Reflex Stock Photo Blog

Retouching Resolutions: 2. Keep it Classy

Henry Rivers — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:54:03 +0000

From the wacky and surreal, yet somehow refined and corporate style of C.J. Burton – we’ve learned that ‘standing out’ is essential in the world of Photoshop. But, now it’s time to turn our gaze towards Europe … dubbed ‘The Master of Retouching’, Christophe Huet brings an undeniable level of class to the retouching table:

2nd resolution: Keep it Classy

Perhaps best known for his melting / warping effects, Christophe has recently achieved a high profile in advertising – you may recognise some his work from Nike, Motorola and Playstation campaigns.

What we like about Christophe is that his images aren’t just about the manipulation itself, but also show consideration for the traditional qualities of photography. His acute attention to detail, especially when it comes to composition and lighting, lend the Frenchman’s creative retouching a rare level of sophistication …

… having said this his works include an elephant pissing on a car and a purple cow getting a massage. Essentially, he has a talent for making weird stuff look relatively classy.

To check out more of Christophe’s work visit his website Christophe Huet .com.

For our 3rd Resolution, we’ll be taking a look at Swedish retoucher Erik Johansson …

Retouching Resolutions: 1. Always stand out from the crowd

Henry Rivers — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:33:01 +0000

A couple of days ago we were amused by some of the nerdy responses to photoshop.com’s blog post “What’s Your New Year’s Resolution?”. See below for examples:

• Arun is going to to “try to make more realistic textures for the character models”
• Justie said she wanted to start taking her holiday photos in RAW format
• William is going to calibrate his Color Monitor.

This is not to say we have a problem with nerdy-photoshop-based New Years Resolutions, if anything we actively encourage it. But instead of putting you on the spot like photoshop.com, we’re going to be nice and do the work for you …

Over the next three weeks we’ll post SIX nerdy-photoshop-based resolutions to keep you focused through the cold, dark days of January.

More specifically these resolutions will be on a topic close to our heart – Retouching. This is partly due to our love of first class photo manipulation, but mostly because of the alliteration.

First up: Always stand out from the crowd

L.A. based photographer C.J Burton’s philosophy is essentially to stand out from the crowd. His winning combination of wit, imagination, Photoshop genius, and clever use of models has made his imagery some of the most sought after in world of commercial photography. (We particularly admire his hyper-realistic stock image portfolio.)

If you can match CJ’s quirkiness and impeccable detailing then you’ll be well on your way to Photoshop stardom …

Visit CJ Burton’s website here for an unedited look at his portfolio: CJBurton.com

Or even better, watch him in conversation on Breakfast television here:

Come back again on Thursday (12th January) for Retouching Resolution: 2. Keep it Classy where we’ll take a look at perfectionist French retoucher Christophe Huet.

Happy New Year!

Finished Your Christmas Shopping?

Henry Rivers — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:39:02 +0000

The original idea was that this post would be published on the 23rd or 24th December … the title aimed at whose of you who might have left your present shopping to the last minute. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, and rather than waiting until next December I decided to post it today.

Anyway, the title itself isn’t particularly significant, the post just consists of some vaguely festive photoshop tutorials. Hopefully one of them will make you think – “This looks sooo awesome I’m going to stop watching these crappy Christmas films starring Robin Williams and spend a couple hours learning how to make an awesome Christmas e-card with photoshop”.

Christmas Card Night Scene Tutorial

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to layer up different snowy landscapes and how to draw fairy-tale-esque trees covered in snow!

Ice Mountain Surreal Scene

This less realistic tutorial is drawn entirely from scratch using 5 different brushes and only takes 1-2 hours …

Golden Christmas Parcel Tutorial

Taking you in and out of Photoshop and Illustrator you’ll learn how to make a photo realistic parcel complete with ribbon and tag.

An Illustrated Christmas Card

An advanced illustration lesson here with some great use of texture. Not sure exactly why there’s a skull and what looks like a ‘pokeball’ on the tree, but a nice tutorial nonetheless.

How To Create A Cold Wintery Scene

I can’t say I was blown away by this one, but it is Wintery and a bit different to the others. On the plus side it comes with a suggested soundtrack of a song called “The Sparrow and the Crow”.

Make A Christmas Calendar

I’m a sucker for images that use vintage wallpaper and this tutorial is no exception.

Make A Vaguely Christmasy Heart Shaped Box

Okay, you can tell we’re getting towards the end of the post because this tutorial is more from Valentines day than Christmas … pretty much just a less relevant version of the 3rd tutorial. However, this one is very beginner friendly will 39 super simple steps.

