COMBINE 3D AND PHOTOSHOP
15
CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE
Having created the background at the beginning will help you see if other parts in front of it fit with
the scene conditions, such as lighting, atmosphere and colours. Every environment is affected by surrounding
light from the sky and sun, as well as light bounced back to the scene from different surfaces or additional
artificial light sources. When you have the main mood and background set, focus on ensuring everything else
corresponds with it. Try to achieve a fluid blend of elements while avoiding obvious cut-outs.16
FINISH THE SCENE
Now, when we have all the main parts
present and building up the scene itself is finished,
we can focus on colour grading and the final steps
of postproduction. As you can see, the finished
composite already has a good atmosphere; the
base flow of colours and light works already.
Systematic build-up paid off! But the colour scheme
is a bit monochromatic and it is apparent that it
could be pushed terms of colour variety and mood.
Let’s see how far we can push the image.17
PLAY WITH THE LIGHTING AND
EFFECTS
To increase the realism of light sources in the scene,
add all sorts of effects produced by light and camera
lenses in real life, such as spot light, glow, lens flare,
chromatic abberations and glare. As you can see on
this image, the montage is switched for solid black
colour so you can see clearly how all the light effects
are composited. It’s very simple to add them in, for
instance a lens flare that is generated on a black
background can be added simply by switching its
layer to Screen and adjusting for the desired opacity.QUICK TIP
The High Pass filter, Filter>Other>High Pass, is
a great way to sharpen all sorts of images or
even just parts of them. Duplicate the layer or
object you want to sharpen, switch the blend
mode of the layer to Soft Light and apply the
filter. The size of the Radius affects the amount
of sharpening. A general rule is to keep it low,
unless you’re looking for a heavily over-
sharpened look.18
FINAL COLOURING
AND ADJUSTMENTS
Here you can see the image
with final colour grading.
Grading was done selectively
one small step at a time. Don’t
be afraid to use many
adjustments layers and masks
to deliver the exact colour and
feeling you need. There is no
need to do all of the colouring in
at once, so take your time,
adjust all objects and colour
tones one by one, look away for
a moment to gain visual
distance and then look back at
the illustration again. This
allows you to see more clearly if
the image needs more
adjustments or not.