Time for a change...

I started this blog in the hopes that I could learn and share with others. And I have... but not really on here. I just can't seem to find the time to blog as often as I'd like and thinking up tutorials, typing them up, taking the screenshots, uploading the images and organizing everything just takes up so much of my time that I've pretty much stopped doing it. But I don't want to. I love to share what I've learned and I know I have a passion for photography. I've grown in leaps and bounds this past year and I continue to have aha! moments with my work. I couldn't have done it without the kindness of others and that's the driving force behind why I started this blog.

However, since I can't seem to find the time, I think I'll close this blog down. I've been thinking about it and always have this in the back of my mind. But I can still share what I know and what I've learned in other ways. Which is where Circus Pastiche comes in. It's gone beyond sharing at this point. I love to offer help to those who need it and I love creating new actions to streamline my workflow and add the little things that make my images pop. I figured what the heck, why not offer a hodge-podge of items including handmade props to the friends I know. Things that I would use myself. Put myself to work and still be able to do the things I love. Still be able to give back.

So check out Circus Pastiche, keep tabs on the new things I'm doing and just hang out!

Composite? Hair Fix Tutorial! ~ Photoshop Tutorial

I wont go into the crazy details about why, but recently I had to do a composite photo. If you've ever done one with anybody with plenty of hair, you may have struggled with the edges looking a little funky. Like I did.

So today I whipped up this tutorial as I was fixing this image of my lovely niece.

I've already finished compositing the image and um... didn't know what made it seem so off. Thankfully, someone was kind enough to point it out to me so here we are.




See the back sections of her hair? They don't exactly look like they were really in front of the background.

We'll work on a transparent layer above the actual image.

First, I select a color from her actual hair so it matches.



You can also alt click while hovering over the area of color you'd like to set in your palette.

Then I choose a 1px solid edged brush and start painting streaks like mad (works better if you've got a tablet... Mine's still packed from our move so I did it with my laptop thingy. Because... Felix dunked my mouse in the toilet. Don't ask. :P)



Choose another color.



And another...



And keep going until I have several colors there.



When I have plenty there to work with, I stop painting. I click on this little doohickey in my layers palette to lock the transparent pixels of that layer.



Then I use a large soft brush with a low flow and I paint a few of those softly so they'll blend with her hair just a bit better.



Getting better, right?



Now I'll add a layer mask to that transparent layer.



Change the flow of my brush again.



And paint on the layer mask to slightly mask away the ends of the hairs to soften them and blend them into the existing hair.

Even better, huh?



Now I'll duplicate that layer and go to filter>guassian blur.

I used these settings, but you may feel better to adjust yours to your own taste. This way the hair isn't so sharp.



Then I adjust the opacity of both layers to taste.



And that's about all there is to it!

Subtle, but more believeable, yes?



So now you can start taking people out of boring places and putting them in strange ones. Show me your composites!