Doyoudo Teacher Xiaobai’s PS Course Lesson 2 Notes: Easily “take photos” with celebrities

I studied the PS course "Learning Photoshop from Zero Basics, From Novice to Master in 18 Lessons" taught by doyoudo Xiaobai at Weiku. I compiled some notes while listening to the class. Don’t blame me if you don’t understand the notes, please read them in conjunction with the course.

"Learn Photoshop from scratch, 18 lessons from novice to master"

Lesson 2: Learn this trick to easily "take photos" with celebrities

1. Switching between straight lines and curves

If the curve is affected by the curvature of the previous curve and cannot fit the shape of the character, then Ctrl+Z Take a step back, hold down the Alt key on this vertex, and click once. The handle above will disappear. This means that the curve will no longer be affected by the previous curve, and it will reconnect to the next line without any arc.

If you want to turn a straight line point into a curve point, hold down the Alt key and place the mouse on the anchor point. At this time, the mouse will turn into a small corner (Convert Point Tool). While holding down the Alt key, click the left mouse button and drag the anchor point. This point will have two small handles again, and the straight line will become a curve.

If you want to change the curve back to a straight line, you can still hold down the Alt key, then return to the anchor point and click once, and it will change back to a straight line.

2. Move the anchor point to the correct position

Hold down the Ctrl key, the mouse turns into a white arrow (direct selection tool), select an anchor point, and then move it.

3. Add or delete anchor points

Put the mouse anywhere on the line, and a small plus sign will appear in the lower right corner of the pen tool. Click once to add anchor points.

Put the mouse on any anchor point, and a minus sign will appear in the lower right corner of the pen tool. Click once to delete the anchor point without affecting the curvature of the line.

4. Adjust the curvature of the curve

Hold down the Alt key and click the handle to adjust. This will only adjust the curvature of one side of the handle and will not affect the other side.

5. End the cutout

Place the mouse on the starting point, and a small circle will appear in the lower right corner of the pen tool, indicating that the path can be ended. Click on the starting point to seal the path. Right-click the mouse and select "Create Selection", or press Ctrl+Enter to create a selection.

If the edge lines are not clean, click "Select-Modify-Shrink" and shrink inward by 1 to 2 pixels.

Click "Layer Mask" in the lower right corner of the layer, and the character will be cut out.

Summary: Alt can adjust the next curve at will, and Ctrl can select the anchor point to move.

Part B: Processing keying

1. Adjust the size of the girl

Ctrl+T brings up Free Transform, hold down Alt+Shift and use the center point as the axis Year-on-year scaling. Ctrl+J duplicates the layer and turns off the eyes of the original layer.

2. I want one arm of the girl to be placed behind the star

Turn off the eyes of the girl layer, select the Pen Tool (P), and draw on the girl layer The shape of the star's arm. Open the eyes of the girl layer, connect the lines (the other side does not need to be too regular), end the path, and use Ctrl+Enter to make it a selection.

Select the mask of the girl layer, and fill the selection with the foreground color black in the mask (the shortcut key for filling the foreground color is Alt+Del). One side of the girl’s arm will be gone. See It's like hiding behind a star. Ctrl+D cancels the selection.

If you feel that the edges of the star's clothes and the girl's arms are a bit stiff, you can use the Brush Tool (B) on the mask, select the solid-edge brush, reduce the flow (43%), and shrink the brush in square brackets [ ] ,

Ctrl+plus sign to enlarge the canvas. Change the foreground color to white and carefully wipe the edges.

3. Adjust the girl's color

(1) Curves

Create a new fill or adjustment layer in the lower right corner - Curves.

If you want it to only adjust the color of the girl without affecting other parts, you need to right-click on the curves layer and select "Create Clipping Mask".

Or hold down the Alt key and place the mouse between the adjustment layer and the character layer. At this time, the mouse will turn into a small square with a downward black arrow, which means it is only for the following. Adjust the layer.

Adjust the three different color channels of red, green and blue to make the girl's color warmer.

Red: Lift the bright parts up a little, and push down the dark parts a little.

Green: The highlight does not need to be modified, just add a dot to fix it. Anbu pressed down a little.

Blue: Press down both the light and dark parts.

(2) Increase contrast

Create a new fill or adjustment layer in the lower right corner - Color Levels.

If you only want to adjust the girl layer, in addition to right-clicking on the color levels layer, select "Create Clipping Mask", or hold down the Alt key and place the mouse on the adjustment layer and character image. In the middle of the layer, you can also find a small mark that is only for the lower layer under the color level attribute panel.

(3) Increase exposure

Similarly, set it to only target the girl layer. Increase the exposure, and the displacement does not need to be adjusted. Gamma correction can eliminate dark areas of an image and enhance image clarity.

(4) Add filter effect

Create a new fill or adjustment layer in the lower right corner - color search.

Click "Load 3D LUT", and there will be many filter effects, which can be switched with the up and down keys of the keyboard or the mouse wheel. Select Soft Warming. If you feel it's overexposed, you can adjust the opacity of the layer.

(5) Reduce saturation

Create a new fill or adjustment layer in the lower right corner - Natural Saturation - Reduce Natural Saturation.

Natural saturation: Only adjust the color areas in the picture that have not reached saturation.

Saturation: Adjust the overall saturation of the picture, whether it has reached saturation or not.

4. Add shadow

Select the star layer and create a new blank layer above it.

Select the Brush Tool (B) and change the foreground black to black.

Select a soft-edged brush with reduced flow (39%) and enlarge the brush.

Draw a shadow on the right side of the girl, making the shoulders that overlap the star darker.

Ctrl+plus sign to enlarge the canvas, and use the Eraser Tool (E) to erase the painted areas on the star’s clothes.

Ctrl+Minus sign shrinks the canvas and reduces the opacity of the shadow.

The brush and eraser can be used repeatedly to draw satisfactory shadows.

5. Crop the image

Use the crop tool (C) to select the appropriate size, press Enter or double-click to confirm.

6. Some shortcut keys:

Ctrl+plus sign/minus sign: zoom canvas

Ctrl+T: free transformation

Alt +Shift: Scale with the center point as the axis

Ctrl+J: Copy the layer

Ctrl+Enter: Turn the pen path into a selection.

Alt+Del: Fill the foreground color

Ctrl+D: Cancel the selection.

Summary:

1. Select photos with close angles for synthesis.

2. After cutting out the image with a pen, color correct the character.

3. Add appropriate shadows to the keyed characters.