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Martha on Steps
Children Playing
Directions (Photoshop Elements Version):
Choose a
photo: The Out-of-Bounds (OOB) effect
uses a framed portion of a photo with elements of the photo spilling or moving in or out of the frame. It's best to
choose a photo that lends itself to this effect--one with position or motion that might naturally extend out of a boundary.
Once you have selected your image and opened it in Elements, duplicate the image (Image>Duplicate), close the original
without saving it, and save the copy in your projects folder.
Children
Playing (above) is the final version of an OOB image I built from a photo of a group of children playing with balloons.
I selected it because there is a lot of motion in the photo, and I thought the balloons above the children would make a nice
effect outside the frame.
Decide whether
the in-bounds portion of the photo is to have a vertical or horizontal orientation: In Oregon Grape (above) I used a vertical orientation--as if the plant were spilling
out of a framed photo hanging on a wall or (if I had done a better job on the graphics) a plant growing into a window.
Martha on Steps and Children Playing both use horizontal orientations--as if the dog or the children are stepping
into or out of the photos.
Decide on
the viewer's point of reference: This determines
how the Distort or Perspective transformation is to be applied to the frame. Once these decisions are made, the steps
I used are as follows:
Construct
the OOB image:
1.
Duplicate the background layer (the source photo), and make the Background copy active. Click the new layer icon at
the bottom of the Layers Palette to add a new layer above the background copy layer. Double-click the layer icon for
the new layer, and name this layer Frame. You should now have three layers: Background, Background Copy, and Frame
(the top layer). Make the Frame layer active. Get the rectangular marquee tool, and select a portion of the photo
that is to be (roughly) the in-bounds portion of the image. Set the foreground and background colors to the default
black and white.
2. Making the white frame: With the Frame
layer active, go to Edit>Stroke. Use Background color (white), set the width to about 15 pixels (this depends
on the size of the source photo), and the position to Inside. Click OK. If the frame is too wide or narrow, undo
and stroke again with a different setting. Deselect when you are satisfied. Below is the source photo of the children
with my frame added.
3.
With the Frame layer still active, go to Image>Transform>Perspective. Adjust the frame to give the perspective
of a viewer looking across the in-bounds portion of the photo. This adjustment depends on how you select the point of
view and how you want the elements of the photo to be positioned in or out of the frame. I ended up squishing the frame
a little to get the girl in yellow just on the corner of the photo and her balloon just outside (note: "squishing" is a highly
technical term). You may want to use the Distort Transformation as well. Do all of your transforming before you
commit the transformation. Below is my photo with the frame transformed.
Setting up
the clipping group structure;
4. All
of the photo outside the frame except for Sydney’s legs and part or all of four of the balloons will be
removed. These remaining portions of the photo that are to be on or outside the
frame need to be extracted from the rest of the photo background--some parts will appear to be on top of the frame.
5. To
extract those OOB portions of the photo, we will use a fake masking technique so we don't alter pixels in the photo and can
refine the extraction as much as we like. In full-version Photoshop, you would use a layer mask to do this, but Elements
does not have layer masks. We will simulate a layer mask by grouping the photo
to a base layer and “painting in” the portions of the photo we want to reveal. To edit the photo, you simply
continue to paint pixels on the base or erase them from the base. Here's how you need to set the layers up:
6.
At this point you should have the following layers: Background, Background copy, Frame. Make the Background layer active
and put a new layer above it. Name this layer Solid Color. This will be the solid color background for the
OOB image. Select a light color for the foreground color (I selected a light
green) and fill this layer with it (Edit>Fill, use Foreground color). With
this layer active, click the new layer icon to add a new layer above it. Name
this new layer Photo Base. Double-click on the Background copy layer, and rename it Photo.
7.
Now you are going to use a clipping group to isolate the framed in-bounds portion of the photo. While you are doing this, you will set up the layer for the shadow under the photo. Set the foreground and background colors to the default colors of black and white. Make the Frame
layer active. Get the magic wand tool and use the following settings: Tolerance: 0; Contiguous, checked; Use all layers, unchecked. Click
outside the frame to select the region outside the frame. Now do Selection>Inverse
to select the frame and the portion of the photo inside the frame. Make the Photo
Base layer active. Go to Edit>Fill, and fill the selection with the foreground
color (black). You should have a black polygon on the Photo Base layer in the layers palette, but you won’t
see a change in the image, because the polygon is under the photo. Deselect. Drag the Photo Base layer to the new layer icon to duplicate it. You should
now have two layers with the black polygon—name the lower one Photo Shadow. The upper one should be the Frame
Base layer. Make the Photo layer active. Go to Layer>Group with Previous to clip the Photo layer to its base.
Everything outside the frame will disappear, and you will see the framed photo on a light green (or whatever color you selected)
background. Note: instead of using a clipping group, you could have simply deleted
the portion of the photo outside the frame. But you need that black polygon anyway
for the shadow….and it’s good practice for the next stepJ.
8.
Now you are going to set up another set of layers and a clipping group for the out-of-bounds parts. Drag the original background photo to the new layer icon to duplicate it, and move this copy to the top
of the stack above the Frame layer. All you will see in the image now is the
original photo with no frame (because that’s what’s on top of the stack).
Rename this copy of the original photo OOB. Make the Frame layer active, and click the new layer icon to add
a layer above it. Name this layer OOB Base.
Make the OOB layer active, and do Ctrl-G (Layer>Group with Previous) to clip the OOB layer to its base. Since the base layer in this clipping group is transparent, the original photo on the top of the stacking
order disappears (is completely masked), and the image now looks like the framed photo on the solid background again.
9. Now you are going to reveal the out-of-bounds parts of the photo. Make the OOB
Base layer active. Be sure the foreground and background colors are still set
to the default black and white. Get the brush tool and select a soft brush. Paint on the OOB Base layer in the general areas that you want to reveal, and you
will see the photo beginning to emerge. Use the erase tool (on the OOB Base layer
to remove the portions you want to exclude. The screen shot below shows the layer
structure at this point, and my first rough extraction of Sydney and the balloons—I’ll continue to paint and erase on the base layer to refine the extractions.
Adding shadows:
10.
When you are satisfied with the extractions, make the Photo Shadow layer active, and change the blending mode on the layer
to Multiply. This will be the shadow for the photo itself, and you are going
to blur it (Filter>Gaussian Blur). But you may want to turn off the layers
above it so you can judge how much to blur it. When you are satisfied with the
setting, click OK. Turn the upper layers back on, and position the shadow so
it is consistent with the shadows in the photo. Scale the shadow or reduce the
opacity of the layer until you are satisfied.
11. Make the Frame layer active. Click the new layer
icon to put a new layer above the Frame layer. Rename this new layer OOB Shadow,
and change its mode to Multiply. Get a soft brush, and paint shadows for the
areas of the photo that are on and outside the frame. Be guided by the placement
of the shadows in the original photo—erase and repaint as necessary. When
you are happy with the general shape and placement of the shadows, blur the layer (Filter>Gaussian Blur), and reduce the
opacity of the layer.
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