What's happened here?

[ChrisLumix]

Two pictures, that started out as one picture :

 

 

 

 

A genuine, Australian hand-crafted 'b*gger all' (still in original wrapping) to the first person who can tell me not only what was done, but for good measure, how it was done (roughly). 

[David]

All I can see is that some of the river has been cropped off at the bottom and at a guess a slight lowering of the exposure? (although that could just be an optical illusion lol)

 

Cropping: no restriction to just lose the 'squareness' of the original to put the buildings on the bottom 3rd of the shot?

 

Exposure: sliding the exposure bar down very slightly in  photoshop, elements or equivalent PP suite?

[annie]

Has the top picture had the width of the water made wider and then somehow you have copied the building and sky, flipped then upside down and layered them on to make the reflections.......if any of that makes sense I deserve to win the prize of bugger all.....

[Brian]

I am wondering if the bottom one is the original and you have photoshopped in a bit more water and reflections. The colour also seems to be more intense in the top one.

Save my Bugger all, I've got plenty.

[FUJI]

'Tis possible you merged a mono copy layers with the colour version, then used the Exposure slider to up the highlights and to increase contrast......you may he

You may have even taken a leaf out of my book and used Selective Contrast Grading?

Then, again, you may have been a lazy beggar, and just upped the Clarity, and sharpness.

Should I win the prize, could I have it gift wrapped please?

FUJI

[ChrisLumix]

Annie and Brian win! Though Annie will get the b*gger all as Brian doesn't want it. Brian, you DON'T get b*gger all, which now leaves me with the conundrum of what on earth I'm going to have to send you..

 

Yes, the bottom one is the original, and the top one has had the reflections exended (though I still prefer the compositional balance of the original). 

 

It is by far the hardest, lengthiest, most time-consuming thing I have ever done in Photoshop, and if anyone is inquisitive enough, I will explain how I did it. Annie is on the right lines, though it hardly scratches the surface (no pun intended) of what I had to do.

Edited April 3, 2014 by ChrisLumix

[David]

 

 

It is by far the hardest, lengthiest, most time-consuming thing I have ever done in Photoshop, and if anyone is inquisitive enough, I will explain how I did it. Annie is on the right lines, though it hardly scratches the surface (no pun intended) of what I had to do.

 

And I didn't get it lol mind you it was late when I looked at it 

[annie]

LOL...I won...I never win anything so i am happy to receive bugger all ..... xxx

[ChrisLumix]

LOL...I won...I never win anything so i am happy to receive bugger all ..... xxx

 

You're welcome Annie  

 

I note no-one has risen to the "How did you do it?" bait

[annie]

You're welcome Annie

 

I note no-one has risen to the "How did you do it?" bait

If I can work out how you did it do I get more bugger all, If Brian does not want it obviously?

[ChrisLumix]

If I can work out how you did it do I get more bugger all, If Brian does not want it obviously?

 

Yes, of course! You did start off well with your initial guess, but I can confidently predict you won't be able to name all the steps I took - so I won't be handing out the bugger all Star Prize

[annie]

Stuff ya then.........!

[ChrisLumix]

Stuff ya then.........!

 

Aww, well give it your best shot then - I'm still longing to impress someone with my trial-and-error, "this will work won't it?", "damn, better start again" approach to doing it in Photoshop.

[Brian]

Stuff ya then.........!

 

No fighting children!!!!

I only said I didn't want my prize, because I didn't think I'd win. Can I have it now, as I never win anything?

[ChrisLumix]

No fighting children!!!!

I only said I didn't want my prize, because I didn't think I'd win. Can I have it now, as I never win anything?

 

Sure, no problem - bugger all on its way to you

[David]

I think you are just being tight Chris... a man of your fortunes could easily afford to send the prized bugger all to Annie AND Brian 

[ChrisLumix]

I think you are just being tight Chris... a man of your fortunes could easily afford to send the prized bugger all to Annie AND Brian 

 

Oh all right then. Anyone who can say 5 of the stages it went through in Photoshop can have BUGGER ALL!!!! 

