Photoshop Compositing Secrets - Matt Kloskowski [29]
STEP NINE:
Now, double-click on the Smart Object thumbnail to go back into Camera Raw and set the Exposure setting back to 0 (zero), since we don’t need it to help with the selection anymore. Click OK to go back to Photoshop.
STEP 10:
Part of prepping the portrait also involves any retouching that needs to be done. There are a few blemishes that we can get rid of quickly and it’s easier to get it done now than worry about it later when we’re trying to composite the two images together. So, click on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new blank layer. It’s always good to try to rename your layers as you go, too (double-click on the layer’s name to do this). I can’t say I’m always good at remembering to do it, but I do try when I know I’m compositing, because the layers can get out of hand really fast.
STEP 11:
Select the Spot Healing Brush tool from the Toolbox by pressing the J key. Make sure that the Content-Aware radio button and Sample All Layers checkbox are both turned on in the Options Bar.
STEP 12:
Zoom in on the face to get a closer look. The Spot Healing Brush is pretty simple to use, especially when you turn on the Content-Aware option, like we just did. There’s no sampling involved, just position your cursor over a blemish. Use the Left or Right Bracket key to resize the brush to something just a bit larger than the blemish. Then, click to paint over the blemish, and it’ll disappear. Use the same process to remove any tiny spots on his arms and face. Okay, we’re done with the prep work for the portrait, so save it as a PSD file and move on to the composite.
Creating the Composite
Now that we’ve got the portrait selected and the background created, the composite comes together pretty quickly. We’ll have to make some adjustments to carry over the atmosphere we added to the background in the final image. Plus, we’ll need to do some overall dodging and burning, so he’s not too bright for the background that we’ve placed him in.
STEP ONE:
Start out by opening the background image we created in the first part of the chapter. Don’t forget, if you skipped that part, I’ve got the completed background in the download images ready for you to start with. Since we don’t need all of the layers anymore, go to Layer>Flatten Image to flatten everything.
STEP TWO:
Now, open the photo of the basketball player that we worked on in the last tutorial. Again, the completed image is ready for you if you need something to start with. Use the Move tool (V) to drag the basketball player onto the background photo.
STEP THREE:
He’s a little too big for the background, right? So, press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to go into Free Transform mode. You probably can’t see the transform handles around him, so press Command-0 (zero; PC: Ctrl-0) to zoom out to where you can.
STEP FOUR:
Press-and-hold the Shift key and drag one of the corner handles inward to make the basketball player smaller. You can also move your cursor outside the bounding box, and click-and-drag to rotate the image a little, as I did here. I deliberately left this image so the top of his head is cropped a little at the top of the image, but that’s more of a creative choice. I just felt it conveyed more depth with him in the photo this way. Feel free to make it a little smaller if you want to fit the subject’s entire head in the frame. Press Return (PC: Enter) to lock in the transformation when you’re done.
STEP FIVE:
The next thing I noticed is that I’d rather have the basketball hoop be on the side of the image that Tyler is looking at (the left side). Not that I think he’s looking at the hoop, I just think it serves as a better focal point to have it on that side of him. Since I can’t flip Tyler (the writing on his shirt would be backwards), we’ll have to flip the background. So, click once on the Background layer and press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate it.
STEP SIX:
Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal to flip the background the other way. Now, the basketball hoop is on the left side of the image,