How to Match Subject with Background in Photoshop | Part 1

hi there this is a mission pics in perfect hope you're doing awesome and welcome to part one of matching subjects with backgrounds this is one of the most requested and essential things to learn in Photoshop especially if you're into compositing however here's the problem every subject is different right and so is every background each one of them is gonna have different light setup different colors so there's not a one way method to match the subject to the background right there's gotta be a lot of approaches so that's why I'm making these videos in parts covering different types of approaches in different parts today we gonna be dealing with monochromatic composites where are we gonna create a monochrome composite for the background is already monochrome but the subject is in color so without any further ado let's get started [Music] so here we are photoshop in any of the photos that we use in this tutorial is available for download so if you wanna download them check the links in the description alright so here we have our subject and the background both of them open as separate documents inside of Photoshop if you're not sure how to open both of them it's very very simple so let's close both of them let me show you right from scratch I don't want to keep you confused alright so let's go to that folder and we're gonna copy select both of them okay and click and drag and drop it inside of Photoshop just like so so both of them are now open as separate documents now what we have to do first of all we need to make a selection of the subject now we are in the subject document so how shall we make a selection again as we've discussed every subject is different so is every background so we're gonna have a different approach every single time we have a different setting so right now let's figure this out what separates the subject from the background is it contrast is it color what is it in this case the color is a striking factor and it's separating the subject from the background and we're gonna use that as our advantage how to do that well let's use select color range so we're gonna go to select and then color range now we want to say to Photoshop a Photoshop select the background color so in this case what's the background color it's orange right so right now it's already selected because I already did it let's do it right from scratch now once you open the color range okay you need to select this eyedropper tool decrease the fuzziness all the way to zero okay do that and make sure select sample colors is selected now you're gonna click once here so a little bit of the background is selected so everything that you see in color those areas are selected everything that you see in black is not selected provided that selection preview is black matte okay you can change the selection preview to none so it won't show you a preview here but you can still see the preview here anything which is white is selected black is not selected so may your selection preview is none I want you to see it clearly and then click on the plus eyedropper tool okay so plus eyedropper tool and then start clicking on the areas of the background colors of the background so we are adding colors make sure we do not select the color inside the subject okay select this color that color this color okay now once most of it is selected then you can change the selection preview to black matte or something like that and then you can just keep on adding areas like this let's add this area there you go okay all right looks perfect now let's increase the fuzziness slowly because if you zoom in right now let's zoom in quite a bit as you can see it's very very harsh the selection is very harsh we cannot go with it so let's increase the fuzziness to make it soft if you increase it too much inside of the subject will be selected as well we don't want that as you can see some of the parts of the subject are being selected they are not black anymore so we have to decrease it slowly and gradually to have a respectable amount of fuzziness and still have most of the subject completely black here okay now keep in mind the subject is not selected the background is so we need to invert the selection how do we invert the selection simple press control shift I command shift I on a Mac or you can simply go to select inverse it does the same thing okay now we have the selection we can click on the mask button now we have a selection on a transparent background now what I would suggest is create a solid color adjustment layer okay keep it black or something where you can see which areas are not selected properly so I am gonna go ahead and select red and put it in the background so as you can see there are some colors which are not selected properly you can also change the color to green to see it more clearly or black that totally depends upon you let's choose black and hit OK so this is an area which is not selected properly we have to work on that so let's come back to the mask simply take the brush and let me show you magic okay to make just the mask visible you would hold the Alt key or the option key and click on the mask then take the brush make sure the foreground color is white now if you change the blend mode and listen to this very carefully if you change the blend mode to overlay and white is the color see what happens when you paint it fills up this area but if you go extra it just doesn't spill out but it fills up these areas it isn't that interesting right so overlays a great blend mode if you want to fix up masks and stuff okay so it will paint white on everything which is brighter than 50% gray and leave aside everything which is darker than 50% gray or paint a very little bit and keeps the black black if you're painting with black just the opposite will happen it will make the dark areas darker and anything which is completely white it will leave it white if you paint with black so it's a great blend mode to work on with masks so right now I'm filling it there are some areas which cannot be filled then you would switch back to normal and you would fill it okay all right don't worry about the edges of the hair that can be fixed later right that will mostly be in the shadow so it