Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I’m going to show you how to create a solid gold statue from a photo.
This is an update of a tutorial I did on an earlier version of Photoshop.
This update is quicker, simpler and more effective.
Before we begin, if you’re not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV,
hit that small “Subscribe” button at the lower, right
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Feel free to use this background if you like.
I provided its link in my video’s description below the video or in my project files.
Open a photo of someone that you’d like to use for this project.
I downloaded this one from Shutterstock.
Go to Image and Image Size.
Make your photo’s size similar to mine and make sure its resolution is 150 pixels per inch
to ensure that you’ll have the same result as mine.
We’ll make a selection around our subject, so we can separate it from its background.
There are many ways to do this and I covered them all in my tutorials.
So, to save time, I won’t be going over that here.
Once you make a selection, we won’t have to refine the edges since we want them to
be relatively sharp.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to the subject.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click “Black & White”.
We’ll convert our visible image into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively.
To do this, Shift-click the bottom layer to make it active as well
and click the icon at the upper, right.
Click “Convert to Smart Object”.
Make a copy of the layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Change the Blend Mode to “Difference”.
This will make the copy look black.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click “Invert”, which will change it to white.
Since we want the adjustment layer to affect just the one layer below it,
we’ll need to clip the adjustment layer to the layer below it.
To do this, press Alt + Ctrl + G on Windows or Option + Cmd + G on a Mac.
You can also go to Layer and “Create Clipping Mask”.
Shift-click the bottom layer to make all the layers active and convert them into one Smart Object.
Repeat the steps that you did earlier – make a copy of it and change its blend mode to “Difference”.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click “Invert”.
Then, make it into a clipping mask.
Shift-click the bottom layer and convert all the layers into one Smart Object.
Go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the Artistic folder and click “Plastic Wrap”.
The Highlight Strength is 12, the Detail is 9 and the Smoothness is 15.
Go to Filter, Blur and Surface Blur.
The Radius is 10 pixels and the Threshold is 20 levels.
Surface Blur basically blurs an image, while preserving its edges.
It smooths out the skin and other soft areas.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click “Color Balance”.
Click Midtones.
Cyan/Red is 30, Magenta/Green is 0 and Yellow/Blue is minus 84.
Click Shadows.
Cyan/Red is 21, Magenta/Green is 0 and Yellow/Blue is minus 52.
Click Highlights.
Cyan/Red is 18, Magenta/Green is 0 and Yellow/Blue is minus 21.
Shift-click the subject to make it active as well and convert the layers into one Smart Object.
We’re ready to place our gold statue onto the background.
With your Move Tool active, drag the statue onto the tab of the background.
Without releasing your mouse or pen, drag it down and release.
To resize and position 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 CC 2019 or later, just press Alt or Option as you drag it.
To reposition it, just go inside and drag it.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Next, we’ll make the edges of our statue a bit softer to give us a better result when
we add glows to it.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the statue to make a selection of its shape.
Go to Select, Modify and Contract.
Contract it 2 pixels.
Go back to Select, Modify and Feather.
Feather it one pixel.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to the statue.
Click the “fx” icon and click “Outer Glow”.
Click the color box and type in FFBA00.
The Blend Mode is Screen and the Opacity is 30%.
The Spread is 0 and the Size is 40 pixels.
The Contour is Linear and the Range is 50%.
Click “Inner Glow”.
The color is the same as Outer Glow.
The Blend Mode is Soft Light and the Opacity is 100%.
The Technique is Precise and the Source is Edge.
The Choke is 0 and the Size is 90 pixels.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!