Over Exposure or Screen effect

[Hawk]

Hey again.

[ saying this in advance, i HAVE searched on this topic already and did not find what i needed. :ogre: ]

Well I'm just about to get back into graphic design: logos, print, websites, and the like. I'm trying to find out how to (without expensive equipment) get an over exposure effect such as the one on the main page of www.gavindegraw.com .

If anyone knows how to (especially in photoshop) please let me know... or if there is a camera filter/lense i need then that could be good too.


Thanks.

Also how does volo sound as a company/buisness name?



THX!
-Hawk
:sen:

[nobody]

Well that page isn't loading, it just kinda gets stuck.
But if I know what you're asking (which I probably don't) an easy way to get an overexposed look in photoshop is to increase the contrast as well as the brightness. Just mess around with those.
To get to brightness and contrast, go to your layers pallet and click the little circle lookin thing at the bottom that says new adjustment layer, and it should be somewhere in there.
Hopefully that's what you meant.

[Hawk]

Yea you're right, that site isn't loading for me right now either... sorry.

Well I'll try to explain the effect as best as I can. For one, a noticable thing is that the pictures colors are very vivid... the foreground stands out from the backround. All the highlights are bright white... but they blend well, there are no dull colors and the picture just looks genuinely good, and when you see it, you think... whoa.


:!:

[.soulty]

site is working for me.. the soft images is what you are after right?

this filter might help, i havent installed it, but it looks like something you could use.

http://www.autofx.com/dreamsuite2/effect_pages/dreamyphoto.html

[Hawk]

! Almost.

That is a great effect, but not worth $ 150. The effect i am looking for is that vivid high resolution light image.

Any more help would be great.

The brightness/contrast did an ok job of what i wanted, but not adequite(sp).

BTW : thx for the prompt replies.


Thanks
-hawk

[DDD]

yes that is what I would use (told you soulty this is a handy plug in). If not also a very soft gaussian blur would do it also.

[.soulty]

yeah, some are pretty sweet, i just have to get over my arrogant believe i should do every effect without filters. lol ... :crazy:

[DDD]

you may have to do a mixture of Brightness contrast and curves. with a dash of gaussian blur. There are a bunch of ways to get this effect.

[Hawk]

Thanks I'll give it a go.



2 more questions : :huh:

-what are some good crisp fonts for small text on a website, and where can i get them free

-what is a good free stockphoto site...? www.istockphoto.com isn't doin what i need... apparently i need to buy credits.. and that's not free as far as im concerned. -_-

kthxbye


-hawk

[Hawk]

As soon as I get it uploaded, I'll post my results!

[DDD]

free stock photos......
www.sxc.hu
www.intuitivmedia.net

free pixel fonts (well a few)
www.fontsforflash.com

[Hawk]

http://jellomirage.tripod.com/lady-hires.html

enjoy...

for those interested.. my process was :

-find random hires image on google image search

-brightness/contrast until the image was slightly brighter and not so hazy

-curves, make the line slighly curved up near the 75% spot... maybe 60% (as in 6/10 the way up the line.) so it still makes a smooth curve bulging up and left

-duplicate layer, add mask, do the crazy gradient mask - using the gradient tool on difference and go insane with the mouse

-gausian blur top layer, about 7 pixels

TA DA.

It's not bad, not exactly what I was looking for, but it's neat.



Any follow ups on my other questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

-Hawk

[replode]

hey DDD, that intuitivmedia site was a great site, definite bookmark. thanks for the link :)

[DDD]

np....glad I could help the both of ya.

[Hawk]

you guys check mine out?

[iLikePie]

i think there's a bit too much blurring, especially around the face area... it feels like a manipulation (which it is) rather than a classy photo... i think ideally, people's reactions should be that it's just a really professional studio photo, even though in reality it's been tweaked....

but it's certainly a nice effect still!

and this is a really nice stock photo site - all the photos are submitted by users but i often find good ones here, it's probably my favourite site

http://www.sxc.hu/

RE fonts - i'm not sure exactly what you mean, as all fonts should be crisp... they're done as vectors. Some good free sites are www.dafont.com and flashkit has a lot under the 'fonts' section...
the useful links sticky should also have some sites i think :)

[elshawno]

a super easy way to get that soft looking, over-exposed photo effect is to:

1) image > adjust > brightness/contract - then up the brightness just a touch, and the contrast just a touch more than the brightness.

1) duplicate the layer the photo is on.

2) run a gaussian blur (filters > blur > gaussian blur - about 2.0) the "top" layer with the photo on it.

3) change the "top" layer's blending mode (that's right by the opacity level) to either soft light, or screen. you'll see that they both have their upsides. you may want to lower the opacity of the "top" layer to taste.

i hope this helps. cheers.

[nobody]

elshwanos way is what i always to do get that effect (sorry, i couldnt see the effect before).
It works like a charm. Really, you can do pretty much anything you want in photoshop without buying those stupid expensive filters.
Good luck to ya.

[Hawk]

hey, yea its been a lil while, but i finally got around to trying what elshawno said, it really works well! even doing it twice... ive added this to my actions list! if anyone wants the action feel free to pm me, even though its not hard to get.

heres what i got. (its a pic of me btw)
http://www.myimgs.com/data/dyren/meexp.jpg

adios

ill post original in a sec, if anyone wants to try, so i could compare.

thx

[Hawk]

http://www.myimgs.com/data/dyren/orig.jpg

[Hawk]

and my favorite manip :
http://www.myimgs.com/data/dyren/manip.jpg

notice the cheekbone... yep all done in photoshop.