Showcase your photos

This fun Photoshop technique lets you showcase your photos on a computer screen or billboard and it uses the vanishing point filter to distort and crop the image.

The Vanishing Point Filter was first introduced with Photoshop CS2 so you will need Photoshop CS2 or later for this project.

Step 1
Open an image of a computer screen (or a billboard) in Photoshop and open the image you want to place on it.

The Sacré Coeur image is mine and the computer screen is © iStockPhoto, Dmitry Kutlayev.

Size the image to place on the computer screen to the approximate size the image needs to be having regard to the size of the computer screen image. The computer screen I used is 1600 x 1200 so I sized my photo smaller than this.

Step 2
Create a new blank layer on the computer screen image (Layer > New > Layer) and then switch to the image you want to add to the screen or billboard. Choose Select > All and then Edit > Copy. Return to the computer screen image.

Step 3
Choose Filter > Vanishing Point and click Ok. This opens the image in the vanishing point filter.

Step 4
Here you can create the perspective grid for the image. To do this, click the Create Plane tool and click at all four corners of the area that you want to paste the photograph into.

If the grid is red, it is not a grid that can be used so you need to readjust the corners until it turns blue. You can adjust the grid size if that makes it easier to see.

Step 5
Once the grid is in place, press Ctrl + V to paste the image from the clipboard into the filter.

Step 6
Click the Transform tool and size the image to approximately the size it needs to be.

Drag the image over the grid and you will notice that it reshapes to conform to the perspective of the grid.


Step 7
Size the image so it fits in the area covered by the grid. Any portion of the image that extends beyond the grid is automatically hidden.

Step 8
When you are done, click Ok to return to Photoshop. Your image should be neatly aligned inside the screen.

To finish, you can add a curves adjustment layer that lightens the image to match the screen lightness. You can also add a gradient to the curves layer mask to adjust the lightening of the image to match the original screen lights and darks.


Step 9
I also added a shadow to the layer by selecting the layer and select the Add a Layer Style button at the foot of the layer palette. Select Inner Shadow and create an inner shadow for the image so it appears more realistically situated on the screen.

Using a similar technique, you can place a photo on an image of a billboard or any other similar flat but angled surface.

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Vamoose the Grid - Photoshop Vanishing Point Filter

Ok, this one has had me stumped for forever. Problem is I really needed to solve it. You have used the Vanishing point filter in Photoshop to create a grid then you don't want it any more.. perhaps because you want to show someone how to create the grid. So how do you get rid of it. Delete button? nah! doesn't work. There isn't an option in the filter for deleting the grid and starting over, at least I can't find it. So, what's a gal to do?

Answer is.. BACKSPACE. Who would have thought it, but it works. Click the panel of the grid you want to remove to select it and press Backspace and it is removed (so too are any grids built off this one). So, to remove the entire grid, select the first panel and press Backspace and all the other grids disappear.

Like so much in Photoshop, easy when you know how!

Vanishing Point in Photoshop CS3

The Vanishing Point Filter in Photoshop lets you create perspective grids that you can drop an image into.

To do this, copy the image to paste into the grid into the clipboard and open or create the image to put it into. Add a new layer to this image, select it and choose Filter, Vanishing Point Filter.

Click the Create Plane Tool and click on the four corners of the grid. Move the points if necessary, you need a blue grid (if it's yellow or red it isn't correct and won't work). Now, you can drag a second related plane by holding the Control key (Command on the Mac) and drag from a side to create a second pane. Don't worry about the direction just that it's at right angles to the existing pane. Let go the mouse. Hold the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and drag to align the pane, fine tune using the Angle value.

Now either continue to create planes or paste the image using Control + V (Command + V on the Mac). Select the Marquee tool and move it into position on the grid. Use the Transform tool to size it if desired. When you're done, click Ok.

If you need to remove or delete the plane - for example to start over, click on it so it's selected and press Backspace.

The Vanishing Point Filter is heaps of fun - use it to apply an image to a building, the side of a truck, or just in thin air!