Setting Up Your File

1. Open the tutorial file named [ PP_Chptr05.1_RulersGuides_Original.webp ] in Photoshop.
2. Save the image as a .psd file with the name [ PP_Chptr05.1_RulersGuides_Working.psd ].

Adding Guides

3. Use the Ruler tool to apply Guides onto the desk image to outline the space where the laptop and coffee cup images will be placed by selecting View > Rulers (hotkey: Ctrl / Cmd + R). Two rulers should appear on the screen – one on the left side and one on the top side of the screen.
   Note: If you right click on either of the rulers, you can change the ruler’s measurement unit (Pixels, Inches, Centimetres, Millimetres, Points, Picas, Percent). For this tutorial, we will work in pixels.
4. There are a few ways to add guides using the Ruler tool:
   • The first way is to click on the left or top ruler to drag a guide onto the working space. A guide line will appear and can be dragged to any point on the horizontal or vertical axes of the image. Repeat this process for more guide lines if needed.
   • The second way is to access Guides through View > Guides > New Guides. Select the orientation of the guide (Horizontal or Vertical), enter the pixel value of where you want the guide to be placed based on the ruler, and click OK. Repeat this process for more guide lines if needed.
5. Create two horizontal guides at 950px, 1050px, 1700px and 2400px, and vertical guides at 825px, 1200px, 1350px and 2825px. These will be used as “frames” for placing our secondary images into the scene.
6. Lock the guides so that they are no longer clickable by selecting View > Guides > Lock Guides.

Aligning the Objects

7. Open the additional images (Laptop and Coffee Cup) and move them onto your working file. Name these layers Laptop and Coffee Cup, respectively. Select the Laptop image layer and go to Edit > Free Transform on the menu to activate the Free Transform tool (hotkey: Ctrl / Cmd + T). Adjust the size and position of the image to approximately suit the desk’s perspective. You can click and drag the eight square anchor points outlining the image in Free Transform mode to resize the image.
   When holding Shift, the image will transform without maintaining its original aspect ratio (skewing the image). When holding Ctrl / Cmd (or by using Transform > Distort), the image will transform from the specific anchor point that is selected. These can be useful for simple adjustments to the perspective of the image being transformed to help with minor perspective adjustments.
8. To make the placed image match the angle of the desk, rotate the image by hovering over one of the eight squares and move the cursor away from the centre of the placed image until you see a curved double-sided arrow. This is the rotation control. Once the rotation is active, click and drag the cursor to rotate the image until it matches the angle of the desk (clockwise in the case of the laptop).
   Note: To rotate an image exactly 90 degrees, click the rounded arrows located on the left side of the popup bar below the image. The image can also be reflected horizontally or vertically by clicking the mirrored triangle buttons on the right side of the pop-up bar below the image.
9. When all Free Transform adjustments have been made, click Done.
10. Repeat Steps 7 to 9 for the Coffee Cup image.

Positioning the Objects and Adding Shadows

11. Drag the laptop image towards the upper left guides until the image connects to them (the guides will change colour to help indicate that you are aligned with them).
12. Drag the coffee cup image towards the bottom right guides until the image connects to them (the guides will change colour to help indicate that you are aligned with them).
13. To make the items look more integrated with the scene, add shadows to the them:
    • Create a new layer named “Shadows” and move it under the laptop and coffee cup image layers. Ensure the “Shadows” layer is above the desk image layer.
    • Use the Eyedropper tool (hotkey: I) to select the colour of existing shadows in the desk image. This works better than just selecting black, as the tonality will match the existing scene.
    • Select the Brush tool from the toolbar (hotkey: B) and click on the brush adjustment menu on the top left corner (looks like a circle with a number underneath).
    • In the brush adjustment menu, select the Soft Round Brush, increase the size of the brush to 250px by entering “250” into the rectangle beside Size, and decrease the Hardness of the brush to 0% by entering “0” into the rectangle beside Hardness. The arrows underneath the Size and Hardness sections can also be dragged left and/or right to further adjust these features.
    • Use the brush to Paint shadows underneath the laptop and coffee cup where they would naturally be. To erase drawn shadows, hold ~ while erasing or use the Eraser tool from the toolbar (hotkey: E) and draw over the areas you would like to remove.

