Hi Everyone!

This mermaid composite image showcases a gorgeous fanned mermaid tail, perfectly tailored to our tiny subject, highlighted in her aquatic paradise using the LightBox plug-In.

One of the first steps is subject capture with the Quick Selection Tool. Selecting the subject with this tool allows us to embed her directly into her new pedestal within her tank. Next, Tara explains Resizing and cropping options to simplify her image use in the full tutorial.

 Trading Legs for Fins, PixelSquid Mermaid TailLearn warp the tail and use multiple tail images to create a flawless transition that looks completely natural.  Liquify portions of her tail to blend her body and stock images with the background and then change the perspective and scale of the tail to display the beauty of her fantail flip.

Mermaid hair, don’t care! This is the creative portion where we can play with our editing style and viewpoint. Deviant Art supplies multiple color options to enhance her majestic mane and a darling crown.  

The Puppet warp helps us get the perfect placement of her little pearl necklace floating in front of her amongst the fishies.  All of your favorite sea creatures are all welcome!

The eyedropper tool allows us to adjust some of the pink tones out of her skin hue, brushing a bit of purple to her cheeks and green eyeshadow for her mermaid make-over! 

Tara chooses hues within the green color layers of her hair and uses the Deluxe Brush Set to add little wisps of green tendrils falling through her crown.

You will love using the hairbrushes to add in all the different colors of her mane to frame her little face, and bringing a few tendrils of her pink hair to the surface layer truly makes the floating illusion seem real!

Curves, Color, and Contrast Balancing.

Tara teaches us to layer subjects here, so they look more realistic to help shadows and tones play well together. The color balance within the blue hues starts to bring the aquarium to life. In contrast, the brightness and contrast within the aquarium layer are adjusted using curves to darken and add dimension to her habitat.

 The contrast curve brings out details instead of just darkening.  Setting luminosity truly creates life within the image!

There are a lot of details in this section. Make sure to see the full tutorial here.

 All About the Light!, Final Vignetting, and Color. Lighting is the key element of this entire composite, and these final details are those little standout clicks that refine your image. 

Playing within the gradient under the new fill layer allows us to stay within bright and warm tones in a purple glow making the jewel tones on the reef pop!

Remember, it doesn’t always look the same anytime you are recreating an image, but this transformation from a little girl to a mermaid is an absolute treasure! 

See how you can make your subject fit perfectly in this composite by watching the full tutorial.

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Tara Lesher Education