Section 10.8. Homemade Backgrounds


10.8. Homemade Backgrounds

If you do much work with knockouts, chances are you will need some eye-catching backgrounds for them. Of course, many applications for knockouts, such as catalog advertising, require a whiteor at least, solid colorbackground so that there will be as little interference as possible with the surrounding advertising copy. On the other hand, I've done whole fashion shoots knowing that there simply wasn't the budget for either location shooting or fancy backgrounds. Anytime I'm out scouting around with my camera, I'm looking for backgrounds for realistic situations, but sometimes you just want an eye-catching look. Sometimes you want to suggest an atmosphere that doesn't really exist.

I don't know if anybody would buy it, but you could write a whole book on the possibilities for creating your own backgrounds. One way is to use a lighting mask like the one I described above and create interesting shapes to cast highlights and shadows on a solid color background by using a masked adjustment layer. In this instance, I used shapes from the Animals collection provided in Photoshop. Shadows were created by inverting the original layer and then changing its mode to Multiply and then reducing the opacity of the layer. You can see the result in Figure 10-21.

Figure 10-21. These shapes were used to create a lighting effect. On the right, you see it applied to a solid color background. Of course, it could be applied to a background of any color or texture, even a photograph.

10.8.1. Using Pattern Maker

Pattern Maker makes a whole layer of a seamless texture from a selection you made from another layer or photograph. It's a good way to make a background for an image whose natural background was too complex. Because this new background is taken from the original background, the color balance and exposure of the background are much more likely to match. Be sure to make a merged layer of your entire image before you run this process. You will select the pattern area from this merged layer.

The following process is typical of the process for this making a new background for an object knocked out of the same photo that the background pattern is derived from. Figure 10-22 shows an example of the before and after of this effect.

Figure 10-22. The original image is on the left. Although it's a stronger image as it stands, the jacket that was being sold in the ad was getting too much competition. Furthermore, there wasn't room for type.

  1. Open the image for which you want to create a new background. Create a new layer, which is merged from all your existing layers that becomes the top layer.

  2. Knockout the portion of the image you want to make the new background for.

  3. Use the Rectangular Marquee to select a portion of the original image to make a good background pattern; areas of the image that are textured, such as stone walls or hedges, are usually the best candidates. On the other hand, there's no harm in experimenting if you have the time. Anyway, when you've chosen the area you want, press Cmd/Ctrl-C to copy its contents to the Clipboard.

  4. Create a new transparent layer immediately above the Merged Composite layer. Now select that layer in the Layers palette. Name the layer Pattern Maker Bkg.

  5. Choose FilterPattern Maker. The Pattern Maker dialog will open (see Figure 10-23). There will be nothing in the preview window yet, but when youre done, it will fill with the pattern you've made.

    Figure 10-23. The Pattern Maker dialog.

  6. Click to check the Use Clipboard as Sample box. Set the Width and Height just slightly smaller than your marquee. You may have to open the Get Info palette to see what the Marquee size was and then translate inches to pixels. Alternatively, you could just make a good guess, however if you set the size larger than the sample, you'll get a seam in your pattern. Choose 3 from the Smoothness menu. This determines how much "wraparound" you get on the edges of the selection so that it will be harder to spot the seams between the tiles in the pattern. Experiment with the Sample Details slider setting.

  7. Click the Generate button to see what your settings will produce. You'll quickly see the result. If you don't like it, try a different original selection or different settings, or try different Offsets. When you like what you see after pressing the Generate button, click OK. You'll see your original image with the knockout floating above the new background.

The subject was leaning against a wall, so I transformed the background so that the texture projects out toward the viewer. I also create a shadow for the knockout and used a Lighting effect on the back wall.




Digital Photography(c) Expert Techniques
Digital Photography Expert Techniques
ISBN: 0596526903
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 124
Authors: Ken Milburn

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