This is a tutorial illustrating perspective techniques and how you can achieve the feeling of

depth and motion. We will be doing this in a few steps, such as placing the main character,
creating the volume fading away and adding foreground and background images. Lets get
started!

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Tutorial details:
Programs: Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Modo

Difficulty: Advanced

Estimated Completion Time: 5-7 h

Step 1 Preparing the canvas

Before we begin there are a few things worth mentioning. All the photos in this tutorial belong
to the author,Pirosca Marcel. They were not gathered from stock sites around the net. The
main character was shot in my photo studio.
First off I opened the original image resulted from the shooting with the main purpose being
isolating the character and the shadows on the floor. First thing I noticed was that his face
was not expressive enough for what I had in mind.

Before we begin cutting out the character I needed to replace his head with one from another
picture where he looked more optimistic. I always shoot a lot of pictures every session, so
when situations like this arise I have plenty of other images to choose from. The most
important thing is that the light sources must be in the same place so it integrates seamlessly
and believably. The light needs to come from the same directions. I have found the image
below to be a good match for what I needed.

Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool create a selection around his head. The background
contains only a flat color, so the selection should be very easy to make. I selected his head
just as in the image below, then copy/pasted it into the original image, on a new layer.

I scaled and rotated it so that it matched the old head.

As you can see some integration is needed to be done for the head to blend perfectly. First
off, cut out the background head so we can work on our new one. Use the Polygonal Lasso
Tool to select and delete it. We should now have something similar to what we see below.

Notice that the most important region to work on is his neck. In order to obtain a nice
transition from one to the other we need a transparency mask on the new head, then with a
relatively soft (50%) Eraser Brush start deleting some of the harsh edges on the neck until
you reach a good result. This part is open to a lot of trial and error, so using a mask will help
us recover some of the parts we may have accidentally deleted. Finally, you should obtain
something similar to the next image.

As we can see we need to work on some of the details. We need to fix the shirt and neck
lighting in order for him to be believable. For the neck I used a combination of
Dodge/Sponge tool as illustrated below.

In order to fix the shirt I copy/pasted a part of his shirt and then I blended it (using curves and
transparency mask).

We are now ready to isolate our guy and the shadows on the floor. As he is a hard edged
surface against a flat background it should be fairly easy to select him using the Polygonal
Lasso Tool. I personally prefer this tool over the paths approach to selection because I dont
have to adjust any control points and tangents, even though it means a lot more clicks.
Copy/paste him into a new layer.

Next thing we want is having the shadow on a different layer. As you can see the background
of the photo studio was kind of dirty, so in order to remove the stains I applied some Surface
Blur. I found that this type of blur is best for this operation as it removes noise while
preserving some detail.

Once we got to this stage we can select the shadow using Color Range and the following
settings.

Of course there will be some unwanted regions in the selection. Hit OK, and after the
selection was made enter Quick Mask mode. Proceed to erase the unnecessary parts, as
depicted in the image below.

Now in order to have the exact shadow we need to subtract the contour of our guy from the
remaining selection. While in Quick Mask mode Control-click the thumbnail of the main
character layer in the layers palette. This will load the selection for that layer. Press Delete to
erase the quick mask inside the selection.

Exit Quick Mask mode and we have the selection of the shadow. Just copy/paste it onto a
new layer.

We now have the character and his shadow isolated and on separate layers. We are ready
to begin the final image.

Step 2 Composition
This was a HUGE piece of work, size related. In order to achieve the final image we need to
create an image 3613 by 5000 pixels. To get an idea of what I actually wanted, first I took the
main character and moved it around the canvas; finally deciding to place him on the lower
half of the image following the flow of his body. Being on a separate layer meant I could add
all sorts of details behind him. The first thing that needed to be done was to further
differentiate him from the gray background.
Use a white, soft brush with 20% Opacity to create a glow behind the guy.

