Photoshop Compositing Secrets - Matt Kloskowski [19]
STEP 10:
With the Brush tool still active, choose a small, soft-edged brush from the Brush Picker, set your Foreground color to black, and paint a very slight shadow right under the shoe on the right. Keep it close to the shoe, though, as you don’t want this one to spread out. Remember, it’s just his shoe casting the shadow on the ground and because the shoe is so close to the ground, it’s not going to be a large shadow.
STEP 11:
Another telltale sign that Justin has been placed into the new background is the color. He’s got a cool/blueish color to him, while the background is very warm. Well, remember how the layer that Justin is on is a Smart Object layer? That means we can change the color temperature with just a few clicks. So, double-click on the topmost layer of Justin to reopen the image in Camera Raw. It’s going to vary for each photo, but for this one I moved the Temperature slider toward the right to 5750 to warm things up a bit. Click OK when you’re done to update the photo back in Photoshop.
STEP 12:
While we’re on the color temperature topic, I think his clothes still look too cool/blue for the environment he’s in. Remember, this is one of the main things we need to get right when compositing. But, I don’t want to warm the photo any further in Camera Raw, because it’s going to warm his skin, and I think we’re good there. So, this time, click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Photo Filter. This adjustment is the compositor’s best friend. In the Adjustments panel, it defaults to Warming Filter (85), which works well for this photo. Just drag the Density slider to 70% to make it warmer.
STEP 13:
Adding the Photo Filter adjustment warmed everything in the photo, but we only want to warm his clothes (mainly the back of his shirt, which would be picking up that warm light we see in the image). So, to make this happen, first go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask (or press Command-Option-G [PC: Ctrl-Alt-G]). This forces the Photo Filter layer to only affect the layer right below it (the selection of Justin).
STEP 14:
But, it’s still warming his skin. No sweat. The Photo Filter adjustment layer came with layer mask, so set your Foreground color to black and use the Brush tool to paint on his skin to remove the warming filter. Now, it only affects his clothing. In fact, I’d probably go a step further and paint on his jeans, too, since they’re already warm enough. We mostly want to warm the black shirt, so it looks like it’s absorbing all of that warm color we have in the photo.
STEP 15:
On this particular image, the background is already pretty gritty and edgy. So, let’s add some of that grit to the portrait, too. Click on the topmost layer with Justin on it to target it. Then, go to Filter>Other>High Pass, set the Radius to 10 pixels, and click OK.
STEP 16:
Of course, the layer looks horrible because it’s all gray now, but remember that this is a Smart Object layer. Since we’ve applied a filter to it, we get all kinds of advantages—one of them being blend modes. If you look at the layer in the Layers panel, you’ll see a tiny little icon, at the very bottom right, next to the words High Pass (circled here). Double-click that icon to open the Blending Options for the High Pass filter.
STEP 17:
Here, change the Mode setting to Hard Light to hide the gray, but keep all of that gritty detail. You can also reduce the Opacity in this dialog if it’s ever too gritty, but I think it looks good on this photo at 100%. Click OK when you’re done.
STEP 18:
Okay, I like the gritty look everywhere but on his face. You’ll notice, though, that the High Pass filter has a layer mask (it’s circled in red here). This means we can paint the High Pass filter away from any parts of the photo where we don’t want