Shooting for Photoshop – Part 2

Yesterday’s post discussed some scenarios that require shooting a little unconventionally with the intention of using Photoshop to complete the photographic process and complete the pre-visualized image.  I ended the post with a picture of the I Amsterdam sign that is located in a park in Amsterdam.  I also told you that I shot the image with the express purpose of using Photoshop to make it look the way it does below.

Several of you posted your guesses as to what I did in Photoshop to make it look like it does above.  Unfortunately no one had the correct answer.  So here’s the deal.  My buddy, Jeff Kelby, had been to Amsterdam before and he told me about these letters he had seen that were located in a park in the Southwestern part of the city.  We set off to the park and sure enough, we rounded a corner and there were the big red and white letters, spelling out the I Amsterdam slogan that is found all over the city (mugs, bumper stickers, hats, t-shirts, you name it). I really wanted to get a photograph of the landmark but it was covered in tourists.  They were climbing and posing and basically blocking me from getting a good shot.   So here’s where I had my “shoot for Photoshop” idea.

As I walked around the rear side of the letters I noticed that there was no one there. Everyone was posing on the front side so that the letters would be readable in their own pictures.  That’s when I pulled out my camera and composed my shot of the rear of the letters, completely unobstructed by other tourists.  Of course the letters were backwards in my image but that was my plan.

Once I had my shot, I simply opened it in Photoshop and then flipped the image to reverse the backwards text so that it read correctly in my image.  No multiple image stacking or masking as some of you guessed, just a simple horizontal flip.  Crazy, huh?  But totally conceived at the time I took the image with the intent to change it in Photoshop.  Sometimes a little planning can really go a long way towards getting the shot that you want.  Here’s the original image as it came out of my camera.

That’s it for me this week.  I am going to try and catch up on some well needed rest and put some finishing touches on the D3000 book.  Have a great weekend and I’ll see you Monday.

Related posts:

1. Shooting for Photoshop
2. Back in Business…For the Most Part
3. Photoshop CS5 – Should You Upgrade?
4. New Photoshop iPad App Announced at Photoshop World
5. Cleaning Out Your Lightroom Catalog (Part A)