Photoshop_User_-_February_2016

DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS ››

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photoshop user

› february 2016

022

Step Five: We want the subject to be solid black, but too many

Overlay fills will roughen the edges. So instead, select the Brush

tool (B) in the Toolbox and choose a round soft-edged brush.

Press X until the Foreground color is black, and change the Mode

setting in the Options Bar to Overlay. Now paint in the light areas

to force them to black. Some areas may need several strokes

to make them completely black. Again, this won’t change the

white background even if you paint into those areas. If there are

any areas that won’t go to solid black, change the Brush Mode

back to Normal, decrease the size of your brush using the Left

Bracket key, and paint over those areas. You’ll have to be care-

ful, though, because in Normal mode, you can now paint on the

white background.

Step Six: Once the subject is solid black, press Command-I

(PC: Ctrl-I) to invert the image, making the subject white and

the background black. You can continue to adjust the channel

if needed. Now hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key as you go

under the Image menu and choose Duplicate. The Option (PC:

Alt) key will create the duplicate file directly, bypassing the Dupli-

cate Image dialog where you can rename the duplicated file.

Step Seven: In the duplicate file, go to Image>Adjustments>HDR

Toning. If you’re using the practice file, then drop the Saturation

to –100 before adjusting the other settings to those shown here.

Click OK.

Step Eight: In the Channels panel, hold down the Command (PC:

Ctrl) key and click on the Green copy channel thumbnail to load

the shape of the subject as a selection. With the selection active,

press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the subject to a new layer.

Step Nine: Back in the original subject file, click on the RGB

channel at the top of the Channels panel to make it active and

hide the Green copy channel. In the duplicate file, switch to the

Move tool (V), hold the Shift key, and click-and-drag the HDR

layer back to the original subject image. Holding down the Shift

key as you drag will center and align it with the original subject

layer. In the Layers panel, change the layer blend mode to Over-

Step Eight

Step Six

Step Seven

Step Five