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Enhancing Buttercup (is this even possible ?? ;) |
Ok, short tutorial to enhance your SL pic, it may look long but once you've been through it once, you will be able to do this in about 2 min every time :)
We're gonna turn this :
into this :
..ignoring the background, the image of Buttercup herself looks clearer, and the skin neater...
The original photo was taken in a Photosphere so that we could get the green background in the image. Any plain color would have done, but a color as far away from the model is best.
If you don't have a Photosphere, why not rez a 10x10 cube, hollow it, and texture it a plain green color ..you'll get the same effect.
This tutorial uses PS Elements 5, but the other versions of PS shoud be similar. Open the original in PS Elements.
Make sure the layers window is open by going to Window - Layers :
In the Layers Window you'll see the original image labelled as Background :
Double click on the layer (where it says Background) and the following window will pop up :
You'll see that the layer has now changed to Layer 0 :
Select the Magic Eraser Tool from the toolbar :
Click on the green part of the image, and it will magically disappear :
Click on the other green part to remove that too, and we're left with Buttercup on a transparent background :
Add a new layer by going to Layer - New Layer :
You'll see a pop up window, just click OK unless you want to rename the layer. I generally leave it as is :
In the Layers Window you can now see the new layer above Layer 0 :
Drag the new Layer 1 below the Layer 0, so in effect it will be the 'background' layer :
To color the 'background' layer select white as the foreground color, and a secondary color for the background color. In this instance I have selected a pinkish color :
Select the gradient tool, it looks like this :
With this tool draw a horizontal line from right to left. Where you start and where you end is upto you, the image below was my choice :
You cvan see the background now goes from pink to white :
Go back to the Layers Window, and click on the Layer 0 to select it :
Right click where it says Layer 0, and select Duplicate Layer :
The pop up window will appear again, just click OK and select the defaults :
In the Layers Window you can now see a new layer called Layer 0 copy :
With this layer selected, go to the Filter menu and choose Filter - Blur - Gausian Blur :
In the pop up window, I have selected a blur of 22. You can experiment with the values, but I normally select between 20 and 50 :
The main image now has a 'blurred' effect :
In the layer Window, you will see a drop down menu. Layer 0 copy is by default set to Normal. Change this to Overlay :
You will now see the finished image, and you are done! :
ADVANCED IDEA......
..as an extra thought, you could go a bit further, but normally theres no need. Go to Layer - New Adjustment Layer - Hue / Saturation :
When the pop up Window appears just press OK :
In the Hue / Saturation window, I have moved the Saturation slider down to -10. Experiment to get the effect you want :
You can see the new layer appear in the Layers window :
..and the final effect is below ..here endeth the tutorial.... :) :
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SL Tutorials 
