Collage Of Warped Photos In Photoshop (Manipulation & Emotions, ) Digital Photography/Graphic Design - Ms. Mayorga Est. Time 2-3 Weeks: from 1-25-11 until DONE!

OBJECTIVES: To learn to manipulate photos using Photoshop CS5 as our main digital program. To be able to apply

emotions by selecting a theme prior to starting the project and the ability to use colors to convey a message. Learn to

apply perspective as picture will no be only on the top of background but also going in to the background objects.

Student will learn about light and shadows and elements of design as well as principles.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROCEDURES: 5-10 Warp Pictures following tutorial (below). Students need to bring their own pictures

and they can not use pictures from the internet except for the background.

Small warp picture size: 3”x5” or 4”x6” Resolution 200 DPI. Background: needs to be 8x10 Resolution 200 DPI

GRAPHIC DESIGN PROCEDURES: 5-10 Warp Pictures following tutorial (below). Students are allowed to use pictures

from the internet. Small warp picture size: 3”x5” or 4”x6” Resolution 200 DPI. Background: needs to be 8x10 Resolution

200 DPI. It is very important that background picture conveys the same emotion as the warp pictures.

Step 1: Open The First Photo You Want To Add To Your Collage

Step 2: Rename The Background Layer

With the photo newly opened inside Photoshop, if we look over in the Layers palette, we can see that we

currently have one layer, named Background, which contains our image:

We need to add a new blank layer below this Background layer, but there's a small problem. Photoshop

treats the Background layer differently from all other layers (which is why the name is written in italics). We

need to unlock layer by double clicking or press ALT key and double clicking

Step 3: Add A New Blank Layer Below "Layer 0"

Now that our Background layer is no longer named

"Background", we can add a layer below it. To do that, hold

down your Ctrl key and click on the New Layer icon at the

bottom of the Layers palette:

Clicking the "New Layer" icon adds a new blank layer, and by

default, Photoshop places new layers above the layer we

currently have selected in the Layers palette, but by holding

down "Ctrl/Command" as we click on the icon, we tell

Photoshop to place the new layer below the currently

selected layer. As we can see now in our Layers palette, the new

layer, which Photoshop has automatically named "Layer 1",

appears below "Layer 0"

Step 4: Add Additional Canvas Space Around The Image

Since we're going to be bending and warping our image, we

need to give ourselves a little extra room to work, which means

we need to add some extra canvas space around the image. To

do that, go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen and

choose Canvas Size.

In the Canvas Size dialog box. Enter an additional ½ inch

to the Width and Height. Example 4”x6” should be

4.5”x6.5”

-Make sure the Relative option is not checked, and make

sure the middle square is selected in the Anchor grid:

Photoshop Collage: The extra canvas space is now added around the image.

Step 5: Add A White Stroke To The Image

Click on "Layer 0" in the Layers palette to select the layer that

contains the original image. Let's add a white photo border

around the edge of the image. To do that, go up to the Edit

menu at the top of the screen and choose Stroke. This brings

up the Stroke dialog box. I'm going to enter a value of 20 px

(pixels) for my Width, which works well with my image here.

You may need to enter a different value depending on the size of

the image you're using. I'm using a low resolution image for this

tutorial, so if you're using a high resolution image, you'll need to

try a higher width value.

The goal here is to simply add what looks like a standard white photo border around the image, which means

we also need to select white as our stroke color, so click on the color swatch to the right of the word Color,

which brings up Photoshop's Color Picker and choose white. Finally, set the Location option in the middle of

the dialog box to Inside so the stroke appears inside the edge of the image:

Photoshop Collage: The

white border is now

added around the edge of

the image.

Step 6: Warp The Image With Photoshop's Warp Tool

Here's where we get to the fun part. We're going to bend, twist and curl the image using Photoshop's Warp

Tool. There's a couple of different ways to access the Warp Tool. One is to go up to the Edit menu at the top of

the screen, choose Transform, and then choose Warp, but here's a faster way. Press Ctrl+T (Win) /

Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the image, then simply

click on the Warp icon in the Options Bar at the top of the screen:

For a quick shortcut to get to the Warp Tool, press "Ctrl+T" to bring up the Free Transform handles around

the image, then click on the "Warp" icon in the Options Bar to access the Warp Tool.

You can click on that icon again at any time to switch back and forth between Free Transform and the Warp

Tool. With the Warp Tool selected, you'll see a 3x3 grid appear over your image:

Photoshop Collage: A 3x3 grid appears over your image

with the Warp Tool active. If you've never used the

Warp Tool before, it may seem a little confusing at first,

but the easiest thing to do is simply play around with it

and see what it does, since nothing you do will actually

be applied to the image as long as the Warp Tool

remains active. In no time at all, you'll see just how easy

and fun the tool really is. To warp the image from any of

the corners, simply click on any of the square corner

handles and drag it around with your mouse.

