This episode is sponsored by Cyberlink, maker of PowerDirector, the most popular video-editing software.
Its multi-award winning, clear, intuitive interface makes it a breeze to produce stunning,
professional-quality videos.
Along with its 360-degree VR footage editing feature, PowerDirector was voted the Best
Editors' choice by PC magazine 8 years in a row!
For a limited time, Cyberlink is giving away one free PowerDirector 16 Ultra which can
be redeemed via its digital copy website.
Click the link in my video's description for your chance to win!
Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a powerful, film noir-style portrait.
Open a high-resolution photo of someone that you'd like to use for this project.
The result will look best if your subject's lighting is mostly from one side.
I downloaded this photo from Shutterstock.
Its size is 1080 pixels in width and height and its resolution is 150 pixels per inch.
The first step is to separate our subject from its background by making a selection
around our subject.
For this example, I'll use the Quick Selection Tool.
If you’re using this tool, as well, drag the tool over the inside of your subject to select it.
To remove areas outside your subject, press and hold Alt or Option as you drag over those areas.
To finesse the selection of the hair, click the "Select and Mask " button
or go to Select and Select and Mask.
If you're using a version earlier than CC 2015.5, you'll see "Refine Edge", instead of "Select and Mask".
I did in-depth tutorials on both filters, so if you'd like to watch them, I provided
their links in my video's description below.
If you're using CC 2015.5 or later and would like to use Refine Edge instead of Select
and Mask, Shift-click "Select and Mask" to open the Refine Edge" window.
I'll click "Smart Radius and drag the Radius to approximately 42 pixels.
Then, I'll drag my brush over the edge of the hair.
I'll check "Decontaminate Colors" to fill in the edge of the hair and choose "New Layer with Layer Mask".
We'll make this layer into a new document by clicking the icon at the upper right of
the Layers panel and clicking "Duplicate Layer".
Open the Documents list and click "New".
Name it "Displacement".
We’re going to make this document into a displacement map, which we'll use to wrap
the shadows of the shutter blinds around the contours of our subject.
We'll make a new layer below the active layer
by Ctrl-clicking or Cmd-clicking the New Layer icon. We'll fill it with white, but first,
check your foreground and background colors.
If they aren't black and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
Since white is your background color, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.
We’ll convert our visible image into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively.
To do this, Shift-click your subject to make it active as well, and then, convert them into one Smart Object.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Black White".
Click the Adjustment Layer icon again and this time, click "Levels".
Drag the Input Highlight slider to the point where the histogram starts to rise
and do the same for the Input Shadows.
This increases our subject's contrast, which will make our displacement map more effective.
Next, we'll blur it, which will also give us a better result.
Make your subject layer active
and go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 2 pixels.
Go to File and Save As.
Save it to your Desktop, so we can access it quickly.
Save it as Photoshop file
and click "Save".
If you see this message, just click OK.
Open back your subject document.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the New Layer icon to make a new layer below the active layer.
Open your Gradient Tool and make sure the Linear gradient icon is active.
Click the gradient bar to open the Gradient Editor.
Click the "Black, White" preset and click the lower, left Stop.
Click the color box to open the Color Picker.
Click the lower, left corner of the color field and for Brightness, type in 20.
Then, click OK.
Click the lower, right Stop , the Color Box and for Brightness, type in 50.
Then click OK on both windows to close them.
If your subject is lit from the right, place your cursor on the left edge of your document
and press and hold the Shift key as you drag the Gradient Tool to the right edge.
Then, release.
If your subject is lit from the left, then, drag the Gradient Tool to the left.
Make your subject active.
Click the Adjustment layer icon and click "Black White".
We want to restrict the adjustment layer to affect just the one layer beneath it.
To do this, either click the Clipping Mask icon or press Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows or
Cmd + Option + G on a Mac.
Open the Preset list.
I'll click the "Red Filter" to brighten the warm colors of my subject's face, however,
you may find that the Default setting is fine for your subject.
Click the lock icon on the bottom layer to unlock it and drag the layer to the top of your Layers panel.
