Photoshop Compositing Secrets - Matt Kloskowski [68]
STEP SEVEN:
The larger photo in the background is supposed to play less of a role in this image, so we need to fade it. Try changing the blend mode of the layer to Soft Light, and now the photo fades into the background and even picks up some of the background texture. That said, Soft Light worked in this example, but it’s not always going to be the one. Sometimes Overlay will work. Give Multiply, Screen, and Hard Light a try, too. It really depends on the brightness and color of the original background.
STEP EIGHT:
I think the football player is faded a little too much into the background, so we’re losing too much detail. Just press Command-J to duplicate the layer and you’ll instantly see the photo better. But, now it’s too colorful. Remember, it’s not supposed to draw a lot of attention. So, first, go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to remove the color. That gives it more of a muted look. Then reduce the Opacity of the layer (30%–40% works well here).
STEP NINE:
Click on the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel again, and add another Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. In the Adjustments panel, set the Saturation to –30 and the Lightness to 40, then go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask to force the adjustment to only affect the layer right below it. This tones down the background image just a little more, but more importantly, it gives us a lot of options. The way your photo looks may be way different than mine, depending on the background and athlete you used. This adjustment lets us really refine the way the background copy appears, because you can add more or less color and brighten or darken it with just a couple of sliders.
STEP 10:
Now for a couple of finishing touches: First, we need some text, so click on the top layer in the layer stack, then press T to get the Horizontal Type tool from the Toolbox. Press D, then X to set your Foreground color to white. Type the player’s name and number in the lower-left corner. I used Futura Bold here, at around 118 points, but any bold font (maybe even Arial Black) will work. Also, as you can see, because of the way the player is running, the text fits better in the bottom-left corner. You may need to reposition it if your subject looks different.
STEP 11:
Next, click on the Add a Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, select Drop Shadow, and add a very slight drop shadow to help lift the text from the background. I set the Angle to 135°, the Distance to 11, and the Size to 0 (to make the edge more crisp). Click OK when you’re done, and then lower the Opacity of the Type layer a bit.
STEP 12:
Finally, let’s darken the edges of the composite a little. Press Command-Option-Shift-E (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E) to merge all of the layers together into one new layer at the top of the Layers panel. Get the Burn tool from the Toolbox (or just press Shift-O until you have it) and, in the Options Bar, set the Range to Midtones and the Exposure to 15%. Then, using a large, soft-edged brush, paint around the edges of the image to burn them in. Edge vignetting is always a nice finishing effect and really helps draw attention into the middle of the image. By using a brush, you can control exactly what you paint over to darken. For example, you don’t want to paint over the football player’s head at the top center.
Okay, so that wraps up the sports composite, but check out the next two tutorials for some optional ideas to change it up a little.
Single-Photo Composite Optional Trick #1
The first option is to put a glow around the smaller version of the football player. This is an old compositing trick to help hide any stray edges or fringes around the subject. I think our selection went really well, so we don’t have that problem, but it’s still a great way to add some depth to the image.
STEP ONE:
Click on the smaller version of the player