 |
||||
 |
Sally Jane Photographic ArtAdobe Photoshop Tutorial |
|||
Photoshop Filter - Brush Strokes - Accented EdgesAccented edges can be quite effective in some situations but you do need to understand a little bit about it. Before I explain the settings I will just say that this is one of the few filters that, in my opinion, does not work that well with the blending modes in the layers pallet so what you see is what you get because playing around with blending won't improve things much other than maybe to fade the effect. For this tutorial we will be working with this image of a sheep's head. The image is Ok by itself but the coat works well with this filter. To view these images full size just click on the image. Click on filter on the top menu bar to get the drop down list. Accented edges is listed under Brush Strokes although why that is is anybodies guess. |
||||
 |
||||
When you choose any of the filters you are presented with the filter gallery window. This shows you a preview of your image on the left. In the middle there is a list of all the filters available and on the right are the settings available for that filter. The centre section can be ignored so to allow more space for your preview click on the little upward pointing chevrons to the left of the OK button. You should then get the view below. |
||||
 |
||||
In accented edges, you are presented with three sliders in the filter option window. The first is edge thickness and I suggest you keep this to a small number say 1 or 2. |
||||
 |
||||
The second is possibly the most important to understand as it deals with brightness but also conversely darkness. I think this slider would be more obvious if it worked in positive and negative values with 0 in the centre but instead it goes in values from 0 to 50 with 25 being neutral. Anything above 25 will give you a bright glowing edge while any value less than 25 will produce a dark to black edge. The above image was created with the brightness value at 38 (width was 2 and smoothness 5). The image below has the same settings except the brightness was set to 20, so as it is less than 25 it is no longer showing glowing edges but has darkened them slightly in comparison to the original. |
||||
Notice if I slide the brightness down to 0 the edges turn black.
|
||||
Sliding it all the way up to 15, however, completely softens the edges causing the image to look blurry and out of focus.
OK so what can you do with it. Well used right it does exactly what is says on the tin! One of the few filters that is well named. Have a play and experiment. Remember if you add it to a duplicate layer you can always fad the effect using the opacity slider in the layers pallet.
|
||||
Recommended Further Reading for PhotoshopReturn to introduction & contents page
|
||||
|
Tel. 07956 448690 e-mail - Images@sally-jane.com |
||||
