Tutorial : Bizarre Photo Treatment in Photoshop
FROM : APIL
In this tutorial I will show you this really cool photo treatment using some Image Adjustments and also, we will play with the
Liquify Filter to create a crazy effect.
STEP 1Open a photo in Photoshop and extract the person from the background using the
Pen Tool (P) or the Lasso Tool (L). 
STEP 2Go to
Image>Mode>Lab Color, then go to the Channels Palette
(Windows>Channels), choose the Lightness layer and go to
Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. Use
50% for the Amount,
30 pixels for the Radius and
0 for the Threshold Levels.
STEP 3Change the image mode back to the original RGB color. Go to
Image>Mode>RGB Color.
STEP 4Duplicate the guy's layer and go to
Filter>Other>High Pass. After that change the Blend Mode to
Vivid Light.
STEP 5Now go to
Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map. First select the Reverse option then change the Blend Mode to
Soft Light and the
Opacity to 50%.
STEP 6Go to
Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue and Saturation, then lower the Saturation to
-20. The image was too colorful, that's why we reduced the saturation.
STEP 7Now, let's play with the
liquify filter. The liquify filter allows us to create some very nice effects: I've used it to create smoke, the mental explosion and now we will use it to create a bizarre character :).
Go to
Filter>Liquify, then you will have some tools in the left and the settings in the right. Select the
Bloat Tool (B) and lower the brush size to
158. Then simply click in the middle of the eye to bloat it. Do that for both eyes (1 and 2).
STEP 8Now, select the Forward
Warp Tool (W) and make the chin bigger. To do that just click and drag the area you want to move. It's really cool.
STEP 9With the Bloat Tool (B) again bloat the hands of the guy. You will have to use a bigger brush for his left hand and a much smaller for the right hand.
STEP 10Let's add some blur. Firstly go to
Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Then select the
Gradient Tool (G) and change the gradient type to Reflected Gradient. Fill the mask with the gradient, just make sure you had for the colors: Black, White and Black. Use the image below for reference. This layer mask will be necessary for the Lens Blur.
STEP 11With the mask filled with the gradient go to
Filter>Blur>Lens Blur. Change the Source in the Design Map to Layer Mask, the
Blur Focal Distance to 40 and select Invert. Also select
More Acurate and press OK. The Lens Blur will make the black areas of the layer mask blury while the white parts won't be affected.
ConclusionThe liquify filter is really cool to create some caricature or super expressive effects, like in this case that we bloated the eyes and hands. Besides that, we used a very cool photo enhancement techinque using the Lab Color mode. This techinque is nice because we can achieve a sort of HDR effect, and playing a little bit I'm sure we can get some results close to what Apil does.
