Photo Manipulation Step-by-Step Tutorial in Photoshop

hi there this is animation pics imperfect entity we learn how to perform a very simple photo manipulation and create this crazy composite in Photoshop right from selecting it to placing it to creating the shadow to matching we gotta cover it all it's gonna be a hell of a ride so without any further ado let's get started [Music] so here we are in the mystical world of Photoshop and if you'll go ahead and download this photo check the links in the description so the first thing that we have to do key to compositing creating the perfect selection all right and we will do this in this image by using the pen tool and how to use the pen tool I have a dedicated video just on mastering the pen tool check out this video right over there it's it's an important video very important video okay alright so let's start creating a path around the subject so select the pen tool by pressing the shortcut B do not forget it B or simply just click on the pen rule but shortcuts are very important all right let's zoom in quite a bit and let's start selecting him and make sure you are a little bit on the inside because when you soften the edge you don't want to show the sky or the background right so you don't want this halo of blue when you soften the edge that's why I stay a little inside the idea here is not to stay in line and get the perfection now the idea here is to be perfect but be a little inside so that we have a good selection instead of a perfect selection so when you have a perfect one and you try to soften the edge the halos will show up and we don't want that we want it to look good at the end and perfect as well so stay a little inside and how do we stay inside simple just stay inside just click a point over here click and drag just like that don't stay on the line stay a little outside and at any point of time if you using a pen tool and you want to adjust the anchor points or the handles just hold the ctrl or command click and drag we can drag click and drag click and drag as easy as that okay now we made a mistake no problem at all press the backspace key or the Delete key and you'll be back in shape then now what happens is when you delete a point and then when you just try to do it it creates a separate path and when that happens what you can also do is that you can click on this the last point and when you click on the last point it shows you the icon of a link with the pen tool just click on that and it will continue with that also if you made a mistake made a point in a crazy place you can also press ctrl or command Z or ctrl alt Z as well command option set if you want to go multiple steps if you want to go just one step ctrl or command Z but all the time I usually press ctrl alt Z command option Z all right just go ahead just do this now it's gonna take a lot of time it will so I already have done the selection and I'll speed it up for you however here's what I want to say before I just show you the sped up version when you reach this point you see there's a lot of gap in you you don't have to select this box because we will paint them and we have to paint them you know why because if you look at this box they're so thin even if you want to select them the greens in the background will show up the Reds will show up and we don't want that to happen so we will paint them do not select the spokes don't worry about it select outside of it so if you're selecting this way let me show you how the pots gonna meet and then I'm gonna speed it all up so the selection is gonna be somewhere like something like this so you're gonna select somewhere around this edge and then go from here to there and do not worry about the inside right now don't worry about that just select from the outside and just select the outside now once you select the outside then you have to create another part and select the insides like insides of this this there's this okay don't worry about the spokes just imagine that there are no spokes right now okay now I'm gonna speed it up for you so that you can exactly see how I have created the path so here's the sped up version [Music] [Music] now as you can see the path has been made now it's time for us to understand it let's go to the paths tab click on the paths tab or if you cannot see it go to Windows and then make sure paths is checked now let's zoom in and click on the subject path and also keep in mind that whenever you create a path you rename it so when we rename it it actually saves the path all right so it doesn't erase the path when you create a new path or do something by mistake make sure you rename it let's have a look at the path as we discussed before the objective is to get a good edge and to do that we stayed inside and you don't have to replicate or just select every wrinkle of the clothes or every imperfection no you just have to have a good edge and make sure it's on the inside if you have a look at it I didn't quite replicate every tiny little detail if you have a look over there I didn't have to do that just make sure the selection looks good and it's on the inside all right now if I wanted to make a selection of it it's very simple holds the ctrl or command and click on the subject and it would make a selection but before that you must not forget that we have to draw this box alright so how to draw this box very simple I actually deselected that by pressing ctrl or command D if you are wondering how that happened to draw the spokes we're gonna simply use the brush let's come back to the layers panel and create a new layer alright now let's zoom into the tires tires wheels whatever you call it let's take a brush and decrease the size to probably depending upon your image right let's go three pixels