Figuring out how to make the melted wax was a fun experiment. Here’s how it’s done:
Make a new layer above the candle. Edit > Fill > 50% Gray.
Set the new layer to the Overlay blend mode, add a layer mask, and fill the mask with black.
Activate the Bevel & Emboss Layer Style. Leave the defaults for now; they can be adjusted later.
With a large, hard-edged brush, paint white on the layer mask. The bevel will appear wherever you paint, but because the layer is set to Overlay, the gray is invisible—only the light and shadow appear.
Now adjust the bevel to taste.
A matte painting is often used in film and television when the characters are in an environment that is either fantastic or somehow impossible to shoot. “Painting” is a misnomer, though, as modern matte paintings are typically composites of photographs, giving them much greater versimilitude than the old backdrops used, for example, in Star Trek.
An underwater research post amid the ruins of an ancient aquatic city.
I am eager to try another of these, as I think I can do it much better, especially if I photograph my own assets.
I had something of a hard time with my Advanced Image Manipulation class. I just didn’t “get” many of the assignments. This one was fun, though I could have done better if I’d given it the time it deserved. I really wish I’d had a pic of a gorilla actually in the jungle.
The Jungle Ape
The ape and textures courtesy of CG Textures.
