Vanishing Point is cool, but here are some reservations I have and tips for its most effective usage.
The effect is not always perfect. There can be a lot of fine-tuning and fiddling to get the image to look right.
I have found that the Vanishing Point tool can be a little slow, especially if you are not on the fastest computer around; seems a little unfair, eh?
When using the Stamp tool, it appears to be blotchy in the way it laid down the color. I find single clicks work best.
Some alignment problems occur if you have to change your brush alignment like I had to do to fill a corner.
The image must be RGB. This may or may not be a big deal for you.
When using the Vanishing Point tool, I found that some of the perspective was off, in spite of the fact that some areas looked bang on.
Adding areas to an image once you deviate or start a new selection from the original Stamp selection or Marquee selection makes it difficult to get the right alignment.
Using the Marquee tool to add to the image area is a faster way to add image than the Stamp tool.
Try different methods, and keep an open mind as to what serves you best. I suspect that the Vanishing Point tool is best suited to objects where alignment with other elements in the image is not critical. For instance, if you were to place an image on the side of a building or vinyl siding on a building, I could see it working well. Again, there are many ways to do the same thing when retouching, and you have to decide what is best for you.
Another request I often get is to create highlights and add shape to an object. There can be many reasons for this. The client loves the shot, but it requires some fixing up to make it more dramatic. There may be wine glasses that require a sparkly sheen to them or a piece of metal or paint requires a shiny look. Care must be taken though, as there are different types of sheen to objects. A very shiny, smooth surface will have a hard, bright shine to it, but an object with a flat, dull finish, like a brushed metal surface, should have a flatter sheen to it.
Let's take a round circle of color, as in Figure 4-62. I just created the circle part of the image in Photoshop by filling a circle selection with color.
Figure 4-62. Before: adding a basic circle of color in Photoshop
Once you have the object identified, create a new layer in your file, call it Highlights, and set the layer to normal (default). Create another new layer, set the attributes to multiply and call it Shadows. There are a couple of different highlights and shadows we could draw on this ball to achieve two completely different looks. One could be flat looking, as if the ball were sprayed with a flat paint. Another look could be that of a very shiny ball where the highlights and shadows appear very hard with little diffusion. In Figure 4-63, I've created a ball with a flat look to it, and in Figure 4-64, I've created a very shiny ball. Let's go through the steps to see how each was made.
Figure 4-63. After: the flat spray paint technique
Figure 4-64. After: the high-gloss technique
Creating a Flat Finish
If we want the ball to look like it's been painted with a flat purple spray paint, we'd use soft highlights without any hard edges to them. Using the Paintbrush tool with a very soft hardness setting, like 0%, again set to a very low opacity of 20%, spray on highlights in an area you think would need them, as Figure 4-65. Where you brush in highlights will be based on where the light is coming from. Let's assume the light is coming from the right side of this page, then the highlights on the ball will land on the right side of the ball. Imagining that this is the only light source, the shadows will fall to the left of the ball. I've added a shadow on the left side, and the result Figure 4-66.
Figure 4-65. A selection of the ball is made and a white highlight is brushed in
Creating a Very Shiny Finish
Now let's see if we can shine our object up a bit. Using the Pen tool, draw in a shape in an area that I think will need highlights based on where I think the light is coming from. I'll usually make the bottom portion of the highlight shape larger than I need to because I like to go wide on the bottoms of the highlights, as it is typical for a highlight to fall off softly without a hard edge. I can also go back in with the Erase brush, if I have to, and adjust the extra highlight. When I finish making my shapes with the Pen tool, I have shapes that look like Figure 4-67.
Figure 4-66. After adding a shadow for our dull ball, it is complete
Figure 4-67. Leave the original highlight layer on, but add a shape with the Pen tool that you will use for the shine
Next, I'll make a selection of the shape with a slight softness to it to match the look of any other hard edges on the ball. While on your highlight layer, use a low opacity, 20%, Airbrush. Now brush through the shape until you get the desired effect, as in Figure 4-68.
Figure 4-68. The look of the ball with the shiny highlight painted in
Highlights typically come from the top, so I usually make the tops of the highlights the brightest points and feather them off as they move down the ball. I usually do only one shape at a time if I have more than one shapewhat I brush in for one shape may not be suitable for the other shapes if they are too close together.
Then, let's do the same thing for the shadow. I'll create a shape for it as well that will give it a harder edge, as shown in Figure 4-69.
Figure 4-69. Give the shadow a hard edge as well
For a finishing touch, I added a reflection of the grass onto the bottom of the ball to appear as a very shiny ball. This was done with a low opacity Clone tool and a large brush size. I put the source of the Clone tool brush on the grass and cloned that information onto the ball. The final results are in Figure 4-70.
Figure 4-70. A touch of highlight on the grass shows just how shiny the ball has become!
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