for this one and Zubin make sure the color is black and simply only have to do just click once in the end just like that make sure the hardness is 100% all right click once in the end just like this opacity and flow also at 100 hold the shift key and then click on the other and make sure where it is going boom done and do it with every spoke just like that it's gonna take a while but it will pay off in the end it looks wonderful if you selected that it would be a nightmare it's an possible deselected right so let's go over at them I'm also gonna fasten up the process I already did it and recorded it so here's the fast-forward version now the spokes are finally done and we are ready but before we move forward I actually did something extra that I wanted to show you all right so other than just drawing the spokes what I did after we drew the spokes on both the tires I just increased it to four pixels and drew the ends so clicked ones hold the shift key and these ends were already there so I actually made them as well don't do this mistake if you just click once and hold the shift key and click on some other place and if you keep the shift key held and click somewhere else it will continue so make sure you release the shift key okay so click hold the shift key click release the shift key do not forget to do that and I did it with everything and that's why that's not save it we have it over here so in this one we have the selection in place if you go to the paths we have the subject path in place we have the spokes in place in its name it spoke now we are ready to move this to a new background so let's bring up the selection go to the paths and hold the ctrl or command and click on the subject path it already makes a very nice selection of it and then come back to the list and then all you have to do just select the background layer because in the background layer we have the image and click on the mask button ok we have a very nice selection but it is very harsh if you have a look at it it's very harsh we will make it soft don't worry about that let's keep a background so that we can see what we are doing create a solid color adjust click on the adjustment layer icon and choose solid color and choose white and we're gonna put it behind it now let's soften the edge how do we soften the edge select the mask so we are softening the mask we are not softening the image make sure mask is selected we don't want to soften the image select the blur tool right and then strength you can just reduce the strength 20% is the number that I go usually and then just blur the edges like that see it looks much more natural and that's why I asked you to stay inside if it was outside it would have created a problem created a problem sometimes my tongue slips ok and if your image has hairs you might have to use channels you can watch this video on selecting head this is one of the best methods to mask it go check that out alright so let's keep softening it if you have already washed it awesome I appreciate you and if you already know it you're brilliant let's do this you can make the brush bigger and do it at once you don't have to do it slowly but in case there are areas which require more softening or more blurring in that case it's beneficial to paint a couple of times to get more blurriness as some other areas paint less times and make it leave it sharp for example here we have a lot of softness so we will paint a couple more times the cycle has to be sharp so we'll paint less we could have just simply blurred it out a little bit but that's not effective because have a look at this this is very blurry but this has to be a little sharp so we will paint a couple more times over here and that's the advantage of manually blurring it you get to choose how much to blur see this cycle and this is kind of mechanic stuff we don't have to blur it so much around the edge wonderful alright let's zoom out it looks wonderful now let's delete the colorful layer we don't need it anymore and let's create a smart object of both of this why smart object see we don't want to just mess with two layer spokes differently and this differently we also don't want to merge it because if we merge it it will be destructive we want to have the ability to go back and make changes in the mask if required and that's why hold the alt or option and click on the mask again to show it and that's why we will convert both of them to smart object collectively and here's how it works hold the ctrl or command select the other one make sure both of them are selected and then a right click on them and select convert to smart object and anytime you want to go back it's just one leg turned into one layer just double-click on the thumbnail and it goes back opens up another document and it goes back to the layer and the spokes let's close it we don't need it and if you want to go back you can and we can name this you know subject alright that is done now it's time for us to place this image into another background all you have to do just click and drag and drop it into the other document just like this and it happens as quickly and easily like that however if it doesn't happen for you let me show you some other method let's delete it just open them as tabs just like this and let's keep it at that come to that just make sure you cannot see the layers just make sure you select it and then drag it and drop it over there and you're done still if it doesn't have enslave it still if it doesn't work out let's bring back two tabs like that and still if it doesn't happen if you're using the latest version of Photoshop or anything after CC 2018 you can copy and paste layers so let's delete it and come back to this one copy press ctrl or command C come to this and press