Precision Photoshop

Chapter 10

Power User

Disintegrating Dancer

This is a fun tutorial, and it has been popular. No doubt, you will recognize the effect, sometimes called the dispersion effect, sometimes fractal disintegration. Everyone does it a bit differently, usually concentrating on brushes or scanning paint drops, but as advanced users, we want to be able to make exactly what we want, which might mean bending some noncompliant source materials to our will.

We’ll start with a stock photo of a dancer on one leg (Figure 10.1). I like the pose, with the hair flowing across the face and the street clothing, but I wanted a jumping photo of someone flying through the air on a white background. Luckily, we can make that happen.

Figure 10.1

Original stock photo ...