UPLOAD
Photoshop has probably influenced digital
arts and crafts more than any other piece
of software in the past decade. Recognizing this, this Upload section is all about imaging.
With a list price near $1,000, Photoshop CS3
is a pricey product, but there are ways around
this. CS2 is selling currently for as little as $200,
sealed and unused, on eBay. It should get even
cheaper as CS4 hits the market, but if you want
to pay even less, try version 7 for maybe $100.
Version 5. 5 for Mac or 6.0 for Windows (
several years old, but still with most of the features
you need) can be found for as little as $50. eBay
does not knowingly allow bootlegs, but make
sure you ask the vendor whether the software
can be, or has been, registered.
Photoshop Elements is available new for
less than $100. This simpler version of Photoshop lacks some of the most powerful features,
but may still suffice.
And then there’s GIMP, the open source image-editing software that emulates Photoshop and
costs nothing at all. Available for Windows, Linux, or
Mac, it’s downloadable from many shareware sites.
One way or another, powerful image-editing is
now within your means. What fun things can you
do with it? Here are some suggestions.
—Charles Platt
WARHOLIZE!
Turn your favorite blonde into a silk-screened
glamour queen. By James Grant
When Andy Warhol made his famous silk-screened prints of Marilyn Monroe,
he started with a simple idea: use a high-contrast black-and-white photo, and
overprint it with bold swatches of color. Is that idea simple enough for us to
emulate it with modern image-editing software? Let’s find out. This will work
in Photoshop 6 or later versions.
Figure A (opposite page) is a stock photograph
that I acquired from
istockphoto.com for just $14
(including the rights to reproduce it in a magazine).
I chose a picture that has a plain background and
is brightly lit, without much shadow. Avoid photographs that have noticeable shadows; they’ll look
muddy after being Warholized.
1. SAVE PHOTO AS DUPLICATE
Select the whole image, copy, and paste to create
a duplicate of it in Layer 1. You’ll use this version,
preserving the Background layer untouched in
case you need it later.
2. REMOVE COLOR
Get rid of the color in Layer 1. To do this, go to
Image → Adjust → Hue/Saturation, and in the
96 Make: Volume 16
dialog box that opens, drag the Saturation slider all
the way to – 100.
3. MAKE TINT OVERLAY LAYERS
It’ll be easier to add color overlays now, before you
crank up the contrast in the photo. Create a new
layer; call it “Dress,” and continue by creating additional layers for hair, eyes, lips, and any other part
of the picture you want to color.
4. ADD COLORS TO LAYERS
In each layer, fill an appropriate area with any color
you like (you can fine-tune the colors later). Paint
with a paintbrush, or fill an area that you’ve selected
with the lasso — do whatever works for you. You
don’t need to be precise. Warhol slapped the color
on with a “painterly” hand, which is to say, he didn’t
