Every Step, Every Detail

This full length tutorial is over 3:00 hours long, and you better believe we cover ever detail. We also include for the first time ever the BTS video, explaining every light, shooting on green screen, and tethering your photo shoot.

We start out by showing you how to create a sketch that will eventually become your final image. Included are some amazing techniques for establishing perspective, and building in elements to match it. As you can see the entire image was created in a simple sketch before we even touch the images.

Next we start bringing in each photo and fitting it to it’s given space. The great thing about using this method is that there is no guess work. You don’t have to be an amazing artist or an art student to be able to follow these perspective rules. We show you how to make it plug-and-play. By the end of this tutorial you will have the confidence to create your own worlds.

After we bring in each photo, they are colored and adjusted to fit the overall scene. We show you how to make light look like it is interacting with it’s environment, and how to create shadows. Then we bring in our athlete, cut him out from his background, and match him to the background.

Included BTS Video!

For the first time ever we are including a video of the photo shoot itself, explaining everything from lighting to choosing the correct height to shoot from. This video is 10 minutes long of explanation that will help you during your next photo shoot, even if you are not shooting in a studio.

Every light is explained in depth including the color temperature, gels used, placement and why we used the lights we did. There are 8 lights total in this scene, each of them is very important. You can see everything in action as we shoot the subject running towards the camera and explain how everything is done in camera to make the composite much easier.

All Images Included

Not only do we cover step by step how to create this entire image from scratch, but all we include all of the images you will need to do it yourself. Because every piece is different, there are many combinations that can be made, each resulting in a completely different final image.

We encourage you to follow along with the tutorial, building the image and learning along the way. That way you will be able to do it all on your own to create anything you can imagine.

It All Starts With a Sketch

Learn how to create a sketch and build correct perspective using our exclusive techniques. Creating a sketch gives you a very clear plan of action when you are putting together complex composites. As you can see here the final image is very close to the sketch. and the perspective is maintained perfectly.

It may look hard to create a sketch like this from scratch, and it would be without help. Luckily we show you how to do it very easily, and you are guaranteed success every time.

Start with Sky

What is the farthest thing from your camera in a photo? Probably the sky. That is why we show you how to start at the farthest elements in a composite and build everything forward from there. That way you can see very easily if something works with a composite.

For instance these buildings were much too bright straight out of the camera. We show you how to isolate them, transform their perspective, and light them so they fit into the environment perfectly. The image you see above is comprised of 6 photos, and is just the beginning.

Shoot on Green Screen

We shoot the athlete on a green screen in the studio using lights to match the lighting of the composite.  All of the lights and setup of the green screen are explained in the included BTS video! 

You will learn how easy it is to cut someone out from their background when shooting on a green screen, and how to use a green color cast to your advantage.

Although this sort of thing looks expensive, you can buy a Green Screen for under $50. Then watch this tutorial and take advantage of this awesome resource.

Light Streaks

For this image we wanted to make it ooze with style, and nothing says stylized like a ton of light streaking through your image.

The light streaks in this image were created from over 20 layers, each with a different blending mode, and each very important. We teach you how to make sure light look realistic by adding depth and following how light changes color as it falls off.

Flare and Light Leaks

When you photograph light, it enters your lens causing flare and coloring your image. When making a composite this can be your best friend, and you can bring it into your image to add life to the subject. We show you how to take the lights from your image and bring them in front of your subject, integrating everything together and making the viewer believe that the entire image was photographed together.

Light Bounces

When you place a light source in your image, it is not a static object, it effects everything else in the image.

When we added these light streaks, special attention had to be made to make sure they color every object around them. This includes the athlete, the ground, the bleachers, and even color effects on the lens.

Learn to Warp.

Chances are the images you take for your composite won’t be in the correct perspective, which can ruin a composite if you don’t know how to correct this issue. We show you how to calculate the vanishing point, the horizon and the perspective of not only the composite, but of all the included images.

The next time you are compositing images together, you are sure to have the correct perspective using out exclusive method. You can see here that the bleachers had to be warped like crazy to fit into the final image, though looking at the final you would never know.

Phlearn Gives You Wings

Literally, we include images of wings in this PRO Photoshop Tutorial. These wings were modeled using Z Brush, and rendered with Cinema4d and Vray specially for this tutorial. We show you how to take foreign elements such a CG wings and bring them into a photo to make them look realistic.

Final Image

We hope you love this tutorial and the image. It is the result of over 80 hours of work and collaboration with the Phamily. We have covered everything from concept creation to shooting on a green screen to compositing it all together!