Next its time to determine how the lines in the image would flow. For this I used my tablet
with the size controlled by the pen pressure and Opacity set to about 30%. I proceeded in
drawing the lines on which our man was surfing by holding Shift (so that the brush draws a
straight line) and pressing harder on the tablet (for the line to be thicker) at his feet and then
pressing less as the lines faded away.
This gave the lines the feeling of perspective and also helped me to give a sense of depth. I
have to add that this is a process prone to a lot of trial and error, so it might take a while until
you are satisfied with the results.

Now it gets interesting. In order to be able to replicate all of the planes fading away and also
maintain proper perspective I used the Vanishing Point Filter to eyeball the plane our man is
surfing on. There is an entire discussion here, because you cant define that plane exactly
how it is in reality since you have no reference. After several attempts I settled for the one
below, thinking it works. To do this go to Filter > Vanishing Point.

The deal with Vanishing Point is that these planes can be extended at 90 degrees or
arbitrarily. Using this method I further constructed additional planes to help me keep track of
perspective, while trying to match my sketch lines as close as I could.

With this setup in position I was now able to add elements that will be flowing along these
planes. But first I had a point to settle.
Somewhere along the line I experimented with color variations since the gray seemed a little
dull. I love color and decided to use its power to give it a little punch.

Step 3 Color Scheme

In order to obtain the proper colors for this piece I used three adjustment layers and placed
them on top of the image. Two of them affecting only the skin (using masks), and a third one
to set the general mood. For the skin, a Levels and a Color Balance to add subtle color
enhancement.

And then a Color Balance affecting the whole image to give an overall greenish mood. The
settings are shown below.

We are now ready to add in the details.

Step 4 Digital Volume

Open Illustrator and by copy/pasting and then scaling vertical rectangles you can obtain
something similar to the first digital volume in the image below. Make a copy and move it
below.
By adding horizontal rectangles and subtracting them, its easy to obtain the second one.
Just create one rectangle, move it vertically (by holding down the Alt key to create a copy)
and press Command + D repeatedly to multiply it.

Copy the second volume graphic and go to Photoshop.

Now paste it into the Vanishing Point filter. For some reason Photoshop doesnt allow directly
pasting paths from Illustrator there. So we must paste it on a new layer as pixels first. Rotate
it and scale it vertically just as in the image below in order to have as much resolution as we
can.

Then Command-click the layer thumbnail in the layers palette. This will bring up the selection
of that layer. Press Command + C to copy it into the cache, then delete the layer. We can
now move to the Vanishing Point filter.
Go to Filter > Vanishing Point and paste. You should have something like that shown below.

Now if you drag that selection onto the floor plane, Photoshop will automatically calculate the
right perspective for you.

Do it again to extend the volume further back.

Go to blending options and add the styles shown below.

You should now have something looking like this.

In order to to have some of the squares transparent, like in the final image, create a
Transparency Mask for this layer, and then use a 50% gray (#7a7a7a) to paint over the
squares that you want transparent. This can be a tedious process and it is up to you to
decide which ones you leave opaque and which not. I will illustrate.

Now to give it a little punch, duplicate that layer, set its Opacity to 68%, and apply the
following Curves (Command + M) to its transparency mask and you get this. The gray in the
mask should have turned to black so this layer affects only the opaque squares.

It should look something like this.

We have reached a delicate part which takes a lot of tweaking to get right, but the main idea
is to use a copy of the volume, move it into place and then use the Warp Tool to simulate the
curvature. The tricky part is that some of the lines may get curved the wrong way and I had
to personally correct them. Fairly time consuming I must say, but no other idea to create that
corner came to mind.

Using the same technique as before, create a transparency mask and block out some
transparent squares using a 50% gray.

Again, use the Vanishing Point Filter, Warp and a Transparency Mask to create the next
section. It will take some work, but I already illustrated the necessary techniques.

We proceed to add the rest of the sections until they vanish.

