PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 103
PHOTOSHOP
5
Feather the join to the stretched pixels
Increase the Brush size with ] and lower its Opacityvia
th e Options bar, setting it to about 20%. Paint around
th e join of the subject and the next pixels to soften it and makeit
lo ok less distinct. If you make a mistake when masking, pressX
to switch to White and paint again to correct it.
7
Crop to a more dynamic angle
With the pixel stretching element of the technique
complete, if it works for your image, try angling theframe
fo r a more dynamic look. As in Step 1, press Ctrl+A, then Ctrl+T,
and click and drag outside the bounding box to rotate it. Resizeto
fil l any blank areas and click the tick when you’re done.6
Stretch more of
the subject
Press Ctrl+E to MergeDown,
th en repeat Step 2 to 5, addingother
ar eas of the subject you want to
st retch. In the example image this
in cludes the top of the tail, canopy,theordnance,andother
details. Stretch any areas of brightcolourfora moreinteresting
lo ok. When you’re done, hit Ctrl+Eagain.8
Add some colour and tone
All the stretching of pixels and blending can make
the colours look a bit muddy, so hit Ctrl+U to open Hue/
Saturation and push the Saturation slider to the right, then press
OK. Hit Ctrl+L to open the Levels palette and move the White
point slider in to meet the end of the histogram, then hit OK.EXPERT ADVICE OTHER
WAYS TO PIXEL STRETCH
Of course, the main technique here isn’t the only
way you can use pixel stretching. Once you’re
comfortable with the basics, think creatively
and see what else you can come up with.
You can make far more intricate and complex
compositions than the example image, achieved
by using the Warp, Liquify or Polar
Co-ordinates tools on the pixels
you’ve stretched, as long as they’re
on a different layer to the rest ofthe
image. Or, one of the more simple
th ings you can do is use the stretch
as an abstract texture. In the
example image here, the SingleRow
Marquee Tool was used and thenew
la yer’s Opacity dropped to 30%.