Photoshop Compositing Secrets - Matt Kloskowski [39]
STEP FOUR:
Once everyone is in place, the rest of our job is all about shadows. That’s really the last thing we need to make this composite convincing. We know the main light source is coming from the front left. This will cause anyone in front to cast a shadow on anything that’s behind and to the right of where they’re standing. And just the nature of one person standing in front of another person will cast a slight shadow on the person behind them, too.
STEP FIVE:
We’ll use the same layer style we used in the doctor composite for the shadows—the Outer Glow layer style. Click once on the layer of the family on the left to target it. Then click on the Add a Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Outer Glow to open the Outer Glow options in the Layer Style dialog. Since a glow is usually bright and a shadow is dark, we need to change a few things. First, change the Blend Mode pop-up menu at the top from Screen to Multiply. Then, click on the color swatch and change the color from yellow to black.
STEP SIX:
Right now, the Outer Glow is just a small, dark fringe. Increase the Size setting to spread it out more and widen its reach. I set mine to 205 pixels, here. It’ll also start spreading out from behind everyone’s heads, too, but we’ll erase that next. Click OK when you’re done.
STEP SEVEN:
Next, we’ll erase the shadow from the areas where it doesn’t fit. To help fix this, though, we’ll need to put the shadow onto its own layer, instead of leaving it as a layer style. Go to Layer>Layer Style>Create Layer to force the Outer Glow layer style onto a separate layer below the family.
STEP EIGHT:
To paint away the excess shadow, click on the Outer Glow (shadow) layer we just made, then click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a layer mask to that shadow layer. Get the Brush tool (B), set your Foreground color to black, and on the layer mask, paint away the shadow from wherever it shouldn’t fall. Don’t forget about way down at the bottom of the photo, too, near their legs. The background should still be white, and the shadow shouldn’t affect it at all.
STEP NINE:
Do the same thing for the other family on the right side. This one isn’t as crucial, for this photo in particular, because the man in the middle is wearing a dark jacket and we won’t see the shadow that much. But you’ll still want to make sure there’s some sort of shadow there.
STEP 10:
As a finishing touch, you can paint your own shadows, too. I’d paint an even darker shadow behind the woman in the family on the left side. But keep it close to her arm and torso. She’s really blocking all light from hitting the woman in blue behind her, but only where her arm is in front. The light would still hit the rest of her blue dress, so it shouldn’t be as dark. To add your own shadows, click on the shadow layer for the family on the left, and then click on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a blank layer behind the family, but in front of their shadow and the couple in the middle. Then, use a low (10%) opacity black brush to brush in more shadows. And since it’s on its own layer, you can always control the layer’s Opacity if you need to make it more subtle.
STEP 11:
Back in Step One, we created a larger document than we really needed. So, go ahead and select the Crop tool (C) from the Toolbox, drag the cropping border around the photo, and crop right near the knees. Also, leave about half a head’s height of headroom at the top.
STEP 12:
As a finishing touch, I think we could use just a little more color saturation here. Click on the top layer in the Layers panel, then click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom