Gavtrain.com – Page 17 – The place to learn Photography and Photoshop

Shooting a slide show

What do you do with all the 1000’s or may be 10,000’s of photos you take every year? There’s only so many pictures you can put on Facebook and tweeting to many photos, to often, is a sure fire way to loose followers.

Of course there’s no shortage of photo sharing sites like Flickr and the excellent 500px and uploading the best of your photos to these sites is a great idea.

In this video I have another way to show off lots of your photos in an amazing way, by making a slide show. It’s a great way to show off the photos you’ve already taken but you can also take photos specifically for use in a slide show. That’s exactly what I do in this video and I get to pass on some shooting tips along the way.

Once you’ve chosen which photos you’d like to use in your slide show, you’re ready to start putting the show together. I used Photoshop Elements to do the job but there are plenty of alternatives out there (such as Lightroom) which is good news if you’re on a Mac as frustratingly the slide show part of Elements is a Windows only feature.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmXh9poFRhI&feature=c4-overview&list=UU8Pksdbj37CdE00kmE7Z1dw[/youtube]

Need royalty free music? YouTube has you covered with thier brand new audio library, which is where I downloaded the mp3 file used in this video.

Here’s the final slide show
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onUsQsKHALw[/youtube]

Vintage Border and Texture

This week’s Friday Freebie is a vintage border and texture combined into one. It’s a warm tone texture that combines staining and aging with a custom made distressed black edged border. The texture is actually the inside leaf of a very old and rather battered book that Sam picked up at a boot sale. All the blank pages have this amazing textured appearance and I’ll be sharing more of them as Friday freebies soon.

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the vintage border & texture

As with all textures it works best with photos that have large areas of bright tones such as this one which has loads of bright sky. All you need to do is paste the texture above your photo and set the blending mode. There are loads of different layer blending modes and they’ll all give a different look but I’d suggest Multiply as the best mode to try first.

This is a fairly dark texture and the Multiply blending mode will also make the image less bright. Once you’ve added the texture I’d suggest adding a Levels adjustment layer to either your photo or at the top of the layer stack and moving the middle levels slider to adjust the overall brightness… if required.

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The image is copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission.

Download instructions
Click the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Mmmm3K1utNaTlfSUdvSjB1b0U/view?usp=sharing

1. Click the Download button

2. The download should start automatically

This weeks Friday Freebie is a a high resolution image that adds a light flare to any image. I’ve also added some lens internal artefacts to the
template for that added touch of interest. Best of all it’s unbelievably easy to use and works with any image.

Click Here To download the Light flare template

Once downloaded, the light flare template will need to be unzipped. To apply it to your photo open an image in either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and then open the lens flare template. Copy and paste the template over the image and change the layer blending mode to Screen. Finally use Free Transform to resize, rotate and reposition the lens flare to suite the image below.

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Faking into a sweat

So you want your model to look they’ve done a workout but you don’t have a gym in your studio. What do you do? Well you could send them out for a run or turn the heating up to max, both would work but neither is ideal.

In this video I’ll show you how to apply fake perspiration to a models face.

Now if you’re thinking that you can just spray water in their face, you’re wrong. Water alone doesn’t give beads of sweat, for that you need something more. A little olive oil applied to the forehead, cheeks and noise will make the world of difference and very convincing perspiration. For obvious reasons, don’t put oil close to the eyes.

The video doesn’t stop there. I also have some great lighting tips and I run through the Photoshop processing too.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lyRzp8YEUc[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click Here http://youtu.be/_lyRzp8YEUc

Vintage Camera Effect – Creative Lightroom Episode 10

In this weeks episode of Creative Lightroom I take at one of my favourite ways to give my images a retro look in Lightroom. Now I could probably do another 10 videos on all the different styles of vintage style post processing you can do in Lightroom ranging from the very subtle to the over the top effects. This one falls towards the middle of that list.

For me there are a few essential things that make a vintage camera style image. First it need a cross processed colour scheme, in other words the colour need to be just the right side of wrong. Next it needs to lack contrast and finally a spot of vignetting is a nice touch. This technique has all that and more.

