Zac Fisher Photo Blog

Texturing is easy as pie and can often add that little touch you are looking for. The process couldn’t be simpler:

1. Grab a texture and place it on a layer above your photo
2. Experiment with different blending modes for this layer until you find the one that looks best
3. That’s it!

Ok I guess it’s a little more complicated than that – but not really! Let’s go over a couple of different scenarios and the complications that arise.

Here I’ve got my fully processed base photo:

and the texture I’m going to lay over it.

After clicking through the blending modes, Overlay looks best for this one.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but I’m getting a little bit too much texture in some areas where I don’t want it (on the arms and face), so I go to my texture layer and mask it off in these places.

The effect is pretty subtle but looks great when you view it large!

Here’s another scenario:

I’ve got my base photo

but I’m not really pleased with how it looks after normal photoshop processing so I’m thinking in this case that I’m going to use a texture to make the picture instead of just adding a little to it

After experimenting with the blending modes, I’ve determined that I like Hard Light on the background, but that it’s too harsh on the face

where as Soft Light is subtle enough on the face, but doesn’t enhance the background enough

Easy fix – add a couple of layer masks and BOOM, you got both!

Once again, the difference is pretty subtle and hard to see at this size – but you’ll discover all this when you do it on your own. Check out the final super large!

So that’s it for my little texturetorial. Don’t forget to grab your free high-res textures and give it a go!

Texture 1

Texture 2

And while I’m happy to provide you lovely people with my textures, I want to point out that it is incredibly easy and useful to shoot your own! Take a few minutes before your clients arrive and look your location for something that will make a good texture overlay. Both of the textures from this tutorial were shot at the same location as the photos:

When you do photography for money, it’s often easy to fall into a sort of creative “auto pilot mode” and simply try and adopt the customer’s vision for the project and give them what they want in the most timely and efficient manner. While this is a great strategy for keeping clients happy and making a quick buck, after a while it leaves you starved for the feeling of creative satisfaction that got you interested in photography in the first place. Not to mention, if you are just doing the same old thing over and over again you aren’t pushing your limits and advancing your craft. Once again, it’s easy to keep on doin’ what you do best, but it isn’t as satisfying as growing and improving.

So I went looking for inspiration in the same place I usually do: Dave Hill’s portfolio. Now if any of you are actually following along, I can hear you thinking “Wait a minute! All this talk about ‘progress’ and you’re looking at the same old Dave Hill pictures that we all thought were amazing back in 2007?”. Well yeah, I’m looking for inspiration in the same place, but I’m looking at his work in a new way. Flickr user Molesarecoming said it best in a beat-to-death discussion thread regarding the “Dave Hill Look”:

“I’ve been chasing silly post processing methods for about one year now, jumping from one bread crumb to another. It’s only recently that I suspect the “secret” could be simply opening my eyes, and so I stopped doing these over-all-filter-massacres and started working on the elements of the picture as if they were separate entities”

Boom. There is no magic lighting setup or post processing technique that will net you the Dave Hill look. Sure those things help, but they are not the essence of what makes his work awesome. It’s concept and compositing. His images are compositions with careful and extensive art direction.

With all this in mind, I threw together a little composite project this afternoon in the comfy confines of my office.

The end result (at the top of this post) is pretty grotesque, but the experience was worth it! Here are a few things I learned to look out for next time:

1. Light the background photo, or work close to the ambient level. I was shooting strictly at f14 because I didn’t want to have to worry too much about focusing since I was going to be the subject. However this resulted in the contrast ratio of the lit subject being drastically different than that of the background. Oops! I was able to get it close in post, but it’s a bad habit to shoot thinking “oh I’ll fix it in post”.
2. Take note of natural light sources and try to simulate them. Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time, but it just so happens that I placed the main light (a giant octobox) at the same angle and in the general location of the natural light sources in this photo: the window and the monitor. If it were placed elsewhere it would cause a lot of issues.
3. Similarly, don’t invent (too much) light where it shouldn’t be. One of the glaring problems with my composite is that the rim light on the left hand side is WAY to strong and looks like it’s just coming from no where. This needs to be more subtle. It will still be unrealistic, but in a fantastic cinematic way instead of a grossly overdone way.
4. Take your time, get it right. I’ve got the patience of a jack russel terrier, so this is always an issue for me. I was too excited to see the end result that I didn’t take the time to come up with an interesting concept or make sure all the lighting was correct. However, this was meant to be a quick and dirty learning project so I’m not too mad at myself for not taking my time with it.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but you better believe I’m going to keep at it and kick out some bad ass composites in the near future.

Hey Friends! I was messing around with adjustment layers and came up with a little action that’s fun to use on certain photos.

All it does is adjusts the color balance, adds a little ‘S’ curve adjustment, then desaturates and resaturates. It gives the photo that “cool contrast” look that you see on a lot of movie posters these days. And the best part is it’s totally non-destructive and fully adjustable to suit your fancy. Just open each adjustment layer and move the sliders till you like it.

The image above shows what the action does on its own when you run it without making any adjustments.

You can download your very own copy of this Photoshop action absolutely free, courtesy of Zac Fisher Photo here: ZacFisherPhoto_Cool_Contrast Photoshop Action

Enjoy!

My little nephews just got into Star Wars.  Naturally, I want to encourage this because Star Wars is awesome – so I decided to make them (and myself) some light sabers to play with! Here’s how I did it:

I got a variety of Schedule 40 3/4″ PVC pipe couplers and adapters from Lowes

and assembled them in a light sabery lookin’ fashion:

Then cut a 5′ section of 3/4″ PVC pipe down to the desired length. I tried a few different lengths and 2′ 3″ seemed to be the best hilt-to-shaft ratio. Pop that into the end of your handle and BAM, you got a light saber!

Total cost so far: $3.52 (more after the jump)

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I hope you all are paying close attention, because I’m about to give away all my secrets! Ok maybe not all of them, but the following tutorial will give you a lot of insight about my quick-process. Check it out after the bump…

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Strobist Info: SB800 into white umbrella camera left, SB800 bare camera right. You can see the setup shot for this shoot here

In response to all the requests for processing information – here is the rundown of my layers for this photo, bottom to top. This is not necessarily the order in which they were created – but it is the order that they ended up in (after the bump)
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