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Well I wanted to make a decent 1000th post and I thought I'd start this thread...
Basicly here I (and others) will give out advice to help people learn to photoshop some of the more common requests that pop up around here.
I'll start with something simple, quick tutorial on how to change colour of drum finishes, if that goes ok I'll add advanced sections on creating bursts and fades that look good. If this thread proves useful I'll add other tutorials on things like changing hardware colour to black, gold and satin realistically.
I'm afraid that basicl knowledge of photoshop is usually needed so during the tutorial any key features of the program you need to know I'll add little section explaining their purpose and hopefully make the tutorials newbie friendly.
I used Adobe Photoshop specifically CS3 but lots of these principles can be used in programs like GIMP.
Changing colour of drum finishes:
1) First try to get a good photo of the drum in natural light as this just makes the job easier...
2)
This is the image I'm going to work from, I am going to change it to Red over tamo
3) First select the Retangular Marque tool (I've highlighted it red on the below picture, its in the far left toolbar) and drag a box that covers the finish, don't worry about the fact other bits of the drum will be selected. Then right click on selected area and click 'Layer Via Copy'. This will copy the selected area onto a new layer (see below the picture for a quick introduction to layers I have written)
Introduction to layers:
Layers are a useful tool in photoshop, each layer is an image unto itself. Think of them as a building, each layer is a floor so if one layer is complete image of black then you won't be able to see any of the layer beneath. Transparency goes hand in hand with layers, you can cut holes in each layer to see the layer below and you can set some layers to be semi transparent. In terms of our building this is like glass. You can move between layers easily, on the image above I have higlighed the layer panel in green, to select which layer you want to work on jsut click on it, the little eyes by each layer designates whether each layer is visable or not.
4) First switch to your newly created layer by clicking on it in the layers panel and turn off the original layer by clicking the little eye by it (I've highlighted this green). The select the Eraser tool (I have highlighted it red in the below picture, again it is located in the far left toolbar) and then as if using a paint brush in paint erase any areas that arn't the finish including hardware, badges, mounts, etc. Be careful around coloured areas, and black areas dont mind being a little sloppy, as we are changin the colour and black has no hue to it it doesnt affect it.
5) Due to the fact the drum has different coloured in its finish (purple and blue) we are first going to have to establish one colour group over the drum (in this case various shades of red). First right click on the layer currently selected and then select 'Blending Options' as show below.
This will bring up the panel shown below, tick the box named Colour Overlay and aslo click on it to bring up the options for this particultar Layer Style (name given to these tools). At the present moment the whole layer will be covered in flat red, to change this go to the drop down box and select the hue option. This will leave you will a red but dull coloured finish.
6) At the moment the finish is red but quite dull and not very vibrate. Click the eye by the orginal layer so you can see the finish on the drum. Next go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast , as show below (the Brightness/Contrast tool is highlighted red in the picture below).
This will bring up 2 slide bars labeled Brightness and Contrast, set the Contrast pull bar to around +50 and click ok. This makes the colours a little more deep as so to speak.
Then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (I highlighted it Green in the previous picture). This will give you 3 slide bars labelled Hue, Saturation and Brightness. Set the Saturation to around +25 to give the colours a lighter more vibrant look, then click ok.
Voila one recoloured drum, tweaking the Saturation and Contrast will control how vibrant the shade of that colour will be. By selecting a different colour in the Colour Overlay layer style will change the overall colour of the drum.
The finished product
I know this tutorial has sort of skipped over some basic (and more advanced) features of photoshop and I might have lost you at one point so if you have a question just ask, if there is something you want explained in more detail jsut say so and I will.
Basicly here I (and others) will give out advice to help people learn to photoshop some of the more common requests that pop up around here.
I'll start with something simple, quick tutorial on how to change colour of drum finishes, if that goes ok I'll add advanced sections on creating bursts and fades that look good. If this thread proves useful I'll add other tutorials on things like changing hardware colour to black, gold and satin realistically.
I'm afraid that basicl knowledge of photoshop is usually needed so during the tutorial any key features of the program you need to know I'll add little section explaining their purpose and hopefully make the tutorials newbie friendly.
I used Adobe Photoshop specifically CS3 but lots of these principles can be used in programs like GIMP.
Changing colour of drum finishes:
1) First try to get a good photo of the drum in natural light as this just makes the job easier...
2)
This is the image I'm going to work from, I am going to change it to Red over tamo
3) First select the Retangular Marque tool (I've highlighted it red on the below picture, its in the far left toolbar) and drag a box that covers the finish, don't worry about the fact other bits of the drum will be selected. Then right click on selected area and click 'Layer Via Copy'. This will copy the selected area onto a new layer (see below the picture for a quick introduction to layers I have written)
Introduction to layers:
Layers are a useful tool in photoshop, each layer is an image unto itself. Think of them as a building, each layer is a floor so if one layer is complete image of black then you won't be able to see any of the layer beneath. Transparency goes hand in hand with layers, you can cut holes in each layer to see the layer below and you can set some layers to be semi transparent. In terms of our building this is like glass. You can move between layers easily, on the image above I have higlighed the layer panel in green, to select which layer you want to work on jsut click on it, the little eyes by each layer designates whether each layer is visable or not.
4) First switch to your newly created layer by clicking on it in the layers panel and turn off the original layer by clicking the little eye by it (I've highlighted this green). The select the Eraser tool (I have highlighted it red in the below picture, again it is located in the far left toolbar) and then as if using a paint brush in paint erase any areas that arn't the finish including hardware, badges, mounts, etc. Be careful around coloured areas, and black areas dont mind being a little sloppy, as we are changin the colour and black has no hue to it it doesnt affect it.
5) Due to the fact the drum has different coloured in its finish (purple and blue) we are first going to have to establish one colour group over the drum (in this case various shades of red). First right click on the layer currently selected and then select 'Blending Options' as show below.
This will bring up the panel shown below, tick the box named Colour Overlay and aslo click on it to bring up the options for this particultar Layer Style (name given to these tools). At the present moment the whole layer will be covered in flat red, to change this go to the drop down box and select the hue option. This will leave you will a red but dull coloured finish.
6) At the moment the finish is red but quite dull and not very vibrate. Click the eye by the orginal layer so you can see the finish on the drum. Next go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast , as show below (the Brightness/Contrast tool is highlighted red in the picture below).
This will bring up 2 slide bars labeled Brightness and Contrast, set the Contrast pull bar to around +50 and click ok. This makes the colours a little more deep as so to speak.
Then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (I highlighted it Green in the previous picture). This will give you 3 slide bars labelled Hue, Saturation and Brightness. Set the Saturation to around +25 to give the colours a lighter more vibrant look, then click ok.
Voila one recoloured drum, tweaking the Saturation and Contrast will control how vibrant the shade of that colour will be. By selecting a different colour in the Colour Overlay layer style will change the overall colour of the drum.
The finished product
I know this tutorial has sort of skipped over some basic (and more advanced) features of photoshop and I might have lost you at one point so if you have a question just ask, if there is something you want explained in more detail jsut say so and I will.
I have Fireworks on this computer I just never use it and have limited experience with it.. When ever I use it at school I get frustraited because all the tools are in other places, I guess if you learn wherer all the tools are its no different...
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