Tonal Adjustment – Coffee Cup

14. The Coffee Cup layer is a little brighter and more saturated then the rest of the scene. To adjust this so that it fits in better to the tonality of the surroundings, add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer above the Coffee Cup layer, and link it to the Coffee Cup layer by Alt-Clicking / Option Clicking the line between these two layers.
15. On the Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer,reduce the Saturation by -30 and the Lightness by -10 so that the Coffee Cup layer looks more integrated with the image.  

Save & Wrap Up

16. Save your .PSD working file (Crtl / Cmd + S).
17. Save-As a .PNG (flattened) file (Shift + Crtl / Cmd + S).

Setting Up Your File

1. Open the tutorial file named [ PP_Chptr05-2_FreeTransformTool_Original.webp ] in Photoshop.
2. Save the image as a .psd file with the name [ PP_Chptr05-2_FreeTransformTool_Working.psd ].
3. Go to File > Place Linked to place each of the three supplementary files that will be used in this tutorial:
   [ PP_Chptr05-2_FreeTransformTool_Poster01.webp ]
   [ PP_Chptr05-2_FreeTransformTool_Poster02.webp ]
   [ PP_Chptr05-2_FreeTransformTool_Reflect.webp ]

   
   Important Note about transferring .PSD files that contain linked files like this: Because Photoshop references the external (linked) file here, you MUST include that linked file if transferring your project to another computer – unlike most layers, the .PSD file does not save the contents of the linked file in the .PSD file directly. If you send someone the .PSD (only), without the linked files, they will be informed that there are missing linked files and be unable to review or work with the content until they have received a copy of those linked file(s)!

4. Name each of these layers with a clear and concise layer name, and turn off their visibility for now.

Aligning your layers with the Original

5. Select the Poster 01 layer linked image layer, make the layer visible, and go to Edit > Transform > Distort. Drag the outer points of the image so it fits inside the central billboard sign. When all adjustments have been made, select Done.
6. Select the poster in the Poster 02 image layer, make the layervisible, and go to Edit > Transform > Perspective. Click and drag the outer square points up / down until the height of the poster matches the length of the smaller black and blue billboard sign on each side. Repeat this process for the width of the poster to match the width of the second billboard sign by dragging the outer square points left / right.
7. To adjust the direction of the poster so it leans to match the billboard’s perspective, click and drag the middle square points of the poster up / down or left / right. When all adjustments have been made, select Done.

Tone and Reflection

6. To make the billboards look more realistic, adjust the brightness and add a glass reflection. Add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer above the Poster 01 Layer, and link it to this layer by Alt / option clicking the line between the two layers.
7. On the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer, increase the brightness to 15.
8. Select the Reflect layer, make it visible. Reflect the image horizontally using the Free Transform tool (hotkey: Ctrl / Cmd + T), click flip horizontal (looks like two triangles pointing at each other horizontally), and resize / reposition it so that it is aligned with the Poster 01 layer.
9. Adjust the blending mode of the Reflect layer in the Layers Panel by selecting Screen from the layer mode drop-down menu. Lower the opacity of the layer to “30%”.

Save & Wrap Up

10. Save your .PSD working file (Crtl / Cmd + S).
11. Save-As a .PNG (flattened) file (Shift + Crtl / Cmd + S).

Setting Up Your File

1. Open the tutorial file named [ PP_Chptr05-3_PerspectiveWarp_Original.webp ] in Photoshop.
2. Save the image as a .psd file with the name [ PP_Chptr05-3_PerspectiveWarp_Workingp.psd ].
3. Under the File menu, go to Place Embedded and embed the provided 
   [ PP_Chptr05-3_PerspectiveWarp_Train.webp ] image as a new layer in your working file.
   Name this layer Train. Convert this layer to a Smart Object (Right Click the layer, Convert to Smart Object).

