Wreath Play in Photoshop

I had to have a little wreath play in Photoshop and thought I’d share it with you.

These days I’m taking advantage of every single bit of floral inspiration I see when I look out my window.

It’s a blessing to be able to stay in Arizona until the weather in Alberta turns lovely … not just spring in the technical sense, but warm, sunny, and green … sigh … I know it’s happening and I’m so looking forward to returning home … it’s starting to heat up here in Arizona—big time. I’m not complaining … just sayin’ …

Now, on to my wreath …

or is it two wreaths … you tell me …

I’m guessing you sense there’s a bit of trickery going on here since “Photoshop” is part of my blog title. OK … here’s the scoop.

I created a wreath on a piece of white foam core and took a few shots in Auto mode … er … yes … I used Auto (and why not?) it gave me the sharpest image.

In Lightroom:

I adjusted exposure using Auto Tone, then did a bit more tweaking to get the colours brighter, whiter, and sharper.

With the Tone Curve tool I clicked and dragged in the white part of the photo to whiten the background as much as I could without blowing out any of the whites in the flowers or the wire frame.

I exported the image to Photoshop and dragged it onto a new 12in x 12in, 300ppi document. I duplicated it and moved the duplicate into the upper right corner … looks weird right?

Here’s the magic, change the blend mode of the top image to Multiply:

How fun is that?! When using the Multiply blend mode in Photoshop, areas on a layer that are pure white completely disappear from view!

I did have to tweak the white backgrounds again in both images, and used a bit of layer masking to hide edges but really the initial effect is pretty good.

When I posted it on Instagram I suddenly lost my mind and went off the rails … and created a kaleidoscope (not once but twice). I’m not sure how much it was appreciated, but I had fun!

I hope you enjoyed my little Photoshop tip today!