Before and After - Old Car
So every month the Camera Club I belong to has a Photo Theme Challenge. This month it is "the wheel".
I tried a few things that totally fell flat. One of the girls on The Phaunt forum posted some images of old cars that she had made into Art for her son's room. They were so cool! You take the inspiration where you can get it!! :-) Now my hubby had been saying that I should go and take pictures of this old car that was rusting out on the side of the road. Today I went. I passed by the car and it had no tires on it. Well, that is ok, our interpretation of the theme is very broad and I could still shoot where the wheel should be. I would give you that car parts name but truthfully, I have no idea what it is called. LOL! When I turned around to park behind it, I found tires. Yippee even better! Actually it had tires in the trunk and the inside of the car was gutted out and there where 3 tires in there also. Anyway, I took a bunch of shots. I know nothing about cars as you can tell, but the side logo said it was a Packard.
Here is my straight out of the camera shot.
Come on now, I couldn't leave the street and power lines showing.
Here is my finished product.
There are tires, that counts for wheels. =)
So I thought I would go over some of the things I did.
First I adjusted two versions of the image. One for the car and one for the trunk.
Then I masked in the lighter version of the trunk so it showed on the car.
I found a cloud image that I took at the beach last month for my sky and started masking away.
If you still don't know how to work a layer mask? Watch the video HERE.
I wanted it to look like it was sitting up on a hill, so then I cloned in some of the trash from the right side to the left side to match. Kinda hides my grass and sky line.
Next I combined all of my layers together using the shortcut. Ctrl, Alt, Shift, E
Now I have a brand new layer with all of my adjustments on it but my original layers are still in tact.
Next I ran a free Lomo action that I have. I wanted to post the link but they have so many now, I am not sure which one is mine. Do a search for free Lomo Actions. If you have Elements some have directions for you to follow.
I reduced the Lomo effect down to 61% opacity.
The grass was too green and overpowering so I opened a hue/sat adjustment layer. I choose Green from the drop down box where it says Master. I reduced the saturation slider and darkened it a bit. This will just effect the green. (love this, do this all the time)
I added two textures from my Nicole Van texture folder. Worked with the opacity of both until I liked the effect.
My tires looked a little dark so I use my dodge tool and lighten them up.
Using the shortcut from before I make a new layer with all my new adjustments.
I thought it was too sharp for an old car image and wanted a different feel.
I have a filter called the buzz simplifier that is no longer available. I ran a very slight buzz.
Do a search for that also. You never know what you might find.
Then I added 2 different vignettes. (maybe I will post that for our next tutorial)
Added a slight curves adjustment and finished!
I think it turned out totally groovy. What do you think?
The car also provided some wonderful texture images. Look for those as the next freebie once we past the 400 subscriber mark. {{hug}}
Hope you are having a Nice Weekend!
~kimi~
I tried a few things that totally fell flat. One of the girls on The Phaunt forum posted some images of old cars that she had made into Art for her son's room. They were so cool! You take the inspiration where you can get it!! :-) Now my hubby had been saying that I should go and take pictures of this old car that was rusting out on the side of the road. Today I went. I passed by the car and it had no tires on it. Well, that is ok, our interpretation of the theme is very broad and I could still shoot where the wheel should be. I would give you that car parts name but truthfully, I have no idea what it is called. LOL! When I turned around to park behind it, I found tires. Yippee even better! Actually it had tires in the trunk and the inside of the car was gutted out and there where 3 tires in there also. Anyway, I took a bunch of shots. I know nothing about cars as you can tell, but the side logo said it was a Packard.
Here is my straight out of the camera shot.
Come on now, I couldn't leave the street and power lines showing.
Here is my finished product.
There are tires, that counts for wheels. =)
So I thought I would go over some of the things I did.
First I adjusted two versions of the image. One for the car and one for the trunk.
Then I masked in the lighter version of the trunk so it showed on the car.
I found a cloud image that I took at the beach last month for my sky and started masking away.
If you still don't know how to work a layer mask? Watch the video HERE.
I wanted it to look like it was sitting up on a hill, so then I cloned in some of the trash from the right side to the left side to match. Kinda hides my grass and sky line.
Next I combined all of my layers together using the shortcut. Ctrl, Alt, Shift, E
Now I have a brand new layer with all of my adjustments on it but my original layers are still in tact.
Next I ran a free Lomo action that I have. I wanted to post the link but they have so many now, I am not sure which one is mine. Do a search for free Lomo Actions. If you have Elements some have directions for you to follow.
I reduced the Lomo effect down to 61% opacity.
The grass was too green and overpowering so I opened a hue/sat adjustment layer. I choose Green from the drop down box where it says Master. I reduced the saturation slider and darkened it a bit. This will just effect the green. (love this, do this all the time)
I added two textures from my Nicole Van texture folder. Worked with the opacity of both until I liked the effect.
My tires looked a little dark so I use my dodge tool and lighten them up.
Using the shortcut from before I make a new layer with all my new adjustments.
I thought it was too sharp for an old car image and wanted a different feel.
I have a filter called the buzz simplifier that is no longer available. I ran a very slight buzz.
Do a search for that also. You never know what you might find.
Then I added 2 different vignettes. (maybe I will post that for our next tutorial)
Added a slight curves adjustment and finished!
I think it turned out totally groovy. What do you think?
The car also provided some wonderful texture images. Look for those as the next freebie once we past the 400 subscriber mark. {{hug}}
Hope you are having a Nice Weekend!
~kimi~
Comments
Stacy
I have a question...I'm very new to this sort of thing but am trying to learn. When I read your instructions (and others), the thing that is most overwhelming for me is how many different *things* you apply to one photo. How do you keep it all straight? How do you remember what you have and remember what does what??? Do you remember it all or do you have a system of some sort?
I can remember when I was new to Elements. I found it all quite overwhelming. I would look at images and drool, all the while thinking. I will never be able to do that.
I started off taking a layers course. I think they have moved it to Scott Kelby's site. It is very inexpensive and you learn a lot. After that I was hooked. I had an overwhelming desire to learn. I took every class I could find.
I kept a small notebook next to the computer and filled it with tidbits that I would learn. I still go back to it every once in a while.
In time... I found my own style. In time... it sinks in and comes together. I will happily admit. I never know how an image is going to turn out when I start. It just comes as I go along. I may have an idea of which direction I would like to go. Some times I stay that course and sometimes I go a whole new direction. You will get there if you have the desire to get there. =)
--Vicki @ Victoria-Pictoria