Photoshop Compositing Secrets - Matt Kloskowski [46]
STEP FOUR:
Now, go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare, set the Brightness to 100%, and the Lens Type to 50–300mm Zoom. Move your cursor over the preview area in the dialog and drag the flare toward the top right of the photo, placing it in the general area where the lights are. Click OK when you’re done to apply the filter.
STEP FIVE:
Of course, we can’t see the lights in the background image, because we added the lens flare to a black layer. So, change the blend mode of the lens flare layer to Screen to hide the black. Then use the Move tool (V) to reposition the flare, so it’s over one of the real lights on the right (as shown here).
STEP SIX:
Whenever you add a lens flare to a layer, and then move the layer like we just did, chances are you’ll end up with a funky edge (you can see it on the right side in Step Five). If that happens, click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a layer mask to the lens flare layer. With your Foreground color set to black, get the Brush tool (B), and with a large, soft-edged brush, paint on the layer mask to remove the edge from the lens flare layer, so everything blends in nicely. Also, I think the flare gets too distracting toward the middle of the photo, so in the Options Bar, set the brush to 50% Opacity, and paint to hide some of that area, too.
STEP SEVEN:
Repeat Steps Three through Six a few more times for the other lights in the photo—I added one more on the right side and two on the left side. When you’re in the Lens Flare filter dialog, change the position of the flare slightly for each one. And since some of the lights aren’t pointing right at the camera, make sure you reduce the opacity of some of those layers, so every light isn’t equally as bright.
STEP EIGHT:
Also, lens flares change shape and size, depending on how much of the light is pointing at the camera. So, click on one of the outer layers of lens flare and go to Edit>Free Transform. Press-and-hold the Shift key and click-and-drag one of the corner handles inward to make it smaller. Press Return (PC: Enter) to lock in the transformation and do the same thing for one or two of the other lens flare layers.
STEP NINE:
We’re done with the background for now. So, go to File>Save and save it as a PSD file, because we’re going to need the layers later when we add the rock star in, especially when it comes to the lens flare we added back in Step Four. The flare wouldn’t just be behind the rock star, so we’ll need to use these layers to bring some of that flare in front of him, too.
Selecting the Portrait and the Arms
We have two different selections to make for this composite: the rock star and the arms of people in the audience. I originally thought of using black-silhouetted arms for the foreground in this composite, but then I realized that I already had the lights set up for the singer’s photo, and knew they would work perfectly (with a small change that you’ll see in a minute) to photograph people’s arms in the air, and I could use the real thing.
STEP ONE:
Before we get started, if you’re curious, here’s a partial setup shot for this photo. It’s similar to the setup I used for several other projects in the book. I used two strip lights on each side of the subject for the edge lighting (which you can see here), and one beauty dish directly in front (just a bit to camera right) as the main light.
STEP TWO:
Go ahead and open the photo for the composite. It’s a RAW photo, so it’s going to open in the Camera Raw window first. When it comes to the RAW adjustments, start by moving the Temperature slider to 4400 to neutralize that warm color it has. Let’s also increase the Fill Light slider to 35 to