Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Lois Anne and Haley

This photo was taken a couple of years ago, but it's one of my favorites. Obviously, it has been "Photoshopped," as I've melded two photos together. It shows Lois Anne and our Golden Retriever, Haley, enjoying the ambiance of the pool area.

25 comments:

Unknown said...

Very cool photoshop work!

penny said...

Well done, I love it.

cieldequimper said...

Yep! I wish I knew how to use Photoshop.

Lois said...

Awww...that is so sweet!

Dottie Jo said...

Great job!

Anonymous said...

Cool photo editing - I haven't learned how to do that yet!

Saretta said...

Haley looks a bit like a ghost dog...

VP said...

I agree with the photoshopped, the ambience is very cool. Nice shot!

Lowell said...

If anyone is interested, I can provide an outline on how to blend two photos like this one...

Clueless in Boston said...

Very nice blending of the two photos.

cieldequimper said...

Yes, pleeeeease!

Lowell said...

Okay. I'll assume you have some knowledge of Photoshop and are using CS3 or perhaps CS2...it may work with earlier versions (may even work with Photoshop Elements) but I don't know. I use CS3.

1. Choose one photo as the base or background photo.

2. Select and open another photo. (You can blend multiple photos, but you might want to work with just two until you get the process down).

(It helps if these are about the same size pixel wise)

3. Click on the photo you wish to collage with the base or background photo. Press the letter V to get the Move tool, then click and drag the photo onto the base or background photo. It will appear above the background layer on its own separate layer. (Check the layers panel on the right).

4. With the second photo's layer selected, click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the layers panel (a little box with a hole in the middle), which adds a layer mask to the second photo.

5. Press the letter G to get the Gradient tool. Use a Black to White gradient (this is the 3rd gradient in the Gradient Picker Options Bar at the top of the work area).

6. Click the Gradient tool on the photo at the spot you wish to be 100% transparent, and drag to the spot where you wish the photo to be 100% solid (start dragging well inside the edge of the photo so the hard edge will be totally transparent.)

7. If you need to redo, simply press Ctrl Z (assuming you're using Windows) to undo and try again.

Sometimes, I have to redo a number of times to get the right effect or the effect I want.

When you get the right effect, you can save as a Photoshop document, which saves the layeres and allows you to make changes in the future (but takes up a lot of space!), or you can click on the three little dashes at the top right of the Layers Panel, go down to Flatten Image and click that. That puts the photos together and you can save your work as a JPEG file. Once you've done that and gone out of Photoshop, however, you can't go back in and make adjustments to the photo.

* This info comes from Scott Kelby who has written a number of excellent Photoshop books.

Hope this works. It's a lot of fun when you get it down.

cieldequimper said...

Thanks! All I need now is some TIME! ;-)

stromsjo said...

I'm not much for shopping as a way to improve reality but since it's apparent that there has been a bit of post-processing not even us conservative viewers would object. Good job!

nanak said...

nice job, jacob.

GiuCe said...

a sweet effect =)

Anonymous said...

Intersting double exposed photo. what is wearing the left woman? yes, BRT is the fastest BUS based traveling in the city :)

angela said...

Time and patience needed to accomplish this, I think..clever shot.

Marie-Noyale said...

I have copy-paste your explanation but still will need my kids close by!!!
Very cute picture!

*¤ஐ» Battie°»ஐ¤*° said...

Something amazing to look at
I have a German shepherd dog, her name is Lana but i call her foot licker!!!
Can't wait to spay her!!!!!!!

:)

Kala said...

that was a bit of an erie photo - I guess the dog is now in heaven? Nice cool photoshopping - very well done!

Lowell said...

Kala - No, Haley aka Pookie, at 10 years plus, is still with us and going strong. She just came in from chasing squirrels (which drive her crazy 'cause she can't come close to catching them!) and is now in her usual position sleeping on the couch in her special spot!

She's not spoiled at all.

Thanks for visiting!

Arnaud said...

That's a very nice work, this shot is very successful !

Anonymous said...

Very cool photo - and thanks for the lesson on how to do it! i love playing around with PS but I never knew how to put 2 together!

Lowell said...

Thanks, Susie...it really isn't hard; but sometimes you have to keep trying to get the effect you want...

"Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." — Henri Cartier-Bresson