Unmesh Dinda 0:00
Hi there, this is Unmesh from PiXimperfect.
And today I'm going to share with you how
to create a natural and realistic canvas mock-up
with Photoshop.
All you have to do is to just drag and drop
your photo and the template will take care
of the rest.
It will automatically blend the photo according
to the canvas.
Also, we're going to make the template absolutely
customizable.
So, without any further ado, let's get started.
Back in the magical world of Photoshop, and
you want to go ahead and download this photo
and follow along, you already know what to
do.
Check the links in the description.
Now, the first thing we need to do here is
to create a Placeholder.
A Placeholder is a place which holds the image
or in other words, it's a place where you're
going to drag and drop your new photos.
So, let's go ahead and create a brand new
layer by clicking on the New Layer icon right
there and let's name this Placeholder.
There you are, the next step is to actually
create a Placeholder just above the canvas.
And for that we're going to use the Rectangular
Marquee tool.
Now, keep in mind, I want you to have a close
look, this is not an absolute rectangle, right?
There are bumps here and there, right?
It's not an absolute rectangle.
However, for smart objects to work properly
for replacing images, it has to be rectangle.
What do we do now?
First, let's create a rectangle just leaving
a little space outside of it.
So, we're going to start from right here and
just make sure we are leaving some space,
there you go.
All right, make sure the rectangle we created
is outside the bounds of the canvas.
A little bit space is left.
Once we have done that, we need to fill it
with the color that can represent a wide variety
of images.
Guess what that color is? 50% gray because
it's in the middle of everything, right?
So, let's make sure that the foreground color
is 50% gray.
Double click on the foreground color box right
there and let's choose 80 - 80 - 80 or R,
G and B, all at 128.
Hit OK.
Now that the foreground color is gray, just
press Alt + Backspace on Windows or Option
+ Delete on a Mac, then press Ctrl or Command
+ D to deselect.
However, do keep in mind that when we created
this rectangle, we left a little space.
There is a gap, right?
Now we need to make sure that the Placeholder
is only applied to that Canvas.
And for that, we need to create a Mask.
But before we create any mask or do anything
with this layer, let's change this into a
Smart Object.
So, with the placeholder layer selected, let's
got a filter, and then convert for Smart Filters
it, okay so that it becomes easy for us to
replace it.
Now, let's turn it off for a moment, and you
can take all the time in the world to create
a proper selection of this, you can use the
Quick Selection tool, the Pen tool, whatever
is your favorite.
So, to save time I went ahead, I used the
Pen tool to make a selection of it.
I'm just going to load the selection.
This is not a selection class.
So, I'm just going to go to Select and then
Load Selection, and I had created this selection
- Canvas Selection, right there, and there
you go.
So in this, I used the Pen tool to create
a selection of this canvas.
You can use any tool that you like.
All you have to keep in mind is to make a
selection as accurate as possible.
Have a look.
Once you have the selection ready, let's turn
on the Placeholder and then click on the Mask
button right there.
All right, now, it's exactly falling on the
canvas.
Isn't that amazing?
Now, the canvas is white, right?
Let's turn it off.
Let's have a look.
The canvas is white.
Whatever we paint on it is going to make it
what?
Darker, right?
And what is the Blend Mode which makes things
darker?
Anything in the Darken Blend Mode group.
However, in this case, we're going to use
Multiply.
Let's turn it on and have a look.
We're going to choose Multiply.
It looks right.
At this moment, actually, we can stop.
However, we still need some lights and shadow
control over it because as is if you place
your image right here, it's going to look
fake.
So, to create lights and shadows, we're going
to make two copies of the original image right
there.
So, select the Background layer and then press
Ctrl or Command + J twice.
We have two copies.
One, we're going to name it Light and the
other we're going to name this Shadow.
All right, now we're going to place it on
top of the Placeholder.
So, Shadow and then Light.
First, let's work with Shadow.
I have turned off the light momentarily.
Now, this is only creating lights and shadows.
We don't want involvement of any color in
this case.
So, let's take away the colors by desaturating
it.
To desaturate it, press Ctrl + Shift + U or
Command + Shift + U.
Once it's desaturated, what Blend Mode do
you think darkens or creates shadows?
We just used it.
Multiply, right?
So, change the Blend Mode from Normal to Multiply.
