Compositing in Adobe Photoshop: Time-
Saving Tips
Daniel Durrans
Compositing is a skill and process that spans the entire spectrum of creative
industries. At the high end, compositing boasts its own specialized
profession in film and television post production and visual effects.
Dedicated software such as NUKE and Shake have taken the craft to
powerful levels of its own, leaving behind the relatively basic compositing
toolset of Adobe Photoshop. However, for many graphics practitioners
compositing is a vital everyday process — and as with all pixel-pushing
endeavors, Photoshop remains the entry point and hub to learning and
ultimately mastering the fundamentals of this important skill.
In this article, I’ll share some of my own time-saving tips for compositing in
Photoshop. Tips such as these should never replace a solid understanding
of your craft; however, being able to adapt a technique to make it work for
you is part of being a creative professional.
Tip 1: Matching Tones, Channel by Channel
One of the challenges we face when compositing is matching the colors
and tones of various images to produce a realistic and convincing
composite. This method aims to save you from spending time fiddling
around with color balances and layers upon layers of adjustments, by
showing you a systematic approach that should become second nature and
enhance your compositing skill set.