In this Photoshop Effects tutorial, we'll learn how to truly make a picture worth a thousand words by adding a different shadow behind someone in a photo, as if to imply that the person in the photo is one day going to become the image in the shadow. Or maybe they really are the image in the shadow but they manage to keep it hidden from everyone, sort of a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" scenario. Or, as in the case with the image I'll be using in this tutorial, perhaps the person is imagining themselves as the image in the shadow.

This is a really fun and popular effect to create in Photoshop, and you may remember seeing it used heavily a few years back in the promotional posters for "Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace", where a very young and innocent looking Anakin Skywalkwer was casting the shadow of Darth Vader behind him. Fortunately, you don't need to be a special effects wizard to create the same effect with your own images. All you need is a copy of Photoshop and a little imagination.

Obviously, this little guy sees himself as a mighty super hero, so let's help him out by projecting a super hero shadow on the wall behind him:
The final result.

Here's the image I'll be using for this Photoshop tutorial:
The original image.

Let's get started!

Step 1: Make A Selection Around The Person


With your image open in Photoshop, use the selection tool of your choice (Lasso Tool, Magnetic Lasso Tool, Pen Tool, etc.) to draw a selection around the person:

Use the Lasso Tool, Pen Tool or other Photoshop selection tool of your choice to draw a selection around the person in the photo.

Step 2: Copy The Selection To A New Layer


If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that we currently have just one layer, the Background layer,
which contains our image

:

Photoshop's Layers palette showing the image on the Background layer.

We need to copy the person in the photo onto their own layer above the Background layer so that we can slide a shadow in behind them, which we'll do in a moment. Since we've already drawn a selection around them, all we need to do is use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac), and Photoshop will copy the selection onto a new layer. Nothing will seem to have happened to the image itself, but if we look again in the Layers palette, we can see that a copy of the boy (in my case) is now on a new layer, which
Photoshop has named "Layer 1":

 

Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to copy the person onto a new layer.

Step 3: Open The Photo Containing The Person Or Object You Want To Use For The Shadow

To create the shadow effect, you'll need a second image containing whatever it is you want to use as a shadow, whether it's a person or an object of some kind. I want to give the boy a super hero shadow, so I'm going to use this image here which should work nicely:

Open the image containing the person or object you want to use as the shadow.

Step 4: Make A Selection Around The Person Or Object


Just as we did with the original image when we drew a selection around the person in the photo, we need to draw another selection, this time around the person or object in the second image that we want to use for our shadow. So once again, use the selection tool of your choice to draw a selection around them (or it):

Again using your favorite selection tool, draw a selection around the person or object you want to use as the shadow.

Step 5: Drag The Selection Into The Original Image

Once you have your selection around the person or object, select the Move Tool from the Tools palette:

Select the Move Tool.

You can also press V on your keyboard to select it with the shortcut. Then, with both images open in their own separate document windows, simply click anywhere inside the selection and drag the image from the second photo into the original image's document window:

Click anywhere inside the selection with the Move Tool and drag it into the original image's document window.

When you release your mouse button, you'll see the selection from the second image appearing in the original image

:

The selected person or object from the second image now appears inside the original photo.

You can close out of the second document window at this point, since we no longer need to have it open.

There's one thing I want to fix here before we continue. The boy in the photo is looking towards the right, but my super hero is looking towards the left. I need to flip the super hero around so that he's looking in the same general direction as the boy. To do that, I'll simply go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen,
choose Transform, and then choose Flip Horizontal

:

Selecting "Flip Horizontal" from Photoshop's Edit menu.

When I do that, Photoshop flips the super hero around for me so that both he and the boy are looking towards the right

:

The super hero is now facing the same direction as the boy.