This is perfect.
We need to make the shadows even darker.
You know why?
So that we can control that later according
to the image that we have, because different
images will require different amounts of shadows
and lights.
So, let's go ahead and create a Curves Adjustment
layer by clicking on the Adjustment layer
icon and then choose Curves.
And we're going to take it down just a little
bit.
Right?
At this point, this is affecting all of the
image, we don't want that.
We want the Curves to affect only the shadow.
So, hold the Alt key or the Option key and
click on the line between these two layers.
Now, the Curves is limited just to the shadow
layer.
Alternatively, let me redo that, you can open
the Curves properties by double clicking on
the symbol right there and then click on this
button.
It also creates a Clipping Mask.
However, still, there is something wrong,
right?
The Shadow layer that we created is being
applied over the entire image and not just
the canvas.
So, we need to make sure that it's only affecting
the canvas.
And how can we make sure that happens?
Just simply copy the Mask.
So hold the Alt key or the Option key, click
and drag the Mask on the shadow layer.
All right, now, let's go ahead and turn on
the light.
Also, we are dealing with light, we don't
want any color to be involved, right?
So, desaturate it by pressing Control + Shift
+ U / Command + Shift + U, it's desaturated.
Now, what is the Blend Mode which brightens
stuff?
Screen, right, or any Blend Mode in the Lighten
group.
So, let's go ahead and change the Blend Mode
from Normal to Screen.
But, you know, it's very, very light, it's
very bright.
So, how do we control that?
Again, Curves, right?
The problem here is it's also brightening
the shadows.
We don't want that.
We want to keep the highlights in the highlight
areas but, we don't want to brighten the shadows,
right.
So, click on the Adjustment layer icon and
then choose Curves.
Now, we just want to limit the curves to the
Light layer.
So click on this button, Create Clipping Mask
button.
Now, we will create a point on the right hand
side, it will maintain the light, and on the
left hand side, we're going to create a point,
and then just bring it down, just like that.
That will make sure that only the brights
are enhanced.
There we go, that kind of looks good.
You can make little adjustments here and there.
And there we are.
Now, it again, also affects the entire image,
we don't want that.
We just want it to affect the canvas.
So, what do we do?
We can either copy the same Mask there, or
you know what we can do, we can make an entire
group of the lights and shadows.
So select the Shadow layer, hold the Shift
key, select the topmost layer and then press
Ctrl or Command + G, right.
And then you can actually move this Mask on
the shadow layer to the entire group.
So, you won't have to create multiple Masks.
So, let's move it to the group.
There you have it.
Here's before, here's after.
Now, that's what I'm talking about.
Even in this case, I think the light is kind
of too much.
So let's decrease The Opacity of the light
to 40%.
And also, let's decrease the Opacity of the
shadow to 40% as well.
This looks perfect.
Let's just minimize the group and we can name
the group Lights and Shadows.
There we are.
So, without the group, it's too flat.
It doesn't look right.
But with it, it looks excellent.
Now, I'm going to share with you how to save
it as a template because that's an essential
trick too.
So, let's go to File and then Save As, I want
to save it on my computer, of course, and
let's name this as Canvas Template.
And this is essential my friend.
Instead of saving it as .psd, we're going
to save it as .psdt where T stands for template.
So .psdt, alright, and hit save.
Hit OK.
Now, we're going to go ahead and close it.
Now here's the great part.
Here we are in our Finder or Explorer and
if we opened the PSDT file, have a look what
it does.
It's going to create a brand new Photoshop
document, Untitled 1, and it does not disturb
the template file.
The template file stays intact.
If you had saved it as a PSD, you had opened
it, you had brought in an image and then saved
it, it would be saved as the same file and
the template would be altered.
We don't want that.
Every time you open a PSDT.
Let's not save it.
Every time you open a PSDT file, it will open
a brand new Photoshop document with the exact
same content and then you can save that version
of it.
Let me show you how this can be useful.
I'm going to close everything.
All right, in one of the versions.
Let's just open this again.
All right.
I want to bring in my face, my beautiful and
handsome face by double clicking on the Placeholder,
and all you've got to do is to go to a Finder
Or File Explorer, locate the photo.
So, this is the photo that I'm going to use.
I'm just going to drag it and drop it inside
of it.
And let's adjust it.
