TEHSKID.COM
We don't need no stinking badges! (OR: Making a Merit Badge with Photoshop)
IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIVE (Or: "Out-of-bounds" Art in Photoshop)
1. Get yourself some sources. For this project, you'll want a picture of yourself, as well as a picture frame, television set, or other display. By the end, you will have your image coming out of the TV, frame, etc. (NOTE: I don't have a picture or camera on me as I write this, so I will demonstrate using a toucan. Close enough!) When taking a picture of yourself, try to match the lighting with that of the frame; if you do, the final product will look much better.
2. Add your image to the frame. Just cut and paste yourself on top of the frame.
3. Create a layer mask to show only the parts you need. Masking is like erasing, except you can bring back parts later if needed; while the eraser is permanent, masking is very temporary if need be. To create a mask, select yourself in the Layer Palette and click the "circle within a rectangle" button at the bottom of the Layer Palette. You'll notice a new thumbnail next to that layer.
In a layer mask, anything that is black will not be seen, and anything white will be seen. Shades of grey will create transparency (i.e. 90% black will be 90% invisible). Use the brush tool to draw black on the layer mask as if you were erasing around yourself.
4. Hide parts of the image and yourself behind the frame. Obviously, this is a photo; therefore, parts of the image must be behind the frame. Which parts these are exactly will depend on your photo, but legs and an arm are usually good candidates. Here, I'm going to hide the left side and bottom of my toucan behind the frame, using a layer mask.
5. Add shadows. Obviously, there's light in your image, and parts of you that are popping out will create shadows. An easy way to add them is to use a drop shadow, but that's lazy and never looks as good as custom shadows. You can approximate a shadow by using the brush tool (at high softness) on a new layer to draw the general shape of the limb that's hanging out. After that, lower the layer's opacity and add a Gaussian blur to soften the shadow. If done correctly, you will look much more realistic.
6. Final corrections. In my image, the toucan's contrast is very high compared to that of the picture frame. In order to fix this, I will use an Adjustment Layer. This will allow me to lower the contrast of the toucan, and make it fit better. This won't necessarily be needed, but if it is, doing so will make the image look much more realistic.
And there you have it!
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