Out of Bounds Tutorial for Photoshop

06/08/2018 0 By Carol

Out of Bounds Tutorial creates a popular effect that is pretty easy to create. This tutorial is done with CC, but I do include instructions for other versions of Photoshop where necessary.

Resources:

Tree image from Unsplash
Sea background from Unsplash
Model image from Unsplash
Polaroid Frame from DeviantArt

Step 1

Open the model image and extract her from the background using your chosen methods.

There are many tutorials available for extraction methods, Colin Smith details 3 methods in this tutorial from Photoshop Cafe.

Step 3

Open the Tree image and place the extracted model into it.

Use Ctrl+T to reduce the size of the model and rotate her into a diving position.

Place Model

Step 4

Make the Tree layer active and add an adjustment layer by clicking on the half grey, half black circle at the bottom of the layers palette – choose Brightness/Contrast and apply the following settings:

Brightness/Contrast Settings

Add a second adjustment layer – Hue/Saturation, and apply the following settings:

Hue/Saturation Settings

Step 5

Make the Tree layer active again.

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur – set the radius to approximately 3 pixels.

Step 6

Make the model layer active. Right click on the mask thumbnail and select ‘Apply Layer Mask’.

Now hold down the Ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the model in the layers palette to select the pixels.

Create a new layer below the model layer and fill the selection with black.

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur – set the radius to around 30 pixels. Reduce the layer opacity to 25%.

Step 7

Right click on the Model layer and select ‘Duplicate Layer’.

Now click on the Model layer, hold down the Shift key and click on the Tree layer – this should select the 3 layers (Model, Shadow and Tree), and the 2 adjustment layers.

Right click on any selected layer and select ‘Merge Layers’.

Double click on the Background layer, and simply click OK when the dialog box appears. This unlocks the layer and makes it editable.

Step 8

Open the Polaroid frame, click on the ‘Frame’ layer, hold down the Shift key and click on the ‘Shadow’ layer – this should select the 3 layers.

Ctrl+G to group them. Name the group ‘polaroid’.

Back to your main file, make the ‘tree’ layer active.

Now drag the ‘polaroid’ group into your main file. Use the Move Tool to place the ‘polaroid’ group.

Place Polaroid

Step 9

Drag the ‘tree’ layer to above the ‘Replace with Photo’ layer within the group.

Hold down the Alt key and move the cursor between the 2 layers until you see the clipping mask icon – click to apply.

Create Clipping Mask

With Clipping Mask

Step 10

Select and group all layers:

Make the top layer active, hold down the Shift key and click on ‘polaroid’ group.

Ctrl+G to create a group.

Open the Sea Background image and drag the group into it.

You can now move the group to where you want it, and rotate it a little if you wish.

Place Group

Step 11

Photoshop CC
Inside the ‘polaroid’ group, delete the ‘Shadow’ layer.

Double click on the ‘Frame’ layer to bring up the blending options.

Apply the following Drop Shadow settings:

Drop Shadow Settings

Now right click on the words ‘Drop Shadow’ under the layer and click ‘Create Layer’. You will get a warning: ‘Some aspects of the Effects cannot be reproduced with layers!’ – click OK.

You now have a layer called ‘Frame’s Drop Shadow’. Add a layer mask and paint with black inside the frame to clear the effect there.

Other Photoshop Versions
Make the ‘Shadow’ layer active within the ‘polaroid’ group. Create a new layer above it, then delete the ‘Shadow’ layer and name your new layer ‘shadow’.

Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the ‘Frame’ layer to select the pixels. Make sure the newly created ‘shadow’ layer is active and that black is the foreground colour, then fill the selection using the Paint Bucket Tool.

Ctrl+D to deselect.

Select the Move Tool and using the arrow keys on the keyboard, move the shadow 6px to the left and 9px down.

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur – set the radius to 46px.

Reduce the layer opacity to 62%.

Shadow PSCC

Shadow Other PS Versions

Step 12

Photoshop CC
Make the ‘model’ layer active.

Apply the following Drop Shadow Settings:

Drop Shadow Settings 2

Right click on the words ‘Drop Shadow’ under the layer, and select ‘Create Layer’.

Add a mask to the newly created layer and remove the shadow from the majority of the model’s body, just leaving the head and arms with a shadow.

Other Photoshop Versions
Create a new layer below the ‘model’ layer.

Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the ‘model’ layer to select the pixels.

Make sure the newly created layer is active and fill the selection using the Paint Bucket Tool and black foreground colour.

Make the Move Tool active, and using the arrow keys on the keyboard, move the shadow 6px to the left and 3px down.

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur – set the radius to 33px.

Reduce the layer opacity to 43%.

Add a layer mask to the shadow layer by clicking on the black rectangle with grey circle at the bottom of the layers palette.

Using a soft round brush and with black as the foreground colour, remove the shadow from most of the model’s body, leaving just the arms and head with shadow.

Shadow on Model CC

Shadow on Model Other PS Versions

That is the job done!

I only added one other thing. I thought the background rocks were too sharp, so, using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, I selected the rocks and sky and added a small amount of Gaussian Blur – 3.5px.

Out of Bounds

Conclusion

This was not a tutorial on photo manipulation, and I do realise there should have been more work done to make the polaroid image better, such as reducing the transparency of her dress a little to see some of the tree through it. However, I hope you picked up a few tips along the way with this tutorial, and most of all, I hope you enjoyed it!