Photoshop Tricks, Part 2 - The Minimize Command and the Spatter Effect
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The horoscope symbols are too frail to be filtered with something as strong as the Spatter Effect. You can beef up their outlines with a command that apparently very few people use: the Filter, Other, Minimize command. Contrary to its name, the Minimize command actually adds to the outline of a selection or image area.
Come. Let's do it....
Minimize, Then Spatter Ctrl(Command)+click the signs layer to load the signs as a selection, and then click the Save selection as channel icon at the bottom of the Channels palette (Alpha 3). Click the Alpha 3 channel to view this alpha channel. Press Ctrl(Command)+D to deselect.
Choose Filter, Other, Minimum. Set the Radius to 2 pixels. As you can see in Figure 24.34, the symbols look beefy and can stand up to some serious distortion.
Figure 24.34 The Minimum command is sort of a combination of using Expand Selection and then filling the expanded selection.
Click on OK to apply the beefiness. Choose Filter, Brush Strokes, Spatter. Use the settings shown in Figure 24.35, and click on OK to apply the effect.
Figure 24.35 Not all artists are tidy with their strokes. Applying both straight and spattered strokes to a work makes you more of a synthetic virtuoso.
Ctrl(Command)+click Alpha 3 to load the spattered symbols as a selection. Click the Layers tab to view the Layers palette. Click the Fat Star copy layer to make this layer active, and then click the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to put the new layer below the signs layer. Choose a pale blue color, and press Alt(Opt)+Delete (Backspace) to fill the selection with color. Press Ctrl(Command)+D to deselect.
Lower the Opacity of the signs layer so that you can see the spatter effect and still make out the symbols (around 65% might do the trick). Come to think of it, you should probably add an effect to the signs layer by clicking on the encircled f icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and then choosing Bevel and Emboss. Then add to the signs a Pillow Emboss from the Style drop-down list. Click on OK.
Repeat steps 1–5 on the Leo layer so that it doesn't feel left out. Now, look at Figure 24.36. This surely has to be one of the most robust paintings never painted!
Figure 24.36 Is it a painting? High art? Nope. It's Photoshop, pushed just a little!
Because this is a multi-trick chapter, we'd best move on to another thing Photoshop can do to match Painter features.
 This chapter is from Inside Photoshop CS, by Gary Bouton (Sams, 2004, ISBN: 0672326442). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today.
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Next: Trick 6: Creating Organic-Looking Objects Using Photoshop Filters >>
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