Remember the movie, “Honey I shrunk the kids”? Well, this tutorial will relive that nostalgia by recreating a mini me effect in Adobe Photoshop. Learn how to “shrink” anyone and place them in a macro photography scene. Perfect for beginners or those who just want a bit of fun=)
Software: Adobe Photoshop CC
Difficulty: Beginner
Completion Time: 1 hour
Images Used in this Tutorial
Image ID: 15922947 © serezniy
Image ID: 18185758 © belchonock
Image ID: 52507949 © Daniel Jędzura
Image ID: 43525462 © kornienko
Final Result:
The Setup
Step 1
Create a new 600×500 pixel document in Photoshop. Copy and Paste the wooden floor onto the canvas. Hold Control-T to Free Transform it, adjusting the perspective so that it lies as the floor to our library.
Step 2
Use the Magic Wand Tool (W) to delete the background of the several stacks of books. Then Copy and Paste the books onto the canvas, resizing them with Free Transform (Control-T) to be smaller in size and placing them onto the wooden floor.
We need some more books. Select the books layer and Control-J to create a duplicate. Position the duplicate layer underneath the first book layer and Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Allow the second set of books to peak out from the right, then use the Crop Tool (C) to crop the edges.
Creating Depth
Step 3
Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to extract the next set of books with the ladder attached from its white background. When you’re finished, copy and paste it onto the canvas and position it to the right side. Then Merge Layer 2 and it’s copy together. Rename it, Layer 2.
To show depth of field, let’s blur the background books. Select the background books and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and add a Radius of 1 pixel to blur the background.
Step 4
To add the last row of books towards the front, use the Magic Wand Tool (W) to delete the white background then use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to only select the top section of books. Copy and paste that section and place it as the foreground books on your canvas.
Hold Control-T to Free Transform the books, making them larger, and adjust the perspective so that they look like they’re sitting on floor better. Make sure the books bleed outside the frame to make the depth greater.
Extract the kid using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L). Then hold Control-T to Free Transform, resizing the boy to fit onto the books.
Now blur these front books just like we did the background. Select the front book layer, Layer 4, and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, adding a Radius of 3 pixels to show great depth of field.
Adding Shadow
Step 5
Merge Layers 5 and 3 together of the boy and the books he’s sitting on. Make sure the layer is still positioned under Layer 4 behind the front books.
Create a New Layer above Layer 4, the front books, and right click to set it as a Clipping Mask. Name the Layer, “Shadow,” set the layer to Multiply and use the Brush Tool (B) to paint soft dark shadow using a dark purple color (#382c30).
Add more shadow to the rest of the scene. Create a New Layer, Layer 7, at the top and set it to Multiply. Just like before, use the Brush Tool (B) to paint shadow underneath the books, boy, and towards the front of the scene with the same dark color.
Final Touches
Step 6
Time for some color adjustments! First, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Lookup. Add the setting, 3DLUT File set to FallColors.look. Lower the Opacity to 40%.
Repeat the same steps to create a New Adjustment Layer, this time changing the Color Lookup setting to 3DLUT File: HorrorBlue.3DL. Lower the Opacity to 80%.
Step 7
Finish this effect with a little more tweaking. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color and Brightness, and set the Brightness to -11 and the Contrast to 36.
Lastly, create a New Layer, set it to Screen, and fill it with a bright blue color (#16209f), and adjust the Opacity to 25%. The final layers should look like this.
Here is the final effect!
And that’s it! Have fun turning yourself or anyone into a believable army of mini mes! We hope you’ve enjoyed creating this fun photo effect, do let us know how you liked it in the comments and feel free to share your results. Good luck!
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