Night-vision Target in Photoshop
Getting that Greenish Glow
You've heard of them before - night vision devices. But of course, can you create them? Who know. This could be your next big break - creating pseudo-thermal-imaging representations for Fortune 500 clients. Okay... Maybe not, but here are a few tips on how to impress your friends and colleagues with a well-executed night vision image on Photoshop.
Night vision works through thermal imaging. Naturally, as a result of this thermal imaging, there is a greenish glow that is almost always accompanied by a moderate level of noise. Luckily, Photoshop is there to help with both!
Go Black and White, First
First you should convert your image to the grayscale mode . Select Image> Mode> Grayscale.
Grayscale helps you when you want to convert your image to green later by using the duotone option.
Start by selecting Image> Mode> Duotone.
After you complete this task, you'll encounter an options box for Duotone. Because night-visino operates on the same chromatic scale of green (in general), you'll need to pick two shades of green, one lighter, and one darker.
Now that you have your two shades, you can go back to RGB mode. You can do this by going to Image > Mode > RGB.
Altering your Levels and Brightness
Copy your Background Layer and name it. Sel ect your new layer and choose Image> Adjustments> Levels.
In the Input Level dialog box enter (from left to right): 70, 1.00, and 230. This will boost the contrast and give us more of a glow from some of the light.
Selective Blur
Choose your Blur Tool and set it to a low opacity, about 20%. Choose a medium size brush and run it across the bottom of the photo, in this case to make the runway approach lights slightly blurry.
Add Noise
Now we'll add some noise into the file. Choose Filter> Noise> Add Noise. Enter Amount: 3%, Distribution: Uniforn, and make sure Monochromatic is selected.
Levels - 2nd Pass
Choose Image> Adjustments> Levels. This time in the Input Level dialog box move the Left Slider toward the right to darken the image uniformly.
Final Adjustments
Choose the Burn Tool, set it at Midrange, Exposure 50%, and carefully apply your brush in a circular motion to the outside of the image. This gives a nice subtle darkening effect to the edges. Finally choose Hue/Saturation and perform final tweaks by moving the 3 sliders in very small increments.
So Why So Many Steps?
Each NVD photo will come out slightly different because of the specifics of the source file. The point of having so many steps is to give you a chance to tweak the night vision recipe so you can achieve the desired result by experimenting at different key points.
