PI8-tut_017/Part 1

PI Version: 8
Level: Beginners
Featured tools: Eraser Tool, Selection Tool, Easy Palette, Path Drawing Tool, Paintbrush and Zoom
Additional filters: DCspecial (download "the New Stuff") and Xero (Illustrator ... Set 2)
Additional files: Pictures ... both photos we need are from different CDs with copyright-free images from the magazine DigitalPhoto. You can get the sea picture and the
lady picture here.
Tutorial: Copyright © Inge Klement

DESCRIPTION: Make an artistic picture from everyday photos using third-party filters and some tweaking techniques. Since I had to use so many screenshots, I decided to part the tutorial into two.

Remember to save often!

Open the pictures ... tut017_photo1.jpg and tut017_photo2.jpg. I've pre-edited the photos so they are ready to use. Activate the lady photo and use the Selection Tool/Magic Wand to select all of the green background. When you are satisfied with your selection, right click/Invert and right click/Convert to Object. Copy the new object (Ctrl+C) and paste it (Ctrl+V) into the sea photo. Place the object as you wish. (I placed it so it would give the impression the lady was coming out of the sea.) Right click on the body/Properties and set the Transparency between 50 and 70%.
	Use the Eraser Tool (red arrow) to "remove" the thighs and other body parts which should be in the water. Then make the "splashing" (1) water shown. In between you should change the Transparency back to 0% to check out what the picture looks like. I did, because I felt I had more control over the erased parts. When you are satisfied with the effect of the water, go to Format/Expand Canvas and expand the Top of your canvas with 400 pixels. I used a quite different color (green, as you can see on the next screenshot, because that makes it easier to select the background later on). Remember to set the Transparency back to 0%.

	Now you have to use the Eraser Tool (red arrow) again to remove the impurities (1) around the body. When you are satisfied with your work, go to Selection Tool/Magic Wand and select the green background (all of it!). Make a duplicate of the picture (Ctrl+D). For both pictures, right click/Invert and right click/Select All Objects, and right click/Merge as Single Object. (That should merge the sea and the body into one object.

	On our first picture (the original one) we will use the filter DCspecial. Chose B/W Logo and use these settings: 237/-214/0/500 Color 1: black, Color 2: white On the duplicate we will use the same filter but with these settings: 619/-214/0/500 Color1: black, Color 2: white Make a copy of the duplicate (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) on the top of the original picture. If necessary use right click/Align/ Bottom to align the pictures.

	Now with two pictures on top of each other, Right click/Properties/Merge and chose Difference. Deselect the object (click on the green background) and go to Selection Tool/Magic Wand. Select the green background, right click/Expand-Shrink and expand the selection with 1 pixel. Go to Edit/Fill (Ctrl+F)/Gradient and chose the first Fill type (from top to bottom), Two colors: black to grey (58/58/58). That should fill your background with a nice gradient fill for this picture. Go to Selection/None and then Merge All.

	Go to the Retouch Tool/Blur (red arrow), and try to soften the edge between the sea and the background (2). Use the settings (1) I've used for the Shape (round), the Level:2 and the Soft edge:15, but try different settings to see if you would like the effect better.

That was all for the first part of this tutorial. In the 2.part we'll finish off this picture! HAVE FUN!!!
If you need any help with this tutorial - or want to make suggestions to improve it - please email me!