Professional Photo Editing – Fixsr.com

We can all imagine what a dark and rainy crime scene looks like. We have all scene them in television and movies. Today, we will learn how to use different tools and techniques to create a scene of our own in Photoshop.

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Resources Used

You can download the following textures from the links below. Just sign up for free to download the image.

• Brick
• Aircon
• Window
• Splatter Smear
• Splatter Long
• Window

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Step 1

First, create a new file with a size of 900 x 700 px and a resolution of 300 ppi.

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Step 2

Next, open Brick.jpg then resize it and duplicate it as shown below. We did this because we need smaller looking bricks to be more realistic with this scale. Make sure to overlap each layers seamlessly so that it looks like as a one big wall. Merge all the layers and name it as "Wall."

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Step 3

Desaturate the "Wall" layer. To do this go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or use the shortcut keys Shift + Cmd/Ctrl + U. After that, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels, Cmd/Ctrl + L and change the values with the ones indicated below.

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Step 4

Next, use the Burn tool (O) as indicated below.

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Step 5

Using the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), make a rectangle (a), then fill it #000000. Next, using a soft brush with #ffffff, apply subtle amounts in the areas indicated below, (b).

Using the Brush tool (B), make a curtain-like silhouette on the left-side of the rectangle.

After that, open the files Splattersmear.jpg and Splatterlong.jpg, then resize then inside the rectangle.

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Step 6

Next, open the file Window.jpg. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), select only the window from the image, (a). Next, using the Magic Wand tool (W), select the glass paneling of the window then hit delete (b), this will leave only the frame of the window, (c). Next, desaturate the image. To do this, go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or use the shortcut keys Shift + Cmd/Ctrl + U, (d). The final step is to change the Levels of the image, to do this go to Image > Adjustments >Levels, Cmd/Ctrl + L and change the values with the ones indicated below, (e).

Place the window frame as shown below.

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Step 7

Next we’ll add the garbage container, to do this open Garbagecontainers.jpg. Using the Pen tool (P), select the garbage container leaving the background behind, right-click and select Make Selection from the drop-down menu and from there change the feather radius to 0 px then hit OK, (a). Next by using the Burn tool (O), burn the areas indicated below, (b). The final effect should look like (c).

Place the garbage container in the lower right corner of our image. The final effect should look like the one shown below.

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Step 8

Next is to add the Air conditioner. Open Aircon.jpg, using the the Pen tool (P) make a path all over the outline of the air conditioner including the support structure. Right-click and make a selection from the drop-down menu and press OK, (a). Next, using the Burn tool (O), burn the areas indicated below, (b). Finally, using the Brush tool (O), set to 20 px and hardness 90%, draw some shadows under the air conditioning and the support member. After that go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply the indicated value below, (c)

The final effect is shown below but the image looks rather flat, so for the following steps we need to add some shading and highlights.

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Step 9

Using the Burn tool (O), burn the areas indicated below.

Next, using the Brush tool (B) with a size of 60 px and Hardness of 0%, brush the areas indicated below. After that, decrease its opacity level to 50%.

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Step 10

Next, using the Polygonal Lasso tool (L), draw a shape like the one shown below, then using the Paint Bucket tool (G), fill the entire selection with #ffffff.

Now go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and change the value for the radius to 60 px.

Next, using the Eraser tool (E), erase the areas indicated below.

The final effect should look like the one shown below.

Next, we’ll add some light rays for that extra effect. To do this, use the Pen tool to draw the paths which is then defined to use the Brush tool with a Master Diameter of 19 px and a Hardness of 0%.

Next, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and change its radius to 20 px.

The final effect should look like the one shown below.

Next, by using the Brush tool (B) with a size of 15 px, draw some lines like as shown below.

Next go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur and change its radius to 30 px. After that decrease its opacity level to 40%.

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Step 11

Next, create a new layer and fill it with #000000. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Set this layer’s blend mode to Overlay.

So far so good, the final effect should look like the one shown below.

