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Now that you've created the Cutout Effect, what can you do with it? One thing would be to create a neat wallpaper or background image using the pixel-smear effect.

Photoshop users can choose the vertical single-pixel marquee tool from the toolbar and simply click a place on their image to select a 1-pixel wide column. You'll find the single-pixel marquee tools in the marquee tool flyout.

Photoshop Elements users can create their own single-pixel marquee tool by making a few adjustments in the Rectangular marquee tool, as shown in the image below. Basically, choose the rectangular marquee tool, set the mode to "Fixed Size", set the Width to 1 pixel and the Height to a number large enough to select the entire height of the image:

Image

With the 1-pixel selection active, press <Ctrl>+<J> to put this selction on its own layer.

Now press <Ctrl>+<T> to open the transform tool (or click Edit>Transform (in PS) or Image>Transform (in PSE))

Grab one of the side handles and drag it all the way out to the edge of the image. Then grab the other side handle and drag all the way out to the other side of the image to "stretch" the pixels and create a smear effect (hence the name of this technique, "pixel-smear"):

Image

Move this layer below the cutout layer, and play around with the opacity and blend mode for an interesting background image or desktop wallpaper:

Image


With the smear layer selected, try a Polar Coordinates filter on it (Filters>Distort>Polar Coordinates), using "Polar to Rectangular) setting to create this effect:
Image

Duplicate this layer a few times and use the Transform tool on each to create a cool background:

Again, play around with some different opacities and blend modes to get the look you want.

Another effect is available for Photoshop users using Channels.

<Ctrl>+ Click the cutout layer to make a selection of it, then open the Channels palette. Click the "New Channel" icon at the bottom/top of the palette (it depends on which version you're using; CS it's on the bottom; CS2 it's on the top) to create a new channel.

Invert (<Ctrl>+<I>)the selection if you need to and fill the selection with black, leaving the background of the channel white:

Deselect, and run a Gaussian Blur filter on the channel (Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur), adjusting the settings depending on the size of your image. For this originally 772-pixel-wide image, I used a Blur setting of 52 to really blur the edges out.

<Ctrl>+Click this Channels thumbnail (probably called "Alpha 1") to select it again, then Invert the selection by pressing <Ctrl>+<I>.

Now run a Halftone Pattern filter (Filters>Sketch>Halftone Pattern) and adjust the settings to taste. For this image, I used a Size of 4, Contrast of 39, and a Dot pattern type.

Deselect (<Ctrl>+<D>), and then reselect the Channel with the <Ctrl>+Click trick, and Invert the selection again.

Back to the Layers palette. Create a new layer beneath the cutout layer and use the eyedropper tool to select a foreground color from the main subject (I selected a blue from the big bucket).

With the selection still active from the Channels palette, make sure you're working on an empty layer, and press <Alt>+<Backspace> to fill the selection with the color you chose. Deselect.

Now run the Unsharp Mask filter (Filters>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask) with the extreme settings of Amount: 500; Radius: 250 Threshold: 0 for this result:
Image

One last effect! I went back and created another new channel and ran the blur on it, only I increased the settings to get even more blur from it.

I made my selection again, ran the Halftone Filter again, selected and moved back to the Layers palette and filled the selection with blue and deselected.

I changed the blend mode of this layer to Soft Light, and added a 1-pixel Stroke Layer Style to it for this final effect (which I think is my favorite):
Image
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Graffi - I love the way the pulled pixel effect looks and I AWLAYS forget to use it. Thanks for the tutorial, and thanks, too, for jogging my memory.
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Neat, going to hve to try this. I must have missed a step when trying it before.
m
Michelle
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