Elements Work-Around: Photo in a Jar

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Sometimes the limitations presented by Elements versus Photoshop seem insurmountable. But if I play around long enough, I can usually figure out how to take the longest route possible to a Photoshop-worthy result. I do love a challenge… Karen (khampton) asked if I could do a tutorial on radial transparency gradients. She wants to do something like this image from Jaydubbya that she found at OScraps. This is something that only takes a handful of clicks in Photoshop, but wouldn’t you know… Elements doesn’t have anything like it. The Gradient Map Adjustment Layer isn’t as versatile in Elements and therein lies the rub.

I tried a LOT of things before I settled on the steps I’m going to share with you, but I think my efforts are acceptable. I’ve managed to condense the process down to a few steps but please remember that NOTHING you do in Elements is ever final unless you decide it is. Anything you do can be undone. CTRL/CMD>Z is the most useful keyboard shortcut ever!! It costs nothing to experiment. So let’s start.

I found a realistic glass jar in my stash. It came from Aimee Harrison‘s Heirloom Chic (retired) collection. Then I chose a photo from Pixabay that has a sharp image, strong colours and high contrast. I positioned the photo under the jar on a 12×12 canvas – love the extra room to work.

Obviously, if the idea is to put a photo inside a jar, the photo shouldn’t extend past the edges of the jar. So I’ll need to get rid of the parts I don’t need. I used the Rectangle Marquee Tool to chop off big chunks. In this image I’m showing the right-side edge of the selected rectangle just overlapping the left edge of the jar. The removal doesn’t have to be perfect, because the photo will always be behind the jar.

The photo layer is the active layer. To remove that bit of photo, Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X will do it.

Then I’ll do the same thing on the other side.

Rather than just use the Eraser Tool to clean up the photo’s edges, I opted for a Layer Mask. Click on the icon above the Layers Panel that looks like a gray circle inside a blue box. Once the Layer Mask appears, the Color Picker will change to black and white. Choose the Eraser Tool, setting the Opacity to 100% and using a hard round brush from the Basic Brushes that come with the software.

Then just run the Eraser – set to WHITE to conceal or hide – over the parts of your photo you want invisible. If you have an oops, like I sometimes do when the left mouse button sticks and the cursor takes off on its own path, switch the Foreground Color from white to BLACK – which reveals, or unhides what’s been removed – either by clicking on the Color Picker or the X key. Then carefully paint it back in.

Do both sides of the jar and any other areas where your photo shouldn’t be visible.

One could almost be happy with it just as is! But we’re talking about me… so onward.

To avoid confusion and other mishaps, right-click on the photo layer in the Layers Panel off to the right in the blue area there then choose Simplify Layer. That will meld the mask to the photo.

This step is optional, but I like the control it gives me. I turned on the Grid by clicking View>Grid or CTRL/CMD>’. I made sure I had one of the heavy grid lines running through the centre of the image; that’s because the jar curves closest to the viewer right down the middle.

This next step is something I’ve never used before, and when I tried it, I was happily surprised with what it does. Notice I’ve turned the visibility of the jar layer off. Click Filter>Blur>Surface Blur…

I make heavy use of the Preview Pane. To see where the action is, and what it’s doing, click on a spot inside your image and that will bring it into the Preview Pane. Then you can see a close-up of what the commands do, as well as seeing it on the larger image in the background. Move the sliders and watch the change. These settings were what I settled on after many tweaks. Radius is 36 pixels, Threshold is 27 levels.

If you’re using an unembellished, straight, plain jar or bottle, don’t worry about this. But if you’ve got something going on like I do with the leaf and the flower and the raffia, make a Copy Layer of the jar and tuck it away for later. Because you’re going to mess them up! Right-click on the jar layer then choose Duplicate Layer>OK or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J.

Next, with the Eraser Tool still active, change the brush to Drop Shadow Brushes (one of the brush sets preloaded into Elements) and choose one of the square brushes. I’m going to use a BIG brush for this step, 400 or 500 pixels, and with the Opacity really low, 5-10%. This part demands a light touch, so don’t be in too big a hurry!

Make the original jar layer active. The jar has only barely-there Opacity but it does dampen the sharpness of the photo, so I want to make the glass a bit more transparent to let the photo shine. Using the Grid to help with brush placement, I put the crosshairs over one of the lighter gridlines to the left of the jar. Then I brushed along the path shown in the screenshot, ending with the brush going right down the centre of the jar. As long as you hold down the left mouse button while you’re brushing, you won’t get lap marks.