Step 6: Fill The Shadow Image With Black

Since we want to use the selected image we just dragged into the document as a shadow, we need to fill it with black. To do that, make sure you have black as your Foreground color by pressing the letter D on your keyboard, which resets your Foreground color to black and your Background color to white, as we can see in the two color swatches near the bottom of the Tools palette (the top left swatch is the Foreground color and the bottom right one is the Background color):

The Foreground and Background color swatches in the Tools palette showing black as the Foreground color and white as the Background color.

Then use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+Backspace (Win) / Shift+Option+Delete to fill the person or object with black:

Press "Shift+Alt+Backspace" (Win) / "Shift+Option+Delete" (Mac) to fill the person or object with black.

If we had simply pressed "Alt+Backspace" (Win) / "Option+Delete" (Mac), we would have filled the entire layer with black, but by adding the "Shift" key in there as well, we were able to fill only the person or object on the layer (the "contents" of the layer) with black. The rest of the layer remained untouched.

Step 7: Drag The Shadow Image Between The Background Layer and "Layer 1"


We have the image we want to use as our shadow inside the original photo and we've filled it with black. So far, so good, except of course for one small problem. The shadow is currently in front of the boy. I need it to appear behindhim. This is where layers come in.

To move the shadow behind the boy, all I need to do is drag the shadow's layer below the boy's layer in the Layers palette. If I look in my Layers palette, I can see that I now have three layers - the original Background layer on the bottom, the copy of the boy from the original photo on "Layer 1", and the shadow image at the very top on "Layer 2":

Photoshop's Layers palette showing our three layers.

The reason the shadow appears in front of the boy in the document is because its layer is above the boy's layer, blocking the boy from view wherever the two layers overlap. To fix that, all I need to do is click on "Layer 2" in the Layers palette and drag it down below the boy on "Layer 1", which will place it directly between "Layer 1" and theBackground layer (Photoshop won't allow you to drag any layers below the Background layer, since it wouldn't make much sense to have something behind the background). Click on "Layer 2" and drag it down until you see a black horizontal line appear between "Layer 1" and the Background layer. Release your mouse button when that line appears and Photoshop will move "Layer 2" below "Layer 1":

Photoshop's Layers palette showing our three layers.

Now that the shadow's layer is below the boy's layer in the Layers palette, if we look back in the image, we can see that the shadow now appears behind the boy:

The shadow now appears behind the boy in the image.

Step 8: Move And Resize The Shadow With Free Transform


With "Layer 2" still selected in the Layers palette (the currently selected layer is highlighted in blue), press Ctrl+T(Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the shadow and move it into position by clicking anywhere inside the Free Transform box (anywhere except the small target icon in the center) and dragging the shadow into place with your mouse. You can resize the shadow by dragging any of the handles. To constrain the proportions of the shadow as you drag it larger or smaller, hold down Shift and drag any of the corner handles.

If you're having trouble seeing all the Free Transform handles because some of them extend out beyond the sides of the document window, press F on your keyboard to switch your screen mode to Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar.

If I look closely at my image, I can see that the boy's left arm (his left, our right) is up a little higher than the other one, but the super hero has the opposite arm higher. To fix that, I'm going to hold down my Ctrl (Win) / Command key, then click on the left middle handle of the Free Transform box and drag downward with my mouse, which will skew the image, bringing the left side of the super hero down below the right until his arms are more in line with the boy's arms:

Holding down "Ctrl" (Win) / "Command" (Mac) and dragging the left middle Free Transform handle to skew the image and bring the left side of the super hero shadow down below the right side.

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformations.

Step 9: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter To The Shadow


Now that our shadow is in place, there's only a couple of problems remaining. One is that the edges of the shadow are much too sharp, and the other is that the shadow is too dark and intense. Both of these issues are easily fixed, so let's work on the edges first. With "Layer 2" still selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur.

This brings up the Gaussian Blur dialog box. We're going to soften the shadow edges by blurring them, but we don't want to blur the edges too much, otherwise we'll lose too much detail in the shadow and it will be tough to make out the shape. All we want is a subtle amount of blurring, so set the Radius value to somewhere between 2 and 6 pixels, depending on the resolution of your image. I'm using a low resolution image for this tutorial, and for me, a Radius of about 2.5 pixels works well:

Apply the Gaussian Blur filter to the shadow to soften the edges.

