Tài iệu Photoshop cs5 by Dayley part 96 pps

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CHAPTER
Combining Images
IN THIS CHAPTER
Creating realistic composites
Placing secondary images
using masks
Creating a photo montage
Creating panoramas
W
hen you begin to do more with Photoshop than just correcting
photos, the first thing you might think of is image composites.
An image composite is any image that has added elements, from
a simple text caption to a complex photo montage.
Probably the most difficult part of creating a composite is the ability to create
a realistic image that doesn’t look like it’s been made from more than one
element. Even when the image itself is implausible, such as a shark silhou-
etted in the wave holding up a surfer, or a snowman in the desert, you want
your viewers to look twice and wonder if just maybe it might be true. I’ve
lost count of the photos off the Internet that friends and relatives have for-
warded and asked, “Photoshopped or not?”
In this chapter, you learn a few tricks of the trade for making your compos-
ites look great. I’m sure as you work you’ll come up with a few tricks of your
own. Every composite has its own unique problems to overcome. Having a
thorough knowledge of the tools at your disposal in Photoshop is the best
way to solve them.
Creating Seamless Composites
Creating a composite is much more than just slapping two files together and
hoping they mesh well. Placement, perspective, lighting, and color all play
key roles in whether a composite looks great or looks mashed together.
Fortunately, there’s a reason why a Photoshopped image is an image that is con-

sidered too good to be real. I’ve shown you the tools you need to create great
composites; now I show you how to use those tools together to do just that.
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Combining files
Photoshop can open well over 40 different types of file formats. You can combine most of these
types with the others. Photoshop has no problem combining a 3D file with a JPEG or TIFF image
or layering it on top of an Illustrator file. More incredibly, Photoshop maintains the original aspects
of each of these files so they can still be edited and manipulated inside of a composite in the same
way as they were edited and manipulated in a file by themselves. In fact, in many ways, making the
changes to a file after it has been placed is easier. That way, you can be sure the changes are consis-
tent with the end result you are trying to achieve.
There are no magic tricks to combining files. It is not only incredibly easy, but you can combine
files in more ways than one. If you want to copy layers from one file to another, the easiest way,
especially if you already have the files open, is to drag the object layer from the first file into the
window of the second. You can see how this is done in Figure 21.1.
FIGURE 21.1
Combining files can be as simple as dragging the object layer from the file you want to move into the win-
dow of the background file.
You also can combine files by copying and pasting the file, or a selection from the file, into the
background image. As you paste a selection into your file, a new layer is created containing that
selection. This gives you control over moving the selection and making edits to it.
If you want more immediate control over where your placed file will be located on the background
file and how large it will be, use the Place function by choosing File ➪ Place. When you use the
Place function to import one file into another file, the imported file is placed inside a bounding
box. You can drag and drop the bounding box wherever you want inside the background. You also
can use the handles on the bounding box to resize or rotate the placed file.
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You can use the numeric values in the Options bar to set the position, size, and orientation of the
placed file. When you have placed the file where you want it, click the check mark in the Options
bar to accept the changes you made, as shown in Figure 21.2.
FIGURE 21.2
Using the Place command gives you more control over the file’s size and position.
Another quick way to combine two complete files is to drag the second from the Mini Bridge into
the first open file. It is placed just as if you had used the Place command—as a new layer with a
bounding box around it. If you are placing multiple files, this is the best way to do it.
Adjusting and transforming new layers
After you’ve placed a file as a new layer, you can edit and adjust it just as you would any other
layer. You can move the content of a layer by selecting it in the Layer panel and using the Move
tool to drag and drop it where you want it to be.
Changing the size or rotating a file can be done by selecting Edit ➪ Transform. The Transform
menu has options such as Rotate, Scale, Skew, Warp, and Flip. Choose Rotate, Scale, and Skew to
create a bounding box exactly like the one shown in Figure 21.2. Use the handles on the bounding
box to make changes to the file. The Warp option places a grid over your file, allowing you to pull
on strategic points to warp and bend it, as shown in Figure 21.3. You can flip your file horizontally
or vertically by choosing the corresponding option.
Caution
Be sure the layer of the file you are attempting to change is highlighted in the Layers panel. If it’s not, you just
may find yourself making changes to the wrong file.
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FIGURE 21.3
By transforming the fish with the warp tool, I can make it look like it’s moving downstream.
If you need more leeway to move your files around or enlarge them, change the canvas size by
selecting Image ➪ Canvas Size. From this dialog box, you can expand the canvas without affecting

