CREATIVE EFFECTS
1
Cut out the portrait
Open the starting image. The first step is to cut out the portrait
from it’s background. Grab the Quick Selection tool and paint to
select the face and neck. If the tool goes wrong and picks up any areas
you don’t want, hold Alt and paint to subtract areas from the
selection. When you’re happy, go to Select>Refine Edge to improve
the edges of the selection. Set Radius 2.1, Contrast 25
, Shift Edge
+17. Set Output to: New Layer and click OK.3
Build up the leaves
Grab the Move tool and check Show Bounding Box in the Tool
Options. Click the bounding box to transform the shape of the
leaves. Drag the corners to resize and position the leaves over the face.
Next hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy the layer. Transform again, but in a
different way so that it doesn’t look too similar to the first copy
(you can right click while transforming for more options, like Distort).
Continue making more copies until the face is mostly covered.2
Add the brass leaves
Go to Window>Graphics to access the Graphic panel. Here
you’ll find all manner of different graphics and templates. You
can search through the hundreds of items using the menu at the top.
Set to filter ‘By Word’ and type ‘Brass Leaves’ in the search bar. Once
you’ve found it, drag the leaves graphic into the image. The graphic is
a Smart Object, which means it can be resized up or down without any
loss in quality.4
Copy and clip to the face
Rename the background copy layer (the one with the cut-out
face) ‘face’, then drag it above the lowermost leaves layer. Hold
down Alt and click the line between the two layers to clip the face to
the leaves. Now hold down Alt and drag the face layer above the next
leaves layer to make a copy, and Alt+click the line again. Repeat to
make a copy of the cut-out face above every leaf layer, each clipped to
the underlying leaves.