Using AI to Make Composites : Firefly, MidJourney & Generative Fill in Photoshop Beta

In this video, the creator shares his experience using AI to generate composite images of NFL football players. He discusses the process of retouching skin with Vato AI, creating backgrounds with Firefly and MidJourney, and refining them with Photoshop's Generative Fill. The video also covers lighting techniques used on set, including various setups with strip softboxes and hair lights. The creator emphasizes the artistic and technical aspects of the process, from selecting and processing the raw files to blending the elements together in Photoshop. He also mentions the limitations of AI-generated images in terms of resolution and the time efficiency of using Firefly and MidJourney over Generative Fill for background creation. The summary concludes with the creator's enthusiasm for the expanding possibilities of AI tools in creative work.

Takeaways

• 🎨 The speaker uses AI tools to generate composite images of NFL football players, enhancing their photography skills with technology.
• 💡 AI software like vato AI is used for skin retouching, while Firefly and MidJourney are utilized to create background images.
• 🌟 Generative Fill in Photoshop Beta is employed to fix backgrounds and blend the images seamlessly.
• 📸 The photographer's journey began with collecting trading cards and evolved into photographing athletes, leading to a career in photography.
• 💡 Lighting plays a crucial role, with various setups described, such as clamshell lighting and using mobile apps for quick changes.
• 🤖 AI-generated images are used as background plates but are often upscaled due to their small size, using filters like Super Zoom.
• 🖼️ The process involves removing the original subject from the AI-generated background and replacing it with the retouched athlete image.
• 🌄 Backgrounds are created with detailed prompts in Firefly for cityscapes and MidJourney for stadium scenes, emphasizing the importance of descriptive keywords.
• 📈 The use of neural filters in Photoshop for harmonizing color and contrast is highlighted, to ensure the foreground and background match in tone.
• 🔍 Attention to detail is key, with techniques shared for refining edges, especially around hair, to create a more professional and polished look.
• ✨ Adding elements like grain, color overlays, and exposure adjustments help unify the image and draw attention to the subject.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is how AI has been utilized to generate composite images of NFL football players, including the use of various AI tools and techniques in Photoshop Beta for retouching, generating backgrounds, and blending the images together.

What AI tools are mentioned for retouching skin in the video?

The video mentions using 'vato AI' for retouching the skin, to remove blemishes, brighten dark circles around the eyes, and reduce wrinkles.

How does the speaker use Firefly and MidJourney to generate backgrounds?

The speaker uses Firefly to create heavily blurred images of cityscapes and landscapes, while MidJourney is used to generate scenes like stadium and tunnel backgrounds. The speaker inputs descriptive keywords into these AI platforms to generate the desired background images.

What is the purpose of using Generative Fill in Photoshop Beta?

Generative Fill in Photoshop Beta is used to fix the backgrounds by removing the player from the image and merging the layer down, allowing for seamless blending of the retouched image with the AI-generated background.

How does the speaker describe their lighting setup for the photoshoot?

The lighting setup includes various configurations such as clamshell lighting with a strip softbox in the front, edge lighting with two strips off boxes over each shoulder, and hair light from the top center of the backdrop. Different setups are used to achieve the desired look for each photo.

What is the reason behind using a round light source instead of an octagonal one?

The round light source is used to avoid an octagonal catch light in the players' helmets, aiming for a more realistic look that could resemble stadium lighting.

How does the speaker deliver raw files to the client?

The speaker delivers raw files to the client almost in real-time, allowing the client to make their own selections for their purposes.

What is the process for selecting and processing the images for the speaker's portfolio?

The speaker selects their favorite images from the raw files, processes them in Capture One with high contrast and other adjustments to create punchy images, and then uses AI tools for further retouching and background generation.

Why does the speaker prefer using Firefly and MidJourney over Generative Fill for creating backgrounds?

The speaker finds that Firefly and MidJourney provide faster results and more options compared to Generative Fill, which takes longer and often doesn't produce the desired background image.

What technique does the speaker use to refine the hair selection in the mask?

The speaker uses a combination of painting along the edges of the hair with a white brush on an Overlay blending mode and adjusting the mask with black and white brushes to refine the selection.

How does the speaker harmonize the color and contrast of the retouched image with the background?

The speaker uses the 'Harmonize' feature in the neural filters of Photoshop Beta, sampling from the background layer to match the contrast and color tone of the foreground layer.

What is the final step the speaker takes to polish the image and draw attention to the player's face?

The final step is to add a new layer called 'catch lights', painting over the catch lights in the player's eyes with a white brush, changing the blend mode to Overlay, and using an eraser to adjust the brightness, making the catch lights more noticeable and drawing the viewer's eye to the player's face.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 AI and Photography: Composite NFL Player Images

The speaker introduces the topic of using AI to create composite images of NFL players. They discuss their personal journey from collecting trading cards to becoming a photographer, and how they were excited to photograph NFL and NBA draft picks for trading cards. The process involved using various AI tools like vato AI for skin retouching, Firefly and mid-journey for generating backgrounds, generative fill for fixing backgrounds, and Photoshop for blending images. The lighting techniques used during the photoshoots are also covered, including the use of the Ellen Chrome mobile app to control lighting for different setups.

