A_P_I133_2015_

THE FINAL DETAILS

CREATE SHARD EFFECTS AND FINAL ADJUSTMENTS

TECHNIQUES CREATE A DYNAMIC PHOTOMANIPULATION

QUICK TIP

Use different blend modes to determine how

each layer reacts to the layers below. Overlay

and Soft Light can be used to shade objects

with colours, light and dark, while Linear

Dodge and Screen focus only on light.

Experiment with different blend modes to

make an object fit in the composition.

SIMILAR TECHNIQUES

Here’s another of my artworks created for

Desktopography. I used similar techniques but

here they only focus on light and reflection.

Light is a very important factor in creating

realistic renders in Photoshop. Study the light

and shadow by looking at dark black-and-white

photographs. It can really help you in studying

how an image can be constructed by just using

highlights and shadows.

14

CREATE THE SHARD PART 1

Create a new layer on top, press Cmd/

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to merge all the layers onto the

new layer. Right-click the layer and duplicate it into

a new document. Select the Pen tool (P) and create

three shapes to form a 3D plate. Name the shapes

accordingly, with one being the biggest and three

the smallest shape on the bottom. Mask the

artwork layer by selecting shape one. Duplicate the

artwork layer twice and clipping-mask it to the

remaining shapes two and three.

15

CREATE THE SHARDS PART 2

Create a new layer and grab a soft white

brush to paint along the edges of the top. Create

two new layers and repeat for shapes two and

three. Clipping-mask the layers onto the shapes

that they belong to. Create a new layer, Cmd/

Ctrl+click shape one and right click>Stroke>2 to 4

pixels. Cmd/Ctrl+D to deselect and then repeat

this step for shapes two and three. Grab the

Eraser tool (E) and fade out the strokes from the

bottom to the top.

16

IMPORT THE SHARDS

Group all the layers in the plate PSD and

duplicate to the artwork PSD. Place it below the

model and name it ‘Shard 1’. Adjust the clipped

artworks and position them according to the shard’s

environment. Remember to reflect the layer by

transforming with Cmd/Ctrl+T and choosing Flip

Horizontal. After getting the image right, create a

new layer and clipping-mask it to Shard 1. Grab a

soft black brush and paint in the shadow cast by the

model. Duplicate the shard layers and transform,

using Perspective to create the left shard.

17

ADJUSTMENTS

This is the final revision for the artwork.

Correct any mistakes before you merge the layers

and sharpen via High Pass. If everything is

satisfactory, create a new adjustment layer for

Exposure and set the Offset value to +0.126 and

Gamma to 0.91. Create another adjustment layer for

Vibrance and change the value to +32 and Saturation

to +4. Create the final adjustment layer for Levels.

Set the black at 5, and white at 241. Group all the

layers and name it the group Adjustments.

18

EXECUTION

Create a new layer on top, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+

Alt+E to duplicate and merge all the layers. Go to

Filter>Other>High Pass and set the value around

4px. Change the blend mode to Overlay. Now the

artwork is sharp and has more contrast. Create

another layer, fill (G) it with black and go to Filter>

Noise>Add Noise around 150% with Gaussian ticked.

Next change the blend mode to Soft Light at 20%

Opacity. Then create a final layer, change the blend

mode to Soft Light and paint around the edges to

create a vignette.