Photo manipulation is a technique of photo retouching, where the editor shapes His imagination in such a way that the digital art looks real but is fictional. In order to do this type of photo editing one must have a good power of imagination. and after that he must know how to use any of the available photo editing tools. It is quite similar to a painter. A painter always dreams about what he wants to draw. Then he shapes his dream into his paper with the help of his paint and brushes. That’s why in the case of digital art one must need to know how to use a photo editor. As for a digital artist the editor is the tool like the paint and braces for a painter.
In this complete blog post I will tell you specifically what you need to learn to start photo manipulation. I will provide you with all of the topics and a brief description of that, you just have to learn particularly those things, and grab the basic expertise on those things on any available photo editor. It is my personal recommendation to use Adobe Photoshop or PicsArt or Snapseed. As there are lots of tutorials and Guides available for these software. That’s why, while editing, if you face any kind of problem you will be able to receive help from the community.
- What is Photo Manipulation
- What you need to know to create Photo Manipulation
- 1) Subject selection
- 2) Subject placement
- 3) Layers
- 4) How to use brush and pattern
- 5) Blending modes
- 6) Shadows, highlights , midtone
- 7) Clipping Images
- 8) Colour change and different techniques
- 9) Physics
- 10) wrap
- 11) perspective editing
- 12) Image object copy or cloning
- 13) curve, level ( adjustment options)
- 14) Filters
- 15) Adding Effects.
- 16) Vanishing tools
- Indestructible Editing
- Conclusion
But remember you must have to learn how to imagine. I cannot let you teach me to dream and Imagine in a blog post. The best way to improve your imagination is to watch other designers’ designs. According to me, the best practice to improve your imagination power is first meditation, And then sit with a picture and start thinking what you can create from that. and start dreaming about that. I hope by repeating this trick will help you to improve your creativity.
What is Photo Manipulation
Photo Manipulation is basically a technique of redesigning a photo with some extra modification, so that it looks unique, uncommon and close to reality with some imaginary effects. Sometimes photo manipulation is created with a combination of multiple photographs to create a new imaginary photograph. It is like photo-friction. As, the final product is frictional but seems to be real.
What you need to know to create Photo Manipulation
In this section I will tell you all of the things you need to know to do photo manipulation. I hope it will be a very easy way to start photo manipulation, after following these guides. as I have been editing pictures for quite a time. And I know exactly the things a beginner needs to know if you want to create a photo manipulation. The same thing also applies if anybody wants to retouch any photo or he wants to edit any photo in a fictional way.
But I must tell you that you first of all need to know the basics of any photo editor. In case if you are using Adobe Photoshop, you must have a busy idea of all of the tools available in Adobe Photoshop. It will help you in order to understand the total guide I will mention below. as there are several ways to do one thing in any photo editor, like Photoshop. That’s why if you know the different scenarios it will help you a lot to implement those knowledge in different types of situations.
1) Subject selection
Subject selection is a mast known thing in case of any kind of photo editing. and in photo manipulation one must have the expertise in selecting subjects from any pictures. as in photo manipulation for photo retouching you will use just only the subject from any picture in in several times. that’s why you must know no the different ways and logics available while selecting a subject from any image.
2) Subject placement
You must have a proper concept of subject placement. In this page you must learn how to crop, cut and adjust any image. You must have a good idea of the move tool available in the photo editors.
3) Layers
In order to have the proper knowledge of Topic you must have a good concept about the layers and masks. In my life I have seen many beginners have confusion with the layer panels and its priority order. While photo editing or creating a photo manipulation you will work with lots of layers. You must learn how to organise those layers. You can use colours, groups in order to arrange those layers in such a way that you can easily recognise which layer you have created for which purpose after a long period. not only that it is always a best practice to organise your work so that if any other editor continues your work after you it will be helpful for him.
4) How to use brush and pattern
You must know how to use brass tools and pattern tools as it will help you to create the additional effect. you should have a good concept about these tools and their properties. As for the whole of your editing journey you will use the brush tool more than 70% of the time of editing. It will also become helpful if you know how to use additional third party bases and import them in your editing app if it supports it. Like if you are using Adobe Photoshop it supports important third parties brass and pattern. That’s why you can use different types of dresses that are not available in Photoshop by default. not only that anyone can share a brush in Photoshop and you can utilise that thing in your designs.
