continued from previous page
Finishing and Detailing
putting on the finishing touches...
Once in position, the hands need to be brought forward -- in front of the book -- so that they appear to be holding the book.
Using the Lasso tool, select a portion of each hand -- enough to cover --
Lasso - select, tap "V" make the selection, then hit
Cmd/J (ctrl/J) to "float" a copy of the selection to a new layer.
Doing each hand in this fashion will generate a separate layer for each, so just use the Layers palette pull-out menu to "Merge Down" and put both hand fragments on the same layer.
Finishing
With the image basically done, there was some clean-up or "detailing" that was in order.
A: Give 'thickness' to the book - this merely involved duplicating the book layer, and then using the Move Tool and Option/drag (alt/drag) duplicating the image several more times, merging the new layers and filling them with gray. Bring the original cover to the front, then use the Move tool and tweak the gray book "fillings" up by tapping the up arrow key several pixels. Once in position, merge the book and fillings layers so they merge into a single element.
B: Deliniation Lines - Unsatisfied with the "drawing" of the book, I felt it needed some deliniation. Using the line tool I dragged some black lines to outline the spine and bottom edges of the book. They were so rude, I had to give them about 60% opacity to calm them down. Well, they're still rude, I'm ashamed, but a half hour into this game -- and I have real work to be done -- so I left them. You'll do better.
C. The Book Shadow - The book needed a bit of a shadow to look convincing in the scene. I must admit, many times I revert to the "old" way of doing things, just because I like to be in control. Rather than a fancy layer effect,
Cmd/click (Ctrl/click) on the book layer to select the book, then
Cmd/J (Ctrl/J) to float a copy on a new layer.
Cmd/click (Ctrl/click) on the BOTTOM book layer to select that one
Tap "D" to reset colors to black over white
Option/Delete (alt/delete) to fill the selected book with black,
Cmd/D to deselect the selection
Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur to three or four levels: soft blur
Tap "V" to get the move tool
Tap the down arrow key to gently lower the shadow.
Presto, drop shadow. Adjust opacity to taste, and if there's outlaw shadow showing around other edges of the book, just Lasso tool select them and delete leaving only the bottom portion of the shadow. (Sounds like a lot, but actually takes a lot less time than fiddling around with those layer effects and styles.)
D. Fix the table: when we spread apart the fellow's arms, we opened holes in the table top. Now, go back in and use the Cloning stamp tool (tap "S") to fill that back in for a convincing table.
Done? Not quite.
Actually, it seemed a bit dead. I need something to introduce a bit of Chris's original image back into the scene. Well, maybe the guy is thinking about the girl.
I returned to Chris' original file and (Tap "V") dragged the girl back into the image.
Using a layer mask, I fogged out as much of her background as I could (without taking the time to do an outline) with a soft edged brush painting BLACK into the selected layer mask. (Black masks, White reveals.) Once she was isolated, I simply selected all the rest of the mask area and opt/delete filled with black.
Save as a work file, then flatten and save out as a JPG using File > Save for Web, and setting to the threshold of small file size vs. image quality.
Voila!
Now it's done... ready for FTP.
About Photoshop Tennis
As with real tennis you want to deliver the volley with a quick, decisive stroke. So, clean up the work file, get rid of any aids used along the way, such as my book guide, the book depth, and the shadow layers -- they're not necessary for the work file. Deliver a clean work file, as small as allowable for the next volley. The only thing your opponent should see is that ball careening towards them over the net.
Happy Photoshopping!
Fred Showker, Editor Publisher of DTG Magazine and Photoshop Madness
Back to this article's Intro and start-up
Second page: build a template for the surface of the book...
Third page: Transforming Art to Fit a Shape
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