the image it contains.
Blending composite files
When you have a 3D object placed with another file, you may find that they don’t really seem to fit
together. You can use these quick tricks to make the files blend together better.
Refining edges
When you create a selection of a file to place into a new file, you occasionally get rough, pixilated
edges or an edge with a shadow around it. You can soften these edges as you make the selection or
after you have placed it, as long as the area is still selected. Click Refine Edges in the Selection tool-
bar, or select Select ➪ Refine Edges to bring up the Refine Edge dialog box.
Cross-Ref
The Refine Edge dialog box and all its options are covered in Chapter 9.
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Creating a drop shadow
Most objects in a lighted environment create a shadow somewhere in that environment. Creating a
drop shadow is limited in mimicking an actual shadow, but in the right setting, a drop shadow
works very well to create a shadow effect. You also can add a drop shadow to help blend the edges
of an object or file you’ve placed.
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Create a drop shadow by highlighting the desired layer and clicking the fx icon at the bottom of
the Layers panel. Select Drop Shadow from the option list and adjust the settings, looking at the
file for a preview, until you’ve created the effect you want.
Cross-Ref
The Layer Styles, including an example of creating a drop shadow, are covered in Chapter 10.
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Changing Fill or Opacity settings
Sometimes a selection placed in an image file looks hard, lacking the color subtleties and the light
and shadow of the image. This is especially true of the fish placed in Figure 21.4. The bright colors
do not blend realistically with the earth tones of the mountain stream. Because none of the stream

color appears on the fish, it looks just like what it is—a picture of a tropical fish sitting on top of
the stream. I can blend the fish in by decreasing its opacity and fill settings. In many cases,
decreasing these settings until just before you can really make out any details coming through gives
your image a softer, more blended look. In this case, I definitely want the stream to come through
very strongly, so decreasing the opacity of the fish down around 50 percent gives me the best
results, as you can see in Figure 21.5.
On the Web Site
You can try combining these two files by downloading Figure 21-4a and Figure 21-4b from the Web site.
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FIGURE 21.4
With its bright colors, this fish looks just like a picture sitting on top of this image.
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FIGURE 21.5
Reducing the opacity of the fish really helped it to blend into the mountain setting.
Changing the Blending mode
Changing the Blending mode is a more dramatic way of changing the way a placed file blends into
its background than changing the Opacity or Fill setting. Blending modes are usually for creating
artistic effects rather than realism in a composite. You can change the Blending mode by selecting
the layer and using the Blending mode drop-down menu in the Layers panel to select a blending
option. I used the Color Burn Blending mode to create the composite you see in Figure 21.6.
On the Web Site
You can see how the final product was created by downloading the PSD file Figure 21-6 available on the
Web site.

