COMBINE THE HEAD AND BODY
BRING TOGETHER YOUR PHOTOS IN A REALISTIC WAYTECHNIQUES ACHIEVE REALISM IN COMPOSITES
QUICK TIP: DON’T FORGET THE DETAILS
Usually to make a very complex picture we spend many hours, or even days, working on the same job, so
be careful to not get too tired and forget the details of the scene. It’s very important to keep the quality,
that’s the only way to achieve a perfect image.LIGHT AND SHADOWS
To have more control over the shadows and lights
you can create them separately. For every shadow
that you add into the image you have to make a
new layer and use the Pen tool (P) to create a
shadow with the shape that you desire. Paint it
with the colour that matches with the scene,
change the blend mode (the most common are
Multiply, Soft Light and Overlay) and finally apply a
Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur). The
same procedure should be done with the lights.
The big secret is, select the right colour for your
shadow or light!14
BODY MERGE
Now it’s time to merge the head with the
elephant’s body. At this point is important to have a
good knowledge of the tools that work with colour
tones. To start use the Color Balance tool (Cmd/
Ctrl+B) to make the image more green and yellow,
also use the Levels tool (Cmd/Ctrl+L) to increase
the contrast and adjust saturation (Cmd/Ctrl+U). To
sharpen apply a High Pass Filter (Filter>
Other>High Pass) set to 3px.15
GIVE THE ELEPHANT ITS EAR BACK
Put the ear back on the elephant. To make a
perfect photomanipulation you need to have control
of all parts of the image, so it’s important to build the
elephant piece by piece. One of the big secrets to
building a good image is to be patient. To insert the
ear, rotate the photo until it looks in proportion to the
elephant’s body. After that, work with the Warp tool
to improve the shape of the ear, and finally apply a
Feather effect (Shift+F6) of 4 px.16
SQUEEZE THE EAR
Use the Color Balance tool (Cmd/Ctrl+B) to
make the photo more green and yellow, then use
the Levels tool (Cmd/Ctrl+L) to increase the
contrast and apply a High Pass filter (Filter>Other>
High Pass) at 3px. To enhance the shadows you can
use the Burn tool, but in some cases, to have more
control is interesting, so draw the shadow with the
Pen tool (P), then paint it green (#3d4d24) and set it
to Multiply, then apply a Gaussian Blur
(Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) of 62px.17
ADD THE TRUNK
This is the step that will require more of
your attention. We’ll use only one picture, but to get
the shape you have to break the image into three
parts. First rotate the trunk image according to the
elephant’s body. Make a mask to clear the top and
the sides, which will not be used at the moment.
Next use the Warp tool to form the base of the trunk.
Correct the colours using the Color Balance (Cmd/
Ctrl+B) and Levels (Cmd/Crtl+L) tools.18
WORK ON THE MIDDLE OF THE TRUNK
Let’s work with the middle, that’s the part
that will give support to the part of the trunk that
leaves the bottle. The procedure is similar to the
previous step: rotate the image until it fits to the
base, then erase the top, bottom and sides of the
photo. The most critical point of this step is the use of
the Warp tool; you have to make sure the trunk fits in
the bottle. Now apply a Feather (Shift+F6) of 3px and
use the Color Balance and Levels tools.