Tài iệu Photoshop cs5 by Dayley part 96 pps

If you want to copy layers from one file to another, the easiest way, especially if you already have the files open, is to drag the object layer from the first file into the window of th

Combining Images

IN THIS CHAPTER

Creating realistic composites Placing secondary images using masks

Creating a photo montage Creating panoramas

When you begin to do more with Photoshop than just correcting

photos, the first thing you might think of is image composites

An image composite is any image that has added elements, from

a simple text caption to a complex photo montage

Probably the most difficult part of creating a composite is the ability to create

a realistic image that doesn’t look like it’s been made from more than one

element Even when the image itself is implausible, such as a shark

silhou-etted in the wave holding up a surfer, or a snowman in the desert, you want

your viewers to look twice and wonder if just maybe it might be true I’ve

lost count of the photos off the Internet that friends and relatives have

for-warded and asked, “Photoshopped or not?”

In this chapter, you learn a few tricks of the trade for making your

compos-ites look great I’m sure as you work you’ll come up with a few tricks of your

own Every composite has its own unique problems to overcome Having a

thorough knowledge of the tools at your disposal in Photoshop is the best

way to solve them

Creating Seamless Composites

Creating a composite is much more than just slapping two files together and

hoping they mesh well Placement, perspective, lighting, and color all play

key roles in whether a composite looks great or looks mashed together

Fortunately, there’s a reason why a Photoshopped image is an image that is

con-sidered too good to be real I’ve shown you the tools you need to create great

Combining files

Photoshop can open well over 40 different types of file formats You can combine most of these types with the others Photoshop has no problem combining a 3D file with a JPEG or TIFF image

or layering it on top of an Illustrator file More incredibly, Photoshop maintains the original aspects

of each of these files so they can still be edited and manipulated inside of a composite in the same way as they were edited and manipulated in a file by themselves In fact, in many ways, making the changes to a file after it has been placed is easier That way, you can be sure the changes are consis-tent with the end result you are trying to achieve

There are no magic tricks to combining files It is not only incredibly easy, but you can combine files in more ways than one If you want to copy layers from one file to another, the easiest way, especially if you already have the files open, is to drag the object layer from the first file into the window of the second You can see how this is done in Figure 21.1

FIGURE 21.1

Combining files can be as simple as dragging the object layer from the file you want to move into the

win-dow of the background file

You also can combine files by copying and pasting the file, or a selection from the file, into the background image As you paste a selection into your file, a new layer is created containing that selection This gives you control over moving the selection and making edits to it

If you want more immediate control over where your placed file will be located on the background file and how large it will be, use the Place function by choosing File ➪ Place When you use the Place function to import one file into another file, the imported file is placed inside a bounding box You can drag and drop the bounding box wherever you want inside the background You also can use the handles on the bounding box to resize or rotate the placed file

You can use the numeric values in the Options bar to set the position, size, and orientation of the placed file When you have placed the file where you want it, click the check mark in the Options bar to accept the changes you made, as shown in Figure 21.2

FIGURE 21.2

Using the Place command gives you more control over the file’s size and position

Another quick way to combine two complete files is to drag the second from the Mini Bridge into the first open file It is placed just as if you had used the Place command—as a new layer with a bounding box around it If you are placing multiple files, this is the best way to do it

Adjusting and transforming new layers

After you’ve placed a file as a new layer, you can edit and adjust it just as you would any other layer You can move the content of a layer by selecting it in the Layer panel and using the Move tool to drag and drop it where you want it to be

Changing the size or rotating a file can be done by selecting Edit ➪ Transform The Transform menu has options such as Rotate, Scale, Skew, Warp, and Flip Choose Rotate, Scale, and Skew to create a bounding box exactly like the one shown in Figure 21.2 Use the handles on the bounding box to make changes to the file The Warp option places a grid over your file, allowing you to pull

on strategic points to warp and bend it, as shown in Figure 21.3 You can flip your file horizontally

or vertically by choosing the corresponding option

Caution

Be sure the layer of the file you are attempting to change is highlighted in the Layers panel If it’s not, you just

may find yourself making changes to the wrong file n

FIGURE 21.3

By transforming the fish with the warp tool, I can make it look like it’s moving downstream

If you need more leeway to move your files around or enlarge them, change the canvas size by selecting Image ➪ Canvas Size From this dialog box, you can expand the canvas without affecting the image it contains

Blending composite files

When you have a 3D object placed with another file, you may find that they don’t really seem to fit together You can use these quick tricks to make the files blend together better

Refining edges

When you create a selection of a file to place into a new file, you occasionally get rough, pixilated edges or an edge with a shadow around it You can soften these edges as you make the selection or after you have placed it, as long as the area is still selected Click Refine Edges in the Selection tool-bar, or select Select ➪ Refine Edges to bring up the Refine Edge dialog box

Cross-Ref

The Refine Edge dialog box and all its options are covered in Chapter 9.n

Creating a drop shadow

Most objects in a lighted environment create a shadow somewhere in that environment Creating a drop shadow is limited in mimicking an actual shadow, but in the right setting, a drop shadow works very well to create a shadow effect You also can add a drop shadow to help blend the edges

of an object or file you’ve placed

Create a drop shadow by highlighting the desired layer and clicking the fx icon at the bottom of

the Layers panel Select Drop Shadow from the option list and adjust the settings, looking at the file for a preview, until you’ve created the effect you want

Cross-Ref

The Layer Styles, including an example of creating a drop shadow, are covered in Chapter 10.n