doesn't really matter so most of it is selected properly well Wow so hold the alt or the option again click on the mask to bring the subject back now all you have to do just drag this layer okay go to this document and drop it and you're done and if you're not able to do it okay then you can simply select this layer press ctrl or command C to copy this layer come back to this one press ctrl or command V now this is a feature in the latest version of Photoshop to be able to control or command C and ctrl or command V copy and paste layers alright now as you can see the background is a little off let's first of all let's make the subject smaller but before we do that let's convert this into a smart object right so that even if we make it smaller or bigger it doesn't lose its quality so simply go to filter convert for Smart Filters hit okay it converts that into a smart object now let's make the subject smaller press ctrl or command D and let's make it a little smaller just like so it's pretty okay if she was actually standing think of it in this way if she was actually standing right there how small would she be she would be somewhere like that small don't worry about her body ending right in there abruptly don't worry about that she would be something like that okay hit enter once you're satisfied now we need to crop the image press C and crop it obviously we have to because oops we have to crop it from the bottom definitely we have to do that crop a little bit from the top that's fine totally depends upon what composition you're looking for you can crop it from the sides or leave it at that that's also totally upon you for this tutorial I'm gonna crop it from the sides okay a little bit keep her straight in the middle like so and hit enter okay I'm satisfied with this this looks amazing now we have to match this to the background keep in mind that the background is constructed of specific shades of grey what if we apply the same shades to the subject wouldn't that be the same okay so here's how to do it first of all let's apply a gradient map of the same shades what does gradient map do it maps the colors of the highlights mid-tones and shadows that's what it is okay so let's go ahead click on the adjustment layer icon and choose gradient map but we just want this gradient map on the subject so click on this little button it creates a clipping mask and adjust limits to the subject now this is absolutely not the gradient map that we want so single click in here for the highlights you want a highlight from the background and for the shadows you want a shadow from the background stuff all let's determine the brightest and the darkest areas in the background okay so hit okay for this time and turn off the subject for this time for a while right now let's figure out the darkest and the brightest area come back to the background all right now let's create a curves adjustment layer click on the adjustment layer icon and choose curves now take this slider on the left from the left to the right as you begin to take it you will see the details go away slowly and gradually the areas that are still showing the details as you can see those areas are the brightest and we need to mark them okay how do we mark them first of all select the eyedropper - okay and then hold shift and alt shift + option on a Mac and just make a point here so this is the brightest so hold that key is Shift + Alt shift option and click that makes a point there that makes a mark there okay now we need to find the darkest area do the opposite take it back to normal and take the right slider to the left the area that's still gonna have some stuff left that's gonna be the darkest so as as I can see it's on the corner it's right here over here it's easier to pick up from the same place so let's pick up from the same place okay so make a point this is the darkest this is the brightest this is the darkest simple right now let's delete the curves we don't really need it okay make sure in the gradient map adjustment layer this symbol is selected not the mask not the mask if if the mask is selected here's what will happen okay so for example if the mask is selected and if you want to sample the colors it just won't sample it will sample only white see it's sampling only white we don't want that to happen that's why make sure the symbol is selected then once the property is open single click here okay and for the highlights vivo sample this criteria and makes your sample all layers is selected right and right here so that is temples from all the lists and let's sample from here select point sample because it's very small you don't want to average out so this is the brightest it ok for the dark areas this is the darkest okay hit okay now I'm gonna make the brightest a little more brighter so let's go to B which stands for brightness a little more brighter than usual it okay hit okay okay so this looks fine now let's turn on the subject have a look much much more better so before after however it still lacks something it still lacks the dimension and stuff so how do we get that very simple as well single click here you have not yet worked out the balance we have to work out the balance so click in one of the points see this is the balance point so let's work out the balance let's take it a little bit to the right see now now it's making some sense right so let's take it a little more to the right it's too much I'll take it a little bit to the left you can control the location from right here just click and drag on the location okay so for me 65 is fine let's say 65 and hit OK once you're satisfied okay let's collapse this thing now it's looking pretty much good but we need to make some adjustments what adjustments do you want me to make so first off let's make the shadows and stuff let's make shadow offer so make sure the subject layer is selected let's name it subject for your convenience okay and this one is the background cool let's select the subject and then let's add a drop shadow okay double click on the right insider to lay all right now let's click on drop shadow what is the direction of light have a look at the subject what is the direction of light it's coming from right here top right so we will select that angle which is already selected