Mark S. Johnson Photography

If you can use a little inspiration today, I’ve got just the ticket. Two years after the release of the first Sherlock Holmes film starring Robert Downey Jr., I finally had the opportunity to sit down and watch it. Although I loved the movie, what really got my pulse pounding were the closing credits. If you’re visually inclined, the credits are pure eye candy. To view them, visit Art of the Title, then tap the “Click to Watch HD” link beneath the topmost image montage.

Part of the allure of the credits is the clever use of motion and transitions. Although we won’t examine motion in this Workbench, we will recreate the classic style of the closing credits using a combination of stunning Filter Forge effects paired with Photoshop’s impressive masking and color correction capabilities. If you’re intrigued by Filter Forge, be sure to download the fully functional free trial, and when you’re ready to buy, enter the discount code “ud4Nswev0ySA” during checkout to receive 40% off your order.

Textures applied to a photograph create the illusion that a two-dimensional scene has tactile, three-dimensional properties. Textures also have the ability to make an image appear as if it was crafted by hand rather than as pixels.

In today’s Workbench, we’ll employ a pair of textures from the Flypaper Textures collection. These are some of the finest textures available anywhere. If you decide to make a purchase after viewing them, enter the code MARKSJ during checkout to receive 15% off your order. We’ll use one of the textures as an image overlay and we’ll apply the other directly to a layer mask in order to add a unique, creative border. If you don’t own the Flypaper textures, consider using textures that you capture with your own camera, or visit a free textures site such as CGTextures.

Dear Friends,

My 2012 Workshop Schedule is posted and it promises to be a memorable year packed with creative breakthroughs, breathtaking image-making, and outrageous fun!

Here’s what a recent workshop participant had to say…

“If you’ve never been to one of Mark’s workshops, you can’t imagine what you’re missing. My week with Mark was the richest, most inspiring learning experience that I’ve ever had!”

Luke Dakota
Denver, CO

2012 Workshops At A Glance:

Boulder Digital Arts: Photoshop Impressionism
February 10th, 10am – 6pm
Boulder, Colorado
Click here to learn more and register.

Boulder Digital Arts: The Heart of Color Correction
April 27th, 10am – 6pm
Boulder, Colorado
Click here to learn more and register.

Botanical Dreaming with Bobbie Turner
May 31st – June 1st
Boulder, Colorado
Click here to download a gorgeous flyer.

Creative Compositing: The Impressionistic Photograph
June 16th – June 22nd
Boulder, Colorado
Click here to learn more and register.

Colorado Photography Festival
(Mark lectures on Saturday and teaches a workshop on Sunday)
August 11th – August 12th
Denver, Colorado
Click here to learn more and register

The Grandeur of Autumn in New Hampshire with Charles Needle
October 7th – October 12th
Gorham, New Hampshire
Click here to download a gorgeous flyer.

Don’t have time or the budget for a class right now? Click here.

Hope to see you soon!

Mark

Today’s Workbench features a technique that is simple to accomplish, yet intensely gratifying. We’ll pretend that we’re working on a photograph that is scheduled to appear on the cover of a magazine. Unfortunately, the photo was captured with too little sky to accommodate the magazine’s nameplate. Rather than tossing the photo aside, we’ll salvage it by using Content-Aware Scale to seamlessly (and effortlessly) stretch the sky. Thanks to Bobby Marriott from South Carolina for submitting today’s image.

Don’t let the title of this Workbench fool you. Even if you don’t use Color Efex Pro, you can still very much take advantage of nesting Smart Objects in Photoshop.

That said, Color Efex Pro 4 is remarkable software that is the subject of my previous Workbench. At the conclusion of that Workbench, I indicated that as much as I like Nik’s Control Points, I prefer to perform all masking in Photoshop using nested Smart Objects. Here are three reasons why. First, Color Efex Pro works seamlessly with Smart Objects. Second, since we’re already familiar with Photoshop’s powerful masking tools, why not take advantage of them. Third, nested Smart Objects allow us to apply numerous filters and precisely control where each is applied.

Keep in mind that nested Smart Objects can also be used with the filters in Photoshop. If, however, you’d like to give Color Efex Pro a try, visit the Discounts section in the sidebar of my site and click the “Nik Software: Color Efex Pro 4 15% Discount” link. This takes you to a page where you can either purchase a discounted version or download the free demo.