Professional Photo Editing – Fixsr.com

In this tutorial, you’ll see how to create a sleek pair of headphones, mainly using the Pen Tool and Blending Options. The tutorial is based on teaching some simple ways of using the Layer Styles to create some great shadows and a realistic sense of 3Dimension. This tutorial also involves showing you some interesting ways of using the Gradient Overlay option to create a metal effect.

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Step 1

Let’s begin by opening a 512 px by 512 px document with a white or transparent background. We will start by creating the superior part of the headphones.
Ready? So.. open the Pen Tool to make a shape like the one shown below (1a). If you think it’s hard for you to make a good ellipse, activate Snap from the View Menu (Shift + Command + Semicolon key). Set up two guides to mark the center of the canvas, and create the shape like in (1b).

Step 2

Grab the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) from the toolbar, and cut on both sides parts of the shape like shown in (2a). Via–Layer Cut the 2 parts , resize them like in (2b), and name the layers : “resized-right” and “resized-left”. In the “headphones” main layer-group, place the two new layers in the back.

Step 3

Now select the "head layer" and duble-click on it to bring up the Layer Style window. Like in (3a) add Satin and Gradient Overlay to add some shadows, and some Inner Shadow to create a concavity effect.

Step 4

Then select the "resized right" layer and double-click to bring up the blending mode again . Add some shadows again; set the Inner shadow to give some concavity around the edges , and Gradient Overlay to give it a pipe-effect. (4a)

I recommend you deselect Use Global Light to any lightings you make, and try to imagine all the shadows. Most times, when you have small objects like the ones in (4a) , the Use Global Light option confuses the shadows for the other objects in a negative way.

After this, just copy all the effects from the "resized right" layer to "resized left" layer. (Drag the "Effects" holding ALT from one layer to the other)

Step 5

To enhance the shadow effect on the "head" layer, select a Soft Mechanical Brush, 0% Hardness, 14px Master Diameter, and on a new layer named "head-overlay" (layer that has to be on top of "head" layer) draw some lines like in (5a). After that just select the Overlay option, and you got’ yourself some nice shadows. (5b).

Step 6

Now let’s make the headphones a bit more confortable …

Create a new layer : "head-sponge", under the "head" layer. With Pen Tool make a shape like in (6a) and fill it with 50% grey. Bring the Blending Mode Window up again and set the following Options: (6b).

Step 7

Let’s add some leather texture on our sponge.

Download this image and place it on the document, naming it layer "texture".Scale it down proportionally until it’s slightly bigger than you need it (7a). Command-click the "head-sponge" layer to select its pixels then add the selection as a mask to the texture (7b).

Add Image > Adjustments > Black and White with Preset set at Maximum Black (7c). Then on "texture" layer add Overlay (7c).

Step 8

I hope you’re still with me ….if yes, let’s now make the actual headphones.

Because both ear-pieces aplly the same techniques, i will show you how i made one of them. Create first a folder under the first folder ("Headphones") and name it "right-earpiece". Start by drawing some shapes with Rounded Rectangle Tool and Ellipse Tool and cut them according to the following :

Step 9

Adding effects! We will add Inner Glow to create the outer highlights, Inner Shadow to simulate highlights on the edges and various styles of Gradient to create a further 3Dimensional effect, and point out the shadows better :

I guess you got the point of how blending Options should be used to create some nice, realistic shadows. You apply the same techniques to the other shapes. Remember that the following are shown for you to see how the final image was done, but try to personalise the steps a bit so you can see the final differences ( this tutorial objective is for you to understand the simple ways of Blending Mode). Therefore:

On "shape5" – set the Inner Glow to: Blend Mode > Screen, Opacity: 75%, Noise: 0%, Gradient:White to Transparent

On "shape6" – Inner Shadow: Opacity 60%, Angle 72 degrees, Distance and Size to 4, Gradient Overlay: 100% Opacity, Gradient: Black to 50% Grey.

On "shape7" – Inner Shadow: Opacity 80%, Distance 1px, Size 0px, Angle 72 degrees. At the Gradient part, try to make the "metal" effect just like in "shape4".

Step 10

Add a further shadow effect:

Step 11

This is a separate Step just to point out that you just Duplicate the "Headphones" folder, and reverse it by clicking on the folder > Command + T > Flip Horizontal .

You now have a headset!

Step 12

Soon it will be over …Create a folder named "Handles". Begin by creating the following shapes (12a):

Step 13

Adding the final effects now!

Step 14

Now just like the earpieces, select the "Handles" folder, and duplicate it like shown in a previous step.Click on the folder > Command + T > Flip Horizontal .

Step 15

All you have to do now is to joint all the layers you did until now.(15a)

Step 16

We’ll just add a final shadow just for the sake of presentation.

First select all the folders like in (16a) and press "Command + E":

Step 17

Select the imagine you just made > Command + T > Click Right > Distort , like in (17a). Then aplly the following effects : 1. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. / 2. Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. (17b)

Step 18

Now just add a cable for your headphones and that’s all ….Finally !

(I’ll let you imagine the cable….being the same techniques, it’s your turn now )

Conclusion

You can "pimp" your headphones with some golden texture or diamonds , or whatever. Hope you enjoy it, and also learned something from my tutorial!….. ( this is my very first ever tutorial… so be kind).

See ya in a future tutorial! Have fun!

