As another photo-bashing exercise, we were instructed through another Photoshop tutorial. This one was significantly quicker and easier than the first.
The first thing I did was download all the image files and make sure their proportions were correct. Since I was creating a space scene with an astronaut, there aren't many images outside of flares.
The first thing I did was open a Photoshop document with the same measurements as the last (2000 by 3000), and set up the guidelines to help with the overall composition. Once I was happy with this, I embedded one of the grungy textures into the image. When making a poster, we'll be expected to use all our own images, so learning how to create a space background from a photo of stone is a good way to show that it's possible to create similar effects with completely different materials.
The next thing to do was adjust the stone texture until it looks more like space. To do this, I first adjusted the image in the curves menu. I pushed the blacks up and the whites far down to darken the image further.
I then added a mask layer on top and went around with a smooth brush and dotted away any of the busier parts of the image. Now, all that was left to do was add a gradient to the layer. I made the darkest part of the gradient a deep purple, with a lighter indigo a little ways up, with the lightest part staying white.
With the background complete, it was time to move onto the spaceman that would be floating in the scene. I started by opening the image in a separate document, and then using the magic wand tool to select the spaceman. Since the background has a lot going on, and some of the white of the spacesuit matches the sky, the selection wasn't perfect.
So I went into the 'Select and Mask...' menu, and did the same thing as what I'd done with the lady on the rocks. I went around and made sure everything of the spaceman was selected, and the radius of the feather was on 2, before accepting the selection.
However, this tool alone isn't always enough to produce a perfect selection, so I pressed Q and applied a mask to the layer. I then went in really close and painted in any of the missing details, and used a the circular marquee with a ratio of 1:1 to make sure the helmet was correctly painted in as well.
Once I was happy with the selection, I copied it over to a new layer, and then dragged the layer into the space background. I made the layer a smart object before going to the next step.
I opened the moon image in photoshop and used the marquee tool to cut it out. Once I was happy with the selection, and copied it onto a new layer and brought it into the main Photoshop composition. After making it a smart object as well, I adjusted its size and place it in the bottom left.
I copied the moon and changed its colour to purple. I also sized it down and rotated it around to make it less obvious that it was the same object. I also rotated the spaceman to make it seem more like he was floating in space as opposed to just jumping in the air like the original image.
Now it was time to start adding the flares. I used the horizontal flare and moved and sized it to bounce off the astronaut's helmet, and set it to a screen layer. I made sure the edges of the flare weren't visible before adding the larger lens flare and turned it turquoise.
I then brought in the star to prepare for later, and added the second large flare. I rotated it to mirror the other flare, which gives the whole image a coordinated look. I decided that I wanted to size down the purple moon, so I did that after I'd masked the red part of the lens flare so that it didn't obstruct the spaceman's foot too much.
I then copied the stars around and then added in some mist around the planets and stars to act as an atmosphere. Now that the background was complete, I went back to the spaceman.
I duplicated it seven time in preparation for a gaussian blur. Before I did this, I adjusted the the contrast of the spaceman to make him fit in better with the dark background. I went with an S-curve this time, as it was the most dynamic I could get it without going overboard.
Now what I did was add a gaussian blur to all the layers like I did in the last exercise and then merged all the layers.
With the gaussian blur merged, I changed it to a turquoise with the Hue and Saturation menu. The final step of this was to add the final grunge texture over the top to complete the look. Before screening it over the top, I set all the colours to auto to ensure it would look good.
This is the finished image. Having already gone through a similar process before, this task felt far easier than the previous one, as I was just reusing the same tools. Doing this has made me far more confident about using these techniques and tools in Photoshop. I hope to use these skills while creating a poster for the Professional Practice unit to the same standard.
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