05
WORK ON REFLECTIONS
One of the best ways to bring a sense of realism is through the use of
reflection. Every material reflects in its own manner and sometimes you may
need to break what your brain assumes to be correct. We have brushed in a
reflection onto the road manually. The easiest way to do this is go to Image>
Apply Image, right-click and choose Flip Vertical. Then we create a layer mask
and selectively brush in where we want a reflection.06
APPLY GRADING
Using a Hue/Saturation
adjustment layer set to Soft Light
can really help unite the various
tones together. Then we either push
the cool or warm tones using a
Curves or Color Balance layer and
tweaking the midtones. A helpful tip
is to view your image in black and
white, then use Levels to adjust the
black and white points. One final
element not to forget is the addition
of a vignette, which will help you achieve that photographic feel; this can be
added by simply brushing in using a large soft airbrush, painting on a Soft Light
layer or a Levels adjustment layer.02
CUT OUT YOUR ASSETS
Once you have a suitable vegetation image,
open it in Photoshop and go to the Channels tab.
Select the Blue Channel and make a new channel,
then using Curves you set your black and white
points. Apply your mask, you will notice it may be a
little jagged. Go to Layer>Matting>Defringe to fix this.03
COMPOSE YOUR SHOT
As you can see, we have three dimensions
to the visual, the foreground, mid and backgrounds.
Each area goes hand in hand with and complements
the others. Think about how the trees can help frame
your view and bring the viewer in, or how a person
can help bring your eye into the frame.04
CORRECT YOUR ASSETS
Use a Levels adjustments layer and then
correct the black point. Once the value is set, we
move onto colour, using a Color Balance
adjustment layer we are able to bring the Midtones
to a cooler colour. Use the sliders and see what
works best for you. To finish we used a Hue/
Saturation layer to lower the saturation to knock
the woman back into the view. Here there is a
lamp post behind her so we make a new layer, set
it to Soft Light and brush in a rim light for her.RETOUCH PRO TIP
Use a textured brush with Scattering switched on
as this helps add interest by breaking up the
surface. Increase the scatter count and overall
percentage to give the brush some detail.MASTER POSTPRODUCTION FOR INCREDIBLE ART TECHNIQUES