Figure 1
Who is dancing the light wings,
Dancing in the palm of my hand.
Who stretches the arms of dreams,
Capture the little lights in the night sky.
You tug at my heartstrings gracefully.
The moment the morning light awakens the earth,
But you disappeared as soon as I looked back.
Step One: The Quiet Night Comes
To remove the pedestrians and debris behind the girl, we first select the patch tool in the toolbox, select the "New Selection" → "Patch" → "Source" option in the option bar, and use the patch tool to select the pedestrians and debris come out. Then, we move the selection box to the leaves in the background. In this way, pedestrians or debris behind the characters are covered (Figure 2).
Figure 2
In order to create a mysterious atmosphere and enhance the theme effect, we can use the "Burn Tool" to darken the background. After selecting the "Burn Tool" option in the toolbox, we use a larger soft-angled brush and adjust the exposure to 100%, then paint on the photo background (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Step 2: Put on the wings of fantasy
We select a butterfly material picture, select the "Crop Tool" option in the toolbox, keep the width and height in the option bar, clear the resolution value, and use the "Crop Tool" box to select the right half of the butterfly Wings (Picture 4), press the Enter key on the keyboard to confirm.
Figure 4
We select the "Brush Tool" in the toolbox, adjust the size of the soft-angled brush, set the foreground color to white, and use the "Brush Tool" to smear out the butterfly's tentacles. After the smearing is completed, we execute the "Edit" → "Define Brush Preset" command and press the "OK" button in the pop-up brush name dialog box (Figure 5).
Figure 5
Next, we select the just-finished "wings" in the options bar and set the mode to Normal, Opacity to 100%, and Flow to 100% (Figure 6). Then, we set the foreground color to white, create a new "Layer 1", and use the "Brush Tool" to click the left mouse button at an appropriate location in the photo. At this time, we will find a wing appearing. Let's slightly adjust the position and click the left mouse button to create an overlapping and flexible feeling (Figure 7).
Figure 6
Figure 7
At this time, we will find that the wings block the girl's shoulders. Don't be afraid, we can use "layer mask" to modify it. Select "Layer 1" and click the "Add Layer Mask" button under the "Layer Panel" with the mouse to add a "Layer Mask" to "Layer 1". We set the foreground color to black, select the brush tool, select a soft-angled brush in the options bar, and use the brush tool to paint the part where the wings connect with the girl's shoulders in "Layer 1", so that the wings are placed behind the shoulders (Figure 8).
Figure 8
Duplicate "Layer 1" as "Layer 1 Copy" and execute the "Edit" → "Transform" → "Flip Horizontal" command to create the wings on the other side. Since the copied layer has a layer mask, the part connecting to the girl’s other shoulder can also be modified by applying the mask with a brush (Figure 9).
Figure 9
Step 3: Surround yourself with blue light
We select "Layer 1 Copy", use the mouse to click the "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer" button below the layer panel, select "Curves" in the menu, select the default RGB channel adjustment curve, and select "Channel" Select "Blue" in the options and continue to adjust the curve (Figure 10).
Figure 10
In order to add an outward glow effect to the wings, we select "Layer 1 Copy", click the "Add Layer Style" icon below the layer palette with the mouse, select the "Outer Glow" command in the pop-up menu and adjust effect (Figure 11).
Figure 11
Select "Copy of Layer 1", press the right mouse button, select the "Copy Layer Style" option in the pop-up menu, then select "Layer 1", press the right mouse button, and select "Paste Layer" in the pop-up menu Style" option. In this way, the outer glow effect is copied to the wing on the other side.
After adding the outer glow effect, the part where the wings connect with the girl's shoulders may look unnatural. You can still use the "Brush Tool" to modify it on the layer mask. The advantage of layer masks is that they can be modified at any time. In order to give the wings a light wing feel, you can appropriately reduce the opacity values of "Layer 1" and "Layer 1 Copy" (Figure 12).
Figure 12
Step 4: Add mysterious light spots
We select the brush tool, select a suitable soft-angle brush in the brush palette, adjust the appropriate spacing in "Brush Tip Shape", and adjust the size jitter to 100% in "Shape Dynamics". After setting the various options of the brush, create a new "Layer 2" under the Curves adjustment layer and use the brush to draw around the wings. (Figure 13)
Figure 13
Finally, we added the word "elf" to the photo. To add an outer glow effect to the font, we can use the mouse to click the "Add Layer Style" icon below the layer palette and select the "Outer Glow" command in the pop-up menu. We can get different text lighting effects by setting different parameters (Figure 14).
Figure 14
(The article comes from Computer News, Issue 3, Page F, 2008)