People often ask me what is my most frequently used Photoshop add-on or plug-in. They are usually surprised to hear that my favorite Photoshop add-on is my camera. When I have my camera in hand I often use it as an extension to Photoshop, taking photos with the intension of working with them in Photoshop. As I set up my shots, from the camera settings to the framing, I’m thinking ahead to how I’ll use the images in Photoshop.

super-final
In this example I wanted to create a superhero look, with the subject gradually becoming the superhero. After setting my camera up on a tripod and dialing in the ideal settings (in manual mode so all the images are exposed the same) I explained the thought process to the model, walking him through the shots. Then I took these four photos:
super1 super2 super3 super4

I opened all four files in Camera Raw, synchronized the files and made some adjustments. Rather than clicking Open, I clicked Done.

Then I selected all the files in Bridge and used Tools>Photoshop>Load Files into Photoshop Layers. This created a new document with each of the files on separate layers. In this case I used a tripod – that’s highly recommended – but if you can’t you can select all the layers and use Edit>Auto Align Layers to make sure everything is perfectly lined up.

Then it was a relatively simple task to add Layer Masks to each layer to combine them the way I wanted. I took it a step further and made copies of each layer that I blurred, using Smart Filters so I could edit and mask the filter.

super5

Needless to say, I’ve zipped through the steps very quickly, but the main point is that if you plan your shots with Photoshop in mind it’s much easier to work with them in Photoshop. As you look through the viewfinder, imagine you are creating Photoshop layers and a world of creative possibilities become available.