ctrl or command V done three ways of doing the same thing now both of these images have been chosen specifically intentionally have a look at the light in this image as well the light is coming a little bit on the back in the background as well it's from the back and that's why they both will match we have to match the color and stuff but if I place it over here look at the light it's matching so make sure the light in both of the images especially the direction of light is matching also have a look at it it's sunlight in this image in the background we obviously have sunlight so make sure the light is hard or soft in both the images if in the background we have soft light the foreground or the subject we also have to have soft light similarly for hard light all right so in this case both have hard light no problem you're gonna place it over here press ctrl or command T and size it adjust it the way you like it I like the size I'm gonna place it over here right-click on it and click on distort I'm gonna make the front a little smaller to give it you know a an illusion that it's on that direction if you're understanding what I'm trying to say if you're not just just do what feels good to you all right and that is okay hit enter if you're satisfied and that is looking great now let's create the shadow for this one how do we create the shadow hold the ctrl or command and then click on the thumbnail of the subject it makes a selection around it now let's create a new layer make sure the foreground color is black and let's fill the selection in black by pressing alt backspace or option delete simple press ctrl or command D now we have the shadow but we have to place it nicely how do we place it nicely press ctrl or command T and first shadow is always behind right shadow is always below the subject and bring it below it and we can name this shadow and press ctrl or command T right click on it and choose distort and bring it down just like that ok now how is the shadow gonna be make sure you are following the path of the Sun path of the light from the Sun actually so the Sun is throwing light in this direction just like this follow the cursor follow the cursor so in this direction so this is gonna be somewhere is okay and for the other one it's coming like that so it should be here like this and also follow the curve of the earth so the earth is like this so make sure you follow the curve as well of the earth and the Sun the direction of light is also followed make sure that happens you can make the shadow longer if you want to see what looks good to you but I'm gonna stay right there okay that is OK for me and once you're satisfied with the shadow hit enter then just decrease the opacity of the shadow so let's decrease it to 75 now let's adjust the shadow let's zoom in by pressing ctrl or command + or what you can also do hold the spacebar and hold the ctrl or command and then you can just drag to the right to zoom in or drag to the left to zoom out zoom in over here if you want the back tire to touch then make sure shadow is selected and it can use the arrow keys to just touch the tire so if the back tire is touching the ground the shadow should also touch the back tire if you want the cycle or the bycicle to be on air then you have to leave some gap probably move it a little apart so that it gives an illusion that it is up in the air actually that's what happens but I want to keep it touched so that it looks nice real natural but it's totally upon you what do you want that's totally your choice your call now the shadow is very sharp we need to blur it out but before we do anything always to be on the safe aside convert this into a smart object by going to filter convert for Smart Filters hit OK then we can blur this area more in this area a little less as it is closer ok so how can I show this if you have ever seen shadows I don't know where they can see shadow of my hand at the back but if you have ever seen seen shadows if it's close the shadow is gonna be sharp if it's far away the shadow is gonna be very soft or does gonna be no shadow and that's how it works since this area is far from the head it's gonna have a blurry shadow and this area on the other hand will have a little sharper shadow than this one so how do we make that transition very simple go to filter and then blur gallery field blur now field blur allows you to have multiple points it already comes to the point just to move it over here and have the blur at around probably two pixels let's see how that works so I'm gonna keep it at two let's see how to works do doesn't look so much blurry let's keep it for for just this area for is good for is good let's try six how is six it's not bad as well and create one more point over here six is too much I guess let's keep it fine one more point over here and for this area as it gradually makes the transition I'm gonna have 15 15 looks perfect you can have more if you want to but too much looks bad 15 was good 20 15 whatever 15 is great so let's keep it at 15 or maybe 20 now you can make that debate make changes just just play with it you will understand let's keep at 16 it okay you can change that later and that's why this is a smart object so the advantage of a smart object if you want to change it just double click on the blur gallery it again takes you back to the blur gallery window and it can change that I'm gonna hit cancel because I don't want to change it right now now it's time for us to match the subject to that of the background and how do we do that first of all let's create a group of the subject so hold the ctrl or command select the other one press ctrl or command G and we can name this subject crew and change the blend mode from pass-through to normal and why is that