I have had PhotoShop for years...

[Philly_SWAT]

But never knew how to do much of anything with it. Recently I have been trying to learn some of the features. I was messing around with it and came up with this pic. What do you guys think about this? Cool? Dumb? Looks good, or bad?

[bassman]

I'm not gonna lie....it took me a few minutes to figure out what the image was. I was thinking "Why did he blob it all over the place like that?" I like it though. Have you considered using something for the background other than white?

[Philly_SWAT]

I'm not gonna lie....it took me a few minutes to figure out what the image was. I was thinking "Why did he blob it all over the place like that?" I like it though. Have you considered using something for the background other than white? Yes I did. Originally I did it with a transparent background, but like you said it took you a bit to recognize what it was, it has to be light against a dark background, or dark against a light background for the image to make sense. So I took the brightness down on the pictures part and put it on a white background.

[Trancelikestate]

Replace the pic of you and savini with a pic of you and Gaylen Ross, and put the savini pic at the ass end of the gas mask and it's done. with a background change perhaps in order.

[Philly_SWAT]

Replace the pic of you and savini with a pic of you and Gaylen Ross, and put the savini pic at the ass end of the gas mask and it's done. with a background change perhaps in order. Yeah, unfortunately, I do not HAVE a pic of me and Gaylon Ross...she pulled a GAR on me that year... What background do you think might be better? One of the reasons I decided on white (main reason, see above) is that on the LD I have it is basically a black silhouette on a white background.

[SymphonicX]

You may be only just learning but you've got some real ideas there which are employed throughout the world of graphic design - maybe they just need a bit of finishing to add to the overall effect... I assume you physically cut out the shape of the swat mask with either the pen tool or the magic wand or something of that ilk - just as a quick work around you can use "SELECT - COLOUR RANGE" and choose "shadows" to automatically select all the black information in the picture - an image like this is perfect for it. The magic wand isn't always accurate and doing it by hand is labourious - this way should be easier. Once you've selected your black information then hit the "auto adjust" button near the toolbar (I think it's called that anyway) - this brings up a separate window with some sliders, one of these is "Feathering" or "Mask Feathering" - add a one or two pixel feather to the selection, and play about with the view settings in this window to see what results you'll get. go to www.textureking.com - find a new grungy texture that you like. Import that into your project and make it the top layer - set the blending mode on the layer's tab to "OVERLAY" or "SCREEN" or "ADD" or "SOFT/HARD LIGHT" - whichever you think gives you the best effect - this will add in the luma information and key out the colours leaving you with a nice textured image - download a paper texture for nice paper feel, or a grungy wall for something a bit more visceral - this will finesse your image and give it a more finished look. Finally make a new Adjustment Layer (assuming you are using CS3) by clicking the yinyang looking symbol at the bottom of the layers tab and selecting "Brightness/Contrast" - raise and dip the levels as you see fit, I recommend what we'd call "crushing the blacks" ie: making it more contrasty. Just some tips that i've picked up over the years - hope they are helpful!

[DEAD BEAT]

But never knew how to do much of anything with it. Recently I have been trying to learn some of the features. I was messing around with it and came up with this pic. What do you guys think about this? Cool? Dumb? Looks good, or bad? you know philly i do this for a living and if this is the very first time you attempt to use photoshop...i say bravo most people cant even figure out the tools with out someone showing them! All i can say is practice and you'll be able to fool everyone...just like the tabloids do! lol Oh and dont use lo-res images that's why the silhouette of the swat guy looks all jagged. Kudos on meeting the cast of Dawn though!

[AcesandEights]

I always loved that silhouette, gotta be my favorite bit of iconography from all dead related stuff and a great choice for this sort of thing. Anyway, great job, Philly. I'd likel to see it re-worked on a dark background, as other suggested, but the idea and images you're working with are great.

[Philly_SWAT]

go to www.textureking.com - find a new grungy texture that you like. Import that into your project and make it the top layer - set the blending mode on the layer's tab to "OVERLAY" or "SCREEN" or "ADD" or "SOFT/HARD LIGHT" - whichever you think gives you the best effect - this will add in the luma information and key out the colours leaving you with a nice textured image - download a paper texture for nice paper feel, or a grungy wall for something a bit more visceral - this will finesse your image and give it a more finished look. Finally make a new Adjustment Layer (assuming you are using CS3) by clicking the yinyang looking symbol at the bottom of the layers tab and selecting "Brightness/Contrast" - raise and dip the levels as you see fit, I recommend what we'd call "crushing the blacks" ie: making it more contrasty. Just some tips that i've picked up over the years - hope they are helpful! Thanks, I will check out that site. And I am using CS5 (just recently got it). you know philly i do this for a living and if this is the very first time you attempt to use photoshop...i say bravo most people cant even figure out the tools with out someone showing them! All i can say is practice and you'll be able to fool everyone...just like the tabloids do! lol Oh and dont use lo-res images that's why the silhouette of the swat guy looks all jagged. Kudos on meeting the cast of Dawn though! Well, I did watch some tutorial videos that explained some of the features, otherwise I wouldnt have known where to begin. But when I did this, I did it without referring back to the video just to see what I could do. I was pleased for a first attempt. Thanks for the props! I always loved that silhouette, gotta be my favorite bit of iconography from all dead related stuff and a great choice for this sort of thing. Anyway, great job, Philly. I'd likel to see it re-worked on a dark background, as other suggested, but the idea and images you're working with are great. Yeah, I always thought the silhouette was awesome. In fact, whenever I see ANY image of a guy in a gask mask I think of Dawn due to the power of that silhouette.

[ProfessorChaos]

looks good, philly. i'll be interested to see what it looks like when you get the wrinkles ironed out, but for your first attempt at anything like this, i'm very impressed. the title of this thread and all your cool photos made me think of the thread that DVW guy started about himself being a phony and never being in the military, and his crazy gf busted him out and he had to confess to the whole board before she blew the lid on his lies....i thought philly was about to say, "I've had photoshop for years, and I've never actually been to any filming locations for the Romero dead films, have never met anyone involved....I just wanted to come clean." here's the thread i was referring to, it's always good for a laugh: http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/s...ce.&highlight= anyway, nice work, philly. with all the cool photos you've got over they years, you've got a wealth of resources to turn out some great stuff, be sure to show off your efforts.

[DEAD BEAT]

looks good, philly. i'll be interested to see what it looks like when you get the wrinkles ironed out, but for your first attempt at anything like this, i'm very impressed. the title of this thread and all your cool photos made me think of the thread that DVW guy started about himself being a phony and never being in the military, and his crazy gf busted him out and he had to confess to the whole board before she blew the lid on his lies....i thought philly was about to say, "I've had photoshop for years, and I've never actually been to any filming locations for the Romero dead films, have never met anyone involved....I just wanted to come clean." here's the thread i was referring to, it's always good for a laugh: http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/s...ce.&highlight= anyway, nice work, philly. with all the cool photos you've got over they years, you've got a wealth of resources to turn out some great stuff, be sure to show off your efforts. lol never saw that thread before...he should've had that thread printed on some toliet paper! That would've been the shit...if you know what i mean! lmao

[babomb]

That thread is crazy! I wanted to say something in it but sadly it was closed. I guess internet boards are the place where folks can be whatever/whoever they want!? Damn. To think I just came here to talk about zombie flicks...

[randomness]

Yeah, unfortunately, I do not HAVE a pic of me and Gaylon Ross You do now

[MikePizzoff]

You do now You should lend your craft to a top-shelf magazine.