Editors note: This is not for the feint hearted. The tutorial is for advanced photographers and Photoshop users. It was created by ReyGay for my Ice “Tutorial Challenge”. It is NOT a complete handholding guide, and the title doesn’t do it justice, but I am limited in space here. the author has some tricks that set his style apart from others, so we’re not going to give every secret now are we.

But this will get your mind going, it will give you some great ideas to think about and allow you to put some of your own creativity into your photographs and processing.

Enjoy!

Day One settings: ISO200, 1 / 50th sec
Day Two settings: ISO200, 1 / 200th sec
Tools: D1, Nikkor 35mm f2 nonAi, Metz 32CT4, ReyGay Flash Diffuser, ReyGay VR / Pano Head
The final shot:
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How it’s done:
The flash and diffuser were positioned on the left side of the image, pointing downwards at about 45deg angle. I used 1 / 50th sec so that the light from the receding sun will get exposed on the innards of the beer bottles. The direction of the sunlight on the glass of beer was on a different angle, it has to be compensated in CS2 (add highlights to imitate the other parts of the image i.e. beer bottles).
Focus Stacking:

The image above shows 3 images with different focused areas. This is layered in CS2. I positioned each image carefully and used the warp tool to match the image on the other layer and to adjust the distortions meticulously. The finished image is shown below.

I did this to all images including the glass of beer on the left side ~ it is not there yet… The image below shows the first 2 images added together. I setup a new layer with a black background:

Then I selected both layers and rotated it to level the base:

The image below shows the use of warp tool to match the image on the background. I set the opacity layer to 50%:

Then I “patched” up a severely distorted layers:

Then I opened up a file to match the other image and selected it:

I cropped it and layered it into the main image:

Then I used the rotate, scale and warp tool to align the image:

Then I rechecked the alignment of the base and used the distort tool to adjust it:

Both images below shows the trimming of unwanted parts:


Then I placed the next image and rotated it:

Then I corrected the image for severe distortion:


Then I added a patch of sky from one of the images:


One day later I added the glass of beer (yum). The several images below shows the Focus Stacking process for the glass of beer:







Then I added the glass of beer into the main workspace:


The set of images below shows the trimming of the ice to allow the glass to fit into the layer:




Here is how it looks like after the processes:

Then I added patches of sky taken from several samples to cover up the lousy background . I distorted the sky samples and made sure it blends well with the other layers and also made sure it looks natural and not pasted on:






Then I adjusted the distortion on top of the beer bottle:

Then I patched up another severely distorted part:

Then I carefully checked which parts I erased so they won’t double up:

Then I dodged up the part of the glass to make it look like as if it is backlit by the sun:

Also, I adjusted the tone of the glass of beer by isolating it in the layers, to match the tone of the beer bottles. I also added shadows on the block of ice just below the glass. Then I added sky reflections on the sides of the glass to make it look natural. Then I cleaned up the rough gradations in the sky and made it look like clouds, then I added a bit of blur to hide the grain  on the clouds ~ also adjusted the tone of the clouds. There’s more to it though, I can’t show all of it, some steps are my mojo stuff.
Have fun!

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