Photoshop Effects for Portrait Photographers

Section 2

Image Enhancements

Surreal Backgrounds

I’ve used this trick for wedding, portrait, and editorial images whenever I’ve wanted to set the subject against a background that was realistic but different. Sometimes the effect is so subtle that viewers won’t see it until it’s pointed out to them, sometimes it just reinforces the composition. Either way, it’s a simple technique that’s easy to use:

Step 1  Open the selected image and duplicate the layer (Figure 2-1).

Figure 2-1

Step 2  Create a white Layer Mask from the Layers Palette (Figure ...