Stress City 16 Step By Step Tutorial
In this step-by-step tutorial, we will create a photomontage in Adobe Photoshop CS4 using only the layer palette. Our goal is to achieve stunning results without using any of the Photoshop filter options. For this tutorial, you will reconstruct of my pieces, Stress City.
Pre-Step 1: Planning your work
Regardless of your composite’s complexity, always plan your illustration ahead. I like to start by first creating a sketch in my art book, figuring out where different elements go before beginning the computer work.
Step 1: Creating a new canvas
To begin, go to File and select a New Document. Set the image size of new document to Width 6.593 x Height 11.08 inches and the Resolution to 360 dpi. Save this document with the name “Stress City”.
Step 2: Laying down the layers: creating the background
I like to create all my own backgrounds for these projects by painting or drawing on watercolor paper and then scanning it into my computer. I feel that this step adds something special to the images,
gives them an overall “fine art” look. To start off this tutorial, import all the files from the CD onto your hard drive, into a separate folder for easy access.
Import “Street of London.tif” and then go to Edit—Transform—Scale. Set the Horizontal and Vertical scales to 218%. Position the image so that the right edge corresponds with the final finished piece.
Then name the layer “London Street” and save.
Step 3: Paper chase
To add depth to the background, we’ll give this layer a reverse or “negative” look. We’ll incorporate a “paper” finish as well. To do this, start by dragging-and-dropping the file “Paper Scan.tif” (For this image, I glued some tissue paper onto a sheet of paper and scanned it in.) Scale the image to fit the canvas. Once you are happy with everything, name your layer “Paper Scan,” set it to Multiply, and then flatten the two layers. Next, go to Edit—Adjustment—Black & White and then Invert. Now we have created a “negative” look to this image, without the artificial use of filters. Save this as “London Street Invert” in the folder that you have created for this project.
Step 4: Creating the main background (Layers 1-6)
In this part of the tutorial we will add six images to create part of a new background. To do this, start by opening up “Stress City” from your folder and name this new layer “Bike on Street.” (I find naming the layers handy, as it helps to keep track of the many layers that are created.) Go to the drop-down menu on your layer palette, create a new group, and name it Group 2. Keep all the images for this part of the tutorial in this group. Next, add some text to the image. (To keep this image fresh and interesting, I cut out and scanned text from different magazines that were just lying around.) Open up the file “A-Z Text.tif” and name this layer “A-Z Text.” (Once you open a file, always remember to rename it as a layer!) Scale to fit the canvas at the bottom of the page and set the opacity to Lighten. Add “Paper Scan” to your layer palette and set it to Color Burn. Highlight the layer “Bike on Street,” go to the drop down menu on the layer palette, and click on Duplicate Layer. Move this layer above “Paper Background” and set it to Hard Light. Open up “Yellow and Red Background.tif” and set it to Color Dodge. Next, open “Creative Background.tif” and set it to Hue. To make the bottom left hand corner lighter and to get ride of some of the text over the building, add a mask to the layers “Bike on Street” and “A-Z Text.” To isolate just the piece of the image that we want to highlight, use the brush tool to erase unwanted elements from each of the original images.
Step 5: More background (Layers 7-14)
Time to pull the rest of the background together! Import
the file “Watercolor Wash.tif.” into the layer palette. Name the layer “Watercolor Wash.” Set the layer to Color Burn. Go to the layer palette, duplicate “Watercolor
Wash” and set the duplicated layer to Hard Light and opacity at 100% (name this layer “Yellow and Green Background”). As you can see, we now have too much color in the background. We want to keep as much white as is possible in the background, so add a mask to this layer and with the brush tool, peel back part of the left hand corner of the image (“Yellow and Green Background with Mask”). Next, import “Night Time Shoot.tif” and set the layer to Color and at opacity 67%. Duplicate the layer, again set the layer to Color and opacity at 67%, and place this new layer above of the first layer in the layer palette. Go to the “A-Z Text” layer at the bottom of the layer palette. Duplicate this layer and move the duplicated layer up the palette, above “Night Time Shoot.” By adding this layer we are bringing back the text to the image. Add a mask to this layer and with the brush tool, remove the unwanted text around the building.
Set the layer to Overlay and the opacity at 33%. Duplicate
“A-Z Text” two more times, set the layer “A-Z Text 2” to Overlay and the opacity at 92%. Set the layer “A-Z Text 3” layer Overlay and the opacity at 100%. Finally, go to “Bike on Street” at the bottom your layer palette, duplicate this layer, and set this layer to Soft Light and opacity at 100%. Save this part of the project as “Stress City Steps 1-14.”
Step 6: Laying down those backgrounds
Now we have saved a version of the last 14 steps (“Stress City Steps 1-14”). Next, go to Image
– Duplicate, and flatten the layer. Save the flattened, duplicated layer as “Stress City.” Go to the menu in the layer palette and click on “New Group.” Duplicate the layer “Stress City” into the New Group and name this new duplicated layer “Stress City Flattened Background.” Delete the original layer of “Stress City.” From the folder on your hard drive open up the file “Creative Background.tif” Set the layer to “Hard Light” and opacity at 100%. Remember back in Step 3 when we created an image called “London Street Invert”? Now we are going to put it to work. Import it from your folder, place the image on top of “ Creative Background” in the palette, set the layer to Screen and the opacity at 100%. At this point, we need to add another white layer to lighten up the background; so in the layer palette, go to New Layer and with the paint bucket tool, add white to this layer. Set the layer to Overlay and opacity at 100%. Duplicate the “Stress City Flattened Background” layer, name it “Stress City Flattened Background Copy 1,” and in the layer palette, place it above the white background layer that you just created. Set this duplicated layer to Darken and opacity at 100%.