Snowy Christmas Card

Don’t worry I saved the best till last. Get your own version of this unusual Christmas card made now and you can save it to use as your e-card next year.

P.S. It’s worth looking at this one just to see the prop used to keep the card open in the 2nd step …

20 PSD Text Manipulation Tuts That Will Turn You Into A Pro

Henry Rivers — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:49:01 +0000

Many people can knock up some sort of text effect on Photoshop (popular examples being words written in the sky, letters embossed into stone, and shoddy 3d text) but only a select few can call themselves Pros. Learn all the methods in the 20 tutorials below and you’ll be well on your way to joining this elite. Rather than focus on tuts for beginners, intermediates or advanced users, we’ve simply chosen ones which look like actual things from real life … like a plate, or a banana etc. All of them are easy to follow, although most do require at least some prior knowledge and experience.

1. Broken Plate Tutorial

This fun tutorial is based on using ACTUAL photographs of broken plates … it then chops and changes between Illustrator and Photoshop to add shape, texture and shadows.

2. Frozen Text Tutorial

This tutorial plays on the discovery that “dead trees” can simulate very well the ice’s “veins”. It’s not the most realistic of images but creates a cool effect.

3. Down The Drain Typography Tutorial

This impressive effect is achieved completely from scratch by using Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator CS5 and Maxon Cinema 4D. At 3 hours it’s not a simple one but well done to you if you can master it!

4. Stained Ink Effect Tutorial

One of the absolute classics here. Creating an ink an ‘grungy’ paper is a must have skill for all wannabe Photoshop Pros. At just 9 steps this shouldn’t take you too long either.

5. Stitched Typography Effect

A super quick tutorial here at only 1 hours work. The differential focus is an unusual take on this manipulation and gives it a super realistic finish.

6. Eroded Metal Text Tutorial

An intermediate lesson here. Good for getting to grips with channels and patterns. A colourful twist of the metal effect.

7. Leaking Honey Text Tutorial

Another fun one here, and impressively realistic. Lots of brushwork here and clever use of the warp tool. You also have to find yourself a high-res birds-eye pancake image!

8. Wood Typography Tutorial

An in depth tutorial that’s easy for beginners to follow. Starts off from a basis polygon, then play with wood textures and with layer styles to achieve a really funny result.

9. Super Shiny Text Tutorial

An advanced high impact black and white tut here that adapts petals into some really funky text!

10. Rope Effect Tutorial

When Adobe started announcing some of the new features of the CS5 version of Photoshop they showed the Puppet Warp tool in which they played with an elephant’s trunk. The tutorial breaks it right down for you and is surprisingly easy to do.

11. Cool Water Text Tutorial

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create PROPER water text. Even though it might look complex it’s a very simple effect. It uses the new ‘Repoussé’ tool then some stock photos to create the effect.

12. Banana Text Tutorial

Limited scope for where this can be used … but if you ever get a commission to design a website for hungry monkeys you’re sorted.

13. Skin Effect Text Tutorial

Probably the most morbid effect out of the 20. On the plus side this tut teaches you how to create a 3D-effect without the need for any 3D tools or applications.

14. ‘Slurp’ Ice Cream Text Tutorial

So this one is hardly the most realistic image … it deals with illustration techniques, and explores ‘the power of layer styles applied to custom brushes’ … nice!

15. Classic 4×4 Emblem Tutorial

This is a biggy … 14 steps later and you can pretty much go straight ahead and open the door to Chevy’s advertising department.

16. Newspaper Text Effect Tutorial

A nice take on a popular effect. Best of all once you’ve mastered this you can choose ANY article you want, run the tut as an action and you’ve got yourself a textified article.

17. Steam Punk Typography

At 107 steps this is an absolute beast of a premium tutorial from PSDTuts! It’s fits it nicely with increasing popular ‘Sherlock Holmes / 3 Musketeers film etc.’ aesthetic though.

18. Honey Cone Typography Tutorial

How to create warm honey text effect with bubbles texture. Use simple techniques such as layer style effects and Honeycomb pattern. (Suitable for beginners)

19. Earthy Text Effect

This realistic(ish) effect is entirely doable in Photoshop and even comes with a video guide. If you’re looking to take your typography to the next level this ones for you!

20. Photo Realistic Folded Paper Effect

An understated tutorial here but my personal favourite. Possibly because the checked cutting board evokes strong memories of late nights and accidents with scalpels in the university Architecture department!

