Tutorial Tuesday

I declare today, Tutorial Tuesday.

Why? Because I found an awesome tutorial. Also--I drive this ship, and what I say goes.

Hopefully this will become a reoccurring series, but I'm not going to say that out loud because every time I plan ahead for this blog, something goes awry....

Found this awesome tutorial on one of my favorites, Pugly Pixel. It involves two of my favorite things: SNL, and silly pictures.

Also--this tutorial is so easy, I can do it--and if I can get over my fear of Photoshop, so can you.

I've always been a minor fan of the SNL promo photos, they mainly are just silly and fun looking.

See what I did there?

So when  this tutorial I got super excited.

Her tutorial is probably going to be better than mine, so check hers out.

Here's the picture I started with in Photoshop (Courtesy Greg Helton Photography, editing by me)

Then, I deleted the background. I won't share how, because all the photographers/graphic designers that read this blog would gasp and probably throw up. Pugly Pixel has some great tutorials on how to delete backgrounds that will not make anyone sick. 

Technically when you delete the background, it will turn into those little checker-y things.
But, I'm not in to that and it distracts me so I put in a white background while I work. 

Save this image under a different file name. You'll need it later.

Then, add a black and white layer to it (down in the corner of your layer palette. Right click, then click on 'black and white' adjust as necessary.) Make it look as awesome as you want. Add a brightness layer too, if you need it.

Why yes, I was reading the Huffington Post while I was making this.
Then, I rounded out my evening by reading Politico and The Atlantic.

Then, flatten the image (right click on the layers, merge.) And get out your handy Color Replacement Tool (looks like a paint brush with a little arrow and a square.)

Pick a super bright color, and color away! I chose to change the colors of my little baby sisters' dresses.

Awesome. Once you're done having fun coloring, open up the picture you started with (background removed.) Paste it behind the image you're working on (aka: put the layer underneath your working layer.)

Then, take out your brush (not color replacement tool) and pick a dark gray color. Color over the skin-tone. It should start to look a little pinker, but still have some gray undertones.

Yeah!

Okay, we've made it this far. Don't fail me now.

Flatten your image again (right click, merge layers) and add a new layer underneath the picture. This is for the background color. Pick out an awesome color and fill that layer up.

Alright, alright, alright!

To add a little more pizzaz, I added another layer on to of the background, but behind the image layer. Then I took a giant white brush (opacity about 50%) and made a little halo around our heads.

Then, I ended up with this beauty:

Fun!

Not perfect, but I want to go play outside--so I'm done.


I have a feeling that the better the weather--the harder it will be to finish projects...