AV News 189 - August 2012
With Apologies to Hovis!
Embossing Using Photoshop Layers
Keith Scott FRPS
Several of my sequences are made with tongue in cheek, just for a bit of fun,
they're not intended to be taken too serious and if they create a chuckle within
an audience then they achieve their goal. One such sequence entitled
'Nostalgia' sets the scene by depicting many old but familiar everyday objects
from our past. One such item being Hovis Bread with its distinctive name of
Hovis embossed on the sides. In my initial attempt to include some authenticity
I searched high and low for genuine Hovis Bread that actually stated Hovis on
its side, much as I remember from when I was a young lad. It was not to be.
Nowhere could I find Hovis bread bearing its famous name, I came to the
conclusion that a simple illusion must be created. The reason I'm explaining this
is because one reader asked how I managed to photograph Hovis when all his
attempts to find similar loafs had failed.
Yes, I've been there!
To create this illusion it was first
necessary to purchase a loaf that
at least looked similar to the loaf of
my distant memories, then add the
required name using Photoshop.
A trip to the local supermarket
provided a loaf of suitable
appearance. This was duly
impaled onto a studio lighting
stand enabling the loaf to be
turned three hundred and sixty
degrees to provide access to all
sides without moving the camera
or tripod. The loaf was photographed from all sides and at different angles using
a white projector screen as background. This was undertaken in the garden on
a bright sunny day but in open shade of trees to help control contrast and retain
full detail. This produced an off white, almost light grey background but as this
was to be removed later it didn't matter.
In Photoshop the original image layer was first duplicated (ctrl + j) by leaving
the original layer intact I can always return to this if something goes wrong.
Working on the copy layer the unwanted background and lighting stand was
removed by selecting the appropriate areas then deleting, leaving just the loaf
against a transparent background.
Now for the Hovis wording. Remember, we're creating an illusion and not a
forgery, therefore the exact size and type of font for the wording does not have
to precisely replicate those used by Hovis. After trying various fonts I decided
that 'Ariel Bold' with its attributes set to 'smooth' provided the most useful
appearance. To apply this text I selected the 'horizontal text tool', a new text
layer should automatically be created when typing, if not as with some older
versions of Photoshop then a new transparent layer on which to type should be
created manually.
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