PRO Photoshop Tutorial

Lighting an image is often just as important to a concept as the photoshop surrounding it. In this PRO Photoshop Tutorial, we cover all of the lighting used to make this photo, and where everything was placed. We even cover using a ring flash, and how to use it properly so it doesn’t become overwhelming in an image.

The most important part of this image coming together is for the arms and legs to look like they are literally coming out of the couch. To make this happen, we cover not only the blending details, but also how to match color and texture exactly.

Removing Unwanted Elements

Sometimes it is necessary to place things in your scene in order for the shot to come out perfectly. These things include lights, fog machines, wind machines, or anything else that will visibly enhance the final photo. If it is someone’s jacket, you should probably remove that before taking photos. For these necessary elements, it is important to remove them in the FINAL photo, so they don’t obscure the vision. You will learn some great techniques on how to do this. For instance, there was a large black light stand in this original photo.

Photo Shoot

Most of the photo shoots we do at Phlearn are very fun. When you involve some great lighting, as well as a couch snuggle, things get a lot more interesting.

The main challenge here was to get the lighting to draw attention to the right parts of the subject. When you are working with a model posing on her side, you have to adjust your lighting directions for the light to still come across in a flattering manner. It is very easy to “Over Light” a scene like this, as there is not a lot of room for the lights to go. A great way to keep your light from just going everywhere, and losing all interest is to add grids and other modifiers that will limit the spread of light.

Nude Without Being Nude

Often a concept will call for a model to be nude or close to nude. For some models, this is not a problem, but sometimes people are a little less comfortable taking clothes off in front of a group of strangers. I can’t blame them, I wouldn’t want to do it either. For these occasions, it makes everyone a little more confortable to allow the model to keep some clothing on. If it is visible in the final image, and gets in the way of the concept, knowing how to remove it in Photoshop can really help. We cover some great techniques for not only removing clothing, but replicating highlights and shadows to make the transition as realistic as possible.

Blending A Person With Their Environment.

Much of creating this sort of effect is learning how light works, and how you can trick the viewer into believing that what you create in Photoshop, actually exists. You will learn some great techniques on how to blend objects together, while keeping detail, and adding realistic transitions.

Adding Light

Placing lights all over a photo is fun, and can create some great effects, but often times it is more important to make it seem like the light is coming from a real light source. To do this, you can make it look like some lights are turned on, even if they are not in the original photo. Creating a light source that actually looks real can be difficult, as the light effects everything it touches. We cover some great techniques on how to add light sources, and make the light look natural and combine with the image well.

Final Image