so it is because if we create a curves adjustment layer inside of this ok if we make some changes it will be limited to just the subject if the blend mode was passed through if I change it to pass through it will allow the adjustment layer the effect of that to pass through now if I make a change have a look the background is also getting affected if I change it back to normal it restricts the passing through of the adjustment lab you got it all right now let's first of all we already created the curves adjustment layer double-click on the icon or the symbol to just bring up the properties and let's reset that and we're gonna do it first of all let's match up the shadows the shadows gotta be little faded if you have a look at the airplane the dark areas over here it's a little faded so here's how we make it faded by taking it up like that not so much see this is not matching just a little bit like that okay that is fine now we need to create separate curves adjustment layers for the shadow and the subject let's minimize this and let's come to the shadow and create a curves adjustment layer and let's clip it just two shadows to limit it just to shadows click on this button there's no other lab beneath it so it doesn't really matter but just to be on the safer side if you happen to add something later all right now shadow is good it's looking great but we need to add a little bit of blue to it so let's go to the blue channel and let's add a little bit blue to the shadow not so much let's zoom in to have a closer look a little bit of it very little okay now let's try adding a little red I don't know whether that's gonna look good or not no blue is fine do we need to darken or brighten it that's totally upon you now that is looking great you don't need to do anything else green if you want to decrease the Greens so you might have to play with these depending upon your image so if you decrease the Greens it will be a little magenta probably a little bit okay very minor differences and then you can always go to the shadows and decrease the opacity as well so at this point the opacity I think is showing hundred percent why is it showing hundred percent because we converted that into a smart object after changing the opacity if you want to change the opacity now double click on the shadow now he can chase the opacity over here and save that okay now let's close it we don't need it anymore opacity seems perfect if you want to decrease the opacity further you can do that as well like that I will decrease it I guess 92 is great let's zoom out and have a look no a probably hundred now you would go back and forth this is gonna happen sometimes it's gonna look good sometimes not you have to take breaks in between and have a look back at your image then let's create a curves adjustment layer for just the subject now this is for the overall you can name this overall and this is for the shadow curve shadow color I'm just naming it for your reference and let's create a curves adjustment layer just for the subject so subject curve and if we make any changes to this it also effects the shadow we don't want that to happen so let's clip it click on this button and it clips to the subject now let's make the shadow a little bit brighter lighter like that dark areas and let's add a little darkness okay not bad we want the dark areas of this one to match the dark areas of this one that's a complete coal over here it's too dark not so dark play with it and try to match it you wanna have the highlight spot on so let's bump up the highlights like that and it's perfect have a look at the before and after so this is the after this is the before after alright it's matching pretty good let's zoom in and you can make changes to this later let's try making it darker not much of a difference it's great before after before after looking pretty good alright now have a look at the shadow what is the color of the shadow in the background it's bluish right so we need to add blue to the shadows so let's go to the blues and we have to add blues to the shadows like that and you can also use the hand too right over there click on it and click on the shadow area just pick it up like that this adds blue to it now let's zoom out and have a look at it okay now to the highlights we have to add yellow it's already yellow but if you want you can add more and if you add yellows to the highlights it goes a little greenish so you have to go to the green and decrease the green from the highlights to add a little magenta color as we have in the background okay that is great and probably let's add a little bit of red to the highlights and take that away from the shadows okay that is great have a look at that before and after so this is the after before not matching at all see how nicely it's matching right now so let's go to the RGB probably we need to darken it even more a little bit like that okay close it it's great let's go back okay now it looks fine we will make changes later if we want to if we have to I think now right now again it's too red let's go to this one again and let's decrease the red you have to make changes like that again time and again go to the greens probably let's go to RGB it's too bright over there on the highlights let's take it down now it's good finally we are settling with this finally we are settling with this I'm not gonna make any changes right now maybe I will okay dun dun this is done finally this is done okay now you're gonna have moments like this now let's add highlights around the edge that is very essential because the Sun is at the back so we will have a little bit of rim light around the edge and that can be done also very easily by creating a levels adjustment layer click on the adjustment layer icon and