something like that and let's increase the distance first of all let's increase the opacity all the way to hundred and then increase the distance a bit like this let's increase the size make sure the spread is zero until it looks okay let's increase the distance even more let's increase the size and let's decrease the size a bit I think it's too much now here's the thing the shadows look perfect here it might not be the case for you why is that so but let's have a look for me I have selected the color of the shadow to match with that of the background we'll have a look if I double click here have a look at the shadow it's not black as a default it's all always black if you hit OK it just doesn't fit in so how do we determine the shadow color of the background symbols right just just first of all let's cancel it okay then all you have to do just open up the color picker and just pick in the shadows of the background and determine what color is it okay so what's the hex code one two one two one do just keep that number in mind or simply just copy it select it copy it if you cannot remember it okay hit OK or cancel it doesn't really matter at this point go back to the drop shadow if it's blank change it so click here dial in that number so it's a little bit darker let's make it a little brighter it hit OK and it perfectly works now let's decrease the opacity a bit to this number and let's increase the distance a bit let's decrease the opacity even more so make sure the shadow color is matching so that it does match with that of the background so it doesn't it shouldn't look strange again you can also try normal let's see how it does normal looks much more realistic in this case I guess let's make it even more darker let's go to one two one two one two okay whoops there you go okay now normal looks much more better here okay let's control the distance and increase the opacity perfectly fine now once you're satisfied with this it's okay there we have the shadow now we have to add some darkness to the edges the left side why because the light is coming from the right this areas and shadows how can these areas have some light right it's just not possible so let's create a new layer make sure this layer is also a clipping mask so if there's a layer and there's another layer on top of it and this layer is a clipping mask to this layer then if you're in this layer and create a layer between those two layers that layer will also be a clipping mask if that's not a case you already know how to make a clipping mask hold the Alt key or the option key click here okay so hold the Alt key or the option key click on the line between these two creates a clipping mask read in math we have to create a clipping mask hold the Alt key or the option key click on both of them are clipping mask to the subject okay now we have another layer simply take the brush okay decrease the flow to somewhere around 20% something like that let's go to 20 let's go to 10 make sure the foreground color is black now we need to change the blend mode of this one to soft light very soft light there it is and make sure the gradient map is top of it so accidentally we don't want it to be completely black right so if the layer was on top okay and if we were painting we would have accidentally made it completely black which will totally destroy the balance of the image as you can see this area is completely black and all these areas none of the other areas are totally black so we don't want that to happen make the gradient map as a secure top overlay to make sure that the blackest black is not totally black because on the gradient map have a look on the left it's not totally black right right okay let's go let that collapse that and make sure this layer is underneath the gradient map you don't want so much of a darkness so let's erase it select the eraser erase it and let's redo it take the brush and make sure the fluids percent and let's do it slowly around the edges make the brush a little smaller make sure it's soft and start painting around the edges with black at this point I guess I'm gonna increase the flow to 20 percent 30 percent let's go to that number and paint around the edges simple stuff very simple stuff make sure the blend mode is soft lights okay this looks pretty perfect looks fine to me but at the edge we also have that white fringe how do we get rid of it create one more layer and do not change the blend mode to anything likes let's keep it normal and just start painting around the edge and this time increase the flow to somewhere around 77 and something like that number high number and just keep painting don't worry about the edge it looks a little strange but don't worry about it so much hey now it looks pretty not that dark so we're gonna make it a little more darker by using going back to gradient maps and let's take this a little to the right okay and make it a little mortar like that now as you can see that's much more matching and much more popping out so we can control this okay that looks realistic hit okay let's zoom out and let's have a look looks fine now let's get back to the drop shadow and make it a little more distance E and let's decrease the opacity now keep it up keep it at whatever number it was I'm satisfied with 90 ish and hit OK looks perfect it looks perfect now what else we can do let's add a curves make sure whatever you add you add underneath the gradient map to make sure it doesn't throw off the balance of the image let's go ahead and add some curves and we will be good to go I mean yep done and at the end whenever you are merging a subject with that of the background it let's add some okay keep in mind that whenever you're matching a subject to another background at the end apply an effect or an adjustment layer whatever there is to just make them one okay so in this case you can add a color lookup table whatever you like so let's go ahead and add let's say let's try color look-up tables let's see how they look you can also add some curves whatever you like let's just scroll it in and keep on scrolling see that looks interesting I like it Chris warm is very interesting right so you can scroll through this edgy amber wow that looks really fantastic as well this one is amazing so you can choose whatever