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January 6: Dispersion (Technique Challenge)

bestcee said:
See, I can't figure out why your layers have a brush in front of them? Mine don't look like that.
This is just the photo:
View attachment 252650
And then with the photo selected, I click the button circled in red, and get this:
View attachment 252651
I don't know if the brush at the front of yours is causing the problem.
Click to expand...

Found it!!! I had to go to the menu in the layers window, go to panel options & click on the small photo option. It was off. It's working!!!!!! Thanks so much for working on this with me. You are my hero!
 
That was fun! I had to try several photos and ended up with this. Not totally satisfied though.
I learned something else too: how to turn a png file into a brush.
In the background of the photo, it's our "Xmess tree": I had to make it blurry, but that was super easy, since it was already on a different layer.
 
flowersgal said:
Well clearly I don't get it. I have tried the instructions step-by-step many times but am still not getting the effect.

I need to see someone's layer stack. If I read the instructions correctly I should have 5 layers. The bottom layer would be the original photo. Layer 2 and 3 would be a duplicate of that photo.

On layer 2 (the first duplicate of the photo I am taking the subject out and background and leaving just background (in my case using the clone tool).

On layer 3 (the second duplicate of the photo, I am selecting the subject and taking him out of the background -- so I end up with this layer as an extracted copy of the subject). Then I am to make two duplicates of this subject.

Layer 4 (the first duplicate of the extracted subject)
Layer 5 (the second duplicate of the extracted subject)

Now going back to layer 3 (the original extraction) I am to liquidify the subject. Add layer mask and do control I (inverting and giving me a black mask)

On layer 5 (the second duplicate of the extracted subject) I am now
adding a layer mask (it will be white).

Now I go back to layer 3 and using white as a foreground and making sure the mask is active (has brackets around it), I select a scatter brush and work on it. THIS IS MY FIRST PROBLEM. For some reason even with the mask bracketed, my brush is not registering black splatters.

Can anyone give me any insight on this?
Click to expand...

If you need the background without the subject you will have

From bottom top top (i.e. reverse; layer 1 is at the bottom)
1. 1 original layer (which is invisible once you copy it)
2. 1 layer with the subject removed (is a copy of original layer)
3. 1 layer with the extracted subject (selected from original layer and copied via Ctrl+J)
4. 1 layer with the extracted subject (selected from original layer and copied via Ctrl+J)

Layer 3 you liquify or distort and give a mask filled with black
Layer 4 you leave as is and give a mask filled with white

Then you paint splatters in black on the mask of layer 4 removing some of the edges
Then you paint splatters in white on the mask of layer 3 revelaing some of the distorted bits and pieces.

My layout, however, ends up with only two layers of subject, layer 3 and 4, because I didn't even bother with the removing of the subject and just used the two extractions.

HTH
 
zanthia said:
well i got a little further but stuck now at brush part. i understand layer masks so that is not an issue. its the brushes. i used default pse scatter brush and it looks awful nothing like examples ive seen. is there a trick to using the brushes.

any suggestion on a FREE brush to use.
Click to expand...

Here are some suggestions that a few people had in the chat today for finding brushes:

https://differentxdreamz.deviantart.com/art/Simple-Scatter-Brushes-118814775

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/brushes.html?promoid=XKMMHH6G&mv=other

https://www.brusheezy.com/brushes/1390-high-res-splatter-brushes

https://www.brusheezy.com/brushes/1390-high-res-splatter-brushes

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/brushes.html?promoid=XKMMHH6G&mv=other
 
bjc said:
i too am struggling. i am not sure what is the difference with doing this vs just putting splatter paint on your photo? i have tried the technique and i just dont see why it would be used on the photos i have maybe it works best on certain photos, like the model that they show in the video . can someone say what kind of photo is the best. close up ones? i just dont get why i would do this to a photo. sorry to sound so "debbie downer" really want to try this and i must say the first steps did teach me some great tools to extract with but i cant understand what i am doing once i do the masks...i only get black or white splatter. is that right?
Click to expand...