[Brian]

That was quick. I received bugger all in the post today. I don't know how it found me so quickly as we're away on holiday.

Thanks Chris, it's all I could have hoped for!

[colinb]

Oh all right then. Anyone who can say 5 of the stages it went through in Photoshop can have BUGGER ALL!!!! 

 

1 original picture

2 made cup of tea

3 copy / clone water

4 open biscuits / dunk in tea

5 copy / invert buildings

6 - oh... you said 5 so I will stop

Edited April 4, 2014 by colinb

[ChrisLumix]

1 original picture

2 made cup of tea

3 copy / clone water

4 open biscuits / dunk in tea

5 copy / invert buildings

6 - oh... you said 5 so I will stop

 

ROFL 

 

Now you've done it. I'm taking this as an invitation to tell you what I did

[ChrisLumix]

Ok, here's what I did :

 

1. Select the 'reflection'

 

After increasing the Canvas Size, select appropriate rectangle of above-ground scene to be reflection, flip vertical, nudge and stretch into position.

 

2. Apply filters

 

I think I used 'Ocean Ripple' and 'Art:Watercolour', adjusting the parameters of each, then the opacity, until it looked most like the existing reflection.

 

3. Conceal the 'join'

 

Using a soft brush, very low opacity (10%), and repeated strokes, clone from the existing reflection to the new part so the join between the two was hidden.

 

.......

 

At this point I had quite a passable reflection of the whole skyline … except for one thing - there was no water that it was a reflection in! What follows was the most difficult part of the whole exercise.

 

4. Copy the existing water...

 

…which is all very well, but the water comes with the reflection, no two ways about it. I tried to find some clear water with no reflections via Google Images, but there was nothing that would match. So I copied the existing water plus reflection, flipped vertical, nudged and stretched into position. But what to do about the existing reflection…?

 

5. Roll up my sleeves and prepare for battle

 

It was a lot of trial and error, but in the end, I reduced the colour saturation of the copied water to almost zero, then reduced the layer opacity considerably. This made the existing reflection kind of disappear. However, the water itself was not too clear either, compared with the original, so… I vastly increased the contrast, sharpness and levels of the layer, which - despite the lower opacity - made the water look much more like the original.

 

6. Re-touch the new reflection

 

With a new layer of water over it, even at reduced opacity, the reflection I'd so carefully tried to merge with the existing one, now looked somewhat pale and weak. So I increased the saturation, contrast and levels until it once more matched the original's. 

 

7. Finishing touches

 

Mostly involved using the clone tool with a soft brush and low opacity, to paint from the existing river to the new part, purely to make them match up as best they could, and to hide any last traces of a join between the two sections.

 

After two hours, I was ready for that cup of tea!!

[colinb]

Blimey Chris 2 hours!  I always applaud people who can do a marathon but have you thought about using a displacement map  = 15 minutes max gave me this

 

Click image to view large

 

[ChrisLumix]

Blimey Chris 2 hours!  I always applaud people who can do a marathon but have you thought about using a displacement map  = 15 minutes max gave me this

 

Click image to view large

 

I've not used displacement maps Colin, so that wouldn't have occurred to me!

 

Your version is very interesting, but it seems to have added lots of ripples through which the actual reflection is quite hard to see. I was aiming for a continuation of the reflection in the original, rather than a completely new river. Still, 15 minutes ... 

[colinb]

if you create a displacement map (take a look around the net or I can sort you a link later) then store it as a psd ready for use it will save you having to create it each time you wish to do something like this. regarding the ripples you can adjust them to look 'flatter' by pulling/stretching the displacement map down. I just wanted to show you a quicker way!

Edited April 5, 2014 by colinb

[ChrisLumix]

if you create a displacement map (take a look around the net or I can sort you a link later) then store it as a psd ready for use it will save you having to create it each time you wish to do something like this. regarding the ripples you can adjust them to look 'flatter' by pulling/stretching the displacement map down. I just wanted to show you a quicker way!

 

Sure - I will have a look online for a tut. But are you sure it would have created a continuation of the reflection? (I only ask because it's not immediately obvious in your example).