Color FX – inspiration from page 136 in How to Create Badass Effects in Photoshop book. I extracted items from the background to edit background separately. Desaturated background and adjusted levels. Added black to transparent gradient to darken bottom part of photo. Add hue/saturation adjustment level to background to add a little brown back. Selected items layer and added a hue/saturation adjustment level tone done the items so the matched with the adjusted background layer.
Hollywood FX – inspiration from page 150 – I opened my image and embedded a splatter background. I added a layer mask to my image and painted over it with a splatter brush to reveal the splatter background. I didn’t want the splatter all over the items so I embedded my original photo again and placed it above the background layer. I added a layer mask to this new layer and painted over my items with a hard-edged brush. I then added a levels adjustment layer to help blend the items with the splattered background. Everything seemed a bit too bright, so I added a Hue/Saturation adjustment level and decreased the saturation.
Background: https://pixabay.com/photos/paint-splatter-background-mess-2245774/
Lighting FX – using process from page 118 – I opened my original photograph and then created a new document with a turquoise background. I moved my original image and placed it on the new turquoise background, sizing to match and then duplicated the layer. I enlarged the original image, flipped it horizontally and lowered the opacity. I created a new layer and selected a rectangle of the enlarged image then filled it with 50% gray. I selected the duplicated layer and clipped it to the rectangle. I created a blank layer, adjusted the brush settings, and then used the pen tool to draw a path down one side of the rectangle, I added a stroke path and then did the same process on the other side of the rectangle. I added an outer glow to the paths with a purple shade. I skewed the rectangle and paths to tilt the rectangle. I then added a linear gradient overlay to the background layer.
Designer’s choice – using process from page 64. I opened my original photo and also created a new document with a white fill. I opened a texture background then moved the texture to the new document, as well as my original image (I duplicated this layer). I added a find edges filter and then desaturated the image. I adjusted the levels and then made the sketch lines smaller through the filter menu. I changed the blend mode on that layer and lowered the opacity. I used a hue/saturation adjustment to colorize the layer and adjusted hue. On the duplicate of the original image, I used the texture option from the filter gallery. I adjusted the grain type, intensity and contrast. I changed the blend mode and added a layer mask. With the brush opacity lowered, I painted over the items to bring some of the color back
Postcard design – I wanted a very simplistic look with lots of white space; something very clean looking as that is my main design style. I started by creating a new document at the specified size and dpi. I opened my HollywoodFX image and used the rectangle marquee tool to make 3 different selections that I moved over to the postcard document. I adjusted sizing and distribution. I added my name in a script font and the rest of the text in a delicate san serif font.
