PSP Tutorial - It's all about the layers.
The picture is a photo manipulation I made based on "that scene". I've had people asking me where I found this, which is nice, because they thought it was from the show. Rabid suggested I put up a brief "How to" since she was curious. I'm not explaining what to do with each tool I used in PSP (PaintShopPro), because I didn't take notes and that would be very long, but I'm showing the layers I saved. (BTW - I'm no expert, your mileage may vary, caveat, caveat, caveat.)
First I had an idea. It was sort of about who was driving Fred's body around during that scene. What was really going on with FrIllyria? Then I collected screen caps, publicity pics, and made a few of my own caps. I use VirtualDub for making caps. I also found caps for this ep at http://isa.webou.com/Angel522/Page.html and http://www.cappiness.net/angel/notfadeaway/. Thanks!
This is the process I used. The pics are arranged like my PSP file, the layers from bottom to top. Top pic is the first or bottom layer. Each pic after that is layered on top of it.
Some of the base/source pics.
Wes and Illyria. Wes and Fred. Notice how dark the original caps are.
Better faces for Illyria and Fred. I wanted to see their faces, and have them looking at Wes.
Background color fill layer. Done last and added after merging and drop shadow so jpg will match my site background.
Drop Shadow layer. Done next to last and added after merging.
Starting point. Pic is enhanced with PSP's One Step Photo Fix. Logos are scrubbed and Fred's knee is drawn back in.
Illyria's body cut from the other base pic. I also drewn in more hair, restored more of her blueness.
A face for Illyria. Resized and blue restored. Had to be smoothed and blended in.
Cut out of Fred/Wes copied in as a new layer on top. To put Illyria behind, I need a front layer.
A face for Fred. I don't have the steps saved from adding her hair. I took parts from two more pics to do that.
Not exactly a layer. This is the background and Fred/Wes merged, and other things scrubbed from the background like the chandelier.
All done except for fading Illyria to 60%. And this is why I killed that chandelier.
My signature.
Would you like me to lie to you now?
