---

CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF IMAGES BY THE RUNNERS-UP

---

Our readers’ submissions for Special Effects were truly awe-inspiring—most of the contest entries, in fact, were very noteworthy. Congratulations to First-place winner Thomas Crouse, Second-place winner Pamela Reed, and Third-place winner Ben Leavitt, whose images appear in this story. You’ll also want to check out the images of the runners-up, whose Special Effects photographs appear in the accompanying gallery.

There have been volumes of great books and articles written about special effects, whether they’re created through the lens or after the fact. We’ll briefly touch on a few post-production techniques here.

---

Photo Illustration
Images that are artfully manipulated into a whole new realm of fantasy, such as this one, often appear to be photo realistic paintings. For some of these effects, you can use brushes found in software like Photoshop or Painter. Photoshop’s Custom Shape tool enables you to create a myriad of shapes and imaginative special effects. The challenge, fun and artistry comes from creating exactly what suits your purposes.
 


1st Place: “Balloon Puzzle” © Thomas Crouse. Thomas has won a 72mm ExpoDisc for Pro Digital White Balance for this colorful image of a hot-air balloon turning into pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Thomas says, “Use the Photoshop ‘Custom shape tool’ and select and size the puzzle piece shape. After placing where you want, select around it and cut it out using ‘create new layer via cut.’  Now move that layer to where you want the puzzle piece and use the ‘emboss’ effect to make it look 3D.”

---

Posterization
This effect, sometimes known as solarization, makes rather drastic tone and contrast changes. Some cameras have this feature included. If your camera doesn’t have it, but you’d like to try it, the effect is also available in most image-manipulation software programs. In Photoshop, you can find it under Filter > Stylize >Solarize. Posterization is a difficult technique to control, and takes a lot of practice. It often works well in combination with other manipulation techniques, like the ones the photographer outlines below.  Posterization is most effective when you try to match certain subjects and scenes with particular effects. This scene of an old motel and its sign works very well with the more graphic rendition created by the solarization effect.



2nd Place: “Riviera Motel, Tucson, Arizona” © Pamela Reed. She has won Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 (Mac version). Pamela says, “Here in Tucson we experience wonderful skies & cloud formations during monsoon season.  Large, white, puffy clouds are interspersed with dark and ominous formations.  Each summer I wait until the right time of day, the clouds in the perfect position with the sun at certain place in the sky to capture the images.   The Riviera is just one of an entire series of Arizona Signs I have produced.  

The Riviera Motel photograph was taken with a Canon 1N EOS on transparency film.  It was scanned via a flatbed scanner and imported into Photoshop.  First I applied a solarizing effect, then levels adjustments. Next under Hue/Saturation, I adjusted individual color hues and saturations.  Lastly, the ‘unsharpen’ function was applied.”  

---

Compositing
Photomontage, or image compositing, has been greatly boosted by digital image manipulation. In digital image manipulation, compositing or photomontage techniques are advanced by the use of layer modes and interactions, as well as the exploitation of gradient effects. In a successful composited image, like the one shown here, elements should not only be seamless, but they should match.



3rd Place: “Be Yourself” © Ben Leavitt. Ben has won Paint Shop Pro PHOTO X2 (Windows Version). He states, “I took several shots of the same model giving different expressions. He was wearing a middle-gray colored tie, so I could change it to whatever color I wanted in post-production. I then composited the portraits together in Photoshop and changed tie colors using a hue/saturation adjustment layer set to colorize.”

---

In addition to these prizes, all winners will receive a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS3 – HOW-TOs 100 Essential Techniques by Chris Orwig.

Take our next Double Exposure Challenge! Look for details on “Street Photography” in this issue.

---

CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF IMAGES BY THE RUNNERS-UP

---

Let us know if you found this article useful, and tell us what kinds of articles you'd like to see in upcoming issues. Send your comments and ideas to Lynne Eodice.