Changing Fill or Opacity settings

Sometimes a selection placed in an image file looks hard, lacking the color subtleties and the light and shadow of the image This is especially true of the fish placed in Figure 21.4 The bright colors

do not blend realistically with the earth tones of the mountain stream Because none of the stream color appears on the fish, it looks just like what it is—a picture of a tropical fish sitting on top of the stream I can blend the fish in by decreasing its opacity and fill settings In many cases, decreasing these settings until just before you can really make out any details coming through gives your image a softer, more blended look In this case, I definitely want the stream to come through very strongly, so decreasing the opacity of the fish down around 50 percent gives me the best results, as you can see in Figure 21.5

On the Web Site

You can try combining these two files by downloading Figure 21-4a and Figure 21-4b from the Web site.n

FIGURE 21.4

With its bright colors, this fish looks just like a picture sitting on top of this image

FIGURE 21.5

Reducing the opacity of the fish really helped it to blend into the mountain setting

Changing the Blending mode

Changing the Blending mode is a more dramatic way of changing the way a placed file blends into its background than changing the Opacity or Fill setting Blending modes are usually for creating artistic effects rather than realism in a composite You can change the Blending mode by selecting the layer and using the Blending mode drop-down menu in the Layers panel to select a blending option I used the Color Burn Blending mode to create the composite you see in Figure 21.6

On the Web Site

You can see how the final product was created by downloading the PSD file Figure 21-6 available on the

Web site.n

Cross-Ref

You can learn the basics of Blending modes in Chapter 10.n

Creating a Fill or Adjustment layer

If you have the top layer selected when you create a Fill or Adjustment layer, the layer is placed over all the layers in your document By making the same changes to all the files in a composite, they have more in common and blend better Even something as simple as placing a warming filter over both file layers can create depth and bond the files with a common look Of course, the more dramatic fills and adjustments create an even more dramatic bond

Add a Fill or Adjustment layer by clicking the icon in the bottom of the Layers panel and choosing the fill or adjustment you want to apply

Cross-Ref

You can learn more about the Fill and Adjustment layers in Chapter 13.n

FIGURE 21.6

Using the Blending modes creates an artistic effect with composite images

Using masks to “tuck in” a composite file

Probably the most effective method of blending files together is to use a mask to tuck the second file behind components of the first one This method can make viewers look twice at even the most improbable photos In Figure 21.7, the snowman is distinctly out of place in the desert, but it isn’t out of place in this photo, because it’s placed so it sits correctly according to perspective It’s behind the Jeep and the man guiding it, but in front of the rocks in the background

This is accomplished using a mask to cut the man and the Jeep out of the snowman so they appear

to be in front of him from the perspective of the viewer

You can use masks to tuck in a composite object by following these steps:

On the Web Site

You can download Figure 21-8 and Figure 21-10 from the Web site to follow along with this exercise n

A snowman on a hot desert day? Looks like it to me.

1 Create a selection around the snowman, as shown in Figure 21.8

You can take the time to select his arms or just cut them off in the interest of time You need a little bit of the snow around his feet for a realistic look; you can make a rough selection around this area Refine the edges of the selection if you desire I found that a rougher edge was best for this photo combination because of the marked difference in the colors involved

FIGURE 21.8

Select the snowman out of his original photo

2 Use Ctrl/Ô+C to copy the selection.

3 Open the Jeep photo, and use Ctrl/Ô+V to paste the selection of the snowman as a

new layer in this document.

4 Select Edit ➪ Free Transform to resize and move the snowman into position

He will be sitting in the front of the entire photo, as shown in Figure 21.9, so this is just a rough adjustment

FIGURE 21.9

Use the Free Transform tool to correctly size and place the snowman in the Jeep image

5 Click the visibility button (the “eye”-con) next to the snowman layer to make

him invisible.

6 With the jeep layer selected, create a selection around the man and the jeep where

they intersect with the snowman when it is visible

In areas where they don’t intersect, the selection doesn’t have to be precise, as shown in Figure 21.10

7 Choose Select ➪ Inverse to create a selection around everything but the man and

the Jeep.

You want to leave hard edges here so they stand out crisply against the snowman, but you should decontaminate the colors so you don’t see a red-rock-colored halo around the edges

You can click the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers panel to immediately create a mask from the selection n

FIGURE 21.10

Make a selection to create a mask that hides the areas of the snowman that should be behind the man and the Jeep

FIGURE 21.11

The mask is created over the wrong layer

10 Turn the visibility of the snowman layer back on.

11 Click and drag the mask from the Jeep layer to the Snowman layer, as shown in

Figure 21.12

This masks out the areas of the Snowman that cover the man and the Jeep

FIGURE 21.12

Moving the mask cuts out areas of the snowman instead of areas of the Jeep image

12 Click the link between the mask and the Snowman to unlink them

This makes it possible for you to move or resize the snowman without moving or resizing

the mask that should stay exactly where it’s been placed

13 Resize or reposition the snowman as needed to make it fit into the image.

The masks do the most work when it comes to making the snowman look like it belongs in this image, but you can do other things as well I changed the levels of the snowman until it was less gray and blended better into the sunny background I also used the Lighting Effects filter to make the snowman appear lit from the same direction as the other elements in the photo A drop shadow would go a long way in creating realism as well If you decide to make one, it should be done before the mask is applied to the snowman layer so that the shadow won’t have the mask as part of it You also need to create a new layer mask for the shadow so it doesn’t lie across the man guiding the Jeep

Cross-Ref

You can find another example of creating a mask to tuck in a second image in Chapter 10, which also includes

quite a bit more information on masks and how they work n

Using Multiple Images to Create a Photo Collage

You create a photo collage by combining two or more photos in a single image to tell a bigger story than any of the original photos by themselves Photo collages can be used for a number of pur-poses For example, collages can showcase a photographer’s work or tell a specific story for a mag-azine article

Photo collages can be created in Photoshop in several ways Figure 21.13 shows some examples of photo collages

FIGURE 21.13

You can create collages to tell a bigger story in many ways, including these three