Adding Natural Light and Shadows

by Lisa Lopuck and Sheryl Hampton Often times images that you scan or illustrate need to be touched up—increasing highlights and shadows—until you have a perfect, natural image. In Photoshop, there are two painting techniques that essentially allow you to paint with natural light and shadow. For instance, you can add natural shines to hardwood floors, glows around light bulbs, or natural shadows to help add depth to an image. step 1: painting with light In Photoshop, open an image that needs to be touched up. Create a new layer and set its mode to Overlay in the Layers palette. Using the airbrush tool and a large brush, paint broad strokes of a light, off-white color. Notice how the image underneath appears to brighten as if natural light has been cast upon it. Change the layer’s mode back to normal and notice the large patches of solid color that, when in Overlay mode, create the lighting effect. step 2: painting with shadow Adding shadow effects to an image is the same process as adding highlights. Create a new layer, and set the layer’s mode to Multiply as shown. Paint with a medium-dark color using the airbrush. Notice that, rather than covering over the underlying image, the medium-dark color enriches underlying colors while creating a shadowed effect. For Suspect, Dead Birds Don’t Sing, an online murder mystery, the Surround Video room environments were first created and rendered in Strata 3D before being brought into Photoshop for finishing touches. These two images show how the rooms looked before and after Photoshop was used to enhance the highlights and shadows using the Overlay and Multiply modes.