Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to transform yourself into a golden statue.
Before we begin, if not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV, smash that small "Subscribe"
button at the lower, right corner!
If you want to use the same background that I'm using, I provided its link in my video's
description below or in my project files.
Open a well-focused, high resolution photo of someone that you'd like to use for this project.
I downloaded this one from Shutterstock.
We'll drag it onto the background.
If your Move Tool isn't active, press "v" on your keyboard.
Drag it onto the tab of the background and without releasing your mouse or pen, press
and hold "Shift", drag it down and release.
Pressing Shift kept it centered over the background.
To resize it, 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 in or out.
If you want to reposition it, just drag your subject.
Then, click the checkmark at the top or press enter or Return, twice.
We'll separate our subject from its background by making a selection around our subject.
There are many ways to do this and I covered them all in prior tutorials.
In this case, since the background is a solid color: white, I'll use the Magic Wand Tool.
If you're using this tool as well, make its Tolerance: 10 pixels and make sure "Contiguous" is checked.
"Contiguous" will prevent the inside of your subject from being selected.
Click on the background to make a selection of it and invert the selection by pressing
Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + I. Press "Q" to see it as a quick mask.
If you have areas outside the quick mask, we need to fill them in.
Before we do, check your foreground and background colors.
If they're not black and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
You can fill the empty areas outside your subject in a variety of ways, however, for
this example, I'll use the Paint Bucket Tool.
I'll click on each side twice to ensure that it's filling the areas completely.
Revert the quick mask back into a selection by pressing "Q" again.
Go to "Select".
If you're using version 2015.5 or later, you can either click Select and Mask or Shift-click
it to open Refine Edge.
If you're using an earlier version, click Refine Edge.
I did in-depth tutorials on both Refine Edge and Select and Mask, so if you'd like to watch
them, I provided their links, as well.
We'll smooth out the edges by dragging the "Smooth" slider to the right approximately
this much and check "Decontaminate Colors".
This prevents color fringing, which is when the background colors leach into our subject.
Slide the amount to 100%.
Output it as a "New Layer with Layer Mask".
Then, click OK.
We'll convert our cutout subject into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right of the Layers panel and click, "Convert to Smart Object".
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Black & White".
An Adjustment layer affects all the layers below it, so if you want to restrict it to
affect just the one layer beneath it, we need to clip it to that layer.
To do this, either click the "Clipping Mask" icon or press Ctrl + Alt +G on Windows or
Cmd + Option + G on a Mac.
You can also go to Layer and "Create Clipping Mask".
There's even a fourth way which is to hover your cursor between the adjustment layer and
the layer beneath it and press and hold Alt or Option.
When you see your cursor change to another icon, left-click.
We can target and automatically adjust the brightness and contrast of specific colors
of our subject by clicking this icon in the Black and white properties panel and dragging
our cursor over areas you want to add more contrast to.
I did an in-depth tutorial of this filter, so if you'd like to watch it, I provided its link, as well.
For example, I'd like to brighten the highlights of her skin a bit, so I'll place my cursor
on a highlight and drag it to the right.
This slides the colors in the properties panel associated with the placement of my cursor.
Conversely, I'd like to darken her skin's midtones, so I'll place my cursor on a midtone
and drag it to the left.
Next, we'll smooth out the skin by removing grain in the photo and her skin pores.
Make the cut out face active and go to Filter, Blur and Surface Blur.
Make the Radius: 20 pixels and the Threshold: 20 Levels.
Go back to Filter an this time, click "Noise" and "Dust & Scratches".
Make the Radius 1 pixels and the Threshold: 0.
Make the top layer active and click the Adjustment Layer icon.
Click "Invert" and clip it to your cut-out subject.
Change its Blend Mode to "Difference".
Make a copy of the "Invert" adjustment layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J and clip it.
Shift-click your cut-out subject to make it active, as well, and concert all the active
layers into one Smart Object.
Go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the "Artistic" folder and click "Plastic Wrap".
Make the Highlight Strength: 10, the Detail: 1 and the Smoothness: 15.
Convert it into a Smart Object.
If you want to brighten your image, click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Levels".
Clip it and adjust its Input Highlight.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon again and this time, click, "Hue / Saturation".
Then, clip it to the layer.
Check, "Colorize".
For its "Hue", type in 50 and for "Saturation", type in 70.
Shift-click your cut-out subject and convert all the highlighted layers into one Smart Object.
Go to Image, Adjustments and "Shadows / Highlights".
Check "Show More Options" to see the Highlights and Adjustments.
Make the Shadows amount: 60%, the Tone: 60% and the Radius: 30 pixels.
The Highlights amount is 0, the Tone: 50% and the Radius: 30 pixels.
Make the Adjustments color: 100.
I'd like to make the black areas of the statue a bit lighter.
If you want to do this to your statue, as well, double-click the thumbnail of the Smart
Object to open its source.
Click this Smart Object to open its source and click the last Smart Object to open its source.
Reduce the opacity of the Invert copy to 90%.
Close its tab and when you see this message, just click "Yes" to accept the changes.
Close this tab, click "Yes" and repeat it for this tab.
Repeat it for this tab, as well.
Double-click an empty area of the Smart Object to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Inner Glow'.
The color box is white.
If it isn't click it and pick white.
The Blend Mode is Color Dodge and the Opacity is 100%.
The Tehnique is "Softer", the Source is Edge, The Choke is 0 and the Size is 50 pixels.
Click "Outer Glow" and the color box.
In the hexadecimal field, type in: FFFF03.
Then,click OK.
The Blend Mode is "Soft Light", the Opacity is 100% and the Size is 50 pixels.
To remove the glow across the bottom of our gold statue, open your Transform Tool and
when you see this message, it’s just letting us know the Smart Filters will be temporarily
turned off as we use the Transform Tool.
Just click OK.
Enlarge it a bit and press Enter or Return.
To slide our statue down, press "v" to open your Move Tool and press the Down arrow.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!