you like over here this one is a completely different look I totally love it this one looks fine as well so you can choose whatever you like I'm I'm not able to choose one every every one of them looks fantastic so I'm gonna keep it at probably this is fine as well this is nice edgy amber really look great to me so I'm gonna keep it at that so you can try this you can try the other one you can try a lot of other stuff so there it is there you go that's how you match the subject that that is the background let me show you the before and after so this is how we came in if we just turn off this and turn off all of these effects and turn this off see it's not matching at all right so let's just start turning them on look how gradually we went through and turn on the effects and that's how we imagine you can also keep it without the effect keep it with the effect decrease the opacity if you want to and that's how we do and to blend the background at the subject even better you can also try this so let's just delete it for a moment you can add that layer at any point but let's try this as well so let's go ahead and create a levels adjustment layer and we can add a very nice vignette to make them one let's take this slider from the right to the left it makes the bright areas darker now once you're in the mosque make sure the mask is selected take the brush foreground color as black press X to toggle between the foreground and the background make the brush bigger make it harder okay and then on the subjects face just dab it once okay make sure the opacity and flow is 100 so it was not hundred make sure it's 100 dab it okay now with the help of the transformation tool press ctrl or command D you can just control how it looks maybe something like this control the spotlight this is just like a spotlight on her right it looks great now all you have to do open the properties of the mask select this click on the properties if you cannot see the properties go to windows make sure properties is checked and make sure you're in the property of the must so this is the property of the adjustment layer here it's the property of the mask increase the feather there you go now even at this point you can press ctrl or command D and just play with it now also here's an essential part also we want to make sure that the vignette does not make the edges of the image darker than that piece of grey that you selected on the left side of gradient map makes sense confusing right so let's turn this off for a second let's go back to gradient map see this gray it's not completely black it's gray right one six one six one six okay so you want to make sure that the wynia that we are adding it just doesn't make it completely black so make sure that you have that opacity in control it's too dark make sure you don't apply it too much a little bit is fine just like this okay you can also control it with curves so you can add a curves adjustment layer and you can clip it to the levels by holding the Alt key or the option key click on the line between these two or simply click on that button and you can control that vignette from here as well to make sure that's matching okay just a little bit and then you can keep the opacity to whatever number you like doesn't really matter and there you go right doesn't this look amazing so here's the before with just the subject on the background not matched and here is the after so that's how you match the subject with the background in a monochromatic environment here's a quick recap first of all we're gonna have to select the subject and how do we make a selection of the subject there are tons of ways of doing that you just need to find out what separates the subject from the background is it color is it contrast or if it's just a noisy background you might have to manually go ahead and select that by using the pen tool or the selected mask and there are tons of tutorials in this channel on how to do that now once you have made a selection of the subject create a mask click on a mask button and bring it over to the background then because the background is monochromatic we added a gradient map to replicate the shades on the subject okay so we figured out the darkest shade in the background and the brightest shade in the background and applied that as a gradient map on both sides highlights as the brightest shade and shadows as the darkest shade so on the left hand side we have the darkest shade right inside the brightest shade after we did that it was still not magic so we maintained and corrected the balance once you click on one of those points you have a point appear in the middle that is the balance you can control the location of it so that it looks right then we added a shadow a simple drop shadow and then we created some layers and added some darkness around the shadows then to make it all you can add vignettes you can add color look-up tables curves right you can do a lot of other stuff but the main idea here is this we need to make sure that the overall shades of the background matches with that of the subject and that's pretty much it hope this video helps you and if it did make sure to give us that I can also do not forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the bell so that you my friend don't miss any other future tips tricks or tutorials thank you so much for watching and I would like to take this moment to thank all these nice and amazing people for supporting this channel on patreon and helping keep its imperfect free for everybody forever thank you so much for all the support thank you for watching again I'll see you guys my next one till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating [Music] you

Channel: PiXimperfect

Views: 1,593,162

Rating: 4.9304166 out of 5

Keywords: match subject with background, compositing in photoshop, match background color photoshop, color match in photoshop, change background, create shadow, monochrome, gradient map, cut out image in photoshop, photo manipulation, drop shadow, blending options, layer styles, photo effects, color range, dodging and buring, create vignette in photoshop, curves, adobe, photoshop tutorial, piximperfect, unmesh dinda

Id: TZnXQZWejPg

Length: 27min 25sec (1645 seconds)

Published: Tue May 22 2018