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box. Here's my image after softening the edges of the shadow with Gaussian Blur:

The image after softening the edges of the shadow with the Gaussian Blur filter.

Step 10: Lower The Opacity Of The Shadow


Finally, to reduce the intensity of the shadow, simply go up to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers palette and lower the opacity of "Layer 2". I'm going to lower mine down to about 35%:

Lower the opacity of "Layer 2" to reduce the intensity of the shadow.

And with that, you're done!

Here, after lowering the opacity of my shadow, is my final "Telling Stories With Shadows" result:

The final result.

When trimming out images in Photoshop, human hair or animal fur always proves troublesome and can be tricky to achieve a realistic look. Here are two techniques I use on images with both plain backgrounds, and those with a varied background tones, each achieving pretty decent end results.


Technique One: Images with Plain Backgrounds

The best photos are those professional studio type shots that are taken against a plain white background. These shots make it much easier to find the edges of the subject, but trimming out fine hairs can still be a little tricky. In this example we’ll be using the common Channel technique to trim out this lovely lady.



Open up your image in Photoshop. This particular image doesn’t have a pure white background, but it is a plain colour and has good contrast between the subject and grey backdrop.



Head over to the Channels palette and review each of the Red, Green and Blue channels. Each one will be made up of slightly different tones, pick the one with the most contrast between foreground and background. Drag this channel onto the new channel icon to duplicate it.



With only the new channel selected, adjust the Levels (CMD+L) to dramatically increase the contrast between light and dark areas. However, don’t go too far, as you’ll notice some horrendous pixilation appearing in the fine areas.



Due to the slight variation in tone of the background, it appears grey in the darker areas. Use the Dodge tool set to a low Opacity to target the highlights and brush over this background area to really brighten it up.



Switch over to the Burn tool and target the shadows to dramatically darken down the inner areas of the image to pure black.



Use the brush tool to finish off the blacks by painting over the remaining areas of the inner section of the image.



Inverse the image to switch over the black and white areas (CMD+I), and give a quick check for any stray areas that may have been missed by the brush.



CMD+Click the Channel thumbnail to load the selection, then turn back on the visibility of the original channels. Head back over to the Layers palette and copy the selection. Paste it on a new layer and hide the original to see the cut out image against transparency.



The selection has managed to trim out even the finest of hairs to give a realistic cut. Paste the photo against an alternate background. Zoom in and check for any light coloured fringes around the edges, especially if placed against a darker background. These can be reduced using the Burn tool set to Highlights and gently brushed over the outline of the image.
Technique Two: Images with Detailed Backgrounds

The Channels technique is all well and good for studio photography with plain backgrounds, but it gets a little more difficult on standard shots with detailed backgrounds getting in the way.



Open up your image in Photoshop. This image has a decent contrast between foreground and background, but certain areas of the hair do blend in with the darker tones of the backdrop.



Start by trimming out the clear edges with the Pen Tool, but when you reach the hair simply create a rough tracing.



Around the hair portion, aim to include only solid areas of hair that aren’t merging with the background, otherwise the lighter tones will mess things up later.



Make a selection with a feathering of 0.2 pixels to remove any harsh edges then paste onto a new layer. Reduce the transparency of the image so that the original hair line can just be seen.



Here’s where the fun begins! Use the Smudge Tool to draw in areas of new hair, using the original outline as a template. Begin with a 4px brush to flesh out the thick base hair and disguise the jaggy lines from the path. A Wacom Graphics Tablet really comes in handy here to speed up the process and help add varied line thicknesses.



The new hair will soon flesh out the image back to its original appearance. It doesn’t look too bad at this stage, but repeating the process with a thinner brush will draw in those individual hairs.



