MERGING THE LAYERS
Now we can add the Kids layer to the image of the book, shrink the kids, and create realistic shadows
How To
64 MA XIMUMPC MAY 2005
1
ADD KIDS TO BOOK Open your
book photo. Select the open Kids
photo you’ve been working on. Drag the
Kids layer thumbnail on top of the open
book image to add the masked children to
the book file as a separate layer.2
SCALE THE KIDS Select the Kids layer.
Go to Edit, Transform, Scale. A box will
appear around the children’s layer. Drag the
handles on the corner of the box to scale
the kids down to size. Hold the Shift key to
constrain the layer’s shape. Use the Move
tool to position the kids.4
FREE TRANSFORM Press Command
+ T to invoke the Free Transform tool.
A rectangular edit box will appear around
the shadow. Drag the box’s top middle
handle down until the shadow image
is upside down. Hit Return to apply the
transformation.5
SHADOW SHIFTER Use the
Scale, Skew, and even the Rotate
Transform tools to adjust the shape of
the shadow layer until it looks like the
shadow in this image. Use the Layers
palette to place the Shadow layer
underneath the Kids layer.6
BLUR THE SHADOW Apply
a Gaussian Blur filter to the
Shadow layer. Use the Layers palette
to reduce the Shadow layer’s opacity
to 55 percent. Add a new layer where
the kids touch the book and spray a
soft black airbrush.3
CREATING A SHADOW The kids need shadows to anchor them in
the image. We could try copying their original shadows, but there isn’t
enough visual information, due to the narrow table they are lying on. We’re
going to have to fake it.SELECT THE
KIDS Right-click
(or control-click)
the Kids layer mask
thumbnail. Choose
Set Selection to
Layer Mask. The
“marching ants”
dotted selection line
will appear.FILL THE SELECTION Now
you must create a new layer.
Select its thumbnail. Fill the
selection with black by going
to Edit, Fill, Black.