| » Forum Index » Problems and solutions » Topic: The "Displace" filter-Creative uses? |
|
Posted on 11/08/04 4:18:44 PM |
|
joshspazjosh
* Posts: 22 Reply |
The "Displace" filter-Creative uses?
I stumbled upon "Creative Photoshop Lighting Techniques" by Barry Huggins in Barnes and Noble, published by Lark Photography. I learned some new stuff; some of it I had seen in Steve's book and other things was stuff I already knew how to do but hadn't thought of approaching in that way (for example, techniques in creating moonlight from a day scene based on using already-known techniques). What struck me most, though, was the book's discussion of the "Displace" filter. I don't know how often anyone uses this filter (or if anyone here uses it at all-I haven't heard it talked about until I got this book) but its potentials are amazing. What the book uses it for is to distort shadows and projections to fit the contour of someone's face. (For example, the "Displace" filter is used when projecting the image of a computer screen onto someone's face when they are looking at the screen and for when the shadows of Venetian blinds are on someone's face.) The book uses a low displacement percentage (10-15% for both horizontal and vertical) and the displacement map is a PSD file of the face in question, converted to grayscale with a small amount of Gaussian Blue applied and significantly (although not drastically) elevated contrast in order to emphasize the contours. (I'm at work right now, so unfortunately I can't show you an example, but the results work remarkably well.) I was wondering if anyone could think of alternative uses for the Displacement filter. I just have this feeling that amazing effects could be achieved with it if it were put to creative use. Reply with your ideas! |
Posted on 16/08/04 1:06:04 PM |
|
Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7021 Reply  |
Re: The Displace filter
Yes, the Displace filter is excellent. One of the best uses I've seen is to map a flat flag onto a sheet of crumpled silk, using the silk itself to displace the flag - it works really well. I'll be going into the Displace filter with a couple of examples in the next edition of the book. It is, however, a real hit-and-miss technique. Sometimes the distortions can work perfectly; frequently, it just goes horribly wrong. This is because it uses the light-dark information to determine the degree of displacement, which occasionally happens to match the expected contours - but frequently doesn't. There's a lot to explain about how to use this tricky filter, so it will take several pages to go into in detail. Well worth the effort, though. |