Wednesday wouldn’t be the same without Janine Smith (@landailyn)�

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On Monday I had a tutorial up on Firgs awesome place, Design By Firgs, a photo-to-drawing project the was inspired by Bert Monroy and taken to another level by Firgs herself.

Today I’m going to alter things a bit to apply more readily to old family photos in order to acquire the look of an unfinished painting. Keep in mind the steps outlined here are just a suggestion! Try other settings, other filters, check and uncheck boxes! Different things look better with different filters or settings and these steps, as with any tutorial, should be used as a basis, only! In other words, play! Have fun!

For this particular project, I’ve used an image I restored for the wonderful Kelly (@Herstoryan) – It’s really the perfect thing for this project! This is the original:

 

 

And this is the image after I colorized it:

 

 

Colorization, if you’re image isn’t color, is an essential part of this project. After all, we’re going for the look of a painted portrait, here, and most of those would have been in color. I’d also suggest using a curves adjustment, a hue/saturation adjustment and maybe even a sharpening filter (just as the good old High Pass) to exaggerate the colors and lines. Most old photos are going to be fairly “soft”, without much sharpness at all – it’ll be a good thing to add some to it, now.

 

 

When the photo is sufficiently tweaked. duplicate all previous layers (PC = Shift+Crtl+Alt+E or Mac = Shift+Cmd+Option+E). This will be your “starting point” layer. Select the layer (Ctrl or Cmd+A) and go to Edit > Define Pattern. Now duplicate this layer (Ctrl or Cmd +J), and proceed to Filter > Stylize > Find Edges.

 

 

If the edges still look a bit weak, duplicate the edges layer and use a Multiply Layer Blend Mode on it, then merge the layers (Ctrl or Cmd+E). Still too weak? Do it again! Go for it! When your edges look good, give this layer a Blend Mode (Multiply) and lower the opacity to 75%. Put a blank layer beneath it and fill it with a color you like. Keep it something that will work well with “old”, in other words, pass up the lime green or neon orange in favor of the more sepia tones. Put a canvas texture on it by going to Filter > Texture > Texturizer

 

 

Return to the top of the layer stack, now, the “Find Edges” layer. Add a new, blank layer above. Selecting the Pattern Stamp Tool, and the pattern we defined at the beginning, on the blank layer, but only paint in the background (yes, the background)! Change the Layer Blend Mode to Pin Light and the Fill Opacity to 50%.

 

 

Add a new blank layer, continue with the Pattern Stamp Tool and paint in the central subject. Keep the

lines vague towards the bottom and unfinished. It helps to use a very soft brush while painting to achieve this look. You want the “painting” to appear unfinished!

 

 

Change the Layer Blend Mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 75%. Add a new blank layer. The Pattern Stamp Tool still selected, change your brush to something along the lines of the great “Grunge Garage” set by gwipDesign (available, free of course! at Brusheezy.com) and paint in and around the main subject. This time, you can go outside the lines into the background – a bit anyway! Towards the bottom, keep the painting further back from the edges you painted previous. We’re wanting the painted area to be smaller on each layer. Change the Layer Blend Mode to Soft Light and the Opacity around 56%.

 

 

Yet another blank layer at the top of the stack. Paint in another area of the main subject (change to another of the grunge brushes, if you wish), and set to Hard Light. Play with the Opacity of this layer. I kept mine at 100%.

 

 

Now – you guessed it! Yet another blank layer! This one I started in the subject with the brush at 100% opacity and worked out to the very edges of the canvas lowering the brush opacity to 50%. I then lower the Opacity of the entire layer to 50%, keeping the Layer Blend Mode to Normal. While I understand there are probably 100 ways to do this that would be a lot easier, it just ended up looking cool!

 

 

This is a good time to go back to your “Find Edges” layer, the one before you started “painting” and lower the opacity of the layer to somewhere between 25% and 35%.Your image should look something like this, now, your personal settings and tweaks aside.

 

 

To give the whole thing a bit more of a painterly feeling, go to Filter > Distort > Glass. You’ll be in the Filter Gallery if you use Photoshop CS4. If not, you’ll have to apply these settings separately, but still on the same layer. In the Glass filters, I applied the following settings: Distortion: 3, Smoothness: 3, Texture: Canvas, Scaling: 80%. In the Filter Gallery, select New Effects Layer and go to the Artistic filters and select Paint Daubs. My settings here are Brush Size: 2, Sharpness: 1, Brush Type: Simple. Add another New Effects Layer. Go to the Brush Strokes filters and choose Angled Strokes, this I set to Direction Balance: 43, Stroke Length: 14 and Sharpness: 4. Add a final New Effects Layer and go back to the Artistic filters, this time selecting Underpainting. Here, I applied the following settings: Brush Size: 7, Texture Coverage: 6, Texture: Canvas, Scaling: 117, Relief: 10 and Light: Top Right.

 

 

Lower the opacity of this layer to around 50%.

 

 

Thank for following what I hope will prove to be a fun little project! Not all your photos will be good candidates for this – I had a dreadful time finding an image that did work well (thanks again to Kelly!), but when you do find one that works well, it can make a wonderful image for display!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Possibly Related Posts:

• Upscaling Grayscale
• Photoshop Blend Modes Part 5
• Custom Black & White in Lightroom
• No Flipping Photoshop
• Photoshop Blend Mode Basics – Part 4