Next using the Brush tool (B) with color #000000, Master Diameter of 175 px and Hardness of 0%, brush the areas indicted below, then decrease its opacity level to 60%.

Add a new layer and fill it with #006773 then set its Blend mode to Soft Light and Opacity level to 50%.

The final effect should look like the one shown below.

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Step 12

Next add a new layer and name it "Rain." Now using the Paint Bucket tool (G), fill the entire layer with #000000. Next, go to Filter > Render > Fibers and follow the indicated values as shown below.

Next, press Cmd/Ctrl + T to activate the resizing tool, rotate this layer to about 45 degrees as shown below. After that, set its Blend Mode to Overlay and decrease its Opacity level to 20%.

Note: If you would like to use another method to create rain, check out this tutorial How to Create a Photo Manipulation of a Flooded City Scene or this one How to Turn Humdrum Photos into Cinematic Portraits.

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Final Image

That’s it! I Hope you had fun producing our Crime Scene image.

Today, we have another Psd Premium tutorial exclusively available to Premium members. If you want to take your digital painting skills to the next level, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Learn more after the jump!

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This Premium Tutorial is Filled with Creative Tips

Without a doubt, my favourite new feature in Photoshop CS5 is the Mixer brush. When you see the demos of people using it, it looks great, but when I first got to use it, I was a bit confused. Each brush has 5 different attribute settings and then another 4 canvas settings to get your head around. In this tutorial I will take you through some of the mixer brush settings and demonstrate how to use them to make a fantasy based image with 2 of the biggest rats ever to blight a city.

Today’s tutorial was written by David and Sarah Cousens who run Cool Surface from the South West England. They have provided illustrations for The BBC, Hachette, Adidas, Macmillan Publishing, Letraset, and have been featured in a number of leading design magazines such as Computer Arts, Advanced Photoshop, Digital Arts and Photoshop Creative. Log in or Join Now to get started!

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Professional and Detailed Instructions Inside

Premium members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from this tutorial.

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Psd Premium Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Premium and Vector Premium, too. If you’re a Premium member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

In today’s quick tip tutorial, we will demonstrate how to add depth of field to a scene that we will be creating with 3D objects to help improve a presentation to a client.

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Step 1

First, create a new document (Cmd/Ctrl + N) and make it 600 pixels by 400 pixels. You could of course set the resolution up to 300 pixels per inch for any printed document, but we’ll keep it down to 72 for this tutorial.

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Step 2

Then, we need to place the major part of this tutorial onto the scene, our business card. Choose File > Place and select your image.

Place it onto your canvas and make sure it’s big enough, we could still scale it down if it doesn’t fit well, but scaling up is something we don’t want to do because of the pixel loss.

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Step 3

Now, in order to distort it in a certain perspective, you need to convert it to a 3D layer using the New 3D Postcard From Layer command. Select your layer and select 3D > New 3D Postcard From Layer. Once it’s done, take the 3D Rotate Tool in your tool palette and start playing around by simply dragging your card in any direction. A similar result can be achieved in earlier versions of Photoshop using the Distort tool or the Perspective tool, but the 3D Rotate Tool makes sure everything looks right.

Place your card as shown below. We don’t want too much inclination, only a subtle effect. You can now drag some guides on each corner of the layer to prepare the next step where we’ll need to create a reflection to this postcard.

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Step 4

Use the Ruler Tool to create a straight line that joins the two corners on the left. This is going to help create a reflection that has the same height as your 3D layer.

Now, simply drag it down to the next corner and create a new guide at the new intersection. Do the exact same for the two remaining corners on the right.

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Step 5

Place a second card onto a new layer and name it "reflection". An easy way to flip your image out is to simple add a "-" operator before the height dimension. Align the top left corner of the reflection to the bottom left corner of the card.

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Step 6

Press Cmd/Ctrl + T, then right click, we’ll be able to bring up the transformation menu.

Select Distort and start dragging your anchor points to the appropriate intersections we just made with the Ruler Tool.

