Step 7
This step depends entirely on if you chose to add a hat or any other clothing to the face – if you haven’t then feel free to move on. Go ahead and create a new layer on top of your subjects layer and call it Hat Shadow (or whatever article of clothing you’re using) and just brush in a nice soft shadow under the brim of the hat. Don’t be afraid to make it pretty dark right under it but work in 10% increments (using a black brush with 10% opacity).
Step 8
Again this step is optional but I thought it could be useful as it helps keep things clean and organized and also helps with computer performance. Group all the layers together that are involved with your main subject by selecting them all while holding shift and pressing Ctrl+G on PC or Cmd+G on Mac. This will group them together. By right-clicking on this group you can convert it to a smart object. Making it work as one layer, however, you can double click on the thumbnail and edit it in its own window. A nice little feature that can be very helpful in certain situations.
Step 9
Moving on to the overall lighting, we’ll start with the backlight. Above the Background layer create a new layer (Ctrl+Shft+N on PC and CMD+Shft+N on Mac) and name it Backlight. Brush in white with a nice big soft brush a soft light behind the right side of your model, similar to below. This will help extenuate the highlights later.
Step 10
Before going forward let’s sharpen up our image to give it a real studio feel. This can really be done whenever but I chose to do it here. With the smart object layer selected go to Filters>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen, my personal settings can be seen below but your own image may require a different touch.
Step 11
Next, bring in a new layer on top of the subject layer and name it “Highlight”. Right-click on this layer and make it a clipping mask to the subject layer. This will make sure it only applies to the subject layer and not the Background. Brush in, with a big fluffy brush at about 20% opacity a little highlight on the right side. Set the layer’s blending mode to overlay. Be careful not to overdo it, this will cause pixels to distort and end up looking bad later. A soft touch is encouraged here.
