The Canon Magazine 61
CRAFTY COMPOSITING SKILLS
STEP BY STEP CREATE A REALLY SOGGY DOGGY!
How to use Photoshop blending modes to spruce up an animal portrait with splashing effects
01 SELECT THE SPLASH
Open the four start images into Photoshop CC then
go to image three. Grab the Lasso tool from the
toolbar and drag it to make a selection over part of the
splash in the background. Next grab the Move tool.
Drag the selected area up to the tab of image two,
then down into the image to copy the selection over.
03 BOOST THE HIGHLIGHTS
We can enhance the splashes with a Curves
Adjustment. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+M then drag the top part
of the Curves line upwards to lighten the layer. Then
pin the lower part of the curve line downwards by
placing another point, this darkens the shadow tones,
so the original backdrop stays hidden.
05 BUILD IT UP
We can re-use layers and position them around the
frame to build up the effect. Using the Move tool,
simply hold Alt and drag a layer to make a quick copy.
Try rotating layers to mix things up. Check ‘Show
Transform Controls’ in the move tool options then
drag the bounding box to rotate the layer.
02 COPY AND BLEND
Bring up the Layers panel (Window>Layers), then go
to the Blend Mode dropdown at the top and change it
from Normal to Lighten. Now only the pixels that are
lighter than those on the layer below will show
through, so the splashed appear, but the dark
background behind is invisible.04 MASK THE EDGES
Bring in more splashes and drops in the same way.
This time we’ve use image one, but the edges of the
selection look unnaturally hard. In this case, a layer
mask helps to soften this. Click the Add Mask icon in
the Layers panel, then use a soft-edged brush tip and
paint black over the image to soften the edges.06 ENHANCE THE TONES
The Camera Raw filter is ideal for final tonal tweaks.
Highlight the top layer and hit Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E
to merge a copy of everything, then go to
Filter>Camera Raw Filter. Choose a Profile in the
browser to the right and use the tonal sliders in the
Basic Panel to add clarity and contrast.NEXT MONTH
CREATIVE
BLENDINGTHE LIGHTEN
BLEND MODE
Blend Modes can
often be useful for
compositing, especially
if the object you’re
attempting to blend is
against either a white
or black backdrop, as
we can simply use the
Lighten Blend Mode
(as we’ve done here) to
knock out the original
dark backdrop, or – if the
object is on white – the
Darken Blend Mode to
do the opposite. This can
be useful for all kinds
of tasks, from blending
fireworks in a night sky
to adding clouds into a
blown out sky.