Using Photoshop

[The Fallen Angel]

MAKING A SHADOW.
Without an effective shadow manips don't look real You may well find a simpler method than this.

1.In the bottom left there are two rectangles. Foreground and background colour. Click on top rectangle and select a suitable foreground Using your lasso tool brown colour.
2. Using the lasso tool go round the girl and cross..roughly. Use Edit/Copy then Edit/Paste. Use the Move tool to move the copy.
3. On the copy, right click and select Layer 1
4. Now click Edit/Free transform and rotate the copy.
5. Right click inside the copy and select Distort.
6.Use the square tags to distort.
7. When satisfied click on Move tool and Apply.
8. Now click on Layer/New Fill Layer/solid colour.
9. From New Layer Window tick "Use previous layer to create clipping mask."
11. From Solid Color window click OK
12.Right click on the "shadow" and select Layer 1
13.In the bottom right of the screen you can see Layers. Reduce the Fill to about 43%
14.Finally save the image.

I look forward to any quick method you may discover.

 

[Fantasmo]

Hm, how do I tell it the teacher...without sounding like a smart-ass?!

The arena is in the shade already (see upper left corner for non-shaded areas), so I'd not draw a shadow there.
And if there was a shadow, it should be in parallel to the yellow stripes of sunlight on the ground..



Anyhow, doesn't prevent trying the method
Thanks, but it will take me a couple of days, what may allow Julia to catch up. She did sound very interested in methods to enhance the "Meryl sTreep" picture

 

[admihoek]

Help

 

[The Fallen Angel]

Hm, how do I tell it the teacher...without sounding like a smart-ass?!

The arena is in the shade already (see upper left corner for non-shaded areas), so I'd not draw a shadow there.
And if there was a shadow, it should be in parallel to the yellow stripes of sunlight on the ground..



Anyhow, doesn't prevent trying the method
Thanks, but it will take me a couple of days, what may allow Julia to catch up. She did sound very interested in methods to enhance the "Meryl sTreep" picture

I did spot that but these are only how you can use the tools. I intended adding lighting effects later.

 

[The Fallen Angel]

Help

Hi Hans,
Where did you get stuck? I can go through it step by step.

 

[Julia]

"Help" like "My good, imagine that power in the hands of Julia! Imagine what stories she could create!"?

That sounds not bad,
although the potential reactions could make me some sorrows ...

 

[admihoek]

found in my old library
Adobe Photoshop CS3 For Dummies.pdf
Here's the link to this file:
http://www.yousendit.com/download/TEhWSXR6Y1NiV3pIRHRVag

 

[The Fallen Angel]

Thanks Hans. As far as this thread is concerned however I think I have been wasting my time

 

[admihoek]

I know because last year I try it with the E-books Thread

 

[Fantasmo]

MAKING A SHADOW.
Without an effective shadow manips don't look real You may well find a simpler method than this.

1.In the bottom left there are two rectangles. Foreground and background colour. Click on top rectangle and select a suitable foreground Using your lasso tool brown colour.
2. Using the lasso tool go round the girl and cross..roughly. Use Edit/Copy then Edit/Paste. Use the Move tool to move the copy.

Is it possible that the red "lasso tool" is an artefact?
I just pick the colour from the table, isn't it?

 

[Fantasmo]

MAKING A SHADOW.
Without an effective shadow manips don't look real You may well find a simpler method than this.

1.In the bottom left there are two rectangles. Foreground and background colour. Click on top rectangle and select a suitable foreground Using your lasso tool brown colour.
2. Using the lasso tool go round the girl and cross..roughly. Use Edit/Copy then Edit/Paste. Use the Move tool to move the copy.
3. On the copy, right click and select Layer 1
4. Now click Edit/Free transform and rotate the copy.
5. Right click inside the copy and select Distort.
6.Use the square tags to distort.
7. When satisfied click on Move tool and Apply.
8. Now click on Layer/New Fill Layer/solid colour.
9. From New Layer Window tick "Use previous layer to create clipping mask."
11. From Solid Color window click OK
12.Right click on the "shadow" and select Layer 1
13.In the bottom right of the screen you can see Layers. Reduce the Fill to about 43%
14.Finally save the image.

I look forward to any quick method you may discover.

Ok, I used the magic lasso instead of the normal lasso to select the cross, works much quicker.
Again I first did the whole outside of the cross and then removed the triangles under her shoulder and hip using the "substract mask"
The method works fine, although the shade I created is plain wrong from a "optical projection" point of view.
Using the original shape works only if the lighting source is somewhere in the back of the observer. But correct projection is a different story and not photoshop related.

I have issues with photoshop crashing when I do a copy/paste and subsequent move.
I solved it by saving the image in PSD format directly after the <paste>, closing PS, restarting PS and loading the image again.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

