2019-05-01_Digital_SLR_Photography

Createa frame

portrait illusion

REVEALWHAT’SBEHINDYOUR SUBJECTWITHA FEW

TWEAKSTHATBLENDYOUR IMAGESTOGETHER

I

F YOU’VECAPTUREDyourtwoimagescorrectly– with

thesamecomposition,focusingandexposure– this

processshouldbesimplesothere’snoneedtoworryif

you’velimitededitingskills.YouwillneedtoutiliseLayers,

LayerMasksandselectionssoPhotoshopCC,Photoshop

ElementsorAffinityPhotocanbeusedwithminoramends

tothistutorial.Forthistowork,you’llneedtomergethe

uneditedfilessotheexposuresandcontrastmatch;once

theimagesareblendedtogetheryoucanconcentrateon

retouchingthemandimprovingtheirtonality.

Adobe Photoshop CC

42 Digital SLR Photography May 2019

BACKGROUND SUBJECT

1

OPENYOURFILESOpenyourportraitand

yourbackgroundfilesin yourchosen

editingsoftware.Clickonyourportraitfile

in theLayerspaletteandright-clickthelayer

whilstpressingCtrl, selectDuplicateLayer

andnameyournewlayer.UnderDocument

selectyourbackgroundlayertoaddthe

portraitlayertoyourbackgroundimage.

3

APPLYYOURLAYERMASKWithyourtoplayer

selected,clickonAddVectorMask to hide

your selection and to reveal the background

underneath. It’s at this stage that you’ll see if

yourimagesalignproperlyornot,if theydon't

clickonthebackgroundlayerandusethe

MoveTooland/orTransform commands

to tweak the alignment if needed.

5

REFINEYOURSELECTIONTorevealhandsor

totweakedgesof theselection,choose

theBrushToolat 100%Opacity, a smallSize

andstrongHardness. Zoomintoyourimage

soyou’reeditingareasat 100%to200%and

carefullyhideandrevealpartsof theimage

thatneedediting.Use Black paint to hide;

White paint to reveal.

2

SELECTTHEFRAMETherearemanyways

tomakeselectionsbutasthisframehas

straightsides,thePolygonalLassoToolis an

easytooltousetodrawaroundtheinside

edge.ClickSelectandMaskfromthetop

toolbarandthenSmartRadius; adjustthe

ShiftEdge,ContrastandSmoothtorefine

yourselection.ClickInvertandOK.

4

REPEATIf you’veextraframestoremove,

repeatsteps2 and3 – youmayfindthat

youprefertheQuickSelectionToolinstead.

If you’vehandstoselectseparately,you’lldo

thisin thenextstep.Once you’ve got your

refined selection, click on thelayermask to

activate it and fill the selectionwithBlack

paint using the Paint Bucket Tool.

6

RETOUCHYOURIMAGEClickCreatea new

layerandusetheCloneStampTool to

retouchunwantedmarks.Nowyoucan

treatthetwoimagesasa wholeandadjust

itscontrastandcolour:gotoLayer>New

AdjustmentLayertoaccessCurves and any

other preferred editing treatment. Make sure

these layers are at the top of the Layers palette.