As always it’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user, EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CC, CS6, CS5 and CS4.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGAOqby364k[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click here: http://youtu.be/oGAOqby364k

Infrared Mono – Creative Lightroom Episode 9

In this weeks episode of Creative Lightroom I take a deep dive into creating stylish infrared style images in Lightroom. I first made mono infrared images way back in my film days, back then it was a tricky business requiring the film to be loaded in complete darkness. Today things are a lot easier, espeically if you’ve had your camera converted to capture near IR.

This technique forms the basis of my favourite way to process ordinary colour photos into stylish mono. It also adds a touch of the classic IR film feel with a slight glow and a touch of grain.

As always it’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user, EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CC, CS6, CS5 and CS4.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6_8AQaNhzs&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click here: http://youtu.be/c6_8AQaNhzs

Eroded Edge Texture

This weeks Friday Freebie is an eroded texture which is simple to use and gives amazing results. It’s a black and white texture that has a dark mottled centre, fading to a lighter edge.

Full download instructions are below but you can also
Click Here To Download the Eroded Edge Texture

Unlike most textures, the eroded edge effect works best with photos that have large areas of darker tones. All you need to do is paste the texture over your photo and set the layer blending mode. There are loads of different layer blending modes to choose from and they’ll all give a different look, with this texture Screen blending mode worked well as did Overlay and Soft Light.

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The texture image is copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original texture without my permission.

Download instructions
Click the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Mmmm3K1utNc2tESjJKYTNIUUk/view?usp=sharing
1. Click the Download button

2. The download should start automatically

Colour Popping with Style – Creative Lightroom 8

This weeks episode of Creative Lightroom is all about selective colour, also known as colour popping. Now before you say this is a repeat of Creative Lightroom Episode 3 then let’s be clear how this is different. In episode 3 we used selective saturation to leave just one tone of colour (just the reds for example). Colour popping is more about keeping one area in colour even if the area has a mixed bunch of tones.

Where most photographers fail in this technique is by leaving the colours over saturated. That may be OK with a single colour but with mixed colours the end result can be very jarring on the eye.

So in this video I’ll show both how to colour pop and then how to control the popped colours,

As always it’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user, EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CC, CS6, CS5 and CS4.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODidMT5Lm6g[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click here: http://youtu.be/ODidMT5Lm6g

Split Tone Mono – Creative Lightroom Episode 7

This weeks episode of Creative Lightroom is all about going mono with a twist.

Black and white is great but sometimes you want to add a bit of general colour and toning the image. Sepia and blue tone are popular choices. Split toning takes the traditinal toning effect a step further by adding a different tones to the shadows and highlights.

In the video I show you how to use Lightroom split tone sliders to create the perfect colour balance.

This tutorial is compatible with all versions of Lightroom.

As always it’s worth mentioning that if you’re a Photoshop user rather then Lightroom user, EVERYTHING I show in the video is the same as Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CC, CS6, CS5, CS4 and Photoshop CS3.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c8DUjquXPQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Can’t see the video? Click here: http://youtu.be/8c8DUjquXPQ

Paint Drip Brushes

This weeks Friday Freebie is a set of four high resolution Photoshop brushes. Following on from the coffee ring brushes I shared a few weeks back, these brushes can be made to look like drips and drops of liquid such as paint or in my case, tea.

Click Here To Download the Drip Brushes

These brushes were hand crafted in my studio by dropping splats of paint onto white paper. Once I had a few good ones I photographed the results and then defined them as a brush. It’s a great wet weather project that you can try yourself.

Once downloaded, the brushes will need to be unzipped before they are installed. The brush set is compatible with all versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. If you need help installing them then remember to search on Google and YouTube for the answers.

If you create a photo using the Friday Freebie then let me (and everyone else) know by leaving the link in the comments below.

Usage rules
The brushes are copyright Gavin Hoey 2013. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original image without my permission