There are a lot of ways to get things done with Photoshop. The way I would do this is:
1. Roughly cut out the girl and cross
2. Press Ctrl+C to copy her, then Ctrl+V to paste her onto another layer.
3. Create a new layer behind her, filled with a color that contrasts with the girl so it''s easy to see where edges are. White would probably work well in this case.
4. Add a layer mask to the layer the girl is on, selecting "reveal all" as the option.
5. On the layer mask, you paint with black to mask out anything you don't want to see - in this case the girl's background. Use a hard-edged brush, bigger for large areas and smaller to get into smaller spaces. If you make a mistake, painting over the area you "deleted" using white color will reveal the hidden parts.
6. When I've gotten everything masked the way I want it, I would delete the layer mask, accepting the changes to make it permanent.
7. Drag the girl's layer from the original picture to the new background picture and use Free Transform to scale and move it where it should go.
8. In the Layers Palette, click on the girl's layer and drag it down to the New Layer icon at the bottom of the palette. This will duplicate that layer. I would rename the new layer to something like "girl shadow".
9. In the Layers Palette, click on the "girl shadow" layer and drag it down to place it below the "girl" layer.
10. In the Layers Palette, Ctrl+click on the little thumbnail image of the "girl shadow" layer. This will select all of the visible pixels on that layer, and you'll see the "marching ants" outline around the girl.
11. Click on Edit/Fill and select the color you want to use for the shadow. I usually use black.
12. With the "girl shadow" layer selected, use Free Transform, Skew, Distort, etc. as appropriate to get the geometry to look right for the shadow.
13. Reduce the opacity of the "girl shadow" layer to whatever looks good, usually something below 50%.
14. Use Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur on the shadow to blur its edges.

That's the general procedure I use, although I might also use the Background Eraser tool to cut out the foreground if the image has distinct enough edges. Hair is always a problem.


Jedakk

 

[The Fallen Angel]

I forgot about the blur tools..thanks. There's always more than one way to skin a cat..or is that a rabbit??

 

[Fantasmo]

I forgot about the blur tools..thanks. There's always more than one way to skin a cat..or is that a rabbit??

Well, that would be one of the next lessons, I would guess, blur. It would also help with inserting the initial cross, isn't it?

 

[Fantasmo]

There are a lot of ways to get things done with Photoshop. The way I would do this is:
1. Roughly cut out the girl and cross
2. Press Ctrl+C to copy her, then Ctrl+V to paste her onto another layer.
3. Create a new layer behind her, filled with a color that contrasts with the girl so it''s easy to see where edges are. White would probably work well in this case.
4. Add a layer mask to the layer the girl is on, selecting "reveal all" as the option.
5. On the layer mask, you paint with black to mask out anything you don't want to see - in this case the girl's background. Use a hard-edged brush, bigger for large areas and smaller to get into smaller spaces. If you make a mistake, painting over the area you "deleted" using white color will reveal the hidden parts.
6. When I've gotten everything masked the way I want it, I would delete the layer mask, accepting the changes to make it permanent.

Jedakk

In a nutshell, the main difference being in how you get the shaded area, right? (Steps 1-5)
Apart from that it's just different procedures leading to the same result, or am I missing something?

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Pretty much. I figured out that methodology for making shadows myself after I learned how to make drop shadows for objects and text, and having done it hundreds of times now it seems natural to me. Blurring the shadows some makes them look softer and more natural. I don't think it would work that well for compositing one image on top of another, where what you really need is anti-aliasing along the edges.

Depending on the situation, I might also add a layer mask on the shadow itself and do a gradient fill with black that would extend out radially from the base of the shadow. That has to be subtle to work, but the idea is that shadows are generally darker at the base of an object and lighten as they move away from it due to ambient lighting, i.e. reflected light from other objects. That would be particularly true with the shadow of a tall cross, for example.

And actually, the same thing applies to blurring, which should become more pronounced as the shadow extends away from the object. And there are ways to accomplish that, too. Making a blurred copy of the original shadow, for example, and blending the two together so the result is sharp-edged at the base of the object and blurred at its far end.

 

[Fantasmo]

Pretty much. I figured out that methodology for making shadows myself after I learned how to make drop shadows for objects and text, and having done it hundreds of times now it seems natural to me.

I'll give it a try later, I guess for more complex shadows this works well.

the idea is that shadows are generally darker at the base of an object and lighten as they move away from it due to ambient lighting, i.e. reflected light from other objects. That would be particularly true with the shadow of a tall cross, for example.

Good point, although the reason for the lighter shadow is rather the changing viewing angle.

And actually, the same thing applies to blurring, which should become more pronounced as the shadow extends away from the object. And there are ways to accomplish that, too. Making a blurred copy of the original shadow, for example, and blending the two together so the result is sharp-edged at the base of the object and blurred at its far end.

But that's a future chapter

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Have to disagree with you on your second point. In a typical sunlit scene, if you take an ambient light reading in the shadow at the base of an object, then at a distance along its length, the reading will definitely be higher. Darkness/lightness of a shadow is also affected by the surface beneath the shadow - on a darker surface, the shadow's color will appear darker as well.

Attached is an example, although not a very good one. The shadow of the cross on the sand looks lighter than the part on the wall because the wall is darker. And no, I didn't do gradient lightening on this shadow. And yes, I took some liberties with the angle of the shadow in order to get the dramatic effect of the shadow on the wall to fall within the frame of the picture. Although I suspect that the shadows of the real people we see there are not cast by the sun, but by a white reflector that is out of the scene, and thus not all parallel with one another.


Jedakk

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

And yes, there are lots of other things wrong with this picture, but don't be distracted by that from your Photoshop lesson!


Jedakk

 

[Fantasmo]

Have to disagree with you on your second point. In a typical sunlit scene, if you take an ambient light reading in the shadow at the base of an object, then at a distance along its length, the reading will definitely be higher. Darkness/lightness of a shadow is also affected by the surface beneath the shadow - on a darker surface, the shadow's color will appear darker as well.

Oh, now I understand what you mean! Yes, right, here ambient light comes in.