A Quick Winter Makeover Using Generative AI - Design Post 14

Introduction

    In the thick of January, I would say Winter has settled in hitting us with those whirling cool breezes that shock your soul. For some of us, that includes the beloved snow that covers the north in a thick white blanket. For others, it is sunny and bright with just a touch of cool air and maybe a few grey skies here and there.

    In Photoshop User’s Magazine November 2023^rd edition, Corey Barker has written an article in the Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks category titled” A QUICK WINTER MAKEOVER USING GENERATIVE AI.

    A Quick Winter Makeover Using Generative AI goes through steps to turn a sunny day photo into a bright and sunny snowy day. Barker states that he wanted to utilize this new feature that has been the talk of the previous months.

A QUICK WINTER MAKEOVER USING GENERATIVE AI - The Step-by-Step Process:

STEP 1: Upload the sunny day picture that you would like to use. In the picture Barker uses, the sun's rays are shining diagonally on a woman wearing sunglasses. Barker recommends increasing the resolution by selecting Image, Image Size, check-mark the Resample box, select Preserve Details 2.0 from the drop-down menu, and set the Width to 2,000 pixels. Press ok.

STEP 2:  Step 2 starts with expanding the photo to the left because the subject is to the right. Select the Crop tool in the toolbar to the left. In the Options Bar make sure that it is set to Generative Expand. Grab the middle handle on the left side and drag it to the left and then again to the top expanding the cropping boundary as you see fit. Press enter.

STEP 3: After the AI has generated the new image, you can view three variations of this prompt by looking at the Properties panel to the left. If it is not there, you can select it from the Windows drop-down menu at the top.

Next, click on the original Background layer in the Layers panel. Select Layer, New, Background, Layer, and then the layer will be locked again.

STEP 4: In this step, Barker works on the subject’s eyes. He explains that this would be a nightmare to composite, but with Generative Expand, it is much easier. Click Generative AI and make it active.

Use the Lasso tool to draw a selection around the sunglasses. Click Generative Fill in the Contextual Task Bar, type remove glasses in the prompt field, and click Generate.

When the variations come up pick one that looks and blends well. This may take multiple tries. In Barker’s case one eye turned out larger than the other, but it is explained later.

STEP 5: In the Layers panel, select the top layer, hold down option/alt, navigate to the layer menu, and select Merge Visible. This will create a merged version of the image on a new layer at the top.

STEP 6: Select the merged layer and use the Lasso tool to draw a rough selection around the subject keeping it a little to the inside. Press Shift, Command/Control-I to inverse the selection to the background. Click Generative Fill, and type Winter Landscape as the prompt.

STEP 7: Select the best variation.

STEP 8: While the Winter scene is select, press Command/Control-A to select the entire canvas. Click Generative Fill again, and type Falling Snow Overlay in the taskbar. Select the best variation, right-click the layer, and choose Rasterize Layer. Now you can adjust the layer as you please.

STEP 9: Now you are going to remove the color from the variation by pressing Command/Control-U and setting the layer blend mode to screen. Press Command/Control-L for Levels, and use the sliders to enhance the contrast of the snow. Then click the layer mask thumbnail on the snow layer.

Select the Gradient tool. In the Options Bar select the Foreground to Transparent preset. Select the Radial gradient, and press X until the Foreground color is black. Draw a couple of gradients in the area where the subject is located to reveal her through the snow.

STEP 10: Press Command/Control-U for Hue/Saturation to put color back into the snow layer. Activate Colorize, and adjust the Hue and Saturation to get a sky-blue glow on the snow layer. Lower the Opacity to 75% giving it a Winter Wonderland glow.

STEP 11: Barker adds a red scarf to the subject by selecting Generative Fill and typing Red Winter Scarf in the taskbar. Then he selects the best variation.

STEP 12: Time to work on the eyes. Barker states that you could try and use the Liquify tool to make the eye look close to the other one, but he chooses to make a selection of the eyes again to generate a new set using Generative AI.

STEP 13: Lastly, double-click the snow layer mask, and it will open the Masks settings in the Properties panel. Lower the Density to 90%, and this will allow the snow layer to show through over the subject just a little bit more.

Conclusion

    I find that working with Generative AI makes it a lot easier to come up with ideas, and it also helps speed up the design process. I have been experimenting a lot with Generative AI, and I have come to like it. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but it does a decent job. You can finetune it to make it unique. Something I have not used to correct a subject's eyes is Liquify, and I would like to learn more about this feature.