Digital Photo Manipulation with tutorial

Photo manipulation is making your ideas, your imagination come to life. It allows you to create surreal dreamlike images that would be near impossible to in the real world.

It is heavily used in the advertising industry, mainly because the costs of creating an advert through digital manipulation is far cheaper than trying to create the same image outcome on location, it also allows the viewer of the advert/image to be submersed in the atmosphere and environment the advert is creating. They usually grab the viewers attention because of their surreal conceptual theme, something that you dont see every day!

I wanted to attempt to recreate an image that was created purely by photo manipulation with composite layers. There are heaps of tutorials out there but I chose the one below as it falls into the advertising category, which I have been discussing in this post.

The source of the original tutorial is http://www.psdbox.com/tutorials/lonely-photoshop-manipulation-tutorial/  You will also find the links to the stock images you will need for this tutorial there.


Step One:

So the first thing to do is to open a new canvas with the dimensions of 2500 x 2800 pixels, 300dpi.
Then place the dessert image onto the canvas ensuring that the full canvas is covered with this image with the free transform tool. Flatten images and rename this layer as background.

Step Two:

To create this night scene I used a layer mask then inversed and with a hue/saturation adjustment layer changed the sky to night!

Layer mask

Inverse

Hue/Saturation Layer

Step three:

Now open the sky stock image and paste it on a new layer above the background layer, name it Sky and increase the size to cover the canvas sides because this stock image is not wide enough to cover it. Then create a layer mask for the Sky layer and using a soft brush, mask the bottom part.

Remember to blend the gradient overlay with the layer mask by reducing the poacity of the brush to soften the harsh line like above

Step Four:
Open the girl stock image and extract her from the background using any technique that you want. I often use the Pen Tool to trace a Path around the edges and then create a selection and mask the background. You can use the Magic Wand, the Quick Selection or whatever you prefer but make sure you leave nice and clean edges (you can use the refine edge for that: see this tutorial).
Once I had the girl extracted from the background, I pasted her on a new layer which I named Woman, converted the layer into a smart object and resized it. I use smart objects just in case I want to change the size of the layer later on and that way I don’t lose quality.

Step Five:

All the composite layers are in place now so now we have to create the ambiance.

I placed a Curves adjustment layer above the background layer but below the model, this will allow me to darken the background.

I then added a photo filter to add some warmth to the background layer also:

Finally to add a little more depth to the background I added a colour balance adjustment layer with the below settings:

I also did the same to the sky layer, adjusting with a levels layer and colour balance layer with the below settings:

Colour Balance adjustment Layer

Levels adjustment layer

Step Six:
The background is now complete so the following steps are to ensure that the model layer sits nicely in the image with the correct tones and values.
1. cast shadows: First I duplicate the Woman layer, I then reduce the Lightness to 0 with the Hue/Saturation adjustment. I then manipulate the shadow using the distort option and put it on the ground. Rember to cast the shadow in the oposite direction of the light source.

I added a new layer and with a soft black brush with reduced opacity I painted the areas where the body touches the ground, this created the softer shadows.

Step seven:

Now for the tricky part, we have to adjust the lighting on various parts of the models body. This step is to darken the left side of the body.
Using the Gradient Tool, the Gradient Overlay effect and the Inner Shadow effect follow the below settings

Now to add a Gradient map to adjust to tone and colour of the model:

Please make sure you have the correct colours, they are highlighted in red.

To darken the skin I adjust the levels using the same procedure, levels adjustment layer in a clipping mask.

To match the night scene ambience we then have to adjust the colour balance of the model, the following setting or thereabouts seem suitable:

Dont worry if you think the image is looking a bit naff and dark at the minute, we will be lightening it up with the light in the next steps.....


Step NINE:

Open the candle lamp stock, extract it from it’s background and paste it on a new layer above everything else. Name this layer Lamp and create some shadows using the same techniques as on Step 6.

Step Ten:

The next step is to create some ambient light from the lantern glow. Create a new layer and woth a soft brush and colour  #5b4212 paint a soft glow over the candle. Once yoyu have done this change the blend mode to colour dodge.
Now create a new layer above the candle glow layer naming this glow 2, this time using a screen blend mode paint over the same area with the colour #fd9b00.

Step 11:

The next step is to create a glow on the floor from the candle. Again create a new layer and place it under the lantern layers and rename this to floor glow. Select the soft brush once again and paint on the colour #7a5821 and select the colour dodge tool. I painted with reduced opacity of 23% so I could build up the colour if needed. See the images below before and after adjusting the blend mode. Note that I have added a slight glow to the models body too, the legs foot and face.

Before

After

Step 12: 

In order to illuminate the models body correctly I add another layer and name body glow, change the blend mode to colour dodge and selct the soft brush tool with the colour we used earlier 5b4212.

Normal blend mode

Colour Dodge blend mode

Step 13

Create a new layer, this will be renamed Dodge & Burn. Guess what we are doing next??

Fill the layer with 50% Gray and change the blend mode to Overlay and start using the Dodge and Burn tools on that layer. Adding depth to the clouds and shadows on the flooring and shadows to the models face to contrast the glow on her face.

Step 14

Now to add the fireflies. I will use the same procedure as earlier, open the firefly image, use the magic wand tool to remove the white background. Copy the insect on a new layer on your canvas and make several duplicates of it and scale them down to different sizes.Move the fire flies around and rotate and distort them to vary them is sizes and posotions.

Now add an inner and outer glow

Step 15

Merge all layers into another single layer by selcting Layer>Merge visable and holding the ATL tab down. Follow the next steps:

Image>Adjustments>Variations and choose the preset More Cyan.

Then change the blend mode to Darken and set Opacity to 28%.

Step 16

Create another stamp just as on Step 15 and turn that layer into a Smart Object if your Photoshop version allows you to do that. (right click and choose Convert to Smart Object). After that, go toFilter>Render>Lighting Effects. Apply the settings shown in the image below.

Step 17

Add a gradient map with the following settings:

Step 18:

Last but no least we now have to add a colour balance layer with the following settings for all tones 

VOILA!!

I think photo manipulation in advertising is fantastic for making dreams, reality, bringing the viewers imaginations to life almost. It is very effective and helps the viewer to relate to the scene and environment that product is featured in.
I do not agree with photo manipulation being used commercially to distort real subjects. For example beauty products such as make up and hair care can easily be misrepresented with the aid of photo manipulation. For e.g.. A head shot of a female model advertising foundation make-up, the majority of these images the public see are heavily edited with airbrushing, liquifying and other photo editing tools and techniques. This then misrepresents the product itself, allowing the viewers to think that if they buy this product they too will have skin complexion like this. A great video example of this method being put to use is featured below: