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Processing of architectural photographs. How to Create an Architectural Sketch Effect in Adobe Photoshop

This lesson is suitable for those users who prefer Archicad to other drafting programs. The method is designed for advanced users. I will make a reservation that I will not explain the elementary functions of the main buttons and talk about the technology for constructing a drawing, but I will describe the process of its transformation from a standard one into an interesting sketch.

Hand graphics always look attractive and appreciated by customers. But what to do when she's gone a large number time, or, perhaps, you do not have drawing skills at the proper level, and the usual appearance of a drawing developed on a computer is “bored”? In this case, you can depict it in a sketch style using a computer and spending a minimum of time on it.

List of involved programs: ArchiCAD 16, ArchiSuite by Cigraph (add-ons or plugins for ArchiCAD).

Files used while working on the lesson: https://yadi.sk/d/uaSmIBICk3vR2 https://yadi.sk/d/INTF5eXxk3vF2

Before you start working in the ArchiCAD program, you need to download and install a suitable font for our task on your computer: control panel > fonts.

It's time to open our drawing in ArchiCAD.

Let's do one more preparation. Click: Options > Extension Manager. We write the path to the folder with ArchiCAD extensions in the extension manager window. So the program will surely find its way to them. A tick next to the add-ons we need indicates their availability.

Consider the drawing. When building it, standard tools were used: walls, windows, doors, lines, arcs, hatching, axes, etc. You can choose the width of the lines, color and transparency of hatching according to your own taste.

You only need to change the default font to the newly installed one. It's more handwritten than strict Arial. Click on the “Text” tool in the toolbar on the left, then Ctrl + A to select all the text in the drawing and change its font at once (the “font” field on the information board on top).

Select all sizes with Ctrl+A, in their properties change the font to the previously specified one. Let's repeat this operation with marks.

All preparations are completed and we move on to the process of artistic design of the drawing. Let's go: Construction > Construction Add-on > ArchiSuite > Show ArchiSuite Palette.

Press Ctrl+A and click on the pencil button in the newly opened ArchiSketchy submenu.

The Conversion Settings window opens, in which you can view the ArchiSketchy settings.

At the very top, you can choose one of the seven proposed stylistic solutions. These can be options with induced or wavy lines, with bold shading or bright fills. You choose.

The next parameter is the amount of line release at the edges, i.e. the size of the "tails" at the corners. It characterizes the degree of accents at the ends of lines by lengthening them and is measured in millimeters. The standard value is 500 mm. You can play with it best result according to the scale of your drawing.

We will select all the modeling elements to convert them into a sketch, but we can also exclude some, such as the font.

Adjusting the colors of the feathers used.

In addition, you can change the style of the lines: replace straight lines with wavy ones, for example.

In a similar way, we change the hatching for different construction elements: walls - one hatch, floors - another, etc., instead of those previously installed.

Under the icon with the letter "A" you can change the font, but this will be superfluous, because. we excluded it from drawing earlier.

You can also choose a background for the picture, imitating paper or cardboard, by clicking on Open Picture in the lower right corner.

When all presets are selected, click on OK.

After that, your cursor will turn into a hammer, and when you hover over one of the points - into a pencil. Double-click on it with this "pencil" and wait a bit for the system to make changes in the appearance of the drawing.

Now click on the free field on the side, admire the result.

The lines look like they were drawn by a human hand, and not like they were created by a computer.

Thank you all for your attention! I hope you enjoy this simple, but interesting method of designing drawings and you find the lesson informative.

Creating a beautiful image is a rather laborious and lengthy process, and pressing the shutter button is only a small part of it. If you're ready to learn how to create publishable photos, then the material below will help you with this.

Every photographer faces the challenge of wide dynamic range, and architectural photography is no exception, although it often only takes 3 shots. But the photo shown in the example required 9 source shots with exposure bracketing -2, 0 and +2. Also, many photographers deliberately take more shots to get rid of people in the pictures.

A few tips:

shoot in RAW format, because the source should be of the highest quality and flexible when proofreading;
use low ISO;
use one white balance value for the entire series of shots;
Bring your heaviest tripod and remote control for the shutter button to ensure vibration is avoided.

Camera

For architectural shots, cameras like the Canon 5D Mark II are well suited, which, in combination with, for example, a 17mm TS-E tilt-shift lens, gives excellent results. It's a good idea to have a couple of spare optics with you. In case the last element of your lens is convex and limits the ability to apply a filter, exposure bracketing will come to the rescue.

Computer and monitor

The computer must be powerful, with sufficient random access memory(it's good to have about 24 GB), because RAW images sometimes "weigh" up to a gigabyte. The monitor is calibrated before any major adjustments for the best color reproduction and, as a result, an objective assessment of the image.