Again, there are some options here. If you’re happy, I’m happy. Go ahead and use your finished image, Save it or do whatever you like. But if you want even more realism, follow along. (NB: *The screenshot below is a composite image showing where the jar layer is most transparent. Yours will not look like this!*) Next I’m going to use the Dodge Tool. It looks like the spatula the optometrist uses to cover up one of your eyes during an eye exam. This Tool lightens whatever it’s applied to without distorting or decreasing its Opacity. Again, this Tool needs a delicate touch so I’ve got the Exposure set to 6% and the size is BIG. One stroke of it down each outer edge of the image might be enough. If not, give it a second run. If the centre of the photo seems a bit pale, switch out the Tool and choose the Burn option – looks like a gang symbol and darkens without distortion – and go HUGE with the brush. Then run it right down the centre of the photo. Stop before you go too far, or back up a step. Less is more here!

The difference is subtle but it looks pretty realistic! And if there were no flowers, leaves or raffia involved, this would be the last step. To turn the Grid off, click View and uncheck Grid, or use the same keyboard shortcut, CTRL/CMD>’ and it’s gone.

On the jar Copy Layer, I added a Layer Mask as described above. Then I removed the entire jar, leaving the rim with the raffia, the leave and the flower. Sharp and clear again! A little custom shadow and it’s good to go.

Don’t forget to save your work!! Click File>Save As… or CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>S then give your image a name with meaning. Select a folder you’ll be able to find later. And choose PNG as the file format to preserve the transparency of the background.

Choose Smallest/Slow for Compression to preserve as much detail as possible and None for Interlace. All done! Now you can use the photo-in-a-jar for your layout.

Have you seen something in a Gallery that caught your eye but you’re at a loss as to how to duplicate it? Send me a message and we’ll figure it out together!

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Creating a Title Echo for Your Layout

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This week’s tutorial was inspired by Ellen (gmae); the directions are based on a video tut by Gina Harper and when I tell you I learned a couple of FANTASTIC Work Smart Not Hard [WSNH] tricks, trust me… they’re going to be game-changers. I’m going to walk you through creating a title with an echo, like the one I created for my Greyfriars layout. And it’s easy!

Start off with a brand new 12×12 canvas; you might notice I’ve got a solid white background here and that’s not my usual MO. Since we’ll be working with text layers the background doesn’t make any difference. I want to be sure you see exactly what’s happening and the contrast will help with that. Select a font for your title. Choose one that is clean and upright (ie a sans serif font), with some stage presence. I’m using Gill Sans MT Bold but Impact, Futura and Avenir would work too. You’ll be using only upper case letters. Set the Size to 100 points, the Color to black and choose Center for your text position.

Type out your title. A one-word title would be best. If the spacing between the letters looks too narrow, the technique won’t work as neatly. If you’re using an Elements version previous to Elements 2019, there is no tool option for kerning (adjusting the spacing of your letters) so you’d then need to put all your letters on their own layer, position them then Merge the layers together. So maybe try a few other sans serif fonts first!

When you’ve got your text sorted, use the Move Tool Align Option to put the text in the Middle of the canvas top-to-bottom and Center it side-to-side.

Next, decrease the Opacity of the text layer to 50%. We’re going to apply a Stroke and I want you to be able to see it.

Add a new blank layer above the text layer. Then CTRL/CMD>click inside the text layer’s thumbnail – that image of what’s on the layer – to Select the edges of the text. That’s how Elements will know where to put the outline. Click Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection…

Your Stroke settings: Width 10 pixels. Color Black. Location Inside. Leave the other default settings as is.

After your Stroke is in place, Select>Deselect Layers or CTRL/CMD>D to lose the marching ants.

To reduce confusion Rename the Stroke layer to Echo Bottom. Double-click on the layer’s name and type it in the box.

Now choose the Rectangle Marquee Tool; set the Aspect to Fixed Size, W to 12 in and H to 6 in. Basically you want to put that rectangle on half of the canvas.

Set the rectangle at the top of the canvas. The lower edge of it will be exactly at the middle top-to-bottom. Next, click CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>J. This will cut the pixels inside the  rectangle away from those outside it, and create a new layer with them on it. That’s WSNH Tip #1. Rename that new layer Echo Top.

Move the new Echo Top layer up toward the top of the canvas so it separates from the title. Leave a bit of space between the top of the title and the bottom of the Echo. Here’s WSNH Tip #2… Hold down the SHIFT key when you drag an object and it will stay aligned with its previous position, either top-to-bottom or side-to-side.

Since an echo is a less-obvious duplicate of something, decrease the Opacity of this layer to 50%.

WSNH Tip #3! Hold down the SHIFT and ALT/OPT keys when you click and drag an object and Elements will make a duplicate of the object. Think how much this could speed up your scrapping with templates… all those flowers can be quickly duplicated and moved with fewer steps. Mind blown.

