face off - An original photoshop tutorial by Richard Isbell

 

I've had quite a few people sending me Emails asking how I created the face-off image on the home page, so I think it is about time I showed you. It is actually quite an easy job, but patience is needed (and if you have a digital tablet even better).

Step 1

Start off by taking your shot. I did this on a very simple Nikkon Coolprix 2100. A very basic camera but for web work it is adequate. Just remember to use the highest possible resolution settings.

 

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Step 2

The first job is cutting out the subject from the background. Before we do this though, I want to lighten up the picture temporarily so I can see what I am doing around the darker areas. At the bottom of the layers panel you will see a circle that is half black and half white. This is the 'new fill or adjustment layer' icon. Click it and from the drop down menu choose 'Brightness/Contrast'. you'll see that a new layer appears along with the Brightness/Contrast window. This is a good way of modifying photos as we can always change it without affecting the photo on a permenent basis.

 

Step 3

Time to cut out the subject. I almost always use the pen tool. This is when it is much, much, much better to have a digital tablet handy. I use a wacom Intuos 3 and it is a joy after having to fight with the mouse for so long. If you are serious about Photoshop and design, I would really recommend you buy one. Hit 'Z' for the zoom tool and get in realy close. I'm going to start at the neck. Hi t 'P' for the pen tool. Click in the pen tool option bar the little black arrow, then check the 'Rubber band' option. This allows us to see where the path will go next. Click once just inside the neck and drag the point. Then click again a little further up (see iamge below) I haven't dragged the point here and you can see the line isn't smooth but angular. Click again, following the outline of the head but always just a little bit inside. The spacebar helps here, too. If the hold it down the cursor changes into a hand and you can move the canvas around, so you don't have to constantly be zooming in and out.

 

Step 4

Carry on all the way around without stopping. Once you have joined the end of the path to the beginning, go to the paths panel and CRTL click the thumbnail to convert it into a selection.

 

Step 5

Make sure you have the picture highlighted in blue in the layers panel and not the adjustment layer! That done, CRTL + C to copy, CRTL+ N to open a new document (make background contents white), and finally CRTL + V to paste.

 

Step 6

Hightlight the white background layer and hit 'D' on the keyboard to reset the color swatches to black and white. Now hold down the ALT key and press the delete key to fill the layer with black.

 

Step 7

You are probably wondering when you are going to start cutting my face off. Soon! Now though, I want to crop the picture and get rid of the bits I don't want. Hit 'C' on teh keyboard to activate the Crop tool, and from the top left corner drag down to where you want to crop. You can then resize it using the handlebars and hit enter to crop.

 

Step 8

One last thing. I want to desaturate the image but not completely. So I have decided to reduce the red content. CRTL + U to open up the Hue/Saturation window and where it says edit click and choose 'Red' from the list. Then lower the saturation.

 

 

Step 9

Ok, time for the face cutting. We're going to use the pen tool again, so zoom in and hit 'P' on the keyboard. Remember, to get a smooth, flowing path you need to click and drag each point.

 

Step 10

You can always go back and edit the path. Hit 'A' on the keyboard to get the white arrow direct selection tool. Then you can click on a point and move it and drag the handlebars. Once you are happy with the path, go to the paths panel again and CRTL click the thumbnail to make a selection, then CRTL + J to paste it to a new layer. Rename the layer by double clicking on the layer name in the layer panel. Now we still have the face in the original layer, which we don't want. CRTL click the 'face' layer to make a selection around it, hide this layer by clicking the eye just to the left, then highlight the bottom 'body' layer and hit delete.

 

Step 11

Now with the face layer highlighted in the layers panel, hit CRTL + T to enter Transform mode. Right click the face and choose 'Flip horizontal'. Then move the face over to the hands. To rotate it, simply move the cursor just outside the transform box and the cursor will change.

 

Step 12

Now to focus on the hand. I don't want to delete any pixels, so we are going to add a mask to the face layer. Click the 'add vector mask' icon (circled red) and hit 'B' to grab the paint brush. Now you will see that the color swatches are black and white. Basically, black takes away from the face and white brings back what you have taken away. Try painting over the face in black to see what happens. It disappears! The great thing here is that we haven't deleted it, and just by changing the color to white we get it back. Go ahead now and paint around the thumb and cuff area in black.

 

Step 13

Now the hard part. Make a new layer under the body layer, and then use the pen tool again to try to recreate the missing head, only this time we're recreating the inside of the face. It is very important to get the path right here. Imagine the head as a 3 dimensional object, then try to imagine where the points should go. Don't forget the direct selection tool (A) to move the points around and modify the handlebars until you get it just right. The longer you spend on this part the better the results will be.

 

Step 14

As before, turn the pen path into a selection in the paths panel. Click the eyedropper tool (I) and click somewhere in one of the darker regions of the face. You will notice that the foreground color changes to the color you have clicked on. Now hold down the ALT key and press the delete key to fill the new layer.

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Step 15

Now for the really hard part. Using the Dodge and Burn tools (O) recreate the shadows and highlights of the inside of the face. A good trick is to add some noise (Filter>Add Noise>Noise) and add some color by holding the CRTL key and pressing 'U'. This part takes the longest time to do and the most practice to get right, so patience!