Click and drag any of the corner handles to warp the

image from the corners. To create a page curl, which is

where the Warp Tool really shines, drag any of the

corner handles inward. If you drag the corner in far

enough, you'll actually see what looks like the back of

the photo appearing in the corner (it's actually a mirror

image of the photo, but it still looks pretty cool):

Easily create a page curl by clicking on any of the corner

handles and dragging it inward.

You can also warp the image by dragging the round

handles that extend out from the corners:

Warping the image by dragging the round handles that extend out from

the corners.

And yet another way to warp the image is by simply clicking anywhere

inside of the image and dragging your mouse around to warp it from

that spot:

Photoshop Collage: Click anywhere inside the image and drag

your mouse to warp the image from that location.

As you can see, Photoshop's Warp Tool gives us lots of control

and flexibility over how we bend and reshape the image, and

for this collage effect we're creating, there's no right or wrong

way to go about it. We're not trying to create any sort of

realistic effect here, although we could if we wanted. All we're

really going for is something that looks fun, so feel free to play

around with your image, warping, stretching, bending,

twisting, and curling it anyway you like. The only thing you

should try to avoid is warping anyone's face, since they may not be too happy when they see what you've done, so try to

limit your warp effects to the corners and edges of the photo as much as possible.

Unfortunately, there's no "undo" with the Warp Tool, so if

you're not happy with what you've done and want to try

again, you'll need to press your Esc key to cancel your

changes and exit out of the Warp Tool, then go back and start

over.

Here's what my image looks like, with the Warp Tool still

active, after I've reshaped the image in a way that works for

me.The image after warping it with the Warp Tool, which is

still active. When you're ready to accept your changes, press

Enter to have Photoshop apply them to the image.

Step 7: Duplicate The Layer

Now that we've warped the image, we need to duplicate it. To do that, with "Layer 0" (the layer that contains

our image) selected in the Layers palette, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer. If we look

in the Layers palette now, we can see the newly created copy of the layer, which Photoshop has named "Layer

0 copy", above the other two layers:

Step 8: Fill The Original Image On "Layer 0" With Black

Click back on "Layer 0" in the Layers palette to select it. Then, press the letter D on your keyboard if

needed to reset your Foreground and Background colors so black becomes your Foreground color (white

becomes your Background color).

You can see your current Foreground and Background colors in the color swatches near the

bottom of the Tools palette (the swatch in the top left is the Foreground color and the one in the

bottom right is the Background color):

Then, with "Layer 0" selected, use the keyboard shortcut

Shift+Alt+Backspace to fill the image on the layer with black. You

won't see anything happen in your document window and that's because the

image on "Layer 0 copy" is blocking what we've done on "Layer 0" below it

from view, but if we look at the preview thumbnail for "Layer 0" in the Layers

palette, we can see that the image has in fact been filled with black:

The thumbnail for "Layer 0" showing the image on the layer now filled with black.

Step 9: Create A Drop Shadow With The Warp Tool.

We're going to use the Warp Tool once again, this time to create a drop shadow effect for our image using the

area we just filled with black. With "Layer 0" still selected, I'm going to access the Warp Tool the same way I

did before, by pressing Ctrl+T to bring up the Free

Transform handles and then clicking on the Warp Icon in the Options Bar. I want the light to appear to

be coming from the top left, which means my shadow

needs to appear along the bottom right of the image.

So with my Warp Tool active, I'm going to bend and

reshape the black-filled area so it sticks out from under

the right and bottom of the image. Again, we're not

going for absolute realism here, so feel free to

exaggerate things a little:

Step 10: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

We need to blur the edges of our shadow a little, so go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian

Blur. When the Gaussian Blur dialog box appears, I'm going to enter a

Radius value of about 6 pixels to blur the edges of my shadow slightly.

Again, you may need to enter a higher value if you're using a high

resolution image:

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box when you're done.

Step 11: Lower The Opacity Of The Layer

We've warped our shadow into shape with the Warp Tool and blurred out

the edges, but our shadow is much too intense at this point. To fix that, go up

to the Opacity option in the top right of the Layers palette and lower the

layer's opacity to around 60%:

Photoshop Collage: Lower the opacity of "Layer 0" to reduce the

intensity of the shadow.

Here's my image after lowering the opacity of the shadow:

Photoshop Collage: The shadow now appears much less noticeable after lowering its

opacity.

