Still Journal :: #8. Grunge Effect

Still Journal is a weekly digest of accumulated links, tutorials, news, tricks, ideas and creativity on the culture and art of modern photography.

Still Journal is currently on hiatus - hope to resume updates soon.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Kameraflage | "By rendering content in invisible colors we are able to create displays that are invisible to the naked eye, yet can be seen when imaged with a digital camera."
c0nn0r.info | via: Cool Hunting

9 Ways To Make Your Portrait Subjects Look Thinner | "A few tricks you can add to your bag to help make your subject look thinner. You’ll get the photo, your subject will be happy with it, and everyone wins."
sublime-light.com

Twelve Ways to Improve Your Digital Landscapes | Some of them obvious, but there are also some important and often overlooked points and justifications in Steve Paxton's article on improving landscape photography.
paxtonprints.com

A picture worth a thousand lies | A look at photo trickery and the bias in political photo journalism.
news.com

10 Best Firefox Extensions for Photographer | A useful list of Firefox extensions that range from practical to fun but pointless.
photographersjourney.com

How to Remove Tourists from Your Photos | "This digital photography and PhotoShop tutorial will provide a means to remove the tourist throngs from your vacation images."
dsphotographic.com | via: swissmiss

Thursday, August 02, 2007

#8. Grunge Effect

Give an aged and grungy look to a photo.

Taking last weeks theme of half sepia a little further I have added in a textured grungy look. The basic process involves using the overlay layer feature to add multiple textures and toning to the photo. The basis for this effect is an article seen at eyesontutorials.com where it was used to create a wallpaper with an Old Venice effect.

I used a texture underlay found at Bashcorpo (royalty free!) to give the grungy look. You can also find a lot of great textures for download from Texture King.

I have enhanced the final effect with a little burning in and selective focus blur.

Conclusion
In addition to being quick and easy to implement, the grunge effect offers unlimited possiblities with textures and toning. Great for enhancing a dull street shot.

About The Photo
Taken at La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires during my recent travel in South America.

Grunge style layer tutorial (ephotozine.com)
Great illustrated tutorial from ephotozine.com on the grunge effect.

Grunge Manipulation in Photoshop Tutorial (newtutorials.com)
Another excellent use of heavy texture overly to create a grunge effect.

Old Venice Photo (eyesontutorials.com)
The eyesontutorials.com article this effect was based.

Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007

#16. Paranormal Blurry TV Effect
An effect frequently used and abused by horror/thriller films these days - now you can give your still images a spooky look.
View Technique

#15. That Cross-Processed look
Take a few years of a photograph and give it that nostalgic colour shift.
View Technique

#14. Soft Focus for Holiday Shots
The technique of applying Soft Focus to a photo is not just for portraits - give a dreamy look to your holiday photos.
View Technique

#13. Black & White Colour Overlay
A distinctive method of bringing out detail and depth in a photo.
View Technique

#12. Simulating Light Leaks
Another bygone characteristic of the film age that you can resurrect with a simple layer trick in Photoshop.
View Technique

#11. Creating dramatic skies.
Give your skies more punch with a simple Photoshop layer effect.
View Technique

#10. Vintage Film Effect
A quick and easy way to transform an image back in time with a vintage film effect.
View Technique

#9. Morning Light
Give a dazzling morning glow effect to a photograph.
View Technique

#7. Half Sepia Toning
Give a warm, yet grungy look to a photo by applying a half sepia effect.
View Technique

#6. Extreme Contrast (Faux Bleach Bypass)
Punch out the contrast and hold back the saturation of an image in this Faux Bleach Bypass technique.
View Technique

#5. Velvia Effect
Add subtle saturation and depth to bring out the best in a colour photograph.
View Technique

#4. Digital Infrared Effect
Creating a dramatic infrared effect in Photoshop.
View Technique

#3. Lens Blur (Selective Focus)
Give your action shots a visual boost with this selective-focus/lens-blur effect.
View Technique

#2. Ray of Light
Adding shafts of light to photos with a single light source.
View Technique

#1. Faux Lomo Effect
A modern digital approach to creating a traditional alternative process.
View Technique