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Cross-Ref
You can learn the basics of Blending modes in Chapter 10.
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Creating a Fill or Adjustment layer
If you have the top layer selected when you create a Fill or Adjustment layer, the layer is placed
over all the layers in your document. By making the same changes to all the files in a composite,
they have more in common and blend better. Even something as simple as placing a warming filter
over both file layers can create depth and bond the files with a common look. Of course, the more
dramatic fills and adjustments create an even more dramatic bond.
Add a Fill or Adjustment layer by clicking the icon in the bottom of the Layers panel and choosing
the fill or adjustment you want to apply.
Cross-Ref
You can learn more about the Fill and Adjustment layers in Chapter 13.
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FIGURE 21.6
Using the Blending modes creates an artistic effect with composite images.
Using masks to “tuck in” a composite file
Probably the most effective method of blending files together is to use a mask to tuck the second
file behind components of the first one. This method can make viewers look twice at even the most
improbable photos. In Figure 21.7, the snowman is distinctly out of place in the desert, but it isn’t
out of place in this photo, because it’s placed so it sits correctly according to perspective. It’s
behind the Jeep and the man guiding it, but in front of the rocks in the background.
This is accomplished using a mask to cut the man and the Jeep out of the snowman so they appear
to be in front of him from the perspective of the viewer.
You can use masks to tuck in a composite object by following these steps:
On the Web Site
You can download Figure 21-8 and Figure 21-10 from the Web site to follow along with this exercise.
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FIGURE 21.7
A snowman on a hot desert day? Looks like it to me.
1. Create a selection around the snowman, as shown in Figure 21.8.
You can take the time to select his arms or just cut them off in the interest of time. You
need a little bit of the snow around his feet for a realistic look; you can make a rough
selection around this area. Refine the edges of the selection if you desire. I found that a
rougher edge was best for this photo combination because of the marked difference in the
colors involved.
FIGURE 21.8
Select the snowman out of his original photo.
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2. Use Ctrl/Ô+C to copy the selection.
3. Open the Jeep photo, and use Ctrl/Ô+V to paste the selection of the snowman as a
new layer in this document.
4. Select Edit ➪ Free Transform to resize and move the snowman into position.
He will be sitting in the front of the entire photo, as shown in Figure 21.9, so this is just a
rough adjustment.
FIGURE 21.9
Use the Free Transform tool to correctly size and place the snowman in the Jeep image.
5. Click the visibility button (the “eye”-con) next to the snowman layer to make
him invisible.
6. With the jeep layer selected, create a selection around the man and the jeep where
they intersect with the snowman when it is visible.
In areas where they don’t intersect, the selection doesn’t have to be precise, as shown in
Figure 21.10.
7. Choose Select ➪ Inverse to create a selection around everything but the man and
the Jeep.

8. Refine the edges of the selection.
You want to leave hard edges here so they stand out crisply against the snowman, but
you should decontaminate the colors so you don’t see a red-rock-colored halo around
the edges.
9. Output the selection to a layer mask, and click OK.
This masks the man and the Jeep in the areas that weren’t selected so they disappear from
the image, as shown in Figure 21.11.
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Note
You can click the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers panel to immediately create a mask from the selection.
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FIGURE 21.10
Make a selection to create a mask that hides the areas of the snowman that should be
behind the man and the Jeep.
FIGURE 21.11
The mask is created over the wrong layer.
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10. Turn the visibility of the snowman layer back on.
11. Click and drag the mask from the Jeep layer to the Snowman layer, as shown in
Figure 21.12.
This masks out the areas of the Snowman that cover the man and the Jeep.
FIGURE 21.12
Moving the mask cuts out areas of the snowman instead of areas of the Jeep image.
12. Click the link between the mask and the Snowman to unlink them.
This makes it possible for you to move or resize the snowman without moving or resizing
the mask that should stay exactly where it’s been placed.

13. Resize or reposition the snowman as needed to make it fit into the image.
The masks do the most work when it comes to making the snowman look like it belongs in this
image, but you can do other things as well. I changed the levels of the snowman until it was less
gray and blended better into the sunny background. I also used the Lighting Effects filter to make
the snowman appear lit from the same direction as the other elements in the photo. A drop
shadow would go a long way in creating realism as well. If you decide to make one, it should be
done before the mask is applied to the snowman layer so that the shadow won’t have the mask as
part of it. You also need to create a new layer mask for the shadow so it doesn’t lie across the man
guiding the Jeep.
Cross-Ref
You can find another example of creating a mask to tuck in a second image in Chapter 10, which also includes
quite a bit more information on masks and how they work.
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Using Multiple Images to
Create a Photo Collage
You create a photo collage by combining two or more photos in a single image to tell a bigger story
than any of the original photos by themselves. Photo collages can be used for a number of pur-
poses. For example, collages can showcase a photographer’s work or tell a specific story for a mag-
azine article.
Photo collages can be created in Photoshop in several ways. Figure 21.13 shows some examples of
photo collages.
FIGURE 21.13
You can create collages to tell a bigger story in many ways, including these three.
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