You can actually get a similar effect using just paint or brushes. When you are on the black mask, make sure the foreground is set to white...and when you are on the white mask, make sure the foreground is set to black. And make sure that you actually click on the mask in the layer and not the image. That tripped me up a couple of times when I was trying it.
 
HollyGenc said:
This is foreign to me but I'm working through it. I'm currently stuck on this part:
Now, with the liquified layer selected, add a layer mask and use ctrl-I or cmd-I to invert that mask. Go to the top layer of just the subject and add a layer mask to that one, leaving it white.
So, i was viewing the great video @IntenseMagic posted somewhere in this thread and now I can't find it...I think it had me on the right track. Could someone point me to it?? Thanks
Click to expand...

Here's the video :)

 
Well...I'm not entirely happy with the challenge portion of this. But, altogether, I think the page looks ok. I might still play around some more and edit the bird portion when I have some more time.
 

I just used a brush that came with photoshop. This was fun but would work better on a more "active" photo. I'm sure when Benjamin gets bigger I'll be using it again.... not that he's one for staying in place nowadays.
 
Done. Phewf. This was actually really hard for me to try and figure out, having a really really old version still of photoshop and not being able to do things an easy way like described... I guess I need to keep looking to see if there was a better way to do this for next time. 7 hrs later, here she be.
 
Day 6 Dispersion

Glad this challenge is on a Saturday, it took a lot of time but it was very fun to do. And I learned a lot because I use PS CS2 and a lot of tools like the quick selection tool and the content aware are not available in CS2.
As BG paper I used another photo of the same beach area and I placed my disperced "monster stone" as a PNG file in the photo. Now it looks as it was already there before....... Very funny!



Credits; Lynn Grieveson (Inkydink page border, Coasting title), Etc by Danyale (Edgedout 4), Dawn Inkskip (You got this Arrow), Font (Sunshine Poppie), BG photo to BG paper (myself)​
 
This was a challenge for sure - ! I struggled with it since I don't use PS (I use Corel PSP) - I worked at it for a few hours, then took a break - and when I came back to work on the page it all just came together and was actually very easy!!
Thank you Jan, for the great challenge!!
full
 
flowersgal said:
Well clearly I don't get it. I have tried the instructions step-by-step many times but am still not getting the effect.
I need to see someone's layer stack. If I read the instructions correctly I should have 5 layers. The bottom layer would be the original photo. Layer 2 and 3 would be a duplicate of that photo.
On layer 2 (the first duplicate of the photo I am taking the subject out and background and leaving just background (in my case using the clone tool).
On layer 3 (the second duplicate of the photo, I am selecting the subject and taking him out of the background -- so I end up with this layer as an extracted copy of the subject). Then I am to make two duplicates of this subject.
Layer 4 (the first duplicate of the extracted subject)
Layer 5 (the second duplicate of the extracted subject)
Now going back to layer 3 (the original extraction) I am to liquidify the subject. Add layer mask and do control I (inverting and giving me a black mask)
On layer 5 (the second duplicate of the extracted subject) I am now
adding a layer mask (it will be white).
Now I go back to layer 3 and using white as a foreground and making sure the mask is active (has brackets around it), I select a scatter brush and work on it. THIS IS MY FIRST PROBLEM. For some reason even with the mask bracketed, my brush is not registering black splatters.
Can anyone give me any insight on this?
Click to expand...

Ok, I'm working to make sure I understand where you are stuck. You have 5 layers (top to bottom):
5. (Subject Only) Layer 2 with white layer mask
4. (Subject Only) Layer 2 with black layer mask
3. Layer copy Original Photo
2. Layer Copy Original Photo without subject
1. (Background) Original Photo

Go to layer 5. The subject only with the white layer mask. Using a black brush, splatter it.

I found it easiest to hide Layers 1 and 3 in my list. My background was okay to see, so I left it.
Here's my layer palette: (PSCC)

layer stack.PNG
 
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