Basic Blending for PhotoPlus

[bookaddict88]

A couple of people have asked for a very basic tutorial to use with the free program PhotoPlus.  They weren't LJers (at least that I know of), but I figured this was as good of a place as any to put it so I can link to it.

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Ok, first, I recommend that you take the tutorial that comes with the program, as it helps a lot. Also read as much of the "Help" stuff as you can (most importantly “An overview on key concepts”, which you can get to from the main help screen by clicking “How to…”  then “Get Started with PhotoPlus”).

However, the help isn’t going to teach you specific techniques. For example, it’ll teach you how to do all the individual steps you need to do to make a blend, but it won’t teach you how to put those steps together to actually blend. So this is where experimentation comes in, as well as finding tutorials.

In the following tutorial, I’m going to teach you how to do a simple blend. It’s really detailed, so hopefully it makes sense!

 

Edit: My new layout cuts off some of the pictures, but any smaller and you can't see all the details. The left half is all you really need, but if you want to see the full pictures, they can be found here.

First, you probably want to change the background color.  If you fill the entire banner with pictures, it’s not really necessary, but if for some reason you need part of the background to show through, it’ll look better.  I usually have some sort of background, just in case, whether the background is a plain color or a picture. Anyway, changing the  background color is pretty easy. Choose the "fill" option (its highlighted in the screenshot below), and choose the color (see the color option on the top right?), then click the image you want to fill:



Now, lets start talking about a simple blend of two images. Choose the images you want to blend together (we're going to make a very simple banner here). Then, using the "crop" tool (third from the top), select which part of the picture you want to keep, and double click on that part. Also, resize the image if it's too big or too small by going to Image --> Image Size... from the top of the screen. When you're done, it should look like this:



Now, click on one of the pictures, and copy it (hitting CTR+C is easiest). Then click the banner you want to copy it onto, and copy it as a new layer (I like using the shortcut CTR+L).  Do the same for the other picture. Then, using the "move" tool (fourth from the top), drag each picture to where you want it to be. Note: you'll have to use the layer manager to choose which picture you want to move. "Layer 1" is the first picture you copied in, and "Layer 2" is the second picture. When you're done, it should look like this (they need to overlap):



Now, click on the "Standard Selection" tool, fifth from the top, and make sure it shows a little rectangle. Then go to the Tool Properties window and change the feather. The more the feather, the more smooth the blend will be (you don't want it to be too big, because you only want to blend the backgrounds of the pictures). I used 150, because the pictures had a lot of background, and the colors were very different. Select the portion you want to delete from the top layer (layer 2). Make sure you make it small, because when you let go, it'll be bigger, because of the feather. Here is what it should look like when you're done:



Now, hit your DELETE key. Part of the top image (layer 2) will be erased, so the bottom image (layer 1) shows through. Technically, it’s not blending the two images together, but it looks like it.  It should look something like this:



If your background shows through, you probably deleted too much. Remember, if you delete part of the second layer that doesn’t overlap any other layer, then you’re revealing the background. Hit undo (CTRL+Z), and try again. Select less of an area, or make the feathering smaller. Got it the way you want it? Good. Now, for some more fine-tuned blending. Right click on the image to get rid of the selection box. Then, click the "standard selection" tool again, only this time, you'll click on the arrow beside it and choose the third option (freehand). See below to see where it is. Then choose any other part you want to erase (I chose around Elphaba's arm, because I didn't like how it was still covered up by the light blue background of the top color. Hit delete again, and you're done! It'll look like this:



Play around with some of the settings and stuff till you get it right. Here is the tutorial I learned it from. It's for Photoshop, not Photoplus, but the concept is the same. Also, here are some tutorials that'll teach you some other stuff about Photoplus. Finally, when you figure more stuff out, you can search online for Photoshop tutorials, and learn how to modify those tutorials so you can apply them to photoplus. You can't do everything with photoplus that you can with photoshop, but a lot of the stuff applies.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

 

Comments

Wow

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks so much, that has really helped!
Plus - you like Wicked so you're even better than most!
Is that S. J. Block and the one and only Idina?
Thanks again bookaddict88!
From your fellow WickedLover
x x x x x

Re: Wow

[bookaddict88.livejournal.com]

Glad it helped! As to who the Elphabas are... *blushes* I forget. I think you're right, though.