5) Blending modes
The concepts of all of the blending modes will help you a lot while editing photos. as the blending mode allows us to blend multiple photos. and it creates some beautiful effects. the two most useful blending modes are multiply and screen. that’s why if you don’t know anything about the blending modes you must at least this to blending modes first. do I definitely recommend to learn all of the available blending modes, as this will give you some more control over your photo manipulation.
6) Shadows, highlights , midtone
While editing photos several times you have to change the values of the shadows, highlights and midtones of the images. That’s why you must have a good concept which properties of the image will be changed while changing the values of Shadows, highlights or midtone. Any beginner, who does not know anything about this property then he must practice this with any image by changing these values and to see what changes are getting reflected in that image.
7) Clipping Images
Clipping helps us to clip images into another image. It works just like a frame where an image becomes the frame of another image. It is also a must known property in case of modifying any photos or touching it. If you have doubts about clipping photos or how to implement the clipping mask, I will recommend you to follow the below tutorial of clipping masks in Adobe Photoshop. The short and impactful tutorial for beginners.
8) Colour change and different techniques
Let’s say, you want to blend a yellow stone with a green coloured stone. In that case you have to change the yellow colour from the stone to a green stone. That means you must have good colour control over any image. That’s why you must know how to change the colour of an object. There are Different techniques to change the colour of any object of an image. and all of the different techniques become helpful in different scenarios. As in some situations only few of the available techniques are applicable. You must have a good concept over that.
9) Physics
While editing photos one must consider the physics and its properties in your editing. As if these are the basic physical properties then the image looks quite unnatural. The basic physical properties you must obey in most of your designs are the properties of light and its direction, properties of object size with their distance, and their visuality.
10) wrap
Wrap is a property available from Photoshop CC which allows you to liquify your image as you want. Sometimes this property becomes very helpful to adjust your image with curves. you can apply these properties by selecting any object and then right click and then select to wrap. Having a basic concept on this rule will help you a lot while editing photos.
11) perspective editing
Perspective editing helps you to edit an object in an angular pattern. as when we see an object from A Angle its shape becomes different, the front part of the object becomes larger and It becomes smaller as it goes far away. if you have a picture in two dimensions. you can use this prospective property to have a three dimensional effect in your image.
12) Image object copy or cloning
Several times while editing photos you will encounter such a situation where you have to duplicate some objects in the workspace. That’s why you need to know how to create, copy or make a clone of an object or it’s property. The object aware move tool, other selection tools, patch tools come handy in this type of situation. Having a good knowledge of those tools will give you a good knowledge.
13) curve, level ( adjustment options)
Curve and level are some special adjustment layers. It is very useful to control the colour properties of a whole image or for all of the underlying layers. It gives the total controls over the R,G,B values of an image.
14) Filters
Filters are very useful, and sometimes make things a lot easier while photo editing. In adobe photoshop, there are lots of pre-installed filters available. Though from Photoshop CC 2021 you will be able to use the neural filters. These filters are still in the beta stage. But works pretty fine, and makes things a lot easier.
15) Adding Effects.
It is very much essential to know how you can add some of the additional effects in your image. These types of things make the end result more attractive and charming. You can also use the camera raw filters and the particles or the lens flare effect in this case. As these are quite familiar things the editor does while editing photos.
16) Vanishing tools
Vanishing tool in photoshop recreates the missing three dimensions data of any object. Though it is an advanced topic, that’s why I will not tell you more about this tool in this post. It is for intermediate or advanced editors. But it can create some very special effects in your art.
With the help of Vanishing Point filter, you can simply add additional components to any flat-plan Image. As the images taken by us are two dimensional images, after taking the images the third dimension data becomes lost. That’s why in this tool you can define the lost planes properties in an image first using this filter, then apply adjustments by painting, cloning, copying, pasting, and morphing your image. The planes you choose determine the perspective of your adjustments,then it will give your image a genuine perspective impression.
Indestructible Editing
It’s not mandatory but in addition I must want to inform you that editing any picture in an Indestructible manner is a very good practice. as it allows you to get back to the actual image at any position while editing. It is good for any editor to make a habit of this. Masking any item will allow you to edit an image in an Indestructible Mannar. Not only that, if you can make a habit of starting your editing after making a copy of the original one and applying your effects on it, it will make you more professional.
Conclusion
I hope all of the techniques I have mentioned earlier were quite easily understandable. I hope if you can gather The basic idea in these mentioned fields, you will find yourself a lot more comfortable and confident while starting any photo editing. If you find all of this guide helpful then please let me know in the comment section. Not only that, if you have any other thoughts on this topic, feel free to share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section. I will be happy to approve your comment.