Use a 2px brush with the Smudge Tool to draw thin stray hairs in varied directions to add realism to the image.



The photo can then be placed on any background with ease, and displays a crisp cut-out with no fringing or loss of fine detail.

This is a Photoshop tutorial showing you all the steps you need to take in order to photo-manipulate yourself into a Na'vi (based on the characters in James Cameron's movie "Avatar"). I used Photoshop CS2 in order to create this, but newer and older versions should do the same, as I used basic Photoshop tools only. I hope you will find this helpful.

Step 1


Import a photograph of your choice, but make sure its size is relatively large, as it gives more room to play with. Also, make sure that the person on the photograph is well lit - but not overlit - perhaps taken with a flash, so that enough sharp details are visible.




Step 2


Choose a "hard" brush from the"Tools" window (I tend to use a "Chalk" brush) and set its "Mode" to "Color", and its "Opacity" to 50%. Now pick a shade of blue from your Color Palette and brush over the entire skin area, leaving out the hair, eyes, and clothing. Now repeat this a couple of times using different shades of blue. In order to get the kind of blue I wanted, I did this four times in total using these colours: #5d7a99 - #32576a - #3c6986 - #54809b. However, every photograph is different, so you may prefer different shades of blue for your image.





And finally, pick a shade of purple, I used #472a50, with a small brush and its Opacity set to 10%, paint the lips with it, and then randomly brush all over the face with it, as this breaks everything up a bit, thus making it more "natural" looking.




Step 3


Now in my case, I was working on a picture of Tom Cruise with facial stubble. The Na'vi, however, don't seem to have facial hair, apart from the eyebrows - but only if they are a human hybrid (those hybrids also have smaller eyes, and five fingers on each hand instead of four). So I removed the stubble with the "Clone Stamp Tool". You have to zoom right in and press "alt" on your keyboard to select the source area, click once, then let go and paint as normal. Always make sure you pick a source area that looks most similar to the area you want to copy to, and if something doesn't look right, try a different source.




Step 4


Now remove the ears! In my case this was very easy, as I simply had to paint them black / match the background. The person on your picture may have long hair, in which case you could just hide the ears by using the "Clone Stamp Tool" and copy hair over. However if you have short hair this step could be tricky, for the Na'vi (and the hybrids) have their ears set higher up than human ears. In any case, I would probably use the Clone Stamp Tool again.


Now either you can paint the Na'vi ears yourself, do as I did - import a screenshot I found on the Internet. There are many movie screenshots you can find on the Internet. Save the image onto your computer and go to "File" then "Open..." and select the image.


You can also download the ears I've prepared to make your life easier.


Now select the "Polygonal Lasso Tool" in the Tools window, and create a mask around the ear you wish to import. Once you have done this, either drag the image over into your project, or you can go to "Edit" and "Copy" the ear and "Paste" it onto your image. It will now be on a new layer - which you can see in your "Layers" window. Now place the imported ear wherever you want it to be - you may need to resize it, so click on the "Move Tool", then click on one of the corners of your selection and click on "Maintain aspect ratio" which is the little "chain" icon in the menu (you don't have to do this if you don't wish). Now drag on one of the corners of your selection until the ear has the right size you want.




Step 5


If it's a frontal face shot you're working on, you simply need right-click with your mouse on the layer with the ear, and select "Duplicate Layer". Then right-click on one of the corners around the selection and choose "Flip Horizontally", and move the second ear to where you want it to be. As you can see, the image of the ear that I had originally imported had the tip of the ear missing. I fixed this by painting the rest in, using the Clone Stamp Tool, and the Brush Tool set to "Normal" (use the "Eyedropper Tool" to select colours from the actual ear itself).