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Step 7

The next step is how to make it fade to transparent. Select a big and soft brush about 200 pixels. We could also be using the Gradient Tool for this part, but I prefer the brush because it gives us a little bit of control we don’t get with the Gradient Tool.

Create a new layer mask to this layer by clicking the little mask icon at the bottom of your palette. Select this newly made mask and start brushing with a pure black the bottom area of the reflection. Bring down the Opacity value to about 20% the get a more subtle effect.

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Step 8

We wouldn’t have so much depth in our scene if we didn’t have at least two elements in our 3D space, so repeat the process we just explained with another card. You should make it a little smaller since it’s farther into the Z space.

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Step 9

Since our reflections are now transparent, there is a new problem which can be solved quite easily. What we need to do is to mask out the area of the front element’s reflection on the second one. To do this, Cmd/Ctrl – click the first element preview in the palette and Shift + Cmd/Ctrl – click on it’s reflection. What’s that does is it create a new selection from the selected layer and it adds the other selection to the actual selection.

Once your selection is ready, select the mask of the back element’s reflection and fill your selection with black.

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Step 10

To simulate a nice laminated shine on your card, we need to create a new layer and name it "Shine". By pressing Cmd/Ctrl – click on the preview icon again, select your card and subtract a part of it using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. To do so, hold Alt and start clicking around to create your shape, once closed, it will subtract this shape to the current selection.

Fill your selection with white and mask it as we masked out the reflection using the Mask and the Brush. Bring the Opacity value down again so that it’s more subtle. Repeat the process for the second element but this time press Alt + Cmd/Ctrl – click on the front element’s preview icon to subtract it from the selection.

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Step 11

It is now time to add depth of field to our scene. For those who don’t know much about depth maps, it’s a black and white map that represent the depth of each element with a value that goes from white to black, white being the focused elements. Create a new layer and fill it black because there is nothing to be focused on in the back of our scene. Using the selection method we discussed in step 9, fill the front element with white and the rear with gray. You don’t need to choose your gray well because we’ll be adjusting the blur settings in few moments, don’t worry if it’s too dark or too pale.

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Step 12

Since the Lens Blur effect only affects one layer, we need to create a copy of our layers and make a single one out of them. Select all your layers (excluding the depth map we just created) and drag them onto the new layer icon at the bottom right of the layer palette. Press Cmd/Ctrl + E to merge them in a single layer or right click and select Merge Layers.

To apply the depth map on the flattened layer, hit Cmd/Ctrl + A with your depth map selected, this will select everything on the layer. Hit Cmd/Ctrl + C to copy it, we’ll need it in few seconds. The upcoming part is a great way to import black and white values to a layer mask, simply add a layer mask to the flattened image, be sure to hit Cmd/Ctrl + I to make it black and then press the Edit in Quick Mask Mode icon at the complete bottom of your tool palette.

Once the Quick Mask Mode is activated, hit Cmd/Ctrl + V to bring out the depth map we copied before, it should give you something like that. If it’s all right, press the Quick Mask Mode icon again to make a selection out of this. Click on the layer mask and fill the selection with white.

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Step 13

Then, having the flattened layer selected, choose Filter > Blur > Lens Blur to bring up the effect settings.

Make sure when you adjust your settings that your source is set to "Layer Mask" in the drop down menu and that the "Invert" checkbox is checked (for some reason, Photoshop is using black as focus instead of white).

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Step 14

To add dimension to the card, draw a simple dark gray line around the edge of the first card to create the impression of an extruded layer.

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Step 15

Adding a floor is a great way to make it more realistic because the eye will understand more easily that the business cards aren’t floating in space but sitting on the ground. For this tutorial, I am using a texture you can easily get since it’s given in the Psdtuts+ freebies. I used "stonetexture5.jpg" that you can find in the Stone Texture Pack.

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Step 16

Desaturate it by hitting Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + U, if it does not work, you might need to rasterize your layer. Choose Layer > Rasterize. Hit Cmd/Ctrl + T to bring the transformation tools and select perspective.