I'm going to make the red lips of my subject the only color we'll see in my portrait.
If you want to do the same for a particular color of your subject, the steps will essentially be the same.
Go to Select and "Color Range".
Open the "Select" list and click "Sampled Colors".
Make the "Fuzziness" 40.
Click the subject's color that you'd like to isolate.
Then, press and hold Shift
as you drag over more of the same color to include subtle variations of that color.
If you over-selected it, press "z" on your keyboard to undo it.
If you want to zoom into the area to see it better, press “z” on your keyboard to
open your Zoom Tool and drag over the selected area.
Make the selection into a Quick Mask by pressing "Q' on your keyboard.
I'm going to change the color of my red quick mask to see the lips better.
If you want to change the color of your quick mask, double-click the quick mask icon.
Click the color box and pick another color.
Then, click OK on both windows.
Press "Q" again to make the selection into a quick mask.
We want to remove unwanted areas of the quick mask and fill in other areas.
Open your Brush Tool and Brush Picker.
I'll make the size: 6 pixels, the Hardness: 0% and Opacity: 100%.
To remove areas of the quick mask, make sure white is your foreground color.
If your colors are inverted, press “x”.
Now, brush over the unwanted areas.
To fill in areas, press "Q" and invert the selection by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + I.
Press "Q" again and then press "x" to make your foreground color black.
Brush over areas you want to fill in.
Press "Q" and invert the selection.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to the active layer.
To fit your document back onto the canvas press Ctrl or Cmd + 0.
Next, we'll create the dramatic lighting of shutter blinds.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
We'll fill it with 50% gray.
To do this, press Shift + the F5 key at the top of your keyboard or go to Edit and Fill
to open the "Fill" window.
Open the "Contents" list and click "50% Gray".
Press "D" on your keyboard to make your foreground and background colors black and white, respectively.
Go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the Sketch folder and click "Halftone Pattern".
The Pattern Type is "Line".
Drag the Size and Contrast all the way to the right.
Open your Channels panel.
If you don't see it, go to Window and Channels.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the RGB channel to make a selection of the pattern.
Open back the Layers panel and press the "Delete" key on your keyboard
to delete the white rows of the pattern.
Then, deselect it.
Next, we'll enlarge our pattern.
Open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
Click the chain-link icon to link the Width and the Height.
Now, when we type a percentage amount in either the Width or the Height, the other will change
to that amount, as well.
Type in 300% in either field.
Next, we'll change its perspective, but first,
zoom out by pressing Ctrl or Cmd and the minus key on your keyboard a few times.
Go to Edit, Transform and Perspective.
Go to the top, left corner and drag straight up approximately this much.
Then, go inside the bounding box and drag it to the left until the bounding box is close
to the right edge of your document.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Fit it back onto your canvas.
Press "v" to open your Move Tool and position your pattern, so the eyes of your subject,
and in this example, the lips are visible.
Go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 20 pixels and click OK or press Enter or Return.
Reduce its opacity to 70%.
Let's rename it, "Wall", since this layer will be the pattern on the wall behind our subject.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the layer mask of our subject to make a selection of its shape.
Alt-click or Option-click the Layer Mask icon to make an inverted layer mask of the selection,
next to the active layer.
This layer mask is essentially masking out or hiding our subject from the pattern.
Click off the chain-link icon, so we can adjust the pattern independent of the layer mask.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + J to make a copy of it.
Make the top layer mask active and invert it by pressing Ctrl of Cmd + I.
This layer mask is revealing the pattern onto our subject through the layer mask.
Let's name this layer, "Subject", since it shows the pattern only on our subject.
Increase its opacity a bit to 75%.
Before we apply the displacement map to the pattern,
we need to crop off the pattern that extends past our visible canvas.
Remember, we enlarged the pattern 300% and placed it in perspective.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + A to select our canvas and go to Image and Crop.
Then, deselect it.
Go to Filter, Distort and Displace.
Make the Horizontal and Vertical Scales: 20, "Stretch to Fit" and "Repeat Edge Pixels".
Click the "Displacement" file you saved at the beginning and click "Open".
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching.