Hey, this is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a powerful, dynamic polyscape.
Polyscapes are photo effects that merge beautiful landscapes and other images with geometric
shapes using clipping masks and shape tools.
Before we begin, if you want to know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials, smash
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Polyscapes are limited to your own imagination.
Once you understand the concept of how to create it, you can let your imagination go
wild to create your own design.
Open a photo you'd like to use for the background.
I downloaded this one from Shutterstock.
It's important to note that the setting amounts we'll be using in this video is based on this
photo's size and resolution.
Press Ctrl + Alt + I on Windows or Cmd + Option + I on a Mac or go to Image and Image Size.
This photo is 1920 by 1080 pixels and has a resolution of 150 pixels per inch.
We'll convert our photo into a Smart Object, so we can modify it nondestructively as well
as allowing us to replace it with another photo at any time without having to redo the effects.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right and click "Convert to Smart Object".
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Go to Filter, Blur, and Gaussian Blur.
I'll blur it 6 pixels based on my photo's size and resolution.
Open your Pen Tool and place your cursor approximately here.
Click and release.
Place your cursor approximately here and click to make your first work path.
Continue to make paths until you click back on the first anchor point to complete the path.
Right-click or secondary-click directly on the path to open the fly-out list.
Click "Make Selection".
Feather it 0 pixels.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to the blurred background.
This shows the blurred background through the white of the layer mask and hides the rest.
Double-click an empty area of the layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Stroke".
If the color box isn't white, click it and when the color picker opens, pick white.
The size is 8 pixels, the Position is "Outside", and the Blend Mode is Normal.
The Opacity is 70.
Next, we'll flip the blur with the white line to the opposite side. To do this, make a copy of it
and click the chain-link of the copy to unlink the layer and its layer mask.
Doing this allows us to reposition or resize either of them independently of the other.
Make the Layer mask active and go to Edit, Transform, and "Flip Horizontal".
We'll place the background photos into a folder by Shift-clicking the bottom one to make it
active as well and pressing Ctrl or Cmd + G. Let's name it "Base".
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Color Lookup".
We want this adjustment layer to affect just the photos in the folder and not the bottom photo.
Since adjustment layers affect all the layers below them in the Layers panel, we'll need
to clip it or restrict it just to the folder.
To do this, click the Clipping Mask icon or go to Layer and "Create Clipping Mask".
Click "Load 3D LUT".
LUT stands for "lookup table".
The Color Lookup filters take the original colors in our image and remap them to
create certain looks which can be subtle or very dramatic.
The filters are based on photographic and cinematographic looks.
For my photo, I'll click "Filmstock_50.3dl", however, I encourage you to check each one out
and pick the one you like for yourphoto.
Remember, it's affecting just the photos in the folder since we clipped it to the folder.
It's not affecting the bottom photo.
Next, we'll lighten our overall background.
Make a new layer.
We'll fill it with white, but before we do, check your foreground and background colors.
If they aren't black and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
We'll fill the new layer with the background color by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.
Reduce its opacity to 20%.
Make a new layer and open your Shape Tools.
Let's use a circle for our first shape.
Click the "Ellipse Tool" and at the top, choose "Pixels".
Click the gear icon and tick "Proportional" and check "From Center".
Go to the center and drag out a circle approximately this size.
To ensure its centered, open your Move Tool and press Ctrl or Cmd + A to select the dimensions
of your document.
Click the "Align Horizontal Centers" icon and the "Align Vertical Centers" icon.
Deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D. Double-click the circle layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Stroke" and for the Fill Type click "Gradient".
Make the Size: 12 pixels, the Position: Outside, the Blend Mode: Normal, and the Opacity: 50%.
Click the gradient bar and pick the "Blue, Red, Yellow" preset.
The Style is Linear, the Angle is 90 degrees and the Scale is 100%.
Open a photo you'd like to place inside the circle.
Drag it onto the tab of your polyscape and without releasing your mouse or pen, drag
it down and release.
To place it inside the circle, go to Layer and "Create Clipping Mask".
Another way to clip it is to press and hold Alt or Option as we hover our cursor between the layers.
When we see this icon, click to clip it to the circle.
To resize it, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
At the top, make sure the chain-link icon is active between the Transform's width and height.
Drag the scrubby slider next to the width or the height to decrease or increase the
size of the photo inside the circle.
To reposition it, go inside the bounding box and drag it.
Continue to finesse its size and position until you like the way it looks.
Make a new layer and open your Shape Tools again.
This time let's place our next photo inside a triangle shape.
Click the Polygon Tool and at the top, type in 3 for the number of sides.
Click the gear icon and tick "Symmetric" andcheck "From Center".
Drag out a triangle approximately this size.
We'll center it using the same steps as we did with the circle.
Go to Edit, Transform, and "Flip Vertical".
We'll copy the Stroke surrounding the circle shape onto our triangle shape.
To do this, press and hold Alt or Option as you drag the Stroke up onto the triangle layer.
Double-click "Stroke" of the copy to open it in the Layer Style window.
Make the Position: Inside and the Angle: minus 90 degrees.
Open a photo you'd like to place inside the triangle shape.
As before, drag it onto the tab of your polyscape, drag it down and release.
Then, clip it to the triangle shape.
To resize it, open your Transform Tool and at the top, drag the scrubby slider over the
width or the height to decrease or increase the size of your photo within the triangle shape.
Continue to finesse it until you like its size and position.
Then press Enter or Return or click the checkmark at the top.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Color Lookup".
Clip it to the photo below it and open "3D LUT".
Pick the look you want for this photo.
I'll pick "2Strip.look".
Have fun creating your very own polyscape.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!