Assassin - The Photoshop: Professional Retouching and Compositing Tips, Tricks, and Techniques - page 501

In this final chapter I take you through all the retouching from start to finish for a picture I
call “Assassin.”
This is a themed composite image that was originally shot against a gray seamless back-
ground, with the intention that in the retouching I would use textures to create a wall behind
the model.
The out-of-camera file with the best pose from the shoot was underexposed, but thanks
to Camera Raw and all the information held in the file, a lot more detail was recovered.
This meant that what was originally a throwaway image became a keeper with a new back-
ground composited behind.
In this tutorial I'll cover techniques shown throughout the topic but also show you some
new ones, such as a moveable vignette, and an alternative way to create lens flares and re-
flections.
Lighting Setup
Here's a quick look at the studio lighting setup used for this picture.
Because the model was going to have a background added behind him with a light source
on it, I used a three-light setup consisting of two gridded strip boxes on either side of the
model. This was to mimic the highlights that would be caused by a light coming from be-
hind the model. To the front was a medium octabox, also with a grid ( Figure 11.1 ). Grids
gave more control over the direction of the light and reduced spill. I shot at f/11 so that the
model was in focus from front to back.