Scale it down about the third of your image and bring out the bottom left or bottom right anchor point to create a perspective.

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Step 17

Mask out cards using the same selection method we’ve been using quite a lot before.

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Step 18

Using a big soft brush, around 300px, mask out some areas we want to soften out.

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Step 19

To add a quick shadow under those cards, create a new layer a paint a black spot using a soft brush.

Hit Cmd/Ctrl + T and start stretching it and rotating it so that it matches well with the card.

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Step 20

Mask out the overlapping areas and repeat for the second card.

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Final Image

You might want to play with these settings to get the desired effect, you could bring the opacity of the ground down a bit to make it less grungy.

Here is a similar attempt using the same exact method.

Here at Envato we’re pretty famous for building a lot of successful blogs, like this one! We’ve done quite a few now, so last year I decided other people might find our techniques and systems useful. Today I’m really happy to announce my new book How to Build a Successful Blog Business which is a step by step guide to doing what we do, and it comes packed with case studies for our blogs including Psdtuts!

The book covers everything from picking a niche to hiring staff, monetizing to building traffic. Like all my books it’s very practical, but I think the best part is the case studies because they include things like our income and expense graphs, detailed backstories about how our sites came to be, and much more. To give you a taste of what the book is like, I thought you might like to read a little part of the case study about Tuts:

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Extract The Tuts Case Study

…While the official launch of Psdtuts+ was in August, the real beginnings of the site date back to late February. At that time I was fascinated to learn that there were entrepreneurs out there who bought websites, gave them a makeover and resold them for a profit. This practice, known as ‘flipping’, was particularly common on a site called the Sitepoint Marketplace (which has since been rebranded as Flippa).

So I decided to try this out for myself, and began searching through the marketplace for a good site to purchase. Because I knew a lot about Photoshop and had written a few tutorials some years prior, I was very excited to find a listing for a basic Photoshop tutorial site called Psdtuts.com. It had some very average tutorials on it, was plastered with ads, and was selling for the grand sum of $1200. While this may not sound like a lot of money, it sure was for me back then. Money was very tight and we were meant to be focusing on our nascent startup Envato, not buying websites to do up. Still, in a moment of wild abandon, I bought the site anyway!


Fig 10-1: The original Psdtuts.com site that I bought

When I told my wife Cyan about the purchase she was horrified. It must be said, the site really was not much to look at, and though the listing claimed it made a good amount of money from text ads, it turned out those numbers had been inflated. In fact during the following three months the site earned less than $100 and even those monthly returns were steadily declining!

It also turned out that I wasn’t very good at giving sites a once-over. I tried with a quick and dirty design overhaul, but the result was just another not-worth-visiting tutorial site, and the statistics showed. They didn’t go anywhere, in fact they continued to slide downhill.

This incident taught me a valuable lesson in web entrepreneurship. You have to really add value if you want to get anywhere. There’s no such thing as a quick buck – at least not for me …

Extracted from How to Build a Successful Blog Business, by Collis Ta’eed

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Read More Extracts

You can read more extracts from the other case studies over on FreelanceSwitch, Nettuts+ and Mac.AppStorm (the other sites covered in the case studies). You can also read a sample chapter by heading to our sales page for the book.

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Get the Book!

You can learn more about the book, as well as find out what top100 bloggers like Darren Rowse from Problogger and Daniel Scocco from DailyBlogTips are saying about it over on the epic sales page that we’ve constructed! Get Blog Business!

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Also Envato Birthday Bundle 2010!

And while I’m here with news about my book, I thought I’d also mention that next month we’re running our annual Envato Birthday Bundle for 2010 and it’s going to be EVEN bigger than last year with over $400 of value selling for just $20! Find Out about Envato Birthday Bundle 2010.

So watch out, it’s going to be a big August!

Rust can often produce beautiful colors, textures and linear qualities on surfaces. Rust textures are not only inspiring but are also a great way to add an extra dimension to any project. Today, we have compiled a huge collection of over 250 free and premium rust textures from around the web for you to use in your designs.

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