Step 12: Add A New Blank Layer Above The Other Layers

We're almost done, but let's finish things off by adding some subtle

highlights and shadows to our photo to enhance the illusion that it's really

bending and twisting in 3D space. To do that, we first need to add a new

layer above the other layers, so click on the top layer ("Layer 0 copy") to

select it, then click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers

palette to have Photoshop add a new blank layer at the top, which it

automatically names "Layer 2":

Step 13: Change The Blend Mode Of The New Layer To "Hard Light"

We need to change the blend mode of our new layer. To do that, go

up to the Blend Mode options in the top left corner of the Layers palette.

By default, the layer is set to the "Normal" blend mode. Click on the down-

pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal" and select Hard Light

from the list:

Photoshop Collage: Change the blend mode of "Layer 2" from "Normal" to "Hard Light".

Step 14: Lower The Opacity Of The Layer

We're going to use this layer to paint in some highlights and shadows

with Photoshop's Brush Tool, but before we do, we need to lower the

opacity of this layer quite a bit. We want very subtle highlights and

shadows, so go over to the Opacity option in the top right of the

Layers palette and lower the opacity all the way down to about 20%

to start with. You may need to raise or lower it slightly when you're

done:

Step 15: Load A Selection Around The Image

Before we begin painting, let's make sure we paint "inside the lines"

so-to-speak, so we're not painting over any of the transparent areas

around the image. To do that, hold down your Ctrl key and click directly on the preview thumbnail for "Layer 0 copy" (the layer that contains our image) in the Layers palette:

Photoshop Collage: A selection is loaded around the image.

Step 16: Select The Brush Tool

Select Photoshop's Brush Tool from the Tools palette, or simply press B on your keyboard to

select it with the shortcut:

Step 17: Paint With Black To Add Shadows To The Image

With the Brush Tool selected and black as your Foreground color, paint over a few areas in the image to add

subtle shadows, giving the image a bit more of a 3D look to it. Resize your brush as needed by pressing the left

bracket key on your keyboard to make the brush smaller or the right bracket

key to make it larger. To control the hardness of the brush edges, hold down

your Shift key and press the left bracket key a few times to soften the

edges, or hold down Shift and press the right bracket key a few times to

make the brush edges harder.

You can also Right-click anywhere inside the document to bring up the

Brush Tool dialog box where you can adjust the brush diameter and hardness

with slider controls at the top:

Photoshop Collage: With the Brush Tool selected, "Right-click" anywhere inside the document to access

the Brush Tool dialog box where you can adjust the brush size and edge hardness.

Then simply paint over parts of the image to add some shadows. Thanks to the selection we've loaded around

the image, we don't have to worry about accidentally painting in the area outside of the photo. The only area

we can paint over is the area inside the selection.

If you make a mistake or you're just not happy with how you

painted over an area, either press Ctrl+Z to undo your last

brush stroke, or press E on your keyboard to switch to

Photoshop's Eraser Tool, erase over the mistake, then

press B to switch back to your Brush Tool and continue

painting. Here's my image after painting in some shadows in

the top left and right corners, as well as over the page curl in

the bottom right corner.

Step 18: Paint With White To Add Highlights To The Image

Once you're done painting in some shadows, press the

letter X on your keyboard to swap your Foreground and

Background colors so white becomes your Foreground color.

Then just as you did for the shadows, simply paint over a few

areas to add some highlights, changing your brush size and

edge hardness as needed.

Here, I'm painting a very subtle white highlight area in the

bottom left corner of the image:

The highlights aren't as noticeable in my image since I'm painting over an area that is already fairly bright.

They may be more noticeable in your image, but even a very subtle highlight still adds to the effect and keeps

the image from looking flat. When you're done painting your shadows and highlights, press Ctrl+D to

deselect the selection around the image.

Step 19: Adjust The Layer Opacity If Needed

If you find that your shadows and highlights are a bit too subtle in your image,

go back to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers palette

and increase the layer opacity until you're happy with how they look. Or if you

think your shadows and highlights are too strong, lower the opacity slightly.

Either way, you shouldn't need to adjust the opacity amount by much, since

even small adjustments have a big impact with the layer set to the Hard Light

blend mode. I'm going to fine-tune my shadows and highlights by increasing

my layer opacity to 22%:

Photoshop Collage: The image after adding the highlights and shadows.