Photoshop Tutorials: 13 Advanced Water Effects

Henry Rivers — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:37:58 +0000

A lot of us like to think we can ‘do’ water on Photoshop, but lets be honest most of us can secreted admit that the finished result rarely looks quite watery enough for today’s high standards. This post is for everybody out there who would like to tweak their water editing skills (and maybe rely a little less on using various opacities blue to solve their problems).

Here are 13 PSD tutorials made for you by 13 Photoshop pros. If you work your way through these you can pretty much go ahead and make yourself a badge that reads ‘Neptune – God of The Sea’.

How to make it look like a shark is coming out of a picture frame
Let’s start things slowly with one of the most essential skills … not too much going on here apart from a bit of staining and a couple of trickles.

Create a refreshing branded beer advert
Ever wanted to make your very own Hoineken Advert? Look no further.

Splashing Water Text Effect
Starting to get a bit trickier here – we can safely say that letter S is thoroughly soaked.

The Massive Terrifying Tidal Wave Effect
Two high profile mediums of water showcased here: Waves & Rain

Make A Water Person
Now we’re talking, only a true pro can make a whole person into water.

Wall of Water Effect
This tutorial shows off some gorgeous subtle lighting – the most important element of underwater designs.

Put The Sea In A Wine Glass
A bizarre scene but a great example of getting of warped optics right. However, they need to work on their seagull skills.

Advanced Reflection Effect
Textbook reflection. Get your liquify brush ready.

Smashed Wet Television Effect
Note in particular the ‘tumbling gold fish’ – an essential.

Make A Bottle Of Mineral Water Into A Mountain

Massive Tidal Wave 2: With Large Stone Walls
The tidal wave is a popular scene so here’s another one, slightly more atmospheric this time.

How To Make An Ice Sculpture
Finally an Ice Sculpture. Complete this one and collect your badge …

Reflex Stock is making waves in Central London …

Henry Rivers — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:13:16 +0000

Reflexstock HQ has moved again, making us perhaps the most nomadic stock agency in the world this year! We’re saying goodbye to Hammersmith and hello to the lights of Oxford Street … just in time for Christmas.

To mark our move to the Media Industry hot spot that is Soho we’ve put together a few London-themed Photoshop artworks to get you inspired!

London Skyline Made of Fruit and Veg
A refreshing, or perhaps slightly raw take on London iconic skyline. Particularly noteworthy is the watermelon dome of St Paul’s and the asparagus spears of Parliament.

Tower Bridge in Pennies
Any idea how much little model might be worth? My guess is the owner could cash this in for a big fat LOADED Reflex Stock subscription.

London Bus
The Black Forest, rumored to be one the popular holiday locations for retired London buses.

Big Ben in a field
Well, I have to say it looks better there.

Animals on the tube
An example of one the slightly forced ‘Animals on the Underground’ series. Apparently this dot-to-dot resembles a Raven … we think it more looks like a hoover.

Animals on the tube (in action)
If you we impressed by the Raven you’re probably going to want to buy a pair of the these unisex pants… the perfect Christmas present?

Tower Bridge is Falling
Tower Bridge, a popular subject for Photoshop artists. Here are a couple a photo-realistic interpretations of the apocalyptic ‘Londons Falling’ tale.

Tower Bridge is being smashed by a tidal wave
Less traditional, but perhaps more effective?

Getting ready for the Carnival
One of London’s notorious pigeons getting his costume on for Nottinghill Carnival

Why you should only feed the pigeons in moderation
One of the main arguments against overfeeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.

Spooky Phone Boxes
Another variation on the surprisingly popular theme of moving London icons into the countryside.

The True Central Line
A less practical take on Harry Beck’s iconic design.

Big Ben on a mountain
Now that’s just silly.

Ciao from the team at Oxford Circus!!

Halloween Adverts: Sick or Sleek?

Henry Rivers — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:04:10 +0000

Up until today our blog here at Reflex Stock has declined to acknowledge the existence of Halloween… but don’t fret, this horrific oversight ends now.

In the nick of time (108 minutes before Halloween ends) we have decided to enter the dark, haunted, and at times inspirational forest that is the global Halloween blogging arena.

For our entry (and your inspiration) we have hand picked some of the freakiest ads in the entire “trick or treat” universe. Enjoy!

M&Ms Halloween Advert
Either that or it’s an unfortunately shaped advert for Caviar that somebody has dropped a packet of M&Ms on.

Heineken Halloween Advert

STP Halloween Advert
Got wood?