Step 7: Stretching the Text
Time to add some more text. The goal of this step is to make the text appear as if the figure on the bike is riding over it. Import the file “Lost Text.tif” and drop it on top of the layer “Inverted Background” in the layer palette. Click on the drop-down menu Edit—Transform—Distort and move the handles to distort the shape of the image, using both the Distort and Scale tools until you get the look described above. If you find that some of the text is encroaching onto the bike, add a mask to your layer and erase any unwanted information.
Step 8: Streets of London
Now we are adding and setting up the layers to build up the overall image’s color and effects. Duplicate “Stress City Flattened Background” and set the layer to Darken and the opacity
at 100%. Open up the file “ Bike on Street.tif” and set it to Hard Light and opacity at 57%. Open up the file “Night Time Shoot.tif.” set it to Color and opacity at 67%. Duplicate “Stress City Background” and set it to Darken and opacity at 100%.
Step 9: Going around in circles
To add more texture to the background, we’ll use the elliptical marquee tool to draw circles. Create a new Group Layer, then add a new Layer and call it “Circles.” Click on the elliptical tool, go to Style and select Fixed Size (300x300). Draw one circle. Then set the color of the foreground to “ffffcc” in your Color Picker. With the paint bucket tool, fill the circle with that color (a light cream color). Copy and paste the circle until you have a row of five, equidistant circles. Continue down the page until it is full. Next go to the layer palette and select Merge Group to lock all the individual circles into one layer. In the palette, select Multiply and set the opacity at 42%.
Step 10: Going the grayscale route
After you create the circle layer, save the whole file as “Stress City.” Then go to the drop-down menu Image, select Duplicate, and then rename the new duplicated layer “Stress City Duotone” and flatten it. Go back to the drop-down menu Image and select Mode—8 Bits/Channel. Go again to the drop-down menu Image and select Mode—Grayscale.
Step 11: Doing Duotone
After setting “Stress City Duotone” to Grayscale,
go to the drop-down menu Image, select Mode—Duotone. In the Duotone Options dialogue box, select Tritone and then enter the following colors—Ink1: Pantone 5245C; Ink 2: Pantone 7519; and Ink 3: Pantone 217C. Once these colors are set, reverse the process, i.e., set the Mode back to 16 Bits/Channel and then again to RGB Color. Don’t forget to save your work thus far!
Step 12: Back to 0ur main program…
Now you should have the two canvases open: “Stress City” and “Stress City Duotone.” Drag-and-drop “Stress City Duotone” from its palette into the “Stress City” palette, placing it above “Stress City Background Copy 1.” Set the layer to Multiply and opacity at 100%. As you can see, we now have a nice earthy color to our image and text.
Step 13: Adding more layers
To bring out the color over the text, add the layer “Stress City Background.” You can keep on adding the same layers over each other to increase depth and color. Duplicate “Stress City Background 2” and place it above “Night Time Shoot” in the layer palette. Set the layer to Darken and the opacity at 100%.
Step 14: Approaching the finish line
At this moment, the image is too dark. It needs to be lighter, so to lighten the image, duplicate “Stress City Duotone,” name this duplicated layer “Layer 2 Stress City Duotone,” and place it in Group 2, above the “Circles” layer created in Step 9. Set the layer to Luminosity and the opacity at 100%.
Step 15: Keep on going round in circles
To bring out the color within the circles, duplicate the layer “Circles” and name it “Layer 2 Circles.” Set the layer to Multiply and the opacity at 42%. Place “Layer 2 Circles” above “Layer 2 Stress City Duotone” The next two—and last!—layers are to enhance the numeral “6” over the bridge. Duplicate “Layer 2 Circles” and name it “Small Circles.” Next go to Edit—Transform— Scale and scale the layer until it fits over the numeral “6.” Add a mask to take out any unwanted background. Set the layer to Multiply and the opacity at 100%. As you can see not much has changed yet. Repeat this process, only this time set the layer to Luminosity and the opacity at 42%. Name this layer “Layer 2 Small Circles.”
Step 16: No more stress at the end of the day
Here is the finished image
Tip: Photoshop is the best program for working in Layers. Its easy layer management keeps your elements well organised
within your working space. Also, ther’s the welcome magic of layer set that will help you organise the images within
the Layer palette. It’s extremely important not to merge yourimages when working on your project. Once the layers are merged, they no going back and reworking the image. Which is rather inconvenient if you want to twak and polish them up at a later date!
Tip: One of the benefits of working with the Mask tool over the Lasso tool is that you can continue
to add or remove elements from your images and change the opacity using the painting mode.How ever, when you’re working with the Mask tool,it’s difficult to eliminate all the background elements in the first pass. As much as you try to get rid of the unwanted elements, you will always miss some. The best way to get over this problem is to add a new layer at the bottem of the layer palette and ad a white background to it. When working on the maskelement of your images, switch on this white backgroung layer. This will show where there are still little pockets og areas that need to be dealt with. Go back to the Mask layer and remove all traces of the images.
This is just good hosekeeping.
Tip of the day
Always change from RGB to gray before using Duotone.
Play around with the color and see what you come up with