Mask and Warp the Train

4. On the Train layer, select the Quick Selection tool (hotkey: W) and paint the subway train to make sure it is selected. Create a layer mask from your selection by clicking the third button in the popup bar (looks like a rectangle with a circle in the middle).
5. To apply a perspective warp to the train, go to Edit > Perspective Warp. Drag the cursor to draw a grid that selects the front side of the train, ensuring the grid’s perimeter surrounds the front face of the train only. Now, drag the cursor to draw a grid that selects the left side of the train, ensuring the second grid surrounds the left side of the train only. Ensure that the right side of the second grid snaps to the first grid (the sides of the grid should turn to a bright blue colour).
   • If you want to make adjustments to the grids, you can select the white circle points on the grid by clicking and dragging them as needed.
6. When all adjustments are finished, click Enter.
7. Adjust the pins of the grids placed to suit the perspective of the train track by clicking and dragging them as needed. 
8. When all adjustments are finished, click Enter.

Adjusting Tone and Shadows

9. To make the subway train look more natural in its environment, adjust the exposure by adding a new Exposure Adjustment Layer above the Train layer.
   • In the bottom of the Properties window, select clip to layer (looks like a white square with an arrow and slash beside it). This allows for the exposure edits to only affect the “Train” layer. This can also be applied by Alt / Option clicking the line between the two layers.
   • At the top of the Properties window, drag the Exposure white arrow to the left until the lighting matches the environment’s lighting.
10. If needed, shadows can be drawn under the subway train to make it look more realistic.
    • Create a new layer named “Shadows” and move it under the “Train” layer. Ensure the “Shadows” layer is above the “Tunnel” layer.
    • Use the Eyedropper tool (hotkey: I) to select the colour of existing shadows in the subway tunnel image.
    • Select the Brush tool from the toolbar (hotkey: B) and click on the brush adjustment menu on the top left corner (looks like a circle with a number underneath).
    • In the brush adjustment menu, select the Soft Round Brush, increase the size of the brush to 250px by entering “250” into the rectangle beside “Size”, and decrease the Hardness of the brush to 0% by entering “0” into the rectangle beside “Hardness”. The arrows underneath the Size and Hardness sections can also be dragged left and/or right to adjust these features.
    • Paint shadows underneath and behind the subway where they would naturally be. To erase drawn shadows, hold ~ while erasing or use the Eraser tool from the toolbar (hotkey: E) and draw over the areas you would like to remove.

Save & Wrap Up

11. Save your .PSD working file (Crtl / Cmd + S).
12. Save-As a .PNG (flattened) file (Shift + Crtl / Cmd + S).

Setting Up Your File

1. Open the tutorial file named [ PP_Chptr05-4_VanishingPointFilter_Original.webp ] in Photoshop.
2. Save the image as a .psd file with the name [ PP_Chptr05-4_VanishingPointFilter_Working.psd ].

Add Text and Rasterize

3. Use the Type tool (hotkey: T) to create a new text layer. Type out “Let’s Go Falcons” using the typeface Impact or a similar blocky, sans-serif font. Set the type size to 72 pt and the text colour to a white tone sampled from the image using the eyedropper. Name this Layer “Original Text”.
4. Duplicate the “Original Text” layer (hotkey: Ctrl / Cmd + J) when you have the layer selected) and rename the new layer “Rasterized Text”. Turn off the visibility of the Original Text” layer by clicking the eye icon in the layer panel.
5. Rasterize the duplicated “Rasterized Text” layer by selecting the Layer, then going to the Layer menu, Rasterize > Layer (or Rasterize > Type).
   Note: While it is normally not advised to Rasterize Text, it is required in order to work with the Vanishing Point Filter here.