choose levels and then take the slider on the right to the left it makes bright things brighter and bright areas brighter just like this see the amount of highlight it added let's in a my stat and let's clip it just to the subject we don't want it on the shadows anyway it will not add on the shadows because it's already dark now we don't want it all over the image just around the edges we actually did it in the previous tutorial over there okay make sure the mask is selected then press ctrl or command I now zoom in and with the soft brush take the brush make sure the brush is soft and then decrease the flow to somewhere around 4 5% or probably 10% and just paint around the edge with white and paint on the areas which are in the direction of light don't paint on the shadow areas see what a nice highlight it is 20 let's keep it 20 you want to make it even more brighter just double-click on the symbol and you can make it even brighter yeah that is fine make sure mask is selected doesn't paint when the symbol is clicked so add a little shine over there see here's a problem there's a dark area which is selected so we have to come back to the subject and create a mask and then erase this area off take the brush make sure black is the color and let's erase this area the idea here again I will repeat is not to have the perfect edge but to have an edge which looks good let's come back to the mask of the levels and start painting it with white press X to toggle between the foreground and the background color and then just paint only on the areas which deserve a highlight for example this area do not paint inside of it why because it's in bits and shadows paint only in the areas which are in the direction of light to brighten the inside of it a little bit yeah and we are done if we zoom out have a look at it it looks much more better have a look at it before and after before after before after adds that extra highlight it looks much better so before after we can add even more if you want to or highlights if you want even more you can just increase the levels and add that okay that looks pretty perfect all right now it's matching it's looking great now it's time for us to add overall effects to the image such effects which help us blend images together and that we apply collectively all right so let's collapse this group okay now let's add an effect of the Sun we'll add something it's just not one effect that you have to add you can add multiple effects many effects as much as you like and this is just for blending in the images let's create a gradient click on the adjustment layer icon and let's choose gradient and we can adjust single click on the gradient choose any color which is color to transparent and on the left hand side let's choose white on the right hand side also make sure it's some color which is look at the Sun right all I wanted to do is to look at the Sun in the middle it is totally white right as the light fades away it gets reddish so you can just sample this color or you can choose your own color and that's what we want to replicate hit OK hit OK again we are happy with this we can always change the colors later do not worry about that change the style to radial and move it right over there I think I need to change the color do a little more yellowish or okay that is great hit OK and keep it somewhere around this and then just increase the size the size is good 188 let's keep it 175 that is great it ok and let's try a different blend modes probably screen will look great in this one and screen is looking great now we need to take away from the dark areas just double-click on the right hand side of the layer I'm just playing right just plain take this letter of the underlying layer from left to right it hides the dark areas of the underlying layer from the current layer so if we take it to the right see these were the dark areas in the underlying layer in the background image these are being removed from the current leverages the gradient and that is fine but as you can see it's very harsh so hold the alt or option click on it break it and then separate it like that hmm that's not bad I kind of like it adds that kind of haze to it and I love it alright hit OK that is great now we don't want it on the subject so we will just put it under the subject okay now let's create a copy of the same gradient press ctrl or command + J and put it above the subject now we want this to appear also on the dark area so that it acts like a flare so double click on the right hand side of the layer and bring it back to normal just like this and hit OK and let's go to the properties by double clicking on the symbol and let's decrease the size scale actually see it's much more natural it's coming on the subject as well so 89 or 100 let's see what looks good hundred or let's say 75 as well for this one hit OK it's also looking great have a look so if without this it's not matching so much with this it's also dramatic and it's also matching at the same time what we can also do is that now that I look at it some areas are like over brightened so we can come to the mosque of this one take the brush and just paint these areas and black like that to bring back some of the areas Sioux Mountain I want to bring back this area okay so without the mask with the mask we have some areas back details okay now let's zoom in and let's have a look at the image now as you can see his nose looks very bright we need to take care of that so let's open up the subject I think it's the levels so go back to the levels take the brush foreground color black flow 20 that's okay and we will just paint away we don't want so much of a brightness and set okay now we think that the subject is not bright enough so here's what we do we