Back to Illustrator. Using the Pen Tool to create a path along the sketch lines. Then round the
corners. The easiest way for rounding vertices is to use a script called Round Any Corner
found in this archive. Read more here.

Fill the final path with white, remove the stroke, and copy/paste it into Photoshop underneath
the volume layer.

In order to enhance the look I decided to add another volume, this time white, underneath
the one we created. Use the Vanishing Point filter once again, copy the first volume created
in Illustrator, and extend it into perspective, as shown below.

As we can see, the trail is overlapping the white volume, so we need a mask to hide part of
it. Leave only the top-left section visible.

We just need to add the shadow underneath our guy and were done with this section. We
isolated it earlier in another document so just copy/paste in a new layer and align it. Set it to
Color Burn with 50% Opacity. Now he looks like hes actually there.

Step 5 Background and Foreground

Images
There are multiple ways to create the flying images, but I found that the quickest and easiest
was the 3D approach. Basically, I took the planes generated by Vanishing Point and tried to
recreate them in 3D. Considering that they were flying on a vertical plane on the surfers
sides meant I had to create only one plane. I could extend everything else from there. Hang
on, youll see what I mean.
The application of choice was Modo, but this can be done just as easily in others too. Again,
I did this in 3D because it was much faster, I could move the planes into perspective much
easier, which means more experimenting hence better results. Arguably I could have done
this with Vanishing Point too, but it would have been time consuming.
Besides on my computer, Photoshop kept crashing if I worked more than 30 seconds with
Vanishing Point, which happened about 100 times when doing work on the music volume.
After that, I knew 3D was the only choice. Besides youll learn a new technique.
First and foremost we need to prepare a backplate for the 3D environment with the plane we
need to match. I used the following image. Save it as a separate JPG.

In Modo create a new scene.

Go to Item > Create Backdrop. This creates a plane which we can add the image above as
reference.

On the right you will see the following menu. From the Items list choose the backdrop item
you just created, then in Properties, go to Image > Load Image.

Choose the backplate we saved earlier.

As you can see, the backdrop rotates as we rotate the view. We dont want that, we want it to
remain still and only move the geometry. In order to do that go to Projection Type > Camera.
This will make the backdrop invisible for the current perspective view, but it will act as a
background for the camera.

Press Command + Space. This will bring up a pop-up menu where you can choose what
your viewport will display. Select Camera of course.

Now if we rotate the viewport the background image will remain still. To make sure the
rendering will have the same dimensions as our piece, on the right side go to Shader Tree >
Render and set the width/height of the scene to 3613/5000.

We are ready now to match some geometry.

Make sure that Trackball Rotation is active in your camera Advanced OpenGL menu. This
will ensure that the camera will be able to rotate on all axis not only on XZ.

Now the tricky part. By rotating the camera slowly try to match our 3D plane with the one in
the reference. Also scale the plane and make it longer.

One thing is obvious, the camera perspective is not dramatic enough to match the two
planes. When I say dramatic I mean that the parallel lines do not converge fast enough. So
we need to increase it.
The perspective of a camera depends on how wide the entering cone of light is. The wider
the cone, the greater the perspective. The narrower the cone, the lower. Thats why wide
camera lenses tend to distort images and emphasize perspective. That cone angle is directly
controlled by the focal length. Fortunately Modos camera model is very similar to the real
world one, so we can edit that parameter.
I have found by trial and error that 10mm focal length is close to what we need.

Of course the objects are now smaller, because the wide angle covers more space. No
worries there. We just have to close in with the camera, and rotate it. Suddenly, the plane fits
much better.

Not the perfect match but with a little bit of tweaking the camera we are there.

This can be a tedious process because the first time you create the plane, you have to rotate
the camera and change the focal length at the same time to get a good match. Which can be
tricky and time consuming. But once you have the focal length determined, everything else is
a piece of cake. Below are the camera settings to get the exact match.

Once we have that plane into place, we can duplicate, scale and move it to create different
copies. You can move them parallel to each other to give the feeling of depth.

