- Sketch Fade Effect
- Stylized Light Effects
- Quick and Easy Double Exposure Effect
- Using Patterns to Blend Photos
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Stylized Light Effects
Here’s a cool light and color effect technique that adds a fantasy-like lighting look to a photo by taking a photo of a subject shot in a studio setting and blending them into an outdoor scene.
STEP ONE: Begin by pressing Command-O (PC: Ctrl-O) and opening the image of the subject. As always, you can download the image we’re using here from the book’s downloads page, mentioned in the book’s introduction. (Note: I would recommend following along with the download files, so you get a better understanding of the technique. Then, experiment with other images afterwards.) We’ll need to extract the subject here, so get the Quick Selection tool (W) and paint over her to make an initial selection.
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STEP TWO: Click on the Refine Edge button up in the Options Bar and, in the dialog, select the Refine Radius tool, and then make your brush Size a little larger than one of the subject’s eyes. Now, brush in the areas of her hair to include the rest of it. Do this to all the hair edges and any other edges that need to be selected. Also, boost the Contrast to around 15% to tighten up the selection around the softer edges. When you’re done, set the Output To pop-up menu to New Layer and click OK.
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STEP THREE: Next, open the background image. We’re using a rather ominous outdoor scene, here, which will make a cool background for the composite. The challenge is to make the studio-shot subject blend with this outdoor scene, but let’s modify the scene a bit first. Press Command-R (Ctrl-R) to reveal the Rulers, then click on the vertical ruler on the left and drag a vertical guide to the center of the image. It should snap in place when you get close (if you have the Snap To Guides setting turned on in the View menu).
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STEP FOUR: Make a duplicate of the Background layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J), then go under Edit menu, under Transform, and choose Flip Horizontal. Get the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) from the Toolbox and draw a selection over the left half of the image, then click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to mask the unselected area. This creates an instant symmetrical image. You can get a different view by selecting the layer mask and pressing Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to Invert the values and thus revealing the other half of the image on each side (as I did here). It’s magic.
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STEP FIVE: Once you decide which one you like, press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key, and from the Layers panel’s flyout menu, choose Merge Visible to create a merged copy at the top of the layer stack.
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STEP SIX: Now, using the Move tool (V) click-and-drag this new scene into the subject image, placing its layer below the extracted subject layer in the layer stack. Then, press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform and scale it to fit in the scene however you want it. When you’re done, click on this layer’s Eye icon to turn it off for the moment, and then select the extracted subject layer.
STEP SEVEN: With only the subject layer visible now, open the Channels panel (Window>Channels), press-and-hold the Command (PC: Ctrl) key, and click on the main RGB channel thumbnail to select the bright areas. Press Command-Shift-I (PC: Ctrl-Shift-I) to Inverse the selection, then press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the selected area to a new layer.
STEP EIGHT: Now, press Command-U (PC: Ctrl-U) to open the Hue/Saturation dialog. Turn on the Colorize checkbox, and then set the Hue to 220 and the Saturation to 35. Click OK.
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STEP NINE: Set the layer’s blend mode to Multiply, then press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate it. Drop the Opacity of this duplicate layer to 75%, and then turn the outdoor scene layer back on. You can also turn off the original Background layer (if it’s still on).
STEP 10: Select the original extracted subject layer, then press-and-hold the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and click on its thumbnail. Then, go under the Select menu, under Modify, and choose Contract. Set the amount to 10 pixels and click OK.
STEP 11: Press Command-Shift-I (PC: Ctrl-Shift-I) to Inverse the selection, and then press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the edge selection to a new layer. Go under the Filter menu, under Blur, and choose Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 10 pixels and click OK. Change the layer’s blend mode to Color Dodge, then press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to create a duplicate to intensify the edge effect.
STEP 12: Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the first edge layer to select both edge layers, and then press Command-G (PC: Ctrl-G) to put them in a group. Drop the group’s layer Opacity to 65%, and then move the group to the top of the layer stack.
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STEP 13: Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the original extracted subject layer’s thumbnail to make another selection. Then, click on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a new blank layer, and move it below the subject layer. Press Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace) to open the Fill dialog and change the Contents to White.
STEP 14: Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to Deselect, then go under Filter menu, under Blur, and choose Gaussian Blur, again. Set the Radius to 25 and click OK. Now, set the layer’s Opacity to around 80%.
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STEP 15: Create another blank layer, move it to the top of the layer stack, and set its blend mode to Screen. Press D, then X, to set your Foreground color to white. Select the Gradient tool (G) and, in the Options Bar, click on the gradient thumbnail and choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient. Also, click on the Radial Gradient icon (second icon to the right of the gradient thumbnail). Then, click-and-drag out a couple gradients on each side of the subject to create a light flare effect.
STEP 16: Now, create one more blank layer, then click on the Linear Gradient icon in the Options Bar, set the gradient Opacity to 75%, and then press X to set your Foreground color to black. Click-and-drag a gradient from just below the bottom edge up a little ways to create a subtle fade.
STEP 17: Finally, select the background scene layer, then go under the Filter menu, under Blur, and choose Gaussian Blur, again. This time, set the Radius to 5 and click OK. This will create a depth-of-field effect.
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