come back to the subject curve click on the symbol bring up the properties we brighten it up a little bit according to the image right that yep and now let's zoom out and now let's have a look at it I think it's too colorful it has gone very colorful so let's create a hue/saturation adjustment layer and let's decrease the saturation all right - 27 I like to type in numbers I don't know why but I love to do that as you can see the nose and stuff is very bright so we will go back to the levels let's turn it off let's see how that looks it's okay but on the face it's too bright let's go to the mask and let's paint this area in black okay that is great press ctrl or command 0 to fit the canvas to the screen and we are pretty much done now in case you want to add more effects we can do that as well by you can add any effect that you like I'm gonna go ahead and choose God I look up and just click on any one and using the scroll of the mouse scroll and see which one looks great let's just choose probably this one this looks fine wonderful but it looks bad on the dark area so here's what we do double click on the right inside of stelae do the same thing hold the alt or option just break it like that hit OK ever look before after before actor like adds the kind of brightness you can add one more curves adjustment layer you know you can make it dark and like faded like that it looks wonderful as well probably add a little red in the highlights take it away in the shadows now let's keep it normal normal is looking great and there we go if you also want to create lens flare let's do that as well by holding ctrl alt shift E let's create a stamp visible layer if you're using a Mac that would be command option shift and E this creates a stamp visible layer because lens flare just doesn't work on a blank layer now let's go to filter render and then lens flare various that barrel is I can place it at the Sun like that and you can choose any one that you like this one this one let's choose 105 and let's place it properly right over there and hit ok now that renders the lens flare but I cannot edit it however there's one more method the method is this just delete this layer we don't need that anymore let's create a black layer so create a new layer and fill this with black make sure the foreground color is black press alt backspace now simply go to filter and choose lens flare it will repeat the same with the same settings and now it just does that change the blend mode to screen the advantage of having it on a separate layer is that you can fade it out if you want to decrease the opacity or probably if you can also blur it out so let's keep it at keep it at 65 and let's zoom in you can blur it out if you want to you can choose the blur too and simply just blur it just like that or you can just also go to filter blur and then Gaussian blur and apply some blur if you want to 4 pixels 6 pixels whatever you like 11 pixels okay let's go 26 9 pixels that's fine hit OK if you're satisfied and then you can also create a mask click on the mask button take the brush and you can also erase the areas that you don't like flow 20 percent or 10 percent and let's just erase the areas that you don't like in just you raise these areas and you get the idea just some area that you don't like so much interest erase the corners and there you go and here is the final result I just worked with it a little bit and here's the final result so that's how to perform a very simple photo manipulation and create this composite in Photoshop I hope you fry it the idea and the concept remains the same make sure the selection is good doesn't have to be perfect make sure the edges look good when placed on a new background if you go after perfection if you go and create the path on the line it might result in halos when you soften it so make sure you stay inside and make sure the edges look good doesn't have to be perfect secondly when you place it it should match you can match it using curves levels whatever you like just match it also you can create shadows there are lots of ways of creating shadows you can just simply paint with the brush in this case we simply help the control or command clicked on the subject made a selection on a new lamp filled that with black and then adjusted it if that was a soft light you won't have so detailed shadow because this is Sun and this has hard light that's why we created a hard shadow otherwise we just simply would have just taken a brush and just create a soft shadow it would have been simple in this case also it's simple because we already have that structure and then you can add some blending effects to blend the images together in this case we added the gradient we added a color lookup table curves lens flare and all of that that's pretty much it it's very simple make a selection place it match it blending effects done so that's all for this video I hope this video helps you and if it did make sure it goes then I can also do not forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the verses that you my friend don't miss a thing thanks to all these nice people for helping me fix imperfect free for everybody forever by supporting us on patreon thank you so much for watching I'll see you guys my next one till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating [Music] you

Channel: PiXimperfect

Views: 162,328

Keywords: photo manipulation, photoshop tutorial, compositing, photoshop manipulation, match color photoshop, blend images, change background, photo effects, create shadow in photoshop, special effects in photoshop, filters, lens flare, pen tool, levels, curves, piximperfect, unmesh dinda

Id: HbskmYxyCQU

Length: 41min 26sec (2486 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2018