Photoshop Compositing Secrets - Matt Kloskowski [35]
STEP NINE:
Don’t forget to zoom in and use a smaller brush to paint away the shadow from the background that’s in between the nurses’ arms and the doctor. The light source is too far away to have a shadow that dark cast there. You can also click on the middle nurse layer and, using a black brush set to a low Opacity in the Options Bar (like 10%), brush away a little of the shadow on her arm on the right.
STEP 10:
After sitting back and looking at the photo for a minute, I thought the background was too dark. Everything had a really bright, natural light feel to it, and I thought the background needed to be brighter to pull this off. So, click once on the Background layer to target it, then click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, and choose Exposure. Set the Exposure to +0.30 and the Offset to +0.05 to brighten the entire background. You can always use the layer mask on the adjustment layer to paint in black over any areas that became too bright (like I’ve done here, on the right side of the background image).
STEP 11:
If you (or your client) want a white background, it’s easy enough to add. Just create a new blank layer on top of the Background layer (or above the Exposure adjustment layer), then choose Edit>Fill. From the Use pop-up menu, select White, and click OK to fill that new layer with white. You’ll see the people fit right in on top of a white background, too.
STEP 12:
I realize that not everyone will want their staff placed on a nice, bright, modern background like we used. Just to show you this can work, even if you have to use their office or place of work (which may not be quite as nice), here’s another example with a hospital-like photo behind them.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/VAL LAWLESS
ALTERNATE IDEA:
Another really popular idea that you’ll see used with professional offices and businesses is the blurred group shot. Basically, one person is in focus up front, and the others are blurred in the background. It works great for practices that have several doctors (or lawyers) involved, because you can showcase a different person when needed. And the really cool part about this one is that you can create it with the photos we’ve already taken. So this one photo shoot can be used in multiple ways. I’ve recorded a video for you that goes over how to create it. You’ll find it on the book’s companion website, mentioned in the book’s introduction, along with the images used here.
Final Image
6. Family/Group Portrait
First off, I have to give credit for this idea to Drake Busath over at http://busath.com. I read an article of his in Professional Photographer magazine last year where he photographed a large family in smaller groups, and then put them all together in Photoshop later. As I was writing the outline for this book, I realized this concept would be a perfect example of real-world compositing, especially if you’re photographing a large family or group. First, the entire family doesn’t even have to be there at the same time. So, if part of the family can only be there on one day, but another part of the family can’t, no sweat. Just shoot them whenever they can get there. The other thing I found when shooting these photos was that the family was incredibly relaxed. The best part about this photo is that everyone doesn’t have to be “on” at the same time. Once everything was set up, each smaller group is able to step in and have their photo taken. The rest of the family can sit back and relax, get ready, put makeup on, play with the kids to keep them in good moods, etc. Plus, you