Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create dramatic walls filled with your favorite photos that
are reflected onto a sleek, shiny black floor.
Before we begin, I want to point out that this tutorial is only for versions CS6 and later.
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The first step is to organize all of your photos that you'll want to use and place them into a folder.
It's best to use horizontal photos, since we'll be using a horizontal aspect ratio for the wall display.
To determine the exact amount of photos you'll be placing into the folder, decide how many
rows and columns you'll want.
Just multiply the number of rows with the number columns to give you the number of photos
you’ll be placing into the folder.
So, in this example, I chose to have 7 rows and 7 columns,
so I multiplied 7 times 7 for a total of 49 photos in my folder.
After you've placed all of of your photos into a folder, go to File, Automate and "Contact Sheet II".
The Contact Sheet window may look a different than mine if you're using an earlier version
of Photoshop, however, the functions are the same.
The Source Image is "Folder", click "Choose" and locate the folder in which you've place your photos.
Choose "inches" and make sure "Flatten All Layers" is unchecked.
You'll see why later.
The Width is 16 and the Height is 9.
This determines the aspect ratio or shape that all of the photos will have.
The Resolution is 150 pixels per inch.
The Mode is "RGB Color" and 8-bits per Channel.
Place the thumbnails "across first".
For this example, I'll use 7 rows and 7 columns.
"Use Auto-Spacing" is unchecked.
The Vertical and Horizontal are both 0.2 inches.
This is the amount of space between each photo.
Uncheck “Rotate for Best Fit", since we don't want any of our photos to be rotated.
Make sure "Use Filename as Caption" is unchecked, as well.
Then, click OK.
Photoshop is now automatically positioning each photo from your folder onto its own layer
with its own layer mask.
The reason we didn't choose to flatten the layers is so we can adjust the size of the
photos within their respective layer masks.
Scroll to the bottom and make the background active.
We'll fill it with black, but first, if your foreground and background colors aren't black
and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
Since black is your foreground color, press Alt or Option + Delete.
Click off the chain-link icons on each layer.
Doing this unlinks the layers and their respective layer masks, so we can resize and reposition
each photo without having the layer masks move at all.
Make sure your Move Tool is active.
Then, check "Auto-Select".
Now, when you click on a photo in your image, it automatically selects the respective layer
in the Layers panel and makes it active.
Open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
Go to a corner and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow,
press and hold Alt or Option + Shift as you drag it out.
Notice your photo is confined inside its Layer Mask.
To slide the photo in any direction 1 pixel at a time, press the arrow keys on your keyboard.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Continue these steps for each photo.
We'll place all the photos into a folder.
To do this, scroll to the bottom and Shift-click the bottom layer to make all the layers between
it and the top layer active.
Then, press Ctrl or Cmd + G. Click the "fx" icon and click, "Bevel Emboss".
The Style is "Inner Bevel", the Technique is "Chisel Hard" and the Depth is 100%.
The Direction is "Up", the Size is 3 pixels and Soften it 0 pixels.
Check "Use Global Light".
The Angle is 135 degrees and the Altitude is 40 degrees.
The Highlight Mode is Screen, the color is white and the Opacity is 100%.
The Shadow Mode is Multiply, the color is black and the opacity is also 100%.
Click "Contour".
Open the fly-out list and click the gear icon.
Click "Large List", scroll down and click "Sawtooth 1".
Next, we'll convert our image into a Smart Object, so we can manipulate it non-destructively.
To do this, Shift-click the background to make it active, as well, and click the icon
at the upper, right.
Click "Convert to Smart Object".
Create a new layer below it by Ctrl-clicking or Cmd-clicking the New Layer icon.
Fill it with black by pressing Alt or Option + Delete, which fills it with your foreground color.
Make the top layer active and open your Transform Tool.
Reduce its size approximately this much.
Drag it close to the top of your document and press Enter or Return.
We'll add a soft dark vignette at the bottom, which will give it a look of a slight reflection
onto it from the shiny, black floor.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next to the active layer.
Open your Gradient Tool and make sure the Linear gradient icon is active.
Open the thumbnails and click the Black to Transparent thumbnail.
Place your cursor approximately here and press and hold Shift as you drag the tool up to
the top of the bottom row.
Then, release.
Press Ctrl or Cmd +J to make a copy of it and make the layer under it active.
Open your Move Tool and uncheck "Auto-Select".
Go to Edit, Transform and "Flip Vertical".
Press and hold Shift as you drag the copy straight down just below the original image..
Holding Shift kept it aligned vertically.
Reduce its opacity 50%.
Make the layer mask of the reflection active and press "G" to open your Gradient Tool.
Place your cursor at the bottom of the second row of the reflection and press and hold Shift
as you drag it straight up to the top of the reflection.
Then, release.
Lastly, place your cursor on the left side of the document and drag it across a little
more than halfway.
We'll convert our image into a Smart Object, so we can manipulate the photo wall and its reflection together.
Repeat the same steps that you used earlier.
Make a copy of it and temporarily hide the layer under it.
Open your Transform Tool and go to the top, right corner.
Press and hold Ctrl + Shift + Alt on Windows or Cmd + Shift + Option on a Mac and drag
the white arrowhead up until your image wall is angled to a perspective you like.
Drag it to the right and enlarge it a bit.
Position it so the top, left corner is a bit above your document.
Go to "View" and make sure "Rulers" and "Snap" are checked.
If they're not checked, just click on them to make them active.
Go to the top ruler and drag down a guide line until it snaps to the Transform's bounding box.
Go back to the ruler and drag down another guideline to the bottom bounding box.
Zoom out by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + 0 twice.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Make the middle layer visible and active.
Open your Transform Tool and drag it to the left.
Position it until it snaps to the top guide line.
Go to the bottom corner, press and hold “Shift”and drag it until its flush with the bottom guide line.
Press and hold Shift as you drag to the right until it snaps to the other photos.
Then press Enter or Return.
Go to View and click "Clear Guides".
Open back your Transform Tool and go to an outside corner.
Again, press and hold Ctrl + Shift + Alt on Windows or Cmd + Shift + Option on a Mac
as you drag it up until you like its perspective.
Then, zoom it in.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!