Best way to change the dark side of an object in an image?

richpate

I often want to change the dark shadow side and light highlight side of an object that I place in an image to make it match the lighting of the composite image. An example would be a dome roof on a building.

I often flip the image and/or use a layer in overlay mode filled with 50% gray to paint in the dark side of the object and to paint out the unwanted original dark side. I find this very time consuming and hard to get the lighting to look right. Lighting transitions over a curved surface are hard to do this way.

Anyone have a suggestion of a better technique to do this? Blend modes? Gradients? I'm just guessing. Using CS4 on a Mac. Thanks.

Rich

hawkeye · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:59 am Post subject:

Without seeing an example it's hard to say.

richpate · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:32 am Post subject:

hawkeye · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 1:18 pm Post subject:

You might try an adjustment layer and mask...but there are a hundred ways to do things in Photoshop, in this case dodge and burn looks as good as any.

richpate · Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 1:26 pm Post subject:

Thanks. I have thought about trying to first neutralize the existing shadow with Dodging. Then pull a monochromatic gradient across where I want the shadow to be. Then maybe working with the opacity until I get it right.

I have also thought about trying to paint over the area with a low opacity brush, black for a foreground color and using the Color Mode for the brush. Not sure.

Bostone737 · Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:17 am Post subject:

1)duplicate the layer, set blending mode to screen, create layer mask on it, on mask make gradient going from black to neutral, black over the lighter side, shift + drag left to right.

2) duplicate that layer, click the mask on that new layer, ctrl+I to invert it, set blending mode to linear burn. Seems to even it out pretty well

3) create new fill layer with brightness/contrast. copy mask from step 1 layer, set brightness to like 35 or something

skip step 2 for for overall brighter image but in my opinion, looks better overall with doing that too

like hawkeye said, there is probably a ton of ways to do this, probably with 2 less steps than what i did, this is just the way i did it

richpate · Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:03 pm Post subject:

Thanks Bostone.

A couple of questions to clarify:
1. In step 1, is that a gradient going from black to transparency?
2. In step 3, is that an adjustment layer for the Brightness/Contrast or a fill layer as described?

Bostone737 · Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:10 pm Post subject:

yes, black to transparency, black will be on the left and transparent on the right

and sorry, it's an adjustment layer via selecting brightness/contrast in the 'yin and yang' looking icon at the bottom of the layers panel or by just selecting brightness/contrast it in the adjustments panel, just make it the top most layer

richpate · Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:21 pm Post subject:

Thanks again.

I had been wondering if gradients were the way to go on these shading exercises. I will experiment further with them. Thanks for giving me a place to start.

Maybe a radial gradient might be possible with a curved surface like the dome example I gave? I've just started to explore the 127 ways to implement gradients and shading in CS5. Lots to learn.

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