Initially I had a problem with organising my work. I would work on different images without creating folders for them and often i'd get mixed up with what layer I'm working on.


To work on that, for every new image in bring into the composite I create a new folder

Photoshop Practice:

Adjustment layers

I noticed my image was too dark at the top as the light is shining from above. I needed to get rid of the shadows on the upper side of my hoodie . To do this I used a Marquee tool and selected my arms. Using a Curves Adjustment layer I lightened the arms. To get rid of the inconsistency between shades of the upper and lower body I used a Mixer brush tool and blended the shades together. I did the same with the lower half of the body darkening 

Finishing touches

After completing a composition there might still be a sense that the pictures are not really integrated. One way to solve this is to add a filter to the entire image. In this case I added Noise...




To do this I created a new layer which I filled with 50% grey (as shown below) and added added  25% Noise - Gaussian- Monochromatic (meaning no colour was in the filter only a scale of grey). To integrate the filter you may choose a soft-light in a panel above your filter layer.

To eliminate white lines that appeared between my own picture and the rough shadow I created two shadows using a low flow and low opacity brush. I drew one on the underneath my image and one on top, reducing the white lines that were visible between my picture and the background.

IMPROVEMENT

 After some improvement to the image with the help of my teacher my picture started to look more integrated by copying my image again and changing the mode to Luminosity on one of the images and played with the opacity.

Another way to create a shadow effect is to use a radial blur that creates rays of colour and blends them into the image.

To be able to change the filter later on you need to first convert it into  SMART FILTER and later you may adjust the intensity and length of the rays.

Using the spot healing tool brush I eliminated the logo from the original picture found on the internet and replicated the snake skin I sampled from other parts of the snake.

With a brush and an eye drop tool I sampled the darker areas of the water and with low flow airbrushed the underneath of the serpents throat to add the effect of a shadow.

The original image-

I firstly created an adjustment layer of Colour Balance and adjusted the image to suit the warmer theme of my other images. The colour change is seen in the image below

I have applied a Mask and with a Magic Wand tool cut out the temple and hide the blue background. With a Brush tool on low opacity created the impression of clouds. This will allow me to blend the image to my other background.

In a new layer, using the brush tool and eye-drop tool I chose the colours of my background and created smudges. Applying a photo-filter I applied a Gaussian blur on low opacity to make the temple seem smudged creating the effect that the temple is in the far distance. 

BLENDING TWO IMAGES 

By using the Brush and Eye Drop tool you can sample colours and draw layers to create a rough gradient. Then you can apply a Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian blur, which blends your rough layers and makes a continues gradient. 

These colours will now be visible through the entire image and will indirectly blend two images together.

By using the option shown on the right you can change the saturation, intensity and hue of the previously painted colours and can help change the mood and  warmth of the image to suits your needs.

             

ADJUSTMENT LAYERS/ MASKING EXERCISE

Using masking to blend two images together with a brush tool or a gradient tool.

I used 1 layer to mask the image and reveal the background with a soft feathered brush to gradually build gradient between to images.

The upper lip was cut out using the Polygonal Lasso Tool and added to the adjustment layer where I changed the lightness to create a black colour.  After I used the brush tool to reveal the red and give the upper lip a tint.

To the lower lip, I used the lasso tool to cut out and change the hue of a little oval part to add gloss to the lip.

I also cut out the eyes and used the brush tool to reveal the background image in the eyes holes.





To experiment with compositing images I tried to merge my own image with some owl wings. Unfortunately, my attempt turned out pretty unrealistic and rough however it gave me the chance to morph images and experiment with scaling to achieve a composite. In this I used the Free Transform Tool and played with the images and masking the images to create a gradient between two images and make them blend. -->



<-- I added the owl eyes and the other wing.
The shade of the jumper was changed by selecting the magic wand tool and highlighting jumper only. I added a adjustment layer and changes the Hue and saturation.











I darkened the entire image using a Curves adjustment layer. By moving the little square around the grid you can change the exposure, shadows and saturation of a image. I made the image more dark to suit it to the background.

YO WAZZUP!
I POST MY WORK FOR COMPUTER GAMES DEVELOPMENT LEVEL 3 DIPLOMA.

KEYBOARD SHORT-CUTS

cmd+J =  copy via layer
cmd+shift+4 = screenshot
f+f = fullscreen the image with black background
shift + f5 = fill
W = magic wand
- shift = adds to the selected area/ alt = removes from selected area
cmd+I = invert
B = brush
[] = size of brush
cmd+ -/+ = zoom in and zoom out
cmd+ t = select image/ free transform
alt+shift = change relative size of image
cmd+ N = new document
cmd+ S = save document
cmd+ A = select all
D = reset colours to default
X = switch foreground and background colours
cmd + alt+ Z = undo


IMAGE SIZE AND RESOLUTION

For each image you use you need to decide on the size first..
the size of the image I used was in mili-meters when you're creating a image that you're print the resolution must be 300 DPI. In our project's we will be using the 8 BIT.  This indicates the scale of colour you can use. Photographers may use the 16 BIT or 32BIT because they need to present the pictures that reflect real life more accurately and since our eyes differentiate much more shades of colour. An image rendered with 16 BIT colour mode the image may take up 4 times more space then the 8 BIT.   The image are then in the .PSD a photoshop native format that is Lossless meaning that the image is not compressed which in consequence means that the file will be much bigger. The benefit of this format is that the image can be altered at anytime.

FILE TYPES

For now the important file types are the;
.PNG --> meaning the image carries alpha channel and has a transparent background making it ideal for compositions as it saves time cutting images out.
.TIFF --> also lossless not much different from .PSD
.GIF --> Graphic Interchange Format - a rudimentary file type with a 256 colour plate.
.JPEG --> Lossi_ compressed file that retains high quality in smaller sized files.
.PDF --> Portable document file. compress' info while retaining resolution.