Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lighting TV.
I'm going to show you how to make a subject in a photo appear to be looking through glass
with the outside environment they're looking at appears to be reflected onto that glass.
Before we begin, if you want to know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials, hit that "Subscribe" button.
Open a photo of someone or something whose background is black or mostly dark.
The dark areas will show the outside environment the best.
Open another photo that will become the outside environment.
We'll place it onto our subject by pressing "v" to open the Move Tool and dragging it onto the tab of our subject.
Without releasing our mouse or pen, drag it down and release.
Reduce its opacity, so we can see our subject under it.
To resize it, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. Go to a corner.
If you're using a version earlier than CC 2019, press and hold Alt or Option + Shift
as you drag it in or out.
If you're using a later version, just press Alt or Option as you drag it.
To reposition it, go inside the Transform's Bounding box and drag your image.
To accept its size and position, press Enter or Return twice or click the check-mark at the top.
I'll cancel it, since I previously sized and positioned it.
Increase its opacity back to 100%.
We'll convert the photo into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right and click "Convert to Smart Object".
If your entire photo is in focus as in this example, we'll need to create a blur that
will blur it the further it is from our vantage point.
If your photo already has a depth-of-field blur, the next step isn't necessary.
If it's not blurred, go to Filter, Blur Gallery and Tilt-Shift.
If it's grayed out, go to Image > Mode > RGB color and 8 bits per channel.
If you don't see Tilt-Shift in the list, go to Edit > Preferences > Plug ins > Show all
Filter Gallery groups and names.
Once Tilt-Shift opens, if you don't see the lines or Blur Ring, just click your image.
I did an in-depth tutorial on Tilt-Shift, so if you'd like to watch it, I provided its link, as well.
Basically, in a nut shell, the area between the solid lines is sharp.
The areas between the solid lines and the dashed lines transition the photo from sharp
to the maximum blur that we set for it.
The areas outside the dashed lines are fully blurred based on how much the Blur Ring is
rotated or the amount of Blur in the Blur Tools.
Since I'd like to start the blur way at the bottom, I'll go to the center pin and drag
it down, which drags the entire Tilt-Shift with it.
If you want to transition the blur more gradually, drag the Feather Line up.
As I mentioned, you can adjust the amount of blur by dragging the Blur Ring counter-clockwise or clockwise.
If there are areas of the background in the distance that intersect areas in the foreground
as with the bridge and fence rails in this photo, I'll show you how to deal with that
in a moment, but first, click OK at the top to accept the Tilt-Shift.
Notice that the Smart Filter comes with a Layer mask.
If we brush black over the Layer Mask, those black areas will reveal the photo in its original, unblurred state.
But before we brush black over it, we need to make the Layer mask active.
Open your Brush Tool and Brush Picker.
Pick a soft, round brush.
We'll take care of the size in a moment.
The Hardness is 0%.
Reduce its Opacity to approximately 35% and keep the Flow: 100%.
In case your wondering what the difference is between Opacity and Flow, while Opacity
controls the transparency of the paint, while Flow controls the speed at which paint is laid down.
In this particular, case the Flow is 100%, however, when the Flow is less than 100%,
we can gradually build up to our darkest color by doing multiple passes in the same area,
much like painting with a spray paint can.
To make your brush bigger or smaller, make sure your CapsLock key is off and press the
right or left bracket key on your keyboard.
Brush over the areas of the foreground to gradually reveal back the original focused photo.
Next, we'll blur our overall image a bit more, but before we do, make the photo active
and convert it into a Smart Object.
Go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 3 pixels.
Next, if you're using CC, we'll remove some of its mistiness thereby increasing its color contrast.
Go to Filter and Camera Raw Filter.
If you're using a version later than CC 2017, open "Basic"
and slide Dehaze to the right.
If you're using an earlier version, the Dehaze filter is under Effects.
Temporarily hide the reflection background and make your subject active.
Convert it into a Smart Object and go to Image, Adjustments and "Shadows/Highlights".
Shadows/Highlights does many things, but it's mainly used for is to brighten dark
areas some of which may be hidden in shadows.
To see all the options in this filter, check "Show More Options".
Since very photo has its own characteristics of shadows, highlights and mid-tones, feel
free to adjust any of these settings.
For this photo, I'll make the Shadows amount: 35%, the Shadows tone: 50% and the Radius: 30 pixels.
The rest of the settings, I'll keep its default amounts.
Next, we'll copy the Dehaze Camera Raw Filter and apply it to our subject.
To do this, go to the Camera Raw Smart Filter and press and press and hold Alt or Option
as you drag a copy of it next to your subject.
Make the top layer visible and change its Blend Mode to Screen.
Reduce its opacity to 70%, but feel free to adjust it to an opacity that looks good to you.
Lastly, we'll adjust the color cast of the subject,
so it matches more closely to our background that's reflected on the surface of our window.
Make the subject active and click the Adjustment layer icon.
Click "Photo Filter".
For this image, I'll use "Warming Filter (85)" and increase its Density to 64%.
Again, pick a color filter that works for your image.
As I toggle before and after, you can see the difference.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!