- 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
Quick and Easy Double Exposure Effect
There are, of course, many ways to achieve a double exposure effect, as it has become quite a popular look these days. Here is a simple way to achieve that effect with some layer tricks. This is one of those techniques that once you have it figured out, you’ll try it on almost everything.
STEP ONE: Start by pressing Command-O (PC: Ctrl-O) and opening the image of the subject you want to use as the base shape for the effect. Here, we have a profile shot of a model on a simple background for easy extracting.
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STEP TWO: Get the Quick Selection tool (W) and paint over the subject to select her. Then, click on the Refine Edge button, up in the Options Bar, and use the Refine Radius tool to adjust the selection around her hair and any other soft areas. Choose New Layer from the Output To pop-up menu near the bottom of the dialog, then click OK.
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STEP THREE: Now, press Command-N (PC: Ctrl-N) and create a new document measuring 1400 pixels wide by 2000 pixels tall, with the Background Contents set to White. Use the Move tool (V) to drag-and-drop the extracted subject over onto this new document, and then press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to activate Free Transform and scale and position it like I have it here. Press Return (PC: Enter) when done. Now, desaturate the subject by pressing Command-Shift-U (PC: Ctrl-Shift-U).
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STEP FOUR: Next, open the city street image. This is a cool one to blend with the subject for this double exposure effect because it has interesting negative space in the sky area, which will have a cool result in the final image. First, though, we need to change some things: Desaturate the image (like we just did with the subject), and then press Command-L (PC: Ctrl-L) to open Levels. Click on the highlights (white) eyedropper, beneath the Options button, and then click in the sky area to force it to white. Now, push the shadows (black) slider, beneath the histogram, to around 25 to boost the overall contrast. Click OK when done.
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STEP FIVE: Press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) to select the entire image, then go under the Edit menu, under Transform, and choose Flip Horizontal (I discovered that the blend worked better when I flipped it, so don’t be afraid to try that to get a different result you might like better). Now, drag-and-drop this image onto the main layout, and use Free Transform to scale and position it toward the top of the subject.
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STEP SIX: With the city layer still selected, press Command-Option-G (PC: Ctrl-Alt-G) to clip it inside the subject layer below, and then click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Get the Gradient tool (G), click on the gradient thumbnail in the Options Bar, choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient, and then click on the Radial Gradient icon (the second icon to the right of the gradient thumbnail). With your Foreground color set to black, add a few gradients in the areas where you want to see the face of the subject. Don’t overdo it, though.
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STEP SEVEN: Now, we’re going to blend one more image. I want to add this dead trees image to the bottom of the subject at the neck area. Again, start by removing the color info by pressing Command-Shift-U (PC: Ctrl-Shift-U), then use Levels to force the sky to white (I pushed the shadows slider to around 60 this time).
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STEP EIGHT: Open the Channels panel (Window>Channels), then press-and-hold the Command (PC: Ctrl) key and click on the RGB channel thumbnail to load the luminosity as a selection. Press Command-Shift-I (PC: Ctrl-Shift-I) to Inverse the selection to the trees. Finally, press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the selection to a new layer.
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STEP NINE: Now, drag-and-drop this trees image into the main layout. Activate Free Transform, then Right-click and choose Rotate 180° to flip the layer upside down. Also, scale and position it down by the neck area of the subject. Right-click once again, and choose Warp from the pop-up menu. Use the control handles around the mesh to reshape the trees image to the contours of the neck shape. Press Return (PC: Enter) when done. Now, just add a layer mask to this layer, then get the Gradient tool again, click on the Linear Gradient icon (the first icon to the right of the gradient thumbnail) in the Options Bar, and use the Foreground to Transparent gradient to fade the top edge of the trees layer to blend with the subject. I also added a layer mask to the subject layer and, with the Brush tool (B), used a low-opacity black brush to fade the bottom edge of her neck.
STEP 10: Now we need to add a texture to the background. Here’s one that has good texture to it, but I don’t really care for the color. No problem. Just desaturate this texture (just like before), then bring it over onto the main image, placing it just above the Background layer in the layer stack, and drop the layer’s Opacity to 50%.
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STEP 11: Click on the Add a Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Gradient Overlay. Click on the Gradient thumbnail and choose the Foreground to Background gradient, then set the Style to Radial. Set the Blend Mode to Linear Burn, the Opacity to 85%, and the Scale to 150%. Finally, turn on the Reverse checkbox and adjust the Angle slightly to give the background a subtle vignette effect. Click OK when done.
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STEP 12: Now, select the main subject layer in the Layers panel and set the layer blend mode to Multiply. This will drop the white from the blended image and let the texture show through. Also, select the trees layer and drop the layer Opacity to 60%.
STEP 13: With the trees layer still selected in the Layers panel, click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the panel and choose Gradient Map. Click on the gradient in the Properties panel to open the Gradient Editor. Then, click on the gear icon to the right of Presets and choose Photographic Toning from the flyout menu. Click OK in the dialog that appears, then choose the Cobalt-Iron 2 preset at the bottom of the presets, and click OK.
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At this point you are pretty much done short of any adjustments you want to make. For instance, I did a further Levels adjustment to the subject layer to help better match the contrast of the city image. As a final option, you can drop in some text (I used the font Futura Book), and you’re all set.
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