For this project, you will need two photograpghs. One with a background, and one with an animal.
Place both images into one document, using a separate layer for each element.
Create a shadow to make the animal appear to have always been in the original scene, as well as manipulate the
colors. The goal is to make the animal appear as natural as possible in its new setting.
Explain step-by-step what tools and filters were used to create this scene.
Original: Bench on the Deck
Original: Cats on the Volkswagon
Alternative: Cats w/ Back Shadow
Final Image: Cats on the Bench
Steps Taken to Manipulate the Images:
I placed a duplicate copy of the cats into the Editor. I used the Quick Selection Tool to select the cats only. This was
a little hard to do because of the black top they are on! I then used Copy from the Edit Menu, created
a new blank, transparent file, and then pasted the cats into this new file.
I then dragged file of the cats into the image, resized it, adjusted the angle, and moved the it on the bench.
With the cats selected, I used the Color Variations from Adjust Color choice, and darkened the cats, plus
adjusted the blue, green, and
red, which gave the effect of the cats’ more natural highlights (NOTE: the original image was a black & white photo).
I then went back to the Enhance Menu and chose Adjust Lighting and dimmed it a tad.
Next, I selected the bench-back with the Quick Selection Tool, chose Adjust Color from the Enhance Menu,
used the
Adjust Hue/Saturation choice, and changed the levels of the Hue and 5, Saturation to
brighten the bench-back.
Next, I selected the layer with the cats, chose the Layer Styles Icon from the Effects Panel, and then selected
Drop Shadows from the Library Drop-Down Menu to apply a shadow effect on the cats.
Next I dimmed the picture (so I could put the spotlight effect on it), went back to the Effects Panel, clicked
the Filters Icon, and selected Render from the Library Drop-Down Menu. From that panel, I chose the
Crossing Down and
Spotlight effects from the Style and Light Type drop-downs, moved the oval dial so that it
pointed to the cats from below.
Alternative Image: For this image, I created a back-shadow of the cats and used the spotlight effect.
This creates their shadow behind them.
