ok i post this cuz latewood asked for some tips but it's also for anyone who wants to learn a few simple tricks....
This is for Photoshop CS2
(latewood, i'll email you with some other info and something that will help alot )

now i might get lost at some point, i just made somethin quick and took some screens as i went along, so try and bare with me....
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Ok first off i started with a render i did of the ship Serenity from the film of the same name (i just found a background pic and erased everything else around the ship).
Anyways, layering is pretty simple, just click on the windows tab at the top which will bring up the little layer window.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...06/screen1.jpg

right click on the layer and you'll see some options, choose duplicate layer to start with (i did an extra 2 layers to do some other stuff)
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...06/screen2.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...06/screen3.jpg

ok next you should click on the layer you want to edit, then click on the filter tab, this will be your main thing for all the fancy editin stuff, a favourite of mine is to use clouds and then difference clouds, lens flare is also cool but we'll get to that in a bit... anyways, what colour the clouds will be will depend on the colours selected on the left tool bar.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...06/screen4.jpg

so to get the effect of this next screen i used clouds set to the colours you see on the left toolbar, then difference clouds a few times (this gives the lightning effect, especially coupled with some other things which i'll get to now), set it so it's the same colour as you started with, then go to layers tab at the top, then adjustments, then invert, this will take you back to the red and black, then go back to adjustments, then select levels, you can make some adjustments to the brightness and contrast at the same time using this tool, which will make the lightning effect even clearer....
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...06/screen5.jpg

still with me so far? i know, it can be confusing at first, and you don't have to follow these instructions, i'm just showing some of the effects i use...


ok, now thats the background done... time for some effects on the ship.

i love the motion blur effect, very cool on stuff like cars and flying stuff like this... ok frist you will need to select the top layer for this effect to really work, go to the filter tab again, then go down to blur, select motion blur, play around with this tool till your happy with the effect...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...06/screen6.jpg

you can change the direction and distance of the blur here, (remember it won't match exactly, but you can move the layer to match up better after your happy with the blur, just click on the move tool on the left toolbar and line it up with the other layer) i also quickly blurred the edges of the layer that isnt blurred.... remember you MUST select the right layer when editing, anything you do will not effect the other layers, i myself often forget to do this, luckily there is an undo/step back feature
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2.../screen7-1.jpg

you should also have a look at the different blending options, these can give a very cool effect to your pics, just right click on the layer you want then on blending options (i used an inside shadow on the ship layer, which darkens the outsides of the ship, this can be handy to hide any flaws or imperfections)

finally i did a lens flare.... but, i did this after i merged all layers into one pic, that its ontop of everything, this is also reached through the filter tab then render option as shown...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2.../screen8-1.jpg

ok thats pretty much it, all else i can say is spend a while getting used to all the options and what they do, experiment with different effects, you can always undo what you dont like, just play around and have some fun with it, invent your own style

Hope this helps with anything...

If you need inspiration, you'd be surprised what you can find with google image search


oh and before i forget.... heres the finished version of what i was doing...
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...6/Serenity.jpg


Peace :hippy:
Wesley Pipes Reviewed by Wesley Pipes on . Cyber Art using Photoshop CS2 ok i post this cuz latewood asked for some tips but it's also for anyone who wants to learn a few simple tricks.... This is for Photoshop CS2 (latewood, i'll email you with some other info and something that will help alot ;)) now i might get lost at some point, i just made somethin quick and took some screens as i went along, so try and bare with me.... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok first off i started with a render i did of the ship Rating: 5