The Vanishing Point Filter

6. On the “Rasterized Text” layer, Select > All (hotkey: Ctrl / Cmd + A), and Edit > Cut (hotkey: Ctrl / Cmd + X). This loads the selection to your clipboard.
7. Select Filter > Vanishing Point. This brings up the Vanishing Point editing window. Use the Create Plane tool to outline the shape of the road where you want the text to go by clicking points on the corners of the road, and Edit > Paste (shortcut: Ctrl / Cmd + V), which puts the content of your clipboard – the text copied in the previous step – onto the work area.
8. Drag the text into the space outlined by the Create Plane tool. The text will conform to the perspective that you outlined in the vanishing point tool.
9.  If the text size needs to be adjusted, use the Free Transform tool (shortcut: Ctrl / Cmd + T) to adjust the text sizing and placement. Hold Shift when adjusting to maintain the text’s aspect ratio.
10. When all adjustments are finished, click OK.

Image Integration

11. To make the text look more realistic against the road, adjust the blending mode in the Layers Panel by changing it from Normal to Color Dodge. Color Dodge sets the layer to emphasize lighter areas while darkening the base layer’s colors. Adjusting the layer opacity of the “Rasterized Text” layer to 95% may also help improve the visual integration here.
    • Click Add a layer style (found at the bottom of the Layers Panel, looks like “fx”), and select Blending Options.
    • In the Underlying Layer, hold Alt when dragging the white arrow to the middle of the gradient rectangle to make sure the text does not fully disappear. Adjust the other black and white arrows as necessary.
    • When all adjustments are finished, click OK.

Save & Wrap Up

12. Save your .PSD working file (Crtl / Cmd + S).
13. Save-As a .PNG (flattened) file (Shift + Crtl / Cmd + S).

Setting Up Your File

1. Open the tutorial file named [ PP_Chptr05-5_LensCorrection_Original.webp ] in Photoshop.
2. Save the image as a .psd file with the name [ PP_Chptr05-5_LensCorrection_Working.psd ].
3. Duplicate the Background Layer and toggle the visibility of the original Background layer off. Name the new layer Lens Correction.  The Lens Correction filter is an inherently destructive process, so its handy to “keep a back-up” of your original image in the working file. 

Using the Lens Correction Filter

4. Lens correction often benefits from additional space around the existing image to ensure that details are not cropped out during the Lens Correction process. Load the Canvas Size tool under the Image menu, and increase the canvas Width to 2400 Pixels and the Height to 1900 Pixels. The Canvas extension color does not matter here – we will be either replacing it or cropping it out at a later step. This will create empty space around the original image.

   Why do we do this? Some settings of the Lens Correction filter will “push” elements of your image outside of the existing crop box of the image, making them unrecoverable (unlike the crop tool where you can toggle whether pixels outside of the crop are deleted or retained, the lens correction filter (currently) always deletes those pixels that are displaced outside oft he current crop / canvas size). If the lens correction process deletes important image components, you will be unable to restore them without reverting to your original image. Adding this additional space to the image canvas gives room to retain this pixel information. 

5. Select Filter > Lens Correction (hotkey: Ctrl / Cmd + Shift + R).
   • On the right, select the Custom window.
   • Under Geometric Distortion, set the Remove Distortion to +10
   • Under Transform, set the Vertical Perspective to -35, the Horizontal Perspective to 15, and the Angle to 0.8°.
   • To view the changes made to the original image, toggle the Preview checkmark (located at the bottom of the window) on / off.
6. When all adjustments are finished, click OK.

Restoring the Sky

7. Select the empty upper and right portions of the image, adjacent to the sky.
8. Expand the selection (Select > Modify > Expand) by 5px, and then Feather the Selection (Select > Modify > Feather) by 3px.
9. For organic, non-repeating elements like clouds it can be difficult to fill the area realistically using traditional tools like cloning or even content-aware fill. Using the Generative Fill tool tends to work better here to fill in the missing sky (Edit > Generative Fill). Use a prompt such as “Sky matching the surrounding sky” and review the variations presented to select the best one.
10. Repeat steps 7 to 9 for the other missing areas of the image that you wish to restore here.
11. Crop the image to recentre the SLC building and trim off any remaining “missing” image.

Save & Wrap Up

12. Save your .PSD working file (Crtl / Cmd + S).
13. Save-As a .PNG (flattened) file (Shift + Crtl / Cmd + S).