By the way, I made this with the help of Prisma
app.
Have you ever used that?
It's pretty cool.
All right,
Hit Enter or Return, I have positioned it,
positioned according to your tastes, and then
press Ctrl Update or Command S. Now, let's
get back to this Have a look.
It's updated.
Isn't that amazing.
Now, on top of that, you can control the shadow
and the lighting.
So if you want less lighting, you can just
go to the left hand side.
So I'm going to go with less lighting on this
one, probably about 30% lighting, how much
shadow you want on this one?
So shadow, you can increase or decrease the
shadow.
So, I think I'm going to go with about 50%
on this one.
And it looks great to me.
On top of that, if you want to make some additional
adjustments with Curves, you can do that as
well.
So, click on the Adjustment layer icon and
then choose Curves and probably you want to
fade the artwork a little bit by holding the
Alt or Option, click on the line between these
two or click on this button, so that it only
limits to the artwork, then you can just fade
in the shadows and adjust accordingly.
But all you had to do was just drag and drop.
And then if you want, you can just customize
it, customize the lights, customize the shadows.
In this case, I wanted, you know, a little
less light, and probably a little more shadows.
All right, there you have it.
Let's zoom in.
Look, all the textures of the canvas show
up.
Everything is looking so realistic and nice.
If you just zoom in and have a look, it's
so good, isn't it?
So this, my friend, is version one - You didn't
have to alter the canvas template.
Now, I can just directly go to File and then
Save or Save as.
Even if I choose Save, it's going to ask you
to type in the file name.
So, I'm going to type Unmesh1.
Done.
This is Unmesh1.
The canvas template is still not altered.
That's crazy, isn't it?
Now, let's just close this.
Let's open the canvas template again.
So, I'm just going to double click on the
canvas template, and it again opens another
brand new document.
And this time, I want a bright version.
In that case, maybe I will need different
values of highlights and shadows.
So, double click on the Placeholder thumbnail
and then just open up your File Explorer or
Finder and locate the artwork or the photo
that you want to attach there.
So this is the second image that I want to
attach.
I'm just going to drag it and drop it over
right here.
Again, this was also made with the Prisma
app.
Pretty cool.
All right, I'm going to keep it like this.
Probably something like this.
We can always adjust this later.
But anyway, you get the point.
Hit Enter or Return, Ctrl or Command + S,
and then, let's go back here and have a look.
In this case, probably, I will need some more
shadows.
So, let's just open that, Lights and Shadows
group and scroll down and increase the shadows.
There you have it, and maybe a little less
lighting or, who knows, a little more.
You can always control it to your taste.
And there you have it.
You could have even left it at 40 - 40 Opacity,
or just go ahead and customize the template
because it's customizable.
There you have it.
That's how to create a realistic canvas mock-up
in Photoshop.
Before we finish, just a quick little reminder,
all you have to do is to first create a Placeholder.
Every mock-up has to have a place holder,
this is where you are going to drop the image.
So, once you create a rectangle, just leaving
a little space, don't forget to convert it
into a Smart Object.
And after that, you can use the exact selection
of the canvas and create a Mask out of it.
Simple.
Changing the Blend Mode to Multiply will allow
you to blend it better because this is a white
canvas, everything we paint on it, it's going
to make it dark.
So we changed the Blend Mode to Multiply and
after that, if it was not enough, because
in this case, it was looking flat.
So, we created again, some highlights and
shadows to go along with it, to add some punch
to it.
So in this case, we made two copies of the
background layer, two copies of the original
image and then one for the shadows, one for
the highlights.
For the shadows, we chose a Blend Mode which
makes things darker, and what is that?
Multiply.
And for the highlights, we chose a Blend Mode
which makes things brighter and that is Screen.
And then you can control it with Curves according
to your tastes.
And then just make sure it is only applied
to that of the canvas.
And once you have created the perfect template,
save it as a PSDT where T stands for template.
And every time you open a PSD file, what happens?
It creates a brand new document without disturbing
the original template file.
And then all you have to do is to double click
on the thumbnail of the Placeholder and replace
it with whatever you like and then press Ctrl
or Command + S and the original document would
update.
I hope this video made some sense to you and
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Thanks so much for all the support.
Thank you for watching.
I'll see you guys in the next one till then
stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