Guinness Halloween Advert 2009
Limited Edition Pumpkin Flavour

Guinness Halloween Advert 2010
Wisely decided to scrap the Pumpkin Flavour

Witch with Face Product Halloween Advert

McDonalds Halloween Advert
I don’t care how many branches you have… you can’t just go round encouraging serial killers into your restaurants

Headless Driver Advert

Snickers Halloween Advert
Text reads: “It’s what you would want”.
(Just to quick note to say this certainly isn’t true for me – I don’t like peanuts or chocolate… unsurprising I hate Snickers)

Carlsberg Halloween Advert
The text in this advert was meant to read:
“Carlsberg do make Halloween ads, but sadly they’re probably not the best Halloween ads in the world.”
Maybe Top 20.

Halloween Pillow Advert
Not entire sure what this is about, but it says Halloween at the top. Possibly an advert for embroidered pillows?

Burger King Halloween Advert
Ketchup / Blood – someone had to do it. Bad luck McDonalds for being McSlow.

Zoo Halloween Advert

Heineken Halloween Advert 2
Caution: Creatures at work

Happy Halloween!

The Most Outstanding Movie Posters of 2011

Henry Rivers — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:36:49 +0000

After compiling this list I was disappointed to discover that only 5 posters from my selection featured in the ‘Top Grossing Films of 2011′.

There are several conclusions we could draw from this information, but I think that main one is that I shouldn’t change career paths into film poster design.

Nonetheless, here are 40 film posters that I feel are more pleasing to look at than the poster for ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’.

Life in a Day
First up, the only poster this year to feature both a man eating a watermelon and the quote “A thrilling piece of cinema”.

Submarine
Wins the prize for best use of primary colours.

Captain America
The only comic based film to make it into this list, we enjoyed the full frame crop and stern heroic expression.

The Elephant in the Living Room
Let’s be honest – with a title like this it was never going to be a bad poster

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Dirty Girl

One Day

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
If you haven’t seen the video trailer for this – watch it now.

Jane Eyre
A controversial choice, the super-thin typeface won us over on this one.

Margin Call
With illustrated film posters in decline… this one stood out.

Strong Man

Iron Lady
Not to be confused with Iron Man

Paranormal Activity 3
This perhaps doesn’t have the artistic subtlety of some of others… but if you’ve seen Paranormal Activity 1 or 2 this poster will almost certainly send a shiver up your spine.

Larry Crowne
Bold yellow text on a light blue background – lovely stuff.

Harry Potter
Some text knocked up in WordArt plus a quick sketch of a wizard probably would have been enough to secure the No.1 spot at the box office for Harry… but you’ve got to hand it to them this is nicely executed.

Melancholia

The Beaver

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Brides Maids

Restless

Detachment
Shameless use Adrian Broody’s impossible-not-to-like face.

Tabloid

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Yes it’s a very good poster, but that doesn’t excuse reprinting the book with this as the cover.

Money Ball

127 Hours

Limitless

Shame

WIN WIN
Nothing too clever here, but how can you resist the soft yellowy hues of those quotes.

Machine Gun Preacher

Final Destination 5

The Debt
Nothing quite grabs your attention like Helen Mirren in sunglasses.

Horrible Bosses

Crazy Stupid Love
…the multiple frame, colourful bold capitalised text look it pretty hot right now. Another one of our favourites.

Black Swan
One of the many awesome posters for this film.

Vidal Sassoon

Eames
Everyone loves a cheeky diagonal.

The King’s Speech
Typing the name of this film for the first time I just realised the double meaning of the title. Clever.

The Ides of March
I have no idea what this film is about – but it got my attention.

Bad Teacher
Good Poster.

Drive
One of the very few occasions where the font ‘Mistral’ has looked good.

Let us know if you think we’ve missed any!

20 Illustrated Portraits of Celebrities

Henry Rivers — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:06:03 +0000

We’ve all seen the super-realistic pencil drawings that street artists like to sketch of celebrities. Popular subjects of late seem to have been Justin Bieber, Cheryl Cole and Roger Federer (of course alongside your classic Michael Jacksons and Gwyneth Paltrows). These artists often combine the sale of these sketches with the offer of a personal caricature.

Today’s post is not about accurate illustrations of celebrities – it’s about quality illustrations of celebrities (some would call them caricatures – I personally don’t like the word). This selection of images showcase some of the world’s most original and exciting illustrators.

Note: See if you can spot the Meryl Streeps.