You should have two Echo Top layers now, one at 50% and the new one decreased to 20% Opacity.

Now to get the bottom sorted. As you can see, your padawan forgot to use the SHIFT key when she dragged the Echo Bottom layer down. And it’s obvious! I’ll nudge it into alignment before we go on to the next step.

Like for the Echo Top, that first Echo Bottom layer’s Opacity drops to 50%.

All aligned again… Hold down the SHIFT>ALT/OPT keys and drag the last Echo Bottom layer into place.

If needed you can adjust the spacing of your Echo layers so they’re closer to or farther away from the title. Change the Opacity of the lowest Echo Bottom layer to 20% and increase the title layer’s Opacity back to 100%. You’re done!!

What if you don’t want a black-and-gray title? You can change the color by Merging the layers then adding a Layer>Fill Layer>Solid Color and choose a color from your photos or papers. Or you could do what I did and add a Layer Style to the title. Leaving the Echoes gray worked with my subject, so I just put a wrought iron layer style on the title. But really, the possibilities are almost endless. When you’re ready to add it to your layout, either Link the layers together – click the little chain icon on each layer – or Merge them so you can drag them onto your layout all as one piece. Play with it, have fun with it!

When this tutorial posts, I’ll be miles away from home helping my “baby” sister celebrate her 50th birthday. My brother is having a hip replaced in Friday, so I’ll see him too. Have a great week!

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Quick Trick: Correcting Colour Cast

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It happens to all of us. We shoot a whole whack of photos on a special occasion or on a vacation, thinking we’ve got a great collection of memories. But then when we look at them, a bunch of them are just… ugh. Yellow, orange, red or blue casting a pall over the whole image, and every attempt made to fix it gives equally ugh results. Colour casts are usually the result of moving from indoors to outdoors and not changing the white balance setting on our cameras, and vice versa; it can also be caused by light reflecting off nearby surfaces. I’ve shown you some simple ways to improve lighting and exposure, but until just a couple of days ago I didn’t know there was an equally simple way to deal with colour cast. Trying to click on the exact white, black or gray pixel in an otherwise orange image can be enormously frustrating, right? When I tried this trick, I was gob-smacked! Let’s take it out for a run.

This photo was taken at Caesar’s Palace in March 2009. I’ve long-since forgotten what colours were actually present in this lobby, but I’m positive this ghastly golden glow isn’t right.

First step is to make a Copy layer of the photo. This step is ESSENTIAL. You can either right-click on the photo layer and choose Duplicate Layer… then click OK, or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J.

On the Copy layer, apply a Filter>Blur>Average. (I had no clue what this command did until I played with this trick!)

Did you guess it did THIS? (Me neither!) It’s supposed to do this, so don’t panic.

This step is another thing we’ve never played with… Adjustment Layers. Click Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels…

Make absolutely sure the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask IS NOT CHECKED!! The adjustment layer has to be free-floating.

The fly-out menu looks like this. Click on the Gray Eye Dropper icon as shown.

With the Adjustment Layer active, click anywhere inside the photo. The baby poop brown changes to medium gray.

To reveal the new-and-improved image, turn off Visibility to the Blur layer and there it is! It’s magic, y’all!!

To turn all of this into a useable photo, select all three layers by Click>shift>clicking on the top and bottom layers. Then right-clicking, choose Merge Layers or CTRL/CMD>E. If you feel the photo needs a bit more editing, you can do it now.

Let’s do another one. This photo is horrible, but it’s not awesome either. The yellow cast is unattractive.

Copy the photo layer.

Apply the Filter>Blur>Average.

Create a Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels.

Make sure that box is UNCHECKED.

Activate the Gray Eye Dropper and click on the photo.

Turn off Visibility for the Blur Layer and check out your results. See how much brighter the blue looks?

I’ll show you what this trick does to a too-blue photo now.

Hmm. It’s better, but I’m still not thrilled by it. So I’ll Merge the layers and do some more tweaking.

For those of you using Elements 14 or more recent, you’ll have the Enhance>Haze Removal command. If you’re working with an older version, I’m planning a tutorial just for you to give you the capability to duplicate this effect, so stay tuned. The keyboard shortcut for Haze Removal is CTRL/CMD>ALT>Z.

The tool options for this command look like this. There’s a large preview to show what the image will look like once committed, and can be adjusted to obtain the best image. There’s a little bit of the original image peeking out along the left side, so you can see how this command brightens and deepens colours and sharpens the image a bit.

What do you think? Is this a LOT easier than using the Enhance>Remove Color Cast command? Is it much more useful? I think so!

Next Tuesday I’ll have another quick title technique for you. And then it’ll be June…………………………….

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