortcut CTRL+A to select the layer you have

been working on and copy that to your photograph of the person holding the frame. You will see it

show up as a layer in the photograph. Click on the move tool and then, under the VIEW menu,

select FIT ON SCREEN. This will show you the corners of the skeleton and you can use these to size it.

Keep in mind that you want to size your skeleton to match the person, not the frame.

10. Using the move tool, position the skeleton over the person. Then

click and drag the layer with the skeleton down in the list of layers to

be beneath the layer with the person.

As long as you are still clicked onto the layer with the skeleton, you can

move it and size it until it matches your person. You may find that you

need to click on IMAGE / ROTATE or IMAGE / TRANSFORM to get your

skeleton to match up with the position of the person and the shape of

the frame opening. SAVE YOUR WORK!

Now, decide if you like the original shot of the person framed the way the picture was originally

taken, or crop it to make a stronger picture.

Here are some possible ways to crop this picture. Do you like any of them more than the original?

11. When you are completely pleased with the way it looks, SAVE YOUR WORK. You want to keep a

copy of the exercise as a PSD (Photoshop Document Format), but you also want to create a copy for

posting on the web. Go to FILE menu and select SAVE FOR WEB. Follow the instructions for saving

your work as a JPEG. Select MAXIMUM and 100 for Quality. When you click OK you may need to tell

it where to save it in the file you set up on the desk top. At the end of your work session, save all your

files back to your personal class folder on your Google Drive.

Here a few tips on how to handle some problems you may have with your original photographs.

Did you get something in your background when you shot the skeleton…maybe even the pole the

skeleton was haning on?

You might use the magic wand to

select those sections, delete them

and then use the clone stamp to fill

it with the surrounding colors.

If you plan to make the background surrounding the skeleton black, try using the quick selection tool

to isolate the skeleton from the background. Remember that holding down the SHIFT key will add to

your selection and holding down the ALT key will take away from your selection. Zoom in so that you

can really see your edges. Use a combination of lasso tools if needed to clean up your edges. Once

you have it isolated, use CTRL+I to inverse the picture and make the selection look like an X-ray, then

use the inverse command under the selection menu to pick the background instead of the skeleton

and fill the background with black.