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First Photoshop Attempt

xxBURT0Nxx

xxBURT0Nxx

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 9, 2009
2,189
2
So, I watched a few tutorials over on psdtuts.com to get some basic knowledge and decided to see what I could make with what I've learned.

I changed the background, added rain and lightning, and used curve adjustment layers to add shadows and brighten up the neon lights.

Let me know what you think!!!

Final.jpg
 
Rain on South Beach, no way!

Interesting but it just doesn't work for me. The sky just looks off. Not quite sure what you were going for.
 
I wasn't really going for anything in particular, I was just trying to add some stuff to an image to see how i could implement what I learned in the video. It was mostly just to test all the techniques. I was originally going to put bigfoot in the street, but I can't really find any good images of him to use. Anyways, I edited it with a new sky and different lightning.

Final-1.jpg


and here is my 2nd one...

Bridge.jpg
 
The second one is much better.

However take care with reflections.

The firework bursts cannot be reflected over the bridge's shadow on the water…

Perhaps get a book or so on perspective drawing — yes an old fashioned book — probably printed about 50 years ago will be best. ;) — and get the basics of perspective under your belt by drawing and sketching (pencil and paper works).

Keep it up and good luck! :)
 
The lightning on the first photo looks fake, for whatever reason. But otherwise, it's not bad.
 
Thanks guys, I realize they aren't perfect, but they were my first works ever in photoshop. I'm going to be getting a PS book soon and will figure even more stuff out, but for now I'm just kind of messing with stuff to see what I can do.
 
Originals....

1. Did you take the original photos?

2. I don't know how you expect a "critique" if you do not show us the original images...:confused:
 
It's just a start obviously, but you've come to a place full of, not teachers, but professionals to whom Photoshop is their bread and butter.

xxBURT0Nxx said:
Let me know what you think!!!
Click to expand...

What do you think this crowd will think :p


Well done on starting to learn photoshop, it's a useful ability to have...the best thing I can say is keep it up :)
 
Genghis Khan said:
It's just a start obviously, but you've come to a place full of, not teachers, but professionals to whom Photoshop is their bread and butter.



What do you think this crowd will think :p


Well done on starting to learn photoshop, it's a useful ability to have...the best thing I can say is keep it up :)
Click to expand...

I wasn't expecting anyone to tell me it was great looking, but the only way to get better at things is to be around people who are better than you and through their teachings you can progress yourself. I'm not looking to become a graphic designer, I just picked up photoshop and thought it would be a fun hobby to learn to use in my spare time.
 
Great job. I really mean that. The later workd were much better than the original post. Youre pretty good at the whole neon thing. :)
 
Forget what you learned about the lightning and rain, never use those again, they look really tacky. If you need to add lighting then use a photo of it, its really easy to use bright things on a black background on top of other things. Or just use the old paint brush tool.

If you want to get a Photoshop book then stay away from Photoshop effects books they just teach you more tacky lightning and fire effects. Get digital art books that have tutorials in them, since theyre art books the tutorials will be done by artists good enough to be in an art book rather than just somebody who knows how to use Photoshop.
 
The lightning is pretty wild, Tone it down a bit (And get it to travel in a more linear direction) and it will look tons more 'realistic'. A nice touch I noticed, is to take the lightning layer and duplicate it. Then go to Fliter > blur > gaussian blur and blur it out. Just eyeballing it, I'd say around 7-10 pixels (Or what ever you think looks nice) the place it under the sharper lightning, adjust opacity, and you get a really nice glow around it reminsient of real lightning. If the glow is not bright enough, then just duplicate the layer again. ;)

Both images are very captivating though. A little more tweaking and I think you'd have a real master piece. The bridge and the fireworks are absolutely magical.
 
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