effect of projector's beam of light))

[HelloPiccadilly]

Hello everyone!
I really have problems with some kind of manipulation..(to create effect from nothing)

Here is smtng what I mean, but really just to show the concept:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/82957bd2e3.jpg

here is image to play with:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/a252dae697.jpg

Actually, there is no such effect in reality, but I can see that in my imagination very clear and real )

any help would be awesome!

[frate]

You're looking for the Tyndall effect look. Like sunbeams. It can be done. I may even take a try at it (given time later).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndall_effect

[HelloPiccadilly]

It would be nice of you!!
Thx for link, very usefull!

[LonK]

Is this the effect you are looking for?

[HelloPiccadilly]

Actually, yeah...It's very convincing! Maybe a little bit to reduce brightness, but I can manage that by my self...
I've just come from cinema, and I saw there almost the same effect ))

So, what is your workflow?! I would be very much obliged to you if you can give me *psd file and a little description of ur steps..

[LonK]

This was quite simple, HelloPiccadilly. I did it very quickly just as a method proof.

To make the projection beam, I brought the image into Xara Xtreme (my preferred vector editor) -> made a much smaller duplicate and moved it over the projector lens area -> reduced both to about 2% opacity in a "screen" like transparency mode over black -> used a 100 step Blend from the larger to the smaller image. Essentially, this makes 100 copies of the bright parts of the large image gradually reducing the size and position toward the small image -- similar to a "tweening" effect. With so many copies, the blend is quite smooth. The result creates the light beam that looks something like a motion zoom with only the luminosity values. This is important as only the bright areas of the beam will bounce off airborn particles creating that ghostly mist.

I took that result into PS, aligned on top of original in Lighten mode -> erased stray light areas outside the beam. Sorry, I didn't keep a .psd file. Perhaps someone else will come up with a method done completely in PS.

[HelloPiccadilly]

Unfortunetely, I didn't get that..(
My first problem was: "reduced both to about 2% opacity in a "screen" like transparency mode over black". I pressed F6 (transparency tool), made 2% of each image..after that what should I do?
It's 1st time when I work in this program)

[HelloPiccadilly]

after some tries I didnt get no one variant which is ok ((

LonK, I really need ur help )

[LonK]

Xara uses different terminology than PS so let me try again.

PS uses "opacity": Xara uses "transparency". So actually, you'd be setting the transparency to 98% (give or take). You can experiment with this and/or adjust the blend "profile" after doing the blend. For example you might want to set the smaller image brighter so the beam fades toward the "projected image".

The PS blend mode "screen" is similar to Xara's "bleach" transparency mode. Since you are then working primarily with luminosity values, I said "on black", meaning work on a black background.

Next select the Blend Tool and drag from the larger image to the smaller. Reset the steps to about 100 (again you can experiment to get desired smoothness).

Hope that helps...

[HelloPiccadilly]

Great! I've done that! Thank u very much!!
Why did u use Xara? I'm sure this is possible to do in PS ))

[mepaulus]

I had a quick go at this , made selections with polygonal lasso on 3 layers filled with white , reduced opacity added difference clouds and a spot of dodge round the projecter then added a gradient adjustment layer to make it appear lighter at the projecter end.Total time 20 mins.

[LonK]

Originally Posted by HelloPiccadilly

Why did u use Xara?)

Glad you had some success. I used Xara simply because I knew the blend tool would produce the luminosity beam I wanted very easily. If indeed this can be done in PS, I'd also be interested in knowing how. Being more or less a beginner yet with PS, I couldn't think of any way to get that same result.

[LonK]

After playing with this a bit more, I did figure out a pretty simple way to do it entirely in PS. The volumetric projection beam doesn't exactly correspond to the projected image, but I think it's pretty convincing.

[HelloPiccadilly]

Yeah, smooth and nice!! What is ur workflow?)

In near future I will use this steps in my new series, so I want that it was convincing as much as possible )

[LonK]

Originally Posted by HelloPiccadilly

Yeah, smooth and nice!! What is ur workflow?

1. Add a new layer above the background layer.
2. Using the gradient tool, fill this with a suitable 'noise' gradient, horizontally (attachment 1).
3. Desaturate, reduce the opacity a bit so you can see what's happening below, then using the transform tool in 'distort' mode, fit to the projector and to the edges of the projected image (attachment 2).
4. Make a selection of the projected image and everything behind it, click backspace to erase this (attachment 3).
5. Gaussian blur the layer to taste (attachment 4).
6. Add a layer mask and using the gradient tool (black to transparent) fade beam as shown. Reduce layer opacity to taste (attachment 5).

[HelloPiccadilly]

Thx a lot!! )
I'll try that!! Hope it will be easy for me ))

[Flora]

Just great Lonnie!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for sharing!

[chillin]

I tried to use a combination of masks & gradients cutouts.