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TV Static (PHSH Effect #32)

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It’s funny, because I ended up discovering this effect during my trial and error of working out the Rain tutorial.

I didn’t think I’d end up actually making a tutorial for this effect – since I only know of one application for it – but I figured, maybe someone else out there needs to add creepy/broken-down/horror vibes to their project.

So if that’s you: you’re welcome!

Step 1

Get a picture of a television set and add it to your project.

I personally decided to go with an older looking set because I think it will help make the effect look more real, but you can use any television picture you like.

Once you’ve decided on a picture to use, create a New Layer and then fill the layer with the colour black.

Step 2

Next, go up to the top menu bar and find Filter – Noise – Add Noise from the drop down menu.

You can play with these values later, but for now, we’ll want to keep them to:

Amount of Percent 25%

Distribution Mode: Gaussian

Also make sure the Monochromatic box is checked.

Step 3

Now, we’re going to add the static to the television. There’s a couple different ways to do this, but I’ll show you the fastest way first.

Go to the Layer Opacity and change it so you can see the picture under the Noise layer, but are still somewhat able to see the Noise layer. For me, this was 40%.

Once you’ve done that, go up and use the Rectangle Select tool, then outline a rectangle shape that’s a little bigger than the screen on the television set.

Next, we’re going to right-click on the layer and select Inverse Selection from the drop-down menu. Then, you’re going to use the Eraser tool and start erasing everything outside of the box you created.

This is getting rid of the Noise that’s over the rest of the layer, and will leave us with just the Noise over the screen of the television.

Continue erasing until you’ve got everything outside of the box you created.

Step 4

To deselect the box you’ve created, go back to the Select tool, right-click and then choose the Deselect option from the drop-down that comes up.

We’re going to need to zoom in for this next part, so go ahead and zoom in until the television screen is about the only thing we can see in the document.

Now that we have a better view of what we’ll be doing, the first thing we’ll be doing now is erasing the box to fit the screen of our television better.

If yours is already pretty perfectly fit, with minimal overlap, you can skip this step.

If you need to, don’t forget you can change the size of your Eraser to make it smaller and easier to work with while being zoomed in.

Step 5

Right-click on the Noise layer and select Warp from the drop down menu.

Then, very carefully, drag the edges of the Noise layer until it appears to bend slightly into the curves of the television screen. If you chose something closer to a flat screen/modern television set, you may not need to do this step as drastically, but slightly warping the layer will still help give it an air of realism.

Once you’re happy with the Warping of your Noise layer, hit Enter on the keyboard or try to click the Pointer tool, and then in the dialogue box that pops up, select Apply changes.

Step 6

If needed, you can re-erase the edges of the Noise layer so they match up with the edges of the television screen.

If not, go ahead and you change the Opacity of the Noise layer back to 100%.

If you want a subtler static on the television, you can keep the Opacity lower. Depending on why you’re adding the static, you can even keep it semi-see through, and add a picture to the screen, so it looks like it’s a bad connection, instead of just being completely out.

Once you decide you’re happy with whatever you decide, you can go ahead and save this bad boy because we are done!


Like this tutorial? Check out the rest of the series here!

Clouds (PHSH Effect #29)

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A lot of Photoshopping involves just editing multiple pictures together to create your desired final image. Because of this, there’s usually multiple ways to achieve specific effects. Editing multiple images together is usually faster and easier, assuming you can find appropriate stock photos to work from.

But, it’s not nearly as fun.

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There’s a certain magic/slight ego trip you get from adding something to your project that you created from nothing. And you should! It’s super cool to know you have that power. It can also save you time from sifting through a bunch of stock photos, trying to find the right one.

So, how do you create clouds from scratch? Let’s find out!

 

Step 1

As always, you’ll want to start a new project, and it’s helpful if you start with a background image that clouds wouldn’t look out of place in.

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For this tutorial, I chose the following image:

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But, you can start on a plain coloured background, if you don’t want to work on an image. Just make sure you change the background colour from White so that you can actually see the clouds.

 

Step 2

Once you have your background sorted, you’ll want to select the Brush tool.

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After you’ve got the Brush Tool selected, go up to the menu at the top, so we can change some of the Brush attributes.

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In the Brush Menu, we’re going to change the Hardness to 0% and the size to a roughly big one. The exact size will depend on the size of your document. For me, the Size was 55 pixels.

