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Neon Skyline Edit. Needs to be done ASAP.


Jay Singh

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Hi there,

I'm new to this photoshop guru page but It was recommended that if i needed help, here was the best place to ask for it. I have the rights to the following image:

city-neon-light-free-desktop-wallpaper-1920x1080.jpg

Now I have seen a copyrighted image which i will insert down below and was wondering if someone could edit the above picture so that it looks similar to this one:

neon-city.jpg

If you can't do it for me, could you explain the step by step guide for a beginner (that's me!:p) on how to achieve this. I'm using photoshop CC on Max OS X 10.7.5

As this an urgent edit, I would appreciate a quick response.
 

Tom Mann

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There are several efx that need to be added. Which of the following do u need help with:

1. Bands of various colors;
2. Vignetting;
3. Vertical light streaking;
4. Overall changes to the brightness and contrast;
etc.

Tom
 

Jay Singh

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I'm a beginner to photoshop so you'd probably have to talk me through all them, i'd greatly appreciate the help Tom!

Jay
 

Zeealex

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it actually seems like a fairly simple process, such an effect can be achieved with a rectangular brush, motion blur and blend modes. bear with while I set up, and I'll try and explain for you :)

if Tom has a better Idea of how to go about it, then obviously use his method :)
 

Zeealex

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okie doke, I've got a similar effect, I will explain the process of adding the color and darkening the edges, the painterly style on either end looks similar to an effect used with the liquify tool, just play around with it, it's fun to get used to anyway.

okay to start, let's get preparation going first
start with a blank canvas with the measurements of 70 pixels wide, and 200 pixels high.
get your bucket fill tool (it's automatically set to gradient fill if you haven't changed it. so it's button will look like the ones shown here, right click the button to get the option to change what the tool its set to.
fill_flyout.gif

after that, set your foreground colour, (in the image above, it's the white square) to grey, by clicking it once, a box will come up with loads of colours, try and set it to a mid grey, not too dark or light.
Fill the canvas with the fill tool.

go to edit> define brush preset. feel free to give your brush a name.

Okay, this is where it gets complicated pay attention, feel free to ask questions at this point.
start another new canvas, 1920x1080
go to layer(at the top) > new layer, press enter when a little window comes up.

select the paintbrush tool (it looks like a paintbrush) then look at the top area of the Photoshop interface, to the left, you should see a little circle with a number under it, to the right of it, there's a little arrow. click that.

scroll all the way down to the bottom of the little menu it brings up, select the grey box looking one at the very end with "200" under it.

Go to window> click once on "brush"

click on the box next to "shape dynamics"
click once on the actual text that says 'scattering'
okay input these settings to the right of the little window that you're looking at.
Tick 'both axes'
Scatter : 429%
Count: 1

Count Jitter: 98%

next click the text on "colour dynamics"
all you have to change here is the hue jitter which is this
Hue Jitter: 59%

set the foreground color to red like you did changing it to grey before.


okay, you're done setting up the brush.
now, on your new layer that you made, set the brush size to 90 ( pressing the [ and ] buttons on your keyboard adjusts the size)
towards the bottom of the image, click and drag your mouse as swiftly as you can across the page. you should have a bunch of different coloured rectangles across the bottom of the image like so
rectangles.jpg(yours will be smaller and the colour will vary, don't worry you're not doing it wrong)

okay it might look pretty, but that's not the effect we're looking for, so let's give it a little more of a blur.

go to filter>blur. Motion blur. set it up as follows:
Angle: 90
Radius: 1031

press okay.

it should now look similar to this:
blur.jpg

okay, now we're getting somewhere, but it's not on the image yet.
press the little eye next to the layer that says background.
they won't look as vivid, so right click on the text where it says "layer 1"
click duplicate layer

keep this back for later.


open your image up in photoshop.

