Ghostly Window
 
This has a lot of steps but is a simple exercise in using
layers and blend modes.
It will surprize you how easy this
is. Take your time and relax as you work.
Provided: window photo.
Right click link. Save target as:
Resize to your liking. I like working with large images and reducing them later.
Extra Supplies Needed: Tube of your choice
Open & duplicate the window frame.
(Shift + D)
Close the original.
Make sure your layer palette is
visible.
Right click on the Background Layer and Promote Background
Layer.
Use the lasso tool to draw a rectangle around the bar
that divides the window panes.
(You can use Replace instead of Add. I use Add so often
that I don't think about it.)
In the layer palette, right click on Raster
1. Promote Selection to Layer.
PSP automatically highlights the promoted layer, so be
sure to click back on Raster 1 in the next two
steps.
Right click on the image to deselect the area.
Draw a rectangle around the bottom window pane with your lasso
tool. Promote selection to layer.
Deselect and draw a rectangle around the top window pane,
promote it to a new layer.
You will have 4 layers now, with the cross bar as the top
layer. For the time being, lower the opacity of the top three layers to
about 50%. Hide the top 3 layers.
Click on Raster 1 to highlight it. Hold the Shift key
down and click on the New Raster Layer icon in the layer palette. This
will place the new layer directly above Raster 1.
 Draw a large rectangle inside of the window pane so that it covers about 2/3 of the inside height.
Select your tube. Edit > Copy.
Make sure the new layer in your Window is
highlighted.
Edit > Paste > Paste Into Selection.
**Note: To make your tube look a little more
mystical when you put it into the window, try drawing a selection around the
tube, modify the selection and feather it with a setting of 30 or more before
you copy and paste it into the window.
Use the Mover tool to position your tube where you want
it. If it looks too small or too large, use the raster deform tool to
resize it. The tube can be stretched or shrunk to fit by dragging the
nodes on the corners and edges. It can be distorted to appear more
ghostly. Your tube can extend below the bottom edge of the pane, but
reaching partway to the top of the blinds behind it.
Unhide the top three layers and change their blend
modes to Multiply. Change your tube layer to Screen.
***To change layer modes, LEFT click once on the mode box and
click on the mode you want to use.
Lower the opacity of the tube layer to 85.
You can stop here and merge your layers. trim the wall
siding and add a thin border or minimal frame.
You can make your window seem even more etheric by making the
window frame older looking and eliminating the tacky siding.
Select Raster 1. Use the lasso tool to draw a selection
around the outside of the window frame. Edit>Copy
Edit>Paste as New Image. Do not
deselect!
In the new image, draw 2 rectangles around the inside of
the panes and delete the glass so that all you have is the window
frame.
Image> Increase Color Depth > 16 million
Click back on the top layer of your working image and add a
new raster layer, making sure that the previous selection is still
selected.
Edit>Paste>Paste into Selection. Change the blend
mode to Dissolve or Screen and lower the opacity til it looks right to you. Here is where you can play
with the blend modes on all the top layers, changing the opacity settings and
the modes until you get a look that you like. When you like what you have,
hide the bottom layer and merge visible.
Unhide the bottom layer, but select the merged layer and add a
drop shadow with these settings.
Select the bottom layer.
Draw another rectangle around the outside of your frame with
the feather setting to 10.
Select a grey background color. I used #c0c0c0
Image > Crop to Selection.
Add a narrow border if you want and add whatever text you'd like. Resize your image to a height of about 400. Export as a .jpg.
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