photo brushes and color layers

two quick elements in painting that will bridge us into photo editing:
PHOTO BRUSHES AND COLOR LAYERS

Photo Brushes:
Just use edit> define brush preset
on a photographic source!
take any detail of a photograph and make it black and white. (image>mode>grayscale)

Then use (image>image size) to reduce it to about 2 inches.

remember black defines the brush and white does not paint, so you may need to invert it (apple I)

adjust levels to set transparency (apple L) black is solid and gray is transparent.

when you are ready, use (edit> define brush preset) to make a new brush from a photographic source.

Make a cloud brush, change its parameters so it scatters, and paint into the other cloud image. While painting, use option to sample color from the image.

COLOR LAYERS
color layers are important to photo editing. They define a color for any given value system, and can be masked out to blend the original color. The main application is for photocollage, when you want to mix parts of two different photos.

Make a new layer in the cloud composition. Set its mixing style to (color) fill it with any color using the paintbucket. Your composition is preserved but it's color has changed. Try making color layers with the gradient tool! try masking a color layer or using an active selection set before you fill. Color layers work well as a final step for integrating photobrush work. everything hangs together a little better and seems more believable. Transparent shapes (such as rays of light) seem more believable when unified with the rest of the picture behind a color layer.