Observe the wide angle of the camera and the final geometry.

Press F9 to render the Camera view. It shouldnt take long because it is a simple scene. This
is what you get. Switch to Alpha Output and save a JPEG.

Back to Photoshop. Lets see what we got so far.

Open the Alpha Image we saved from Modo in Photoshop. Copy it, then switch to our surfer,
in the Channels tab create a new one and paste the alpha inside.

Now if you Command-click the channel thumbnail you get a selection.

Create a new layer and fill it with orange (#ff8f00).

Cut and paste the images that are supposed to be behind him on a new layer and move it
underneath the digital surfer layer in the Layers Palette. This way they will seem to be
behind him in space.
There are too many of them flying right now, they overcrowd the scene so proceed to erase
some of them in order to maintain balance. Most are from the lower-left corner.

Now we will round off the corners of the images, so they look a little less pointy. To do that
load the layer selection by Command-clicking on its thumbnail in the Layers Palette. We will
first round off the small rectangles, as they need a smaller radius, and then progressively do
the others. Subtract parts of the selection to obtain the one below.

Go to Select > Modify > Smooth and set the radius to 10 pixels. Then press Command +
Shift + I to inverse the selection and delete. There you go. You now have rounded corners.

We need to apply the same technique to the larger images. This time with a radius of 20
pixels since they are closer to the camera. Do this for the next selection.

You will get this result.

And now the final step of this process is to round the corners of the foreground images.
Repeat the above steps with using the radius in the image.

Proceed to apply the following style to the image layers. We need to give it a little depth.

The difference is very subtle around the edges but its still there.

Now we will assign different opacities to various images depending on how far they are from
the camera. I need you to copy and paste the following onto a new layer and assign it 25%
Opacity.

Copy and paste into a new layer the following selection and assign it a 65% Opacity.

Copy and paste the following selection into a new layer and assign it a 44% Opacity.

Copy and paste the following selection into a new layer and assign it a 75% Opacity.

After all these steps you should be looking at something like this.

The next thing to add are some highlights over the flying rectangles. Select all of them, then
with a 20% Opacity, soft brush, paint some highlights on them. Take a look at the second
picture below to get an idea.

The only thing left to do now is add some textures on top of them. I will demonstrate the
technique used for one of the images, then by repeating it a lot all the other rectangles can
be filled too. Well use one of my photos to do this. You can find the rest of the images used
images here: xn3ctz.deviantart.com/gallery/. This is my portfolio of stock photography.
Feel free to use them.
Anyway, copy and paste this image into a new layer in Photoshop.

Using the Transform tool Command-drag the corners to fit one of the rectangles we want to
texture.

Then set the layer to Overlay blending mode and use a mask to round off the corners. The
opacity can depend on the distance to the camera, meaning that the images in the
background can be a little transparent to give the feeling of depth.

After you do this with all the other images you should end up with something pretty nice.
Anyway, it is time consuming so Ill jump straight to the end result.

Step 6 Translucent Interface

I started by creating these fairly simple shapes in Illustrator. They will act as textures for the
interface pieces.

Copy the bottom left shape into Photoshop and place it into position.

Set it to Multiply with 35% Opacity and apply the following layer styles.

Use the same settings and the Illustrator paths we first created to add the next shapes.

Add some texture using the other shapes. They should be white set to Soft Light blending
mode at 100% Opacity. Place them using the Transform Tool (Command + T) and fit them to
the interface pieces.

And now FINALLY the last step. Create a new layer, load the interface selection, and with a
20% Opacity, soft, white brush paint some highlights just as we did with the rectangles.

THATS IT! Just zoom-out turn on the visibility of all layers and enjoy!

Conclusion
With this tutorial we have explored various ways to create the feeling of depth and space
while maintaining perspective. All starting from a simple photo, adding layers and layers of
details all working together in a seamless piece.
I hope you liked it and learned some new techniques from this tutorial. See you online.
Cheers!
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