Category Archives: compositing

Face in the clouds How-To (Stephen Hilton)

This How-To covers Stephen Hilton’s approach to create his image Face in the clouds. Start with a sky as your background layer (below). If the clouds are little dull, brighten them up with a curves or levels adjustment. Tip: I … Continue reading

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Select Subject tool

Adobe’s select subject tool (and some other applications have similar functionality) is becoming remarkably good, using AI approaches to make sometimes fiddly selections automatically. Here is an example. This is a particularly challenging image – the background is mottled, not … Continue reading

Posted in Advanced Edits, Basic Edits, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing, Software | Leave a comment

Displacement Map Example

The displacement map filter is found in Photoshop under the menu items: Filter >> Distort >> Displace. A displacement map moves the pixels of an image by an amount that varies depending on the brightness of another image. I will … Continue reading

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, compositing, Post-Processing, Resources, Software | Leave a comment

Blend If

Blend if is a powerful tool in the layer properties in Photoshop (other software may have similar functionality – explore your documentation). Open the layer properties and you find an Advanced Blending block and Blend If block in the central … Continue reading

Posted in Advanced Edits, Artistic, compositing, Post-Processing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Creating realistic shadows

When compositing it is not enough to simply paste an object onto a background. If you do, it will look artificial and pasted. Shadows are what link the pasted object to the background. Creating realistic shadows requires some technical skills, … Continue reading

Posted in Advanced Edits, Basic Edits, compositing, How-to, Post-Processing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment