07
ADD SOME MOTION
Blurring the rotor a bit will give the
look of motion. Select the Heli-Small layer and
hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to make a duplicate. Right-click
on the copy and hit Apply Layer Mask. Erase
everything but the rotor. Click Filter>Blur
Gallery>Spin Blur. Mark your blur point in the
centre of the rotor. Adjust the blur angle until
desired blur level is achieved. Hit Enter to
commit the blur. Select the mask on your
original Heli-Small layer. With a Soft brush,
mask away the ends of the rotor.06
ADD HELICOPTERS FOR ADDED CONTEXT
The helicopters serve a few purposes. First and foremost they provide a
source for the excellent lighting Stephan has. Without them you’d be left guessing
where the light comes from. They also add a nice touch of awesome to the image.
Open Heli-Small.jpg and Heli-Large.jpg. Completely mask Heli-Small from its
background. Mask out only the lower third of Heli-Large. Drag and drop both
helicopters to the main comp. Position and scale the helicopters in the scene.05
MAKE THE MODEL FLY
Right-click on the group containing Stephan and click Convert to Smart
Object. This will enable you to scale him up or down without losing quality. Hit
Cmd/Ctrl+T, right click and hit Flip Horizontal. Position Stephan so that he appears
to be flying off from the ledge. The further you place him the more impressive he
becomes. Add a layer mask to the newly created Smart Object. With a soft brush
set to 30% Opacity, brush around the shirt to help amplify the wet look.QUICK TIP: MINIMISE HARD EDGES
When masking, remember: nothing has a totally hard edge. To soften the edges of
your masks you can double-click on the mask and adjust the Feather or select your
Blur tool and, with Opacity at approximately 30%, trace the edge of your mask. This
will help add a touch more realism to your composites.08
ADD A ROPE
He may be able to fly but that doesn’t mean you can’t throw him a rope. Click
File>Place and find Rope.jpg. Scale and rotate accordingly to match the reference file. Mask
the rope, cutting off the end in a way that allows a new end to be painted in. Make a new
layer named ‘Rope End’. With a hard-edged black brush, paint a semicircle to mimic a rope
end. Sample a light colour from the rope and make dots on the end to look like rope strands.09
TURN ON THE LIGHT
Often in photography we don’t see the light sources and are
left guessing what is causing the harsh edge lights or coloured
highlights. We’ve all been there saying, “There’s no way he could be lit
like that!” The helicopters give the light on our model a source. Make
a new layer named ‘heli-lights’. With white selected, use a Soft brush
with Opacity between 10-30%. Brush a large circle centering on the
helicopter’s spotlight. Set Opacity to 100% and paint in the light to
effectively turn on the light.