I decided to tackle a project on PS today after working up the courage and vague knowledge of time using it for more basic things. I wanted to recreate a nebula, and I think I was reasonably successful. As a newbie I'm really happy with it, but I'd love comments, criticism or feedback of any sort. Thanks guys! http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh26/Shock_Theta/StarfieldBase2500.jpg Click me for a bigger image!
That wasnt what i was expecting. But nevertheless its really nicely made. So you made this with brushes? The image looks much better when enlarged. Much more clarity. In my opinion, to improve the quality, and make it look a little more attractive maybe next time just leave some space black. Its hard to explain but every time i see space themed pictures, the best ones seem to have alot of empty space. That way you can draw peoples attention to the more important parts. Also did you use lense flare to create the bright effects? because i find working with "lighting effects" much more rewarding, and you dont get the cirlce effect which is really cheesy in my opinion. Other than that its really cool i have never tried something like that before. If you did it with brushes then well done, because you have to have a 'good eye' to work a full canvas with brushes, rather than just splatting some on in the corners of a sig. Well done Shock, especially for a first attempt. There are some great space brushes out there, and i have an awesome TUT on making plannets and stuff, ill dig it up.
Thanks for the detailed feedback man. I started by adding some noise to the base black layer, layered that up and went with brush work from there. I did use lens flare as it was easier in the time I had, but I admit I wouldn't know how to get nearly as good an effect with lighting effects with my current knowledge. I tried to make them less noticeable but I see you have a rather good eye as I suspected and hoped for when asking you to comment. I saw that there were some space brushes to grab a hold of but I wanted to do the work from scratch and by hand, if you know what I mean. It was scary to remove so much of the stars I had to start with and I was tentative, perhaps I should do another and open it up a little more! Get some different colours in there too perhaps. Thanks for the feedback man it's really appreciated.
To make more stars I have always found the Static tool with the option of Mono color to be helpful. Some spaces look like the need some stars. Shock they are lonely! Also I thought Nebulas were supposed to be colorful. You can change that under the Hue option. Or not it looks very well done as it is.
This is your first attempt its really good the only problems I see is there is a big black spot just a lil bit left of the center I am not sure if it was intentional or anything it just looks kind of void in my noobie opinion. but aside from that I think it looks great good job.
@Ghost: I think you have my level of understanding pitch a little low from my self deprecating post. It is true I am a newbie to attempting stand-alone pieces but I know my way around. I actually used your exact method for generating the starting point for the stars! Monochromatic noise, adjusted that then duplicated and adjusted more to summarise briefly. There is some colour work in there too but it is subtle, mostly a shining blue around the star clusters and a red glow in the centre, with some turquoise clouds on the edges. It's interesting, Matty suggested a lower density and you both seem to be advocating a greater one... from the examples I've seen I prefer even less than I have here, but the problem you have to nail down I suspect is whether you are looking at a wider view of the night sky, a wide reaching cluster or a close up of a nebula. To be honest I pulled out the brushes and went with it using my gut feeling!
It looks very good, especially if you dont know very much about Ps. I like that that its random. Had it had even noise all over, it would look bad. Its also very nice how its so big, It can show detail. Ps is a very cool program, you should try it some more.
The lense flare isnt that noticable, and it looks fine. Its just with lighting effects you lose the circle effect. I would love to see another version of that, with maybe some more interesting colours, and darker patches to add depth to the image. The lighting effects is really easy, its just like a lense flare but more customisable and you can put more than 1 on an image. The best way to get used to it is with experimentation. The best way to learn PS is with experimentation, but you have to know what you are experimenting with.
theres a really good tutorial out there that tells u how to make nebula clouds, take a look itll add some color to ur pic
This is my first attempt with PS.. figured I'd share it here as well, Hope you don't mind me doing so.
Remember Shock, less is more. It's outer space, theres literally trillions and trillions of square feet of nothing out there. So let it feel just a tad empty.