Like a lot of kids, I loved fire trucks. As I got older, I began photographing them and still do to this day. While their size, color, and abundance of details make fire trucks wonderful subjects, sometimes I feel, like Emeril, that a particular image needs to be “kicked up a notch.”
When I received a copy of Alien Skin Software’s (www.alienskin.com) new package of Photoshop compatible plug-ins that let you apply natural effects like ice, smoke, and fire to a digital image, I decided to apply some fire to a fire truck. Here’s how I did it using Adobe Photoshop CS, but any image enhancement program that supports layers and compatible plug-ins will work. Although I used the Mac OS version of the products mentioned, they are also available for Microsoft Windows.
Step 1: My original fire truck photograph was made on location at SVI Trucks in Loveland, Colorado using a Canon EOS D60 with a Ukrainian-made 16mm Zenitar f2.8 ultrawide-angle lens. The exposure was at f/11 and 1/250 sec at an ISO setting of 400 and the image was captured as a JPEG file.
Step 2: My first step when working with any image file, even those that may look perfectly color balanced, is to run them though PhotoTune’s (www.phototune.com) 20/20 Color MD Photoshop-compatible plug-in. The way PhotoTune works is that you’re presented with a series of pairs of images in a dialog box. You click the one that looks best as the process homes in on a desired result. I’m often amazed how this simple plug-in can make minor changes in color and contrast that produce major improvements to a photograph. When the image’s color is really bad, this indispensable plug–in really comes to the rescue.
Step 3: Before applying special effects. I try to make any digital file look as good as it can. So my n step is to use PixelGenius’ (www.pixelgenius.com) Capture Sharpener Expert to sharpen the photograph. Unlike other one-size-fits-all software products, Capture Sharpener Expert lets you choose the type of sharpening that’s applied from a menu of options based on the image’s method of capture, including film or digital, and even the resolution of the original capture. This is another must-have power tool and it’s amazingly easy to use considering its capabilities.
Step 4: Since my original background was pretty bland, I wanted to add separate effects to it later. To make the process simpler, I created a duplicate layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer) for effects that would be applied to the fire truck. Working on that duplicate Layer, I used the Extract tool (Filter >Extract) to separate the fire truck from its background so that the flames could be added to it.
Extract has a dialog box giving you all the tools you need to separate virtually any object from its background, but here are a few tips that might make the process less stressful: Start by outlining the truck using the Highlighter tool, but unless you’re good at freehand drawing I suggest clicking the Smart Highlighting check box to help guide the tool along areas of varying color or contrast. It’s also a good idea to work with a small brush on enlarged sections of the image, using short easy strokes to trace the truck’s outline. It’s easier to undo mistakes this way.
When you’re finished outlining, select the Paint Bucket tool and click the middle of the outlined subject, filling it with color. When you click the Extract button, the truck will be removed from its background.
Step 5: Working on the truck on the duplicate layer, I selected Filters > Alien Skin Eye Candy 5: Nature > Fire. The Nature package includes over 500 presets for frequently used effects so you can find the perfect effect quickly. You can choose from big fires to small, smoky to blazing, and the plug-in offers sliders to let you tweak specific attributes of the flames (no matches required).
As with all special effects, it’s a good idea to apply different presets to see what kind of effect you like best. Tire Fire was too black and sooty for me, but Large High Temp was just right. To finish up, I used the plug-in’s sliders to change the flame’s intensity, width, and waver. Here’s your chance to play with fire, and dad won’t paddle your bottom.
Step 6: My last step was changing the background layer. For this step I used nik Color Efex Pro’s (www.nikmultimedia.com) Burnt Sienna filter (Filter > nik Color Efex Pro 2.0: stylizing Filters > Burnt Sienna) to the background, giving an overall orange color to the photograph that looked better, to me anyway, than the cool, bland tones of the original file.
All content photographs ©2004 Joe Farace
Joe Farace is Colorado-based photographer/writer who has written or edited 25 books and more than 1,400 magazine articles. Look for his new book “The Advanced Digital Photographer’s Workbook” on sale in March. Visit him at www.joefarace.com and www.joefaraceshootscars.com.