Step 6


Now we're going to enlarge the eyes. Normally you can try and do this by eye, but because Mr Cruise is looking directly at the camera in my picture, both eyes had to be enlarged identically. First of all, duplicate the overall main image you have so far, so that you have two identical copies lying on top of each other as layers. Then use the "Polygonal Lasso Tool", with "Add to selection" selected from the menu (that way you can select several areas at the same time). Create two masks, one around each eye, including eyelids and eyebrows. Click on "Move Tool" from the Tool bar, then enlarge the selection until the eyes have the size you want. Now click on "Move Tool" again and select "Apply" on the pop-up window. Now "Copy" and Paste" from the Edit Menu. The eyes should now be on a new layer. Duplicate that layer. Then use the Eraser Tool to erase the left eye on one "eye layer", and the right eye on the other eye layer. Basically this means that you now have one layer for each eye, though both enlarged, their proportions to each other are still correct. Press "ctrl" on your keyboard and select both "eye layers" and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the eyes up and down, then select each individual eye to move it left and right, once again by using the arrow keys.




Step 7


You can now use the "Eraser Tool" and brush around the eyes with it to remove what is overlapping and the border lines. Doing this will reveal the layer underneath, so don't erase too much.




Step 8


This is the most difficult part - the nose! This could potentially take quite some time, so don't get frustrated, just try your best.


Use the "Rectangular Marquee Tool" and generously select the nose along with its surrounding area. Select "Filter" from the main menu and go to "Liquify...". A new window opens and you may want to zoom in a little. Select the "Forward Warp Tool" - with the "Brush Density" and "Brush Pressure" set to 100. And now "shape" the nose into that of a Na'vi's. If you make a mistake you can use the "Reconstruct Tool". It will probably look a little strange, but that's ok, just click "OK" when it looks remotely like the one in my picture. If yours looks better, excellent!




Step 9


This is still fairly difficult. You will now be using the "Burn" and "Dodge" tools from the Tools window a lot. Use both tools, with their "Range" set to "Midtones", and the "Exposure" set to 5% and continue to "shape" the nose by carefully adding definition. "Burn" darkens, while "Dodge" highlights, so make sure you figure out where the light on your picture is coming from. Because this step is so tricky, it is okay to carry on with the next steps and return to the nose from time to time.


I also used the "Dodge" tool, set to "Midtones" and "Highlights" in order to brighten the irises of the eyes. And finally I dyed the tip of my nose pink, with the Brush tool set to "Color", and the colour itself taken from the ears by using the "Eyedropper Tool".




Step 10


I continued to use the "Burn" tool - a combination of both "Midtones" and "Shadows", to further add definition all around the face. Check out the differences between images 9 and 10. You may choose not to do this on your photograph. However, you might have noticed that I went back to "Liquify" the nose a little more....




Step 11


My overall image had turned a little too dark in my opinion, so I went to my Layers window, and at the bottom I clicked on the "black and white" symbol that has the name "Create new fill or adjustment layer", and selected "Levels..." from the menu. Now a new window opens up and and all I did was click on "Auto" and "OK". However that option doesn't always turn out a good image, so you may want to play around with the sliders. Alternatively, if your image is too light or pale, you can change this here too, using the sliders.




Step 12


For the pattern and sparkles on the face, use the "Burn" tool - Midtones and Shadows, as well as the "Brush tool" - this time a circle shape - with its Hardness 50%, Opacity around 10%, so there's room to build up colour depth, the "Mode" set to "Normal". You'll need to play around with this, as it can take a while to get it right.




Step 13


Now it's time to enlarge the irises of the eyes! Basically we're repeating Step 6 here. So follow every single step, just apply them to the irises alone. Once you're happy with their position, use the "Eraser Tool" to bring back the eyelids from the layer underneath.


And finally I did some additional lighting effects, by using the "Burn Tool" set to "Shadows" and the "Dodge Tool" set to "Highlights". Check out the differences between Image 12 and 13. However this may not be relevant to your image. All done, I hope you are pleased with your results.




Step 14


Now let's compare the final result with the original image:





Good luck!