Photoshop example tutorial: Matching the relationship between light and shadow on the image

We often encounter this situation. To put an object into a scene. But the light between the two is inconsistent. Today’s tutorial is an example. The focus of our entire image synthesis is to match the light and shadow relationship on the image. The idea started with this picture.



Because I really like this sunset street scene. busy street. Golden radiance. long shadow. There seems to be some fun in it. So I started looking for a huge object. Intended to be placed in it. Initially I was going to find a robot. But this idea was too crazy. A giant animal would be much easier. So I found the elephant you see next.



Finding a suitable elephant is not easy. Because you can't always find material that's perfect in every aspect. Instead of searching the endless web for resources. It’s better to try modifying what you already have on hand.

The tutorial officially begins below.

1. Preliminary preparation

The first step is to separate the elephant. This step will not be explained.



Then give the big guy some plastic surgery - add ivory. Modify its elephant legs and trunk. Make its outline more prominent.



2. Adjust highlights and shadows separately

To create virtual light effects. Our thinking is. Duplicate two elephants. One shows highlights. One represents shadow. Then mix the two elephants. Duplicate the elephant layer. Name the lower layer "Highlights". The one above is named "Shadow".



3. Highlight layer

Set the highlight layer first. In fact, we can use many methods to add a golden highlight effect to the elephant. Here I am only providing one of the methods. And the parameters are approximate. You can adjust the specific parameters yourself according to your preference.

Brightness +30
Contrast +30
Color Balance Red +10
Color Balance Yellow-50



After such processing. The elephant looks really bad. But let’s stop here for now. Then take the next step.

4. Shadow layer

Let's go to the shadow layer. It needs to be explained. Dark areas are not just darker. Also need to reduce its saturation and contrast. Below are my adjusted values.

Brightness-80
Contrast -50
Saturation -80
Hue +165



5. Mixing layers

First add a mask to the shadow layer. Then use a soft-tipped black paintbrush to slowly rub out the highlights. It's best to lower the opacity of the brush here. This allows us to finely adjust the relationship between highlights and shadows.

This step is easy to say. But it is difficult to do. The key is to refer to the light and shadow relationship of other objects in the picture. Also pay attention to every contour of the elephant's body. Of course. This is an example tutorial. It's not possible. You can also see how my renderings are drawn.

6. Add shadow

Shadows must be added. This will make our picture more realistic. This step. We still have to refer to other shadows on the screen. their direction. color. Degree of blur. and perspective relationships. For example, the shadow of a car near an elephant is basically twice the height of the car. According to proportion. The elephant's shadow should extend beyond the frame. Great. This makes our job much easier.

Create a new layer. Set the layer blending mode to Multiply. Since shadows only require lines. So our thinking is. We can use an existing elephant layer. Make a copy. Remove color. Lower the brightness to 0. Flip vertically. Deformation. Bevel cut. perspective. Such a series of operations. This will give you the general shape of the shadow. Details such as the elephant's foot area. We just need to draw it ourselves. Another example is the two cars in the shadow of the elephant. There should be no highlights on the car body. I wasn't careful enough about this. Please pay attention. [I'm not talking about dripping. But the tutorial is from the original author. hehe. ]

After the shadows are drawn. We will then specifically adjust its color and brightness. And the opacity of the shadow layer. Until this huge shadow can coordinate with the surrounding shadows. Also note that. Because the elephant's shadow is huge. So the far side of the shadow needs to be brightened a little bit. Also give it a little blur. This is where the original author of the tutorial was not careful enough. Lili is brought up here. I hope that children’s shoes who follow the tutorial will pay attention.

7. Decoration

This step is optional. I added a few pedestrians to the scene. There are also bicycles. Then this is considered a completed picture.

8. Summary

This tutorial shows how to create coordination possibilities for objects with inconsistent lighting. But here's the thing. Although this method is not omnipotent. But the scope of application is still very large. Children's shoes will encounter similar situations in the future. You can show your hand.