For ease of use, I've compiled these colors together for you, it saves messing about.
grab these, paste them into your image onto a new layer, (it should do it automatically)
colors:
Lines.jpgname this "blurry colours" (so you know what the hell I'm on about)
go ahead and set its blend mode to overlay
blend modes are found here:
layers-palette.gif(click it and select overlay)

go to filter> blur> Gaussian blur
Settings are as follows:
Radius 120.5 pixels
press okay.

alright, now the transitions look less solid.

go back and select the blurry lines you did earlier (i'm presuming you know where the rectangle select tool is)
go to edit>copy merged

paste it into your main image. call the layer "blurry lines"
Press command+Shift+U
the lines should turn grey.
set its blend mode to colour dodge.
it'll disappear, don't worry it's there
now go to Image> adjustments>brightness and contrast.
set it up like this
Brightness: +120
Contrast: 0

you should see the lines reappear.

again for ease of use, I'm giving you this, because it's a nut to get right.
gradient.jpg
paste it in to the main image
set blend mode to multiply

okay now it looks a little dark, lets sort that.

duplicate your blurry colours layer
drag the layer (click the text and drag it) above the black/white gradient layer you just pasted
press command+shift+U
turn its brightness up to 74
set blend mode to colour dodge

okay nearly done!

this is optional:
go to layer> New adjustment layer> hue and saturation
adjust to this:
Hue: 0
Saturation: -41
Lightness: 0

done!

should look similar to this:
image final.jpg


any questions, just holler, and I'll elaborate.
 

Jay Singh

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A couple of questions. You know the blurry colours? When i first paste them as a new layer, do I drag them to cover the entire image or what? Also i'm not sure what you meant by: "Select the blurry lines that you did earlier, and copy merged" that part, sorry.

Thanks so much for your help, I appreciate it
 

Zeealex

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this is the Size of the blurry colours before it was processed on mine, but it's completely down to personal preference or what looks best in your opinion.
if you click these images until you get the full resolution (should take up the entire window) and paste either one as your background layer you can then use these as a sizing/positioning guide
size template.jpg

blurry lines template.jpg

sorry forgot to mention their positioning.

the gradient should take up the entire image.
 
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Zeealex

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Also i'm not sure what you meant by: "Select the blurry lines that you did earlier, and copy merged" that part, sorry.
my apologies, i forget sometimes that people may get slightly confused by how i word things, not the best at explaining.

the blurry lines are these:
41027d1389389233t-neon-skyline-edit-needs-done-asap-blur.jpg

if you use this tool
1-rectangular-marquee-tool.jpg

to click and drag starting from the top left over to the bottom right, you will select the image.

in the top part of photoshop's interface there is the edit button, click it, and press the button that says copy merged.
 

Jay Singh

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Gone through everything as you have described and this is my final result, how do I get rid of the line that shows where the blurry lines start? as on your final piece?

work in progress.jpg
 

Jay Singh

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I followed everything you told me to and this is my final result. What else do i need to do to make it look like the picture you made?
work in progress.jpg
 

Zeealex

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what blend mode is the blurry lines layer set to? it should be set to "colour dodge"

make sure my template isn't visible, that might cause problems.

do you have a PSD you could attach? I could have a look and see what's up and get you on the right track
to attach a PSD, save what you have as the default photoshop document.

then upload it to this thread by pressing the paperclip icon in the "go advanced" section as you reply

press add files (top right corner) then add the PSD from wherever you saved it


sorry, photoshop can take some time getting used to, remember when i first got it, thought it was an unco-operative PITA XD
 
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Jay Singh

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No reason to say sorry, you've done so much to help! I can't thank you enough:) Since i'm a complete newbie to this photoshop thing, i'm pretty sure i'll need more help in future projects, i'll be sure to ask you next time. Thanks once again :)
 

Zeealex

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oh, you're welcome. sure thing, I'll help where I can :)

most of getting used to it is just spending time playing around with different tools and features, it's not the most riveting thing in the world, but it'll help, you'll know what does what and how it all works :)
 

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