Oilbama by André Carrilho

Woody Allen by Hanoch Piven

What Bob Marley would look like if he was round by Pablo Lobato

Frodo in a suit by Jorge Arévalo

Guess who? by David Cowles

An Art Deco Style Dancer by Lesja Chernish

Jamie Fox by Jorge Arévalo

Nicole Kidman by André Carrilho

Stan Lee by David Cowles

Prince on Blue and Red by Pablo Lobato

Sadaam Hussein with matches by Hanoch Piven

Frida by Montse Bernal

Look whose back… by Jorge Arévalo

Amy Adams (of Definately Maybe fame) by David Cowles

A 2nd Woody by Pablo Lobato

Martin Luther King by Tavis Coburn

Lily Cole (of St Trinian’s fame) by André Carrilho

Martin Scorsese by David Cowles

Anthony Hopkins by Jorge Arévalo

On Location at London Design Festival

Henry Rivers — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:56:40 +0000

Anybody visiting London’s V&A Museum this week would have encountered a playful scattering of contemporary exhibits that offer a refreshing contrast to the Museum’s permament collection (rumoured to be in excess of 4.5 million objects).

The V&A is the first port-of-call for this years London Design Festival, nine days in September where the city’s pivotal role in global design is showcased across hundreds of venues in city. Reflex send me (armed with only a camera) to check it out report back…

Arriving into the Sackler Centre the Festival’s logo comes into fruition through an impressive array of Super-Graphics. The visitors were queuing up to have their photos taken in front of them.

Venturing up to Level 1 of the Sackler Centre you find ‘Brutal Simplicity of Thought: How It Changed the World‘ by M&C Saatchi. This minimalist exhibition displays simple examples of concepts that have changed the world. Gems of this exhibit included a pair of stockinged legs sticking out of wall (demonstrating the potential of caterpillars) and coin with the head of cow on it, I was particularly impressed by the toilet doors though…

Nigel Coates’ VIP Lounge showcased some of his latest unique furniture designs. I liked the HM63 sofa system – apparently designed to induce conversation. Possibly unnecessary as an ice breaker in this room would likely be hitting your head on one of the hazardously low (yet beautifully designed) lamps.

Back down the stairs to the ground floor – 10 points if you can guess what these high contrast Super-Graphics say!

On the way to main part of the Museum I passed ‘On The Case – Constrictions Of…‘ by Barry Martin. This glass case challenges the conventions of gallery display cabinets. Interesting – but I think I might have preferred it if it used more traditional objects rather that an abstract pattern of letters.

One of the highlights of Festival, these Designer Maps (designed by Michael Johnson) were a collaboration between the V&A and five British celebrities. Free to the public – these tactile folded guides take you on exclusives tours of the V&A through the eyes of Judi Dench, Annie Lenox, Tom Dixon, A S Byatt and Lulu Guinness!

Another shot of the Festival’s photogenic logo, sadly the staff didn’t seem as enthusiastic as me.

A big hit with the visitors – this fragile replica demonstrates the impressive parameters of modern technology in design. Part of ‘Industrial Revolution 2.0: How the Material World Will Newly Materialize‘ curatored by Murray Moss, this is the first example of perhaps an excess of 3d printing.

Now to the main attraction, or the installation which seemed to capture the public’s imagination most successfully, ‘Textile Field‘ by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec is essentially a massive sofa that takes up 90% of the Raphael Court’s floor space. Visitors are invited to lounge, play and run on this ‘expansive sensual field’, a new perspective from which to contemplate the art.

A vibrant gem in the museum – ‘Beyond the Valley: an interactive print journey‘ showcased some contemporary wallpapers – which surprisingly looked perfectly at home in the Museum. What’s more the V&A offered visitors a chance to interact with these designs on Ipads or Iphones (using the former I accidentally added a thick line of pineapples to an otherwise very nice wallpaper).

3d printing continued… this nylon dress, perhaps unprecedented in its intricacy, faces a similarly elaborate Court Dress.

Nothing to do with London Design Festival – but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this lime green / electric blue chandelier which has been promoting the V&A on posters all over the underground.

‘Timber Wave‘ by Amanda Levete Architects a.k.a. a lesson in how to make the most of American hardwood. The impressive latticework spiral transforms the Museum’s Cromwell Road Entrace – my guess is they’ll be reluctant to take it down at the end of the festival.

In conclusion, you have until 25 September 2011 to make the most of this exciting event – so don’t miss out! If you can’t get there, be sure to check out London Design Festival Official Website for a more detailed look at some of the 280 events going on!

Reflex Stock Photo Blog

Retouching Resolutions: 2. Keep it Classy

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