(Untitled)

[ohfreckle]

Program(s)+version: Photoshop CS2
Involves: Curves, Levels, Selective Color
Translatable: yes
Steps: 7
Difficulty: easy

How to:
- brighten and enhance dull caps, using Curves and Levels
- repair cut off images
- create negative space

Made in Photoshop CS2. Translatable, there's one Selective Color layer, but the result can be recreated.

Comments

[firstillusion]

Gorgeous icon and a very useful tutorial. Very skillful as well, you'd never guess that you painted half her cap. :)

[nodazzle]

oh step 7... that's an intriguing way to boost contrast. i shall give that a whirl next time i have an icon that too light.

this is a posilutely gorgeous icon, btw. great techniques to learn, too.

:)

[merely_marcus]

Awesome!

[spankulert]

Many excellent tips here, especially the rebuilding of the cap and the last step. Thanks so much for sharing :)

*memmed*

[joyfulsong]

Nice. :) The rebuilt cap looks very natural!

A question, at the risk of sounding like a noob: do you think using curves (step 2) is easier/better than using a brightness/contrast layer? I've always shied away from curves. =/

[ohfreckle]

I think it's a matter of personal preference. Personally I use brightness/contrast layers mostly if I want to change contrast, not so much for lighting up a picture. Using curves and adding as many dots as I like gives me much more control, especially if I try to make only subtle changes.

I used to avoid curves, too, because I didn't understand what they actually do. After some experimentation I enjoy using them a lot.
If you want to try, the Curves tag on good_tutorial has some really well done basic guides on how they work.

[joyfulsong]

I'll go check those out. Thank you! :)