Step 20: Group The Three Layers That Make Up The Image

We've completed our work on our first photo! All we need to do now is add it to our main collage document

(which we'll open in a moment). Right now, our image is made up of three separate layers - the main image on

"Layer 0 copy", the main shadow below it on "Layer 0", and the highlights and shadows on "Layer 2" at the

top. Rather than dragging three separate layers into the main collage document, let's make things easier by

grouping the layers so all three of them will be placed inside a "folder" in the Layers palette. That way,

we can simply drag the folder over to the collage document instead of

dragging three separate layers. This will also make it easier to keep our main

collage document organized when we start adding additional photos to it.

To create the layer group, hold down Shift and click on the top 3

layers.

Photoshop Collage: Select all three layers that make up the image.

With all three layer selected, either go up to the Layer menu at the top of

the screen and select Group Layers or simply use the keyboard shortcut

Ctrl+G. Whichever way you choose, Photoshop adds all three layers into a

new group. If you look in your Layers palette, you'll see that the three layers

seem to have disappeared, replaced by a folder icon with the name "Group

1" beside it. Double-click directly on the words "Group 1" and rename the

group something more descriptive like "Photo 1":

If you look closely, you'll see a small, right-pointing triangle to the left of the folder icon. Click on it to twirl the

folder open, and you'll see your three layers appear inside of it:

Photoshop Collage: Open the layer group by clicking on the small right-

pointing arrow to the left of the folder icon.

Click on the triangle once again to close group, leaving only the folder visible.

Step 21: Open The Image To Use As Your Collage Background

The work on our first photo is done and we've organized the three layers that make up the image into a layer

group. All we need to do now is drag the layer group over to our main collage document, so go ahead and

open the image you want to use as your

background.

Here's the image I'll be using:

Open the image you want to use as the

background for your collage.

Step 22: Drag The Layer Group Into The Main Collage Image

With both images open in their own

separate document windows on your

screen, click anywhere inside the

document containing the photo we

just finished working on so that its

document window is selected. Then,

simply click on the layer group in the

Layers palette and drag the group

into your background image

document:

Photoshop Collage: Drag the layer group from the photo document into

the main background document.

You'll see your photo appear in front of your background image in the

new document, and if you look in the new document's Layers palette,

you'll see that the layer group has been copied over to the new document

and is now sitting above the Background layer:

Step 23: Resize And Reposition The Photo With Free Transform

Now that our first photo is in front of the background inside the document we'll be using for our collage, we

can move and resize it as needed. To do that, press Ctrl+T to once again bring up the Free Transform box

and handles around this image. To move the photo with Free Transform, simply click anywhere inside the

photo (except for on the small target icon in the center) and drag the image into position with your mouse. To

resize the image, hold down Shift and drag any of the corner handles. Holding down Shift as you drag

constrains the the width and height proportions of the image, maintaining its original shape. To resize the

image from its center, hold down Alt as you drag (you can hold Shift as well to constrain the proportions and

resize from the center at the same time). You can also rotate the image if you want by moving your mouse

cursor just outside the Free Transform box and

then clicking and dragging your mouse.

Here, I've moved my photo into the center of the

document and I'm resizing it by dragging the

bottom corner handle inward:

Move and resize the image as needed with Photoshop's

Free Transform command.

Press Enter to accept your changes when you're done.

Step 24: Repeat The Same Steps To Add Additional Photos Into The Collage

And with that, our first photo has successfully been warped into shape and added into our collage! To add

more photos (it wouldn't be much of a collage if we didn't add more photos), simply repeat the steps we've

just worked through for each additional photo, warping each one differently for variety. When you get to the

part where you add the layers into a layer group, name your new groups with successive numbers ("Photo 2",

"Photo 3", "Photo 4", etc.), then simply drag them into the main collage

document, move them into place and resize them as needed with Free

Transform.

I've added two more photos to my collage, and if I look in my Layers

palette, I can see that I now have three layer groups, named "Photo 1",

"Photo 2" and "Photo 3", above my Background layer which contains my

background image:

Photoshop Collage: Photoshop's Layers palette showing the three layer groups that I've

dragged into the document, as well as the main Background layer.

If you want to move one photo on top of another in your collage, simply click on its layer group in the Layers

palette and drag it above the other photo's group to change the "stacking order". Layers and layer groups that

are higher in the Layers palette appear in front of layers and groups below them.

Photoshop Collage: The final result.

STATE STANDARDS: Photography: VA.A.1.3.2, VA.A.1.3.1, VA.B.1.3.3 Demonstrate photographic processing skills using digital procedures. Graphic Design: VA.A.1.4.2, VA.A.1.4.1, VA.B.1.4.1, VA.B.1.4.3, VA.D.1.4.1 Demonstrate photographic processing skills using digital procedures.