Import images

For import, many people like to use Lightroom, iPhoto, Picassa and other applications, but professionals prefer complete control over the situation, which is what they achieve by manually importing images.

On the spot, it is convenient to transfer all the footage to hard drives, the material from which is later transferred to a pre-created location. It is very convenient to think over the folder hierarchy system, designating images of different formats and sizes with corresponding names that you understand, such as bw - for black and white photographs.

Selection photos

A good workhorse for many professionals is Adobe CS5. The preview is most convenient in Bridge, where the files you have selected among all are marked on the right, and on the left, using a filter, you can display separately selected material.

Camera Raw

The camera settings in this example are set to zero. So it is more convenient to work by setting specific values for each new edited series of photos.

A few more tips:

Make sure you are working in the same color space as the camera. The most commonly used is Adobe RGB. Use the highest quality sources, you can convert to the format you need later;
Edit in 16-bit mode;
Set the white balance to the most successfully exposed photo;
For hot pixels, the Recovery slider will help. When you press the + combination while moving the slider, you will see pixels on a black background;
If you were forced to push the return slider too far, compensate by pushing the "Exposure"
Use a similar algorithm when working with black levels so that there are no crashes
After selecting all the pictures after the above manipulations, synchronize the white balance on them using the menu
The last step is to open all the images in Photoshop.

Working in Photoshop

The retouching algorithm in Photoshop is quite simple. So:

Combining Exposure Bracketed Images into One
Joining the images that make up the panorama
Save to psd format our result
We use masks to process individual parts of the photo additionally
Save the image with all layers
We combine sieves, if necessary - crop
Working with Sharpness
Save the new version in psd under a different name
Resizing to fit
Convert space to srgb and change depth to 8 bits
We save in a raster format, we use our notation for convenience

Manual layer blending

To begin with, let's insert into one project all the frames exposed in different ways. Using File - Scripts - Load files into a stack (File> Scripts> Load Files Into A Stack) you can do this automatically.

Don't be afraid to select and work with masks! The example shows the quick selection tool. It is inaccurate at first, so it’s worth adjusting the selection area as follows: click on the “Refine Edge” button (Refine Edge), in the View context menu at the top of the Edge Refinement dialog, select Overlay. This turns on the use of a red mask, which is convenient for viewing both the selection and the area not included in it.

With the help of a brush (Refine Radius Tool brush) manually refine the edge of the selection, boldly walking over it with the cursor with a brush. Click OK.

Create a mask by clicking “Add Vector Mask” (Add Vector Mask). In the dialog box, we see the appearance of a black and white thumbnail. Black is invisible, and everything else lets through the image of the corresponding layer. We create similar masks for all elements of the photo with which we will work. In order to avoid excessive rigidity, we will reduce the transparency of the various layers. This will also add flexibility to our method of working with the dynamic range of the image.

We save, in your opinion, the exposed version of your image with the preliminary merging of the layers in the menu “Layers -> Merge Layers” (Layer> Flatten Image) and save as a Photoshop document.

Working with color and contrast

Here, another image is used as an example. On it you can clearly see the difference between the corrected and the original RAW image.

Processing a whole frame, along with improving color and contrast in one part of it, would lead to a deterioration in the situation in another.

Let's create layer masks:

Select the desired part of the main layer
Adjusting the edge of the selection
Copying the Selection
Paste as a new layer, denoting a friendly name
In the same way we create several layers

Saturation

Select a working layer. Add an adjustment layer (see picture) to work with hue and saturation. In order not to go beyond our layer, be sure to click “Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask”(Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask). Give space to your imagination, you can use filters to add warmth, etc.

To work with contrast, we can add a layer of curves. It is convenient to use the “Strong Contrast (RGB)” parameter (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves… - select "Strong Contrast (RGB)).

Adjustment layers applied to one image can be conveniently grouped together using the “Group layers” (Layer> Group Layers). By turning this group on and off, you can see the effect of your manipulations with your own eyes. Tip: If you're trying to stop the exposure, add a layer of curves with an opacity of about 38%. To add a stop, set the blending mode to “Lightening” (Screen), and to reduce it - “Multiplication” (Multiply).

We use the algorithm discussed above for all layers of interest to us.

Photoshop Lesson

Photoshop tutorials photo

alignment

There are only 2 methods here: a ruler, or the menu "Edit" - "Change" - "Rotate" (Edit> Transform> Rotate).

framing

sharpness

duplicate image
apply a color shift filter with a radius, for example, 1.0, to the copy. the sequence of commands "Filters" - "Others" - "Color shift" (Filter> Other> High Pass).
set the Overlay mode.

