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for this photo, though. I really want a warmer feel to it and color is a great way to add mood. And for composites, it’s a wonderful way to tie all of the random parts of the image together. One way to do this in Photoshop is to click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and select Gradient Map. Then, click on the gradient thumbnail in the Adjustments panel to open the Gradient Editor. To change the color of the gradient, just double-click on the little color stops (the tiny squares) under the gradient ramp in the middle of the dialog. When the Color Picker appears, choose an orange color (I used R: 176, G: 79, B: 6) for the left color stop, and a greenish-yellow (I used R: 186, G: 186, B: 53) for the right color stop. Click OK to close the Gradient Editor, then change the layer blend mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 80%. Now, it’s got a very fiery, warm color tone to it.

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Tip: Using Nik Color Efex Pro Instead

If you have Nik Color Efex Pro Complete, you can also use a filter called Bi-Color Filters. In fact, I used it for this image and, personally, I like it a little better, because it seems to still add some nice color, but it keeps the skin tones fairly removed from the effect. Again, though, either one will work.

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STEP 20:

So, here’s the final image with Nik’s default Bi-Color Filters run on it. Lastly, one of the secrets to compositing people’s feet on the ground is to darken the entire area to keep people’s attention away from them. We’ll use a gradient for this. Create a new blank layer above all of the other layers, and then press D to set your Foreground color to black. Press G to select the Gradient tool, click on the down-facing arrow next to the gradient thumbnail in the Options Bar to open the Gradient Picker, and choose the second gradient from the left (Foreground to Transparent). Then, drag the gradient from the bottom right of the photo to about a third of the way up, as seen here. This gradually darkens the entire area and you can always reduce the Opacity if it gets too dark.

As you can see on the next page, there’s room for some ad copy on the top, or maybe even the athlete’s name. Or, you can just as easily select the Crop tool and crop the image to remove some of that space up top.

Final Image 1

With Gradient Map

Final Image 2

With Bi-Color Filters

8. Live Concert

This composite is one I wanted to put in the book for two reasons: First, it was just plain fun to create—from the concept, to the actual shoot, all the way through to the execution of putting everything together in Photoshop. But, I also wanted to include it because it’s a great example of how creative we can be with compositing. The idea is to envision a cool-looking scene and then work to make it a reality. Especially, when maybe we can’t (or simply don’t have the access to) create it in real life without Photoshop.

Prepping the Background

I knew I needed a background with lights, smoke, etc., to really pull this off. The great part about using separate photos, like this background, to put this entire composite together is that we can change them at will. If I were photographing at a real concert, I’d be stuck with whatever lights the venue had to offer. But, with Photoshop, we can not only control those lights and their brightness, we can also change their color and the entire mood of the image we’re looking to create.

STEP ONE:

Open the background we’re going to use for this photo. The idea is to place a rock star on a stage with all of the concert lights and smoke behind him.

©ISTOCKPHOTO/NIKADAI

STEP TWO:

I always envision a red/orange hot feel to a rock concert, so let’s change the color of the background. Click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Hue/Saturation. In the Adjustments panel, turn on the Colorize checkbox, set the Hue to 28 for a nice orange color, and then move the Saturation slider to 60 to add some more color saturation to it.

STEP THREE:

The lights in the background