[Keith Carmichael]

Hmm…. I’m not familiar with the particular image, but I see you have had this question since October, so maybe I can help.

Screen mode tends to be washed out, semi-transparent, and lightening, which is why it’s often used for shines and highlights. Why don’t you try different blend modes? You can also duplicate the same layer in “screen” and the effect will be intensified with each layer copy.

In general, to change the overall hue and saturation you use (surprise) Hue/Saturation under image adjustments. (click “colorize” for more options.)

You could also try “replace color.”

If the issue is that your splatters appear on a white or black background, you may have to cut the background out to have full freedom (most of the blend modes that render the background transparent will also make the color areas slightly transparent.) Add a “reveal all” layer mask and then click “color range” in the “Masks” panel to mask the background out.

Hope that helps.

[Keith Carmichael]

I have been there. I started reading up on aspect ratio and color space and it made my mind explode.

The key is to get your graphics exactly the right size in Photoshop and save them off as .pngs, so FCP doesn’t have to do ANYTHING.

Open a new image, and use the “Film and Video” presets to make sure your new image has the same settings as your destination sequence in FCP (this will also keep track of pixel aspect ratio for you.)

Paste your photos into the new image and scale appropriately, and save as .png.

If you want to leave a little more room for Ken Burnsing around, I would increase the CANVAS SIZE of the new image (the one that was made with the film and video preset) to ensure you still have the right pixel aspect ratio, resolution, etc.

[Keith Carmichael]

Well there are lots of great free distressed fonts out there (start here: https://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=109 )

But you can achieve this look yourself by putting a layer mask on your text layer and using the brush tool to “scrape off” different areas. (Load up a brush set like Faux Finish to try out different brush textures.) You can also paste different texture images (like pictures of concrete or stone, for example) into your layer mask to get an all over texture to your font.

You can apply filters to text (you need to rasterize the text or better yet, make it a Smart Object first) but I don’t think any of Photoshop’s included filters are really what you’re going for.

[Keith Carmichael]

My first piece of advice would definitely have been to save the fruit and bottle at the lowest JPEG setting–you can also experiment with some of the other compression modes in the “Save for Web and Devices” dialogue. But, different images (and sizes of images) will acquire different artifacts upon compression.

Other things that you can try:

-Playing with the levels–I suspect the real reason why your images are standing out is because they are crisper and seem to have more contrast. Tweak the levels to wash them out a little more.
-Adding noise (filters>noise>add noise)
-Make sure the mask around your images is appropriately soft (so they don’t have a crisp line around them.)

Here’s what I would do for light angles.

-First: can I ignore them? Movie posters are full of mismatched light angles that no one ever notices.
-Second: Can I flip one of the images to better approximate the desired angle?
-If those fail, I like the Dodge tool to add highlights. Dodging Highlights produces a bright highlight (like hair or metal would have,) Dodging Midtones produces a less saturated highlight. To add shadows, you can use the Burn tool, or create a new layer with the blend mode set to Multiply and just paint some shadows on. Just choose the most obvious aspect of the lighting scheme and add a highlight or shadow or two to match–don’t focus on reversing it completely.

And of course, you’ll need new shadows for the objects you’re adding (and/or reflections, if the table is shiny.)

[Keith Carmichael]

Some of the filters, like colored pencil, depend on what colors are selected as your foreground and background colors at the moment you invoke the filters dialogue. To get the same appearance you got for the actress, you’ll need the same colors selected. Perhaps they were the default black on white? (Press D to get those quickly.)

[Keith Carmichael]

Hard to say without a photo reference.
But often the difference between a warm, very slightly peachy white and a cooler grayer white creates the right effect–so hue/lum/sat could work…

[Keith Carmichael]

It has to do with Image Interpolation, which is conceptually similar…. ish to anti-aliasing?

To export your graphics, first scale them up using “image size.” Here’s the trick: Under “Resample Image” make sure you pick “nearest neighbor (preserves hard edges.)” Your images will be scaled up with crisp edges intact.

BTW, if you want the freedom to scale elements up and down WITHIN an image (say you want someone’s head to be bigger), the same image interpolation options exist within Preferences under “General.” Here they apply to transformations of layers and selections.

I’d be interested to know what you use to do the animating. I use Flash. you can check it out here: https://ledoandix.com

[Keith Carmichael]

My friend who’s an AMAZING artist actually does all of his stuff on a tablet PC that he got secondhand for $150.

[Keith Carmichael]

Well gosh. You can’t uncheck anti-aliasing with the quick select tool. What happens when you uncheck “auto-enhance?”

If you’re committed to this approach you can use quick select tool to make your selection, then enter quick mask and run Threshold to make your selection area all crunchy.

Again, this will not give you a nice edge.

[Keith Carmichael]

Hi! This person was having the same issue: https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/244/861627

Photoshop is giving a nice anti-aliased selection edge to the part you’re cutting out, and a nice anti-aliased selection edge to the layer you are cutting it from, and these two nice smooth anti-aliased edges are not adding up to full opacity along the seam.

It’s probable these seams won’t be an issue when it comes to final output since they appear and disappear at different zooms. But if they cause trouble:

– You can of course turn off anti-aliasing when you make your selection, (but you’ll have a jagged edge.)

– You can duplicate the whole layer and mask out the parts you don’t want

– Or just use Layer Via Copy instead of Layer Via Cut. If it’s important to leave a hole in the layer beneath, you can CONTRACT your selection slightly, and then delete those pixels from the layer below to assure full coverage.