Preservation

We reduce all layers into one and save the image under the next name in psd format. It is with this file that you will work in the future to resize the image for publication. At the final save, we convert the space to srgb, and change the depth to 8 bits.

The algorithm is below:

“Image” - “Mode” - “8 bits / channel” (Image> Mode> 8 Bits / Channel)

“Editing” - “Convert to Profile” (Edit> Convert to Profile)

Creating an image is a whole process and for me, pressing the shutter button is only a small part of the road to a photo of sufficient quality for publication. In this article, which is part of the second, which continues the material, I will show my photo processing process.

All photographers face problematic scenes with wide dynamic range. Landscape and architectural photography is no exception. I shoot as many frames as it takes to capture the entire dynamic range of the frame. For architecture and interiors, 3 frames is enough for most situations.

The photo above required 9 photos - with exposure bracketing -2, 0 and +2, plus an additional series for the lower half of the room and for the ceiling. The extra shots also help me get rid of the people in the frame.

You must not forget...

Shoot in RAW to retain maximum source flexibility; we are not sports photographers taking a stream of shots where JPEG is much more appropriate.
hold on low level ISO.
Use one white balance setting for the entire series of photographs.
Use the heaviest tripod and remote shutter, wired or wireless.

The photograph of the Canary Wharf tube station shown above is a composite of three frames. The challenge was to get a well-exposed dark interior, a bright metal escalator, and a surprisingly bright dome in this shot. Each layer contains a correctly exposed part of the composition.

Main camera

For architectural and landscape photography, my Canon 5D Mark II with a 17mm TS-E tilt-shift lens does a great job. I use exposure bracketing in large part because the front element of my lens is convex and does not allow the use of filters. I also always have EF24 f/1.4 and EF50mm f/1.2 lenses in my bag. My tripod is a bit odd - Gitzo legs with a Manfrotto ball head.

Computer and monitor

I do all my imaging work on a dual-core Mac Pro with 24GB of RAM. I often work with images larger than a gigabyte, so a lot of RAM is a must. I have a Dell 27″ Ultrasharp monitor that is calibrated with a Spyder 3 Elite.

Before any important imaging work, I calibrate the monitor.

Import images

I understand that many of you use various automators such as Lightroom, iPhoto, Picassa and others. Call me a luddite, but I hate being out of control of the process, so I use a completely manual import procedure.

At the location, I merge photos onto 2 hard drives and, upon my return, copy about 100 gigabytes of information at a time to a pre-prepared place. The folder structure shown on the left has served me well for 10 years now.

You may notice that my finished files are prefixed with pixel sizes for different sites; at 500px it is 900px wide and for 1x.com it is 950px wide. I also add "bw" to filenames with black and white images. This naming system makes it easy to find desired images on the hard disk.

Selection

Of the many photo apps I have installed, I use Adobe CS5 on a daily basis. It's reliable workhorse to work with images.

Previewing and selection is fastest in Bridge. On the right, I select the images that interest me. Once satisfied with the selection, I use the filter on the left panel to show only the selection.

Camera Raw

If you're like me, your camera's settings are all off or set to 0. Here in Camera Raw, I make multiple settings for all of the photos to make up one image.

Make sure you import your photos in the same color space as the camera. In my case, this is Adobe RGB, which is wider than the web standard sRGB. Work with the highest quality source, and then convert to the target format, for example, for the Internet.
Edit photos in 16 bit mode
Choose the best and most correctly exposed frame and set the white balance according to it
If hot pixels are present, use the Recovery slider to compensate. Press + at the same time while moving it and you will see the position of these points on a black background!
If the "Return" slider had to be moved too much - compensate for this with the "Exposure" slider by pressing the + again at the same time.
The same combination can be used when correcting the black level - raise the black level so that there are no overhangs.
Then select all images and synchronize the white balance for all images in the series through the menu in the upper left corner.
Then open all images in Photoshop

Working in Photoshop

I have a fairly strict workspace in Photoshop and the editing process is quite simple.

I have a number of actions (actions) for different tasks, such as resizing, color space, etc. The individual tasks I perform can be divided as follows:

Combining Exposure Bracketed Images into One Layer
Joining images that make up a panorama
Saving the Composite Image as a Photoshop PSD File
Use masks to highlight parts of an image that require separate color, contrast, or exposure adjustments. An example would be processing the sky separately from the building in the foreground
Saving this image with all created layers
Merge layers and crop if needed
Sharpening
Preservation new version finished image in Photoshop PSD format
Resizing for intended use, for example up to 900px for 500px.com
Convert to color space sRGB and 8bit color depth
Save in JPEG format. Don't forget to prefix "900px" to the file name for easier searching later.