Add Cloud Background Video
I started getting requests for a video version of adding the cloud texture. So I took yet another photo of Sierra and applied the cloud texture.
The final image:
The final image.
Step by Step Adding a cloud as a background texture
This is a step by step instruction on how to perform a similar look as the photo I enhanced a couple days ago. First start out with your model photo. Clean up the background or any blemishes on the model you may want to remove.
In this case the original background color is very important since that’ll be the base color the clouds will take. Overlay the clouds and change the blend mode. In this case I used Linear Light to achieve the rich coloring.
Now we want to bring the model back to the front. So make a selection of the model and make a new layer with a mask. Actually we’ll need two of these. Your selection doesn’t have to be perfect. Since all we are doing is blending with the original image, if anything is out of place it’ll be difficult to find any errors.
The top most copy will need a little fiddling, but we’ll worry about that in a moment. This is just the cutout of the model on top of the blended background.
Most people would stop there but it lacks some punch so the next thing to do is to make the top most copy of the model black and white. In this case I’m going to use the top copy to enhance the lower copy. So I don’t want the black and white to be really strong. Just enough to heighten the shadows.
Now we change the blend mode between the two copies of the model. I used Hard light in this case to give her a more bronzed look. This will better match the background.
Finally you just turn all the layers on and adjust opacity as you see fit to balance things out. To the side is all the layers I used and what I set their blend modes to if it wasn’t normal. You can easily bring through some of the cloud texture on the model by adjusting the opacity, but in this case I didn’t like the effect.
Adding a cloud as a background texture.
Wow, we had an amazing thunderstorm last week. Right before it started to rain I made this photo.
I’m offering it up as a free texture photo. But a lot of people don’t know what you can do with it aside from just adding it to the background. So here’s a photo I made of Sierra a couple of weeks ago. This image is unedited, just a bit of color correction.
Taking the cloud image and rotating it and making a mirror copy in the background will put it where I want it, but the magic happens when you change the blend mode. I chose hard light in this case. I also duplicated the layer of Sierra and put it on top so she didn’t get completely washed out of the image. All in all this took less than 5 minutes and makes for a really interesting look.
Is that enough to get the gist of what I did, or should I create a video detailing the process?
Rainy Day (Texture) Photos
What do you do on a rainy day when you don’t want to go outside? Hunt down interesting textures in your home. Actually there’s no bad time to get texture photos. We can use them in very many interesting ways. I have three here that I’ll use in upcoming vlog entries. And you know what’s the best thing about texture photography? You don’t have to have perfect exposure or focus, because that can bee exactly what you wanted in the first place. So take a few minutes to get some of your own interesting textures and make sure you put them somewhere where you can get at at them easily. Or just grab these.
Real Clouds Instead of a Filter
When you want some clouds in PhotoShop as a texture, why use the clouds filter? It’s a reasonable filter for what it produces, but it doesn’t make clouds. It makes a cloud-like blotchy pattern. I can see a bit of a pattern in this filter. That’s because it’s created by an algorithm.
Clouds are one of the easiest things to photograph. You generally have all the light you need. No two photos are ever the same because clouds are truly random. You can always find something interesting in a cloud pattern. I have a directory of cloud patterns. Even the simplest patterns and most boring clouds can be tweaked very quickly.
In this case I tightened the levels and then applied a high pass filter using Vivid Light as a blend mode.
Feed
Google Plus
Sponsors
Or sign up for a Backblaze account.
Link backs
I am a top photographer in the Mocksville, North Carolina Professional Photographers guide on MarketingTool.com.