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Once you’ve done that, you’ll want to click on the button beside the Brush Preset Picker. In my version of Photoshop, the button is a folder background with what I’m assuming are paint brushes in a cup over top of it.

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This button is called the Brush Panel button. And, you may have guessed, clicking it will open the Brush Panel.

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We could’ve also changed the Size and Hardness from this panel, but for most Photoshop things, using the Brush Preset Picker is faster.

From this panel, we’re also going to change the Brush’s Spacing to 35%.

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Step 3

Depending on the size of your document and the picture you chose, that might be all you need to change before you start adding clouds to your image!

To add the clouds, now that you’ve got your brush set up, all you need to do is paint them in using your mouse.

To help make them look like they belong, you’ll want to draw the shape of the clouds that go with your image. For the picture I chose, white, fluffy clouds would work, so that’s the type I’ll paint in.

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I’ve also added a New Layer to paint the clouds on, instead of adding them directly onto my background image. This way, if I mess up or don’t like the shape of a cloud, I can easily erase it, without also erasing the sky.

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I’ve also gone ahead and renamed the layer to Clouds. This is optional, but renaming layers to keep them straight is a good habit to form, especially when you work on more complicated effects that have a lot of layers.

Also, don’t forget to make sure this layer is on top of the background layer, otherwise you won’t be able to see the clouds you paint!

Keep adding clouds to your image until you’re happy with it, then save the PHSH file and PNG/JPEG file and boom! You’re done.

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This additional step is 100% optional, as it depends entirely on the type of cloud you’re attempting to create.

 

Step 4

For this step, you’ll want to go back to the Brush Panel, and check-mark and change the following options:

Shape Dynamics:

Size Jitter: 50%

Control: Off

Minimum Diameter: 30%

 

Angle Jitter: 0%

Control: Off

 

Roundness Jitter: 20%

Control: Off

 

Minimum Roundness: 1%

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Scattering:

Both Axes: Check Mark, 120%

Control: Off

 

Count: 10

Count Jitter: 100%

Control: Off

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After you turn on and change these values, you can go ahead and test out your new cloud brush, to see the difference it made.

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Once you finish adjusting the Scattering, you can go ahead and hide/close the Brush Panel again by clicking the double arrow button at the top of the panel.

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Then, you can go ahead and test out the new clouds brush, to see the difference it made. If you like the look of these clouds better, go ahead and erase the Step 3 clouds and repaint them with the Step 4 settings.

Or, if you didn’t notice a difference, or don’t like the way the new clouds look on your image, you can un-check the Shape Dynamics and Scattering settings to revert the brush back to the Step 3 settings and repaint the clouds. Or, if you painted the Step 4 clouds on a different layer, you can go ahead and just delete that layer, keeping your Step 3 clouds.

Or, if you want to get crazy with it, you can paint a mix of both setting’s clouds.

As I said above, it’ll all depend on the image you’re trying to create!

Of course, you can play around with the settings above to find what value changes work best for you.

After you get the hang of painting white, fluffy clouds, feel free to keep experimenting! Change the percentage values, the Size of the brush and even the Hardness! That’s how you’ll learn to create different kinds of clouds, like… long, white clouds.

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Or wispy, barely-there clouds.

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Or cloud writing.

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Or even… different coloured magical clouds!

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Like this tutorial? Check out the rest of the series here!

50% Off End of Year Sale

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Yes, it’s that time of year again, yule tide carols are being sung around a fire, chestnuts are roasting, and something very special is coming…
Yep, that’s right – ALL books are 50% now until January 2nd!
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Find all books (both paperbacks and e-books) here:
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Hurry before the sale ends!

Paperback Versions Available Now!

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Hi guys!

The three e-books I have up for sale are now also available in paperback on Amazon! I added the links for each book on the Books page, which can also be found here.

This is amazing to be able to say – I can’t believe that this is happening. I feel like I’m publishing them all over again.

The hard copy books aren’t available off the Canadian site (amazon.ca) yet unfortunately, so if you live in Canada and want to buy a copy, you’ll have to get it off the American (amazon.com) site. Since the paperback option is still new, (I believe it’s in Beta) I’m hoping that it becomes available in Canada soon. For now, we’ll have to stick with shipping them from the US. As soon as they’re available for sale on the .ca site, I will let you know.

I am super excited to see them, and hold them in my hands… It’s so cool to think that this time last year, I was just beginning to write Don’t Get Caught, and now, I have three books, all out in the world and ready to become part of your collection. *Sniff* They grow up so fast! *Sniff*