Unique FFXIV Media

[Vilhem]

That artist completely blew my mind the first time I saw those, I >wish< I knew how to get screenshots looking like that! lol

The approach to these is easier to spot lol. Kinda like what I did with the Merl/F'lhaminn where I isolated the characters, then manipulated the backgrounds.

For a lot of these it looks like several filters were added to manipulate the color, then the backgrounds are blurred to give that dramatic contrast to the foreground character

[Nix]

@Sou + Vil - Thanks for the tip!! >:3 I shall check that out

[Vilhem]

Nixy, the thing to know about Photoshop (and to a lesser extent, the adobe programs) is what the specialty of that program does. Sure, you have tools to do other things, but the programs each have a specific task they excel at.

In Photoshop's case, it's photo manipulation, so you have an abundance of selection tools ready for you to select areas to distort, tweak, delete, color in etc.

I'm sure you know about Layers as well, but did you know layers have their own set of settings too? (Screen, Luminosity, Darken, Multiply etc)

Sometimes I like to use Mulitply for quick jobs. It makes it seem like you're doing an "underpainting", which is really nice in certain situations.

If you ever want to sit down and get some live lessons, I'd be happy to show you in sausage chat xD

[Nix]

Nixy, the thing to know about Photoshop (and to a lesser extent, the adobe programs) is what the specialty of that program does. Sure, you have tools to do other things, but the programs each have a specific task they excel at.

In Photoshop's case, it's photo manipulation, so you have an abundance of selection tools ready for you to select areas to distort, tweak, delete, color in etc.

I'm sure you know about Layers as well, but did you know layers have their own set of settings too? (Screen, Luminosity, Darken, Multiply etc)

Sometimes I like to use Mulitply for quick jobs. It makes it seem like you're doing an "underpainting", which is really nice in certain situations.

If you ever want to sit down and get some live lessons, I'd be happy to show you in sausage chat xD

I knew about the layers and their separate settings^^ I abuse them a fair bit in my paintings haha, and their blending options (WHO DOESN'T LOVE OUTER GLOW?!)

Though I have to admit, the absolute most I've used photoshop for is just paintings Q_Q;. Live lessons would be fun sometime my dear! I will pay you in uh... thancred digipaints and cake.

[Endemerrin]

I knew about the layers and their separate settings^^ I abuse them a fair bit in my paintings haha, and their blending options (WHO DOESN'T LOVE OUTER GLOW?!)

I'm still learning myself, having only started the other week with no prior experience, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Abuse the hell out of drop shadows and inner shadows, as well as dodge and burn. That will definitely help bring out some luminosity and give everything artificial lighting, since most of it won't exist in an actual screenshot.



Being wary of the actual setting of the screenshot helps as well. For example, this was in Ul'dah at night, so I gently eased the tone towards something orange-ish to imitate lantern light. Sapping a bit of contrast from the image can also soften things up and help make the dodge tool pop a bit more, where as adding contrast will really flush the colors out and if you add too much, start to alias and muddy up the image pretty badly. Light really helps set the mood overall, though, and that's important with modifying screenshots.



Really, I tend to just learn most from either having a friend give me some random tip, or by just playing with tools randomly.

[Nix]

Sniiiip

Ahh thank you for your tips!! The screenshot edit looks wonderful ^-^

Usually instead of the dodge tool, if there's a certain color I'm looking to reflect off say a shield (If the subject is in an area where there's a strong blue light) I'll set a soft paintbrush to 8~14 opacity and set it to color dodge, that helps me to get the effect I want incase dodge tool lightens with a color I don't find ambient or fitting ;;, same with burn tool lol D: But as a painter I find myself leaning more towards the color dodge/color burn method on brushes to get my desired effects.. I think it's a strong force of habit lol.

I think your edit looks lovely, you should definitely post some more sometime, they look great!

[Radacci]

I'm still learning myself, having only started the other week with no prior experience, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Abuse the hell out of drop shadows and inner shadows, as well as dodge and burn. That will definitely help bring out some luminosity and give everything artificial lighting, since most of it won't exist in an actual screenshot.



Being wary of the actual setting of the screenshot helps as well. For example, this was in Ul'dah at night, so I gently eased the tone towards something orange-ish to imitate lantern light. Sapping a bit of contrast from the image can also soften things up and help make the dodge tool pop a bit more, where as adding contrast will really flush the colors out and if you add too much, start to alias and muddy up the image pretty badly. Light really helps set the mood overall, though, and that's important with modifying screenshots.



Really, I tend to just learn most from either having a friend give me some random tip, or by just playing with tools randomly.

wants a shader to make the game look like that...

[Vilhem]

Thancred pllllssss Q.Q

[Niqote]

Thancred pllllssss Q.Q

May I please sit in the corner stalking quietly attend as well?

[Vilhem]

May I please sit in the corner stalking quietly attend as well?

Of course e_e