USE THE WARP TOOL
Martin De Pasquale often uses Warp to correct
perspective. He explains that photographs
often have a fish eye effect that needs
correcting. He says, “To do this, I select all
photography and use Transform. When nodes
to Transform appear, I choose the Warp option
for a grid that you can use to distort. To distort
parts in a controlled way [and not
excessively]... When the vanishing points and
perspectives don’t match one hundred per
cent that is when I use it. So I can equalise
pictures, and the point of view. With the dog, I
needed it to look more awesome and bigger
so I just enlarge the bottom of the picture, in a
kind of pyramid, for that feeling of enormity.”THE WARP TOOL IS POWERFUL, BUT DON’T
OVERDO IT, SAYS MARTIN DE PASQUALEOf course, that doesn’t mean you can’t sometimes
just noodle around with an idea. Kubicki likes to give
himself some flexibility. “Usually I take photos without
any specific idea in mind,” he says, “But I do go for a
certain mood. Sometimes an idea that led me to a
photo session turns out to be useless in the editing
stage and I use the photos in a different way than I
planned. Or I don’t use them at all. From every
session I come back with a few hundred photos
divided into series according to lighting, outfit and
poses, or facial expressions. An idea comes later,
sometimes even several years later.”
When that idea does come, a great Photoshop
artist has to Cut, Transform and polish the image. “I
usually cut out the layers quite roughly first with
either the Magnetic Lasso or Pen tool,” says
Johansson, “ I then fine tune the mask in detail with
the Smudge tool set on one to five pixel radius by
pushing the mask in or out. The Smudge tool is by far
my favourite tool for masking. When it comes to
newer features in Photoshop I think the Puppet Warp
and Perspective Warp are pretty great.”Keeping it simple is something a lot of the
professionals suggest. Find a method that works for
you and hone it over the years, rather than looking for
shortcuts. “I do not use any strange tools,” says
Martin De Pasquale, “I only use a Wacom tablet, and
cut. I can’t find a tool that allows me to crop with
accuracy in Photoshop. Sometimes, using the Magic
Wand tool, but only when they are full colours. Other
times, I try to use Channels, or Color Range, to
choose a particular colour. But the hardest thing is
always hair. When you are on a full colour it is easy...[I
often end up] redrawing the hair that I need.”
These initial stages of the process are so
important, that Cox has instituted a company protocol
at Elevendy. He explains: “All of our retouchers and
digital artists are taught to cut out objects using the
vector tools in Photoshop, we’ve found other
methods to be cumbersome, time consuming, and
lacking in quality of the cut out. Second to that we
always practice non-destructive editing so that at any
point we can go as far back as we need to when a
client shifts direction, as they sometimes do.”© Martin DePasquale
60623:Jarek Kubicki is unimpressed when he sees “a lack
of thoroughness when connecting various elements. Thefact that you’re blending paint splashes does not mean
you can skip working on precise, pixel-by-pixel transitionsbetween elements”© Jarek Kubicki
© Fred MuramDon’t overdo it: “I try to not
over-use the transformation tools on parts of the
composite,” says Fred Muram of the Paradigm Color Studio,
“but learning how to gently transform parts is important”Look elsewhere:piece is not working,” Muram explains, “When a composite
then “I start looking for another method to get the comp to look right. The new
Perspective Transform tools in Creative Cloud are fantastic, and are great if you
need to replace entire walls or ceilings”You’re beautiful: “I enjoy making things
beautiful,” says Muram, “but whether we are making something beautiful or
believable depends on the image, the photographers we work with, or the art
director from an agency. I think we are lucky to have a good balance of both”Other avenues:says “QuickMMask is probably the tool I use most. I Being careful with Transform, Muram
might start by quickly roughing in a selection with the pen tool and bring the selection into Quick Mask to
blend my mask softness to better fit my plate”