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Photoshop’s new Relight layer lets you move the light on your subject after the photo is taken. Right now it’s only in the Photoshop beta, and it uses 30 generative credits every time you click Done. So is it worth it?
In this tutorial we relight a hiker to match a new mountain background and go through every control: color temperature, Close to Far, Intensity, Diffusion and Original Lighting. Then we zoom in and compare the result with Harmonize, which uses 5 credits, and show a Lighten blend mode trick that lets you use just the light from the Relight layer.
Relight is still in beta, so the controls and the credit cost may change before the full release. Let us know in the comments what you think Adobe should change.
Hiker photo by Tom Allport on Unsplash. Mountain background by Hayato Shin on Unsplash, edited.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:21 The Composite
0:45 Add a Relight Layer
1:24 Light Controls
2:21 Close to Far
3:39 What Relight Works On
4:27 What It Costs
5:07 The Quality Problem
5:50 Relight vs Harmonize
7:30 The Lighten Fix
8:22 Is It Worth the Credits?
THE STEPS
1. Remove the background from your subject and place them in the new scene
2. Select the subject layer and go to Layer, New Relight Layer (Photoshop beta only for now)
3. Drag the light to match the light in your background, then set the color temperature
4. Move Close to Far to put the light in front of or behind your subject
5. Raise Intensity, bring up Diffusion slowly, and balance it with Original Lighting
6. Click Done to generate the lighting (this is when the credits are used)
7. Zoom in and compare the Relight layer with your original and with Harmonize
8. Add a Harmonize layer, put the Relight layer on top set to Lighten, and lower its opacity to taste
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