Review Digital Camera World 11-03-2013

Digital Camera World

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Fantasy landscape tutorial: how to blend images seamlessly in a dramatic montage Nov 3rd 2013, 00:01, by jmeyer Find out how to blend images using a few simple Photoshop effects to create a dramatic montage in this fantasy landscape tutorial from our friends at Practical Photoshop. Creating a montage image from multiple shots is great fun, from photographing the individual elements needed to executing the techniques involved in Photoshop to blending everything together. In this fantasy landscape tutorial we're going to take a look at some basic Photoshop montage skills that will enable you to overlay and blend the supplied photos of rocks, sea and mist into a finished image that's good enough to hang on your wall. We'll also look at the advantages of opening images as Smart Objects directly from Bridge. A key part of any fantasy landscape montage project is the extraction of the individual elements. We'll reveal how to quickly separate the rocks from their backgrounds using selection tools, the Quick Mask editing mode, and the Refine Edge tool. We'll finish off by using the Brush tool to create a simple blend at the base of the rocks that will make them subtly fade into the sea. The techniques are simple, but with the addition of some mist effects created using the Gradient tool and varied layer opacities, the final effect of our fantasy landscape will be both effective and realistic. We'll then take a look at clipping adjustments, which can be applied to a selection of layers rather than the entire image. (Note that earlier versions of Photoshop aren't able to clip adjustments to groups. If you find you're unable to complete step 14, duplicate the group, then merge it down to a single layer first.) Finally, to add a little extra atmosphere to our fantasy landscape we'll tweak the colours using Color Balance and Photo Filter layers. So with the images to hand, it's time to fire up Photoshop and create this fantasy landscape. Quick Tip: Clipping adjustments Adjustment layers give you complete control over the enhancements you make to an image, but there are often situations where the changes you want to make to an image should only affect one layer or group. If you want to use an adjustment layer to change, say, the colour in a layer without affecting the rest of the layers below, then you'll need to use a clipping adjustment. To do this simply hold down Alt, hover between the two layers, and when the cursor changes just click to clip. How to make a fantasy landscape: steps 1-6 01 Open the seascape Click here to download the start files and follow along! With Photoshop open go to File>Browse in Mini Bridge to open Bridge within the Photoshop interface. Now use the small navigation panel on the left of the screen to navigate to the images for this project. Double click the image Fantasy_Start_01.NEF to open it directly into Adobe Camera Raw. 02 Straighten the horizon Our seascape has a slightly wonky horizon, which can be fixed with ACR. From the tool bar at the top of the ACR interface select the Straighten tool. Click the image on the line of the horizon, and keeping the mouse button pressed, drag a line across the horizon, then release. Press Enter to confirm the crop. 03 Cool down the colour To create a more ethereal feeling for our fantasy landscape, we're first going to need to cool down the colour in our image. On the Basic panel on the right of the interface, reduce the Temperature slider, then drop the Exposure slider a fraction to darken the image. Next we need to add a bit more contrast by increasing the Contrast slider. 04 Add more drama In the foreground we want to deepen the blacks in the sea. Reduce the Blacks slider, then increase the midtone contrast by increasing the Clarity. This brings more definition to the waves. Select the Graduated Filter tool from the tool bar and draw a line vertically down the sky to darken it. 05 Open as a Smart Object Below the preview in Adobe Camera Raw click the info text to open up the ACR options. Click the Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects tick box and click OK. Now click Open Object. The image will now open in Photoshop as a Smart Object, which means you'll be able to readjust the background in ACR later if necessary. 06 Stretch the image We have a portrait-format image, but for our fantasy landscape we want the orientation to be landscape. Go to Image>Canvas Size, select cm as the unit of measurement, and type 60 in the Width box. Click OK. Now enter Free Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T) and increase the width of the image by dragging the side anchor points to the edges of the canvas. Press Enter. PAGE 1: How to make a fantasy landscape: steps 1-6 PAGE  2: How to make a fantasy landscape: steps 7-12 PAGE  3: How to make a fantasy landscape: steps 13-18 READ MORE Professional photo editing tricks: how to get perfect skies in ALL your raw images Montage photography: how to create dramatic landscape composites 34 Photoshop effects every photographer must try once Photoshop reflection effect: how to add water to your landscapes Image Sharpening: how to bring out more detail in your favourite photos Composite picture techniques: how to make convincing shadows Nov 2nd 2013, 12:00, by jmeyer How do you create convincing shadows when making a composite picture of two images? Our quick tutorial shows you how to master these Photoshop effects. Making a composite picture, the moment it begins to look right is when the shadows are added. Before this point, no matter how good the selection or mask is, it just doesn't work. We may not be aware of it, but our eyes are so accustomed to the ways in which light falls across objects and shapes, that any discrepancy is obvious. Since most of the time when making composite pictures you're trying to create a believable visual trick, any problems with the light will stick out like a sore thumb. So convincing shadows are very important, but before they can be added, the groundwork for making the whole effect convincing begins at the capture stage. We say this so often that it's become a cliché, but no matter how good your Photoshop skills are, it counts for very little unless you know your way around a camera. This is just as true for making composite pictures as it is for any other type of photography. If, like in the image here, you want to place any kind of object into a different scene, then the first thing to do is shoot each element under the same lighting conditions, at roughly the same angle, with similar depth of field and lens focal length. Try using a couple of flash heads from a home photo studio kit when lighting elements for my composites. Attachments such as softboxes and reflectors change the hardness of the light, and of course, the appearance of the shadows. If you don't have a flash kit, then try a flashgun, or natural light from a window. The important thing is to use the light to add depth and drama to the scene, so never use on-camera flash. Once you've shot your images and combined them with selections and masks, it's time to add the shadows. Essentially, all you need to do to add a shadow to an image is darken part of it, and of course, there are lots of ways to do this in Photoshop. The simplest way is often the most effective: just paint in black or dark grey, using a low brush opacity to build up the effect. Do this on a new layer, placed below the cut-out object in the layer stack. Make sure the shadows adhere to direction, angle and hardness of light in the scene (if necessary, refer back to the original images for guidance). It's a matter of judgement, so always paint on a separate layer so you can erase or soften the effect. Another method photographers often use is to make a black shape the same as the cut-out, then transform it to make the shadow. Whichever method you choose to make the shadows, the most important thing is the judgement and skill you need to get it looking right. This is mainly down to your feel for the light. How to make convincing shadows in your composite pictures 01 Fill with black Use selections and layer masks to cut out the person and position her against the new background. Hold down Cmd/Ctrl and click the cut-out layer (or its mask) to load it as a selection. Make a new layer, then fill the selection with black. Drag the layer below the cut-out layer.   02 Skew the shadow Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to enter transform mode, then hold down Cmd/Ctrl and drag the top middle point down to skew the shadow. Press Enter when the shape looks right. If the shadow meets an edge such as the books here, cut and paste a section of it to a new layer and transform again.   03 Fade it out Merge the shadow to a single layer. Go to Filter>Blur>Field Blur. Set two pins to make the blur get stronger as the shadow gets further away from the cut-out figure. Next, change the Blend Mode to Multiply and lower the layer opacity slightly to help the shadow blend in. READ MORE Photography lighting: take control of everything from natural light to flash Classic one-light portrait setups to try right now Photoshop Effects: how to mimic studio lighting for stylish portraits 34 Photoshop effects every photographer should try once

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