Photoshop assistance with light painting pictures

[jdong217]

1. So I'm trying to get into light painting. I have the essentials down but my drawing is very crappy, to say the least. This picture was done by my friend, who actually has some talent drawing (he's an art minor). The problem is the streak of horizontal yellow light behind my back which came from trying to light up my back.

I know a little photoshop but content fill is not doing a very good job at all and I can't think of any way to remove the streak using layers.

2. Is there a way to reduce the nasty glare on the right hand side from the blue light?

3. Any tips for getting steadier drawings? It's very difficult for me to hold the flashlight steady. For example, this helix picture. It looks clear from very far away but you can easily tell that the drawer's hands (mine) were shaking

 

[WesternGuy]

Not sure if this will help...

#1. Have you tried to clone out the light - might be a bit tricky, particularly under the arms - I am surprised, a bit, that "content aware fill" doesn't work.

#2. You might try a layer of about 50% grey and then use a mask to remove it from all of the underlying layer except where the "glare" is. Just a suggestion, because it is not something I have ever done with PS. You may also have to play around a bit with the "layer's" characteristics.

#3. Don't have too much to suggest because I am probably just as unsteady as you are...can you set it up - camera, exposure etc., so that you can move the lights faster. I suspect that if you moved them really quickly, the "shake" might not show up - the only thing I can think of...

My 0.02¢.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[jdong217]

oh I completely forgot about clone stamping. I was reading a bunch of tutorials today so half of everything I learned just went out the other ear :x Anyway, the clone stamping worked well on the random streak of light, but I'm still struggling on the glare. I tried isolating the glare in another layer but I'm not sure what to do with it from there.

How do I change the brightness/contrast for JUST a specific layer? Because lowering the brightness/contrast worked decently on the glare, but it effects ever single layer so the picture becomes a lot darker than I'd like:

edit: though now that I compare them, I actually like not being able to see the garage door in the background. Which do you guys think is better? Any suggestions?

 

[dsquared]

you must do it FASTER,that's the tip about shaking hands I do it fast and it's alrighty

 

[WesternGuy]

.....

How do I change the brightness/contrast for JUST a specific layer? Because lowering the brightness/contrast worked decently on the glare, but it effects ever single layer so the picture becomes a lot darker than I'd like:

Cannot you not use a layer mask to mask out those areas where you do not want the glare reduction to happen. I haven't done much of this sort of thing, but if I remember correctly, you should be able to set it up so that the underlying layer shows through and the "glare reduction" only occurs in the area where the mask is functioning...maybe someone else can explain it better than I can...

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[oldmacman]

How about just adding a layer and painting black over what you don't want... like the computer. This one also has a sharpening layer.

 

[WesternGuy]

.(edited posting for response...)

How do I change the brightness/contrast for JUST a specific layer? Because lowering the brightness/contrast worked decently on the glare, but it effects ever single layer so the picture becomes a lot darker than I'd like:

Well, I have tried a couple of things and very few of them worked and I think the problem is the fact that the "glare" consists of white pixels that are blown out and unless you want to replace them with another colour, it is very tricky to do. I tried a layer mask and that really didn't work very well, at least what I tried and probably for the same reason - blown out pixels. So I thought maybe dodging them would work, but all that did was to replace the "glare" with a grey colour, although you could probably replace it with some other colour. The only thing I can think of that would be effective is to clone out the "glare" and all the light leading up to it so that it doesn't appear in the image at all. That's a lot of work and I suspect that it probably isn't worth it at this point in time. There may also be ways to do it by selecting the area with a lasso tool or something and then selectively reducing the "brightness/contrast", but that seems like a lot of work and I don't have the time to experiment with it.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[picturelights1]

Water effect is widely applied to human or any other creature in movies as water is a good stuff to turn your object to be outstanding. If you want to apply water effect to your own picture, you can use the same idea to do so.

 

[Dinardy]

Fast and fluid winds (*!LIKE DANCING!*) the exposure

 

[Scatterbrained]

If you want to use a light to illuminate something in the scene, but you don't want the light source to be visible, you need to snoot the light and take care not to aim it directly at the camera.

 

[GaryT]

Bend some old coat hangers into circles or use some other medium to draw around with your light. Get him to hold string with the light tied on the other end and you move the light?? Maybe a stupid idea, I don't know

 

[Mikej15]

I shot pics like this sometime ago.
Main thing, imo, is the aperture. Lower aperture gives your hands some steadiness.
And dont forget, than you can do nothing with overexposed lights. Underexposed fragments can be lighted up , using PS or LR