05:01

🖼️ Background Creation with AI and Photoshop

The speaker details the process of creating backgrounds for the composite images using Adobe Firefly and mid-journey, emphasizing the use of descriptive keywords to generate specific scenes like cityscapes and stadiums. They explain how they used generative fill in Photoshop to remove the original subject from the background and merge layers. The importance of upscaling AI-generated images for higher resolution is discussed, along with techniques to harmonize color and contrast between the foreground and background using neural filters.

10:01

💡 Advanced Photoshop Techniques for Image Integration

The speaker describes advanced techniques in Photoshop for integrating the retouched player image with the background. They discuss the process of refining the mask around the player, especially the hair, and using blending modes to apply color effects. Additionally, they cover the use of neural filters to harmonize the image's color and contrast, creating a more cohesive look. The speaker also talks about adding a grain layer to unify the image and using color layers to enhance the overall visual appeal.

15:03

🌟 Final Touches: Lighting and Focus in Post-Production

The speaker elaborates on the final adjustments made to the composite image. They discuss adding a blue edge light effect to mimic the background lighting, using exposure adjustment layers to draw attention to the player's face, and enhancing catch lights in the player's eyes for a more realistic and polished look. The choice of not using generative fill for backgrounds due to time and quality constraints is justified, and the potential for future improvements in AI-generated image quality is acknowledged.

20:04

📢 Conclusion and Call to Action

The speaker concludes by expressing their excitement about the expanding creative possibilities with AI tools and encourages viewers to explore these techniques. They disclose that they were not sponsored by any companies and were motivated to share their learnings. The speaker thanks the viewers for their time, asks for likes and subscriptions, and provides links to related content, including lighting tutorials.

Keywords

💡AI

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the context of the video, AI is used to generate composite images of NFL football players. The speaker discusses using various AI tools like vato AI for retouching, Firefly and mid-journey for generating backgrounds, and generative fill in Photoshop Beta for image editing.

💡Composite Images

Composite images are a form of visual art where multiple photographs or image elements are combined to create a single, cohesive picture. The video focuses on the creation of composite images featuring NFL players, where AI plays a significant role in generating and editing various elements like skin retouching and background creation.

💡vato AI

Vato AI is a software tool mentioned in the video used for retouching images. It is utilized to remove blemishes, brighten dark circles under the eyes, and reduce wrinkles in a batch processing manner. The tool is highlighted for its efficiency in polishing images without overdoing the retouching to maintain a natural look.

💡Firefly

Firefly is an AI-based application used for generating images. In the video, it is used to create heavily blurred images of cityscapes and landscapes. The speaker provides an example of using descriptive keywords in Firefly to generate a background image with a sunset and specific lighting conditions.

💡Mid-Journey

Mid-Journey is another AI tool used for generating images, particularly for creating scenes like stadium or tunnel backgrounds as required for the composite images. The keyword input for Mid-Journey is detailed to include elements like lighting and perspective to achieve the desired outcome.

💡Generative Fill

Generative Fill is a feature in Photoshop Beta that allows users to fill selected areas with new content generated by AI. The video describes using generative fill to remove the player from the original image and replace the background, which is then merged and refined to create a seamless composite.

💡Photoshop Beta

Photoshop Beta refers to the beta version of Adobe Photoshop, which includes new features and tools that are still in testing. The video discusses using Photoshop Beta for advanced image editing tasks such as blending retouched images with AI-generated backgrounds and applying neural filters for color and contrast harmonization.

💡Clamshell Lighting Setup

A clamshell lighting setup is a specific lighting technique used in photography where the subject is lit from above with soft, even light that creates minimal shadows. In the video, the speaker initially uses this setup but later adjusts by removing the fill light to create a more dramatic look.

💡Action Shots

Action shots are photographs that capture movement or action, often used in sports photography to freeze a moment in time. The video describes creating edgy action shots using a large octabox and strip softboxes to achieve dynamic lighting effects.

💡Neural Filters

Neural Filters are AI-powered tools within Photoshop that use machine learning to perform complex image editing tasks. The video mentions using neural filters for tasks such as super zoom to enlarge images, harmonize to match color and contrast, and other adjustments to refine the composite images.

💡Batch Processing

Batch processing refers to the automated processing of multiple images or tasks at once. In the context of the video, vato AI is used for batch processing to quickly retouch multiple images with a preset, saving significant time and effort in the editing process.

Highlights

The video demonstrates how AI is used to generate composite images of NFL football players.

Vato AI is utilized for skin retouching to remove blemishes and brighten dark circles under the eyes.

Firefly and MidJourney AI tools are employed to generate backgrounds for the composite images.

Generative Fill in Photoshop Beta is used to fix the backgrounds of the images.

Photoshop is essential for blending all elements of the composite images together.

The speaker's journey from collecting trading cards to becoming a photographer is outlined.

The process of photographing NFL and NBA draft picks for trading cards is described.

The use of the Ellen Chrome mobile app for controlling lighting in a shoot is explained.

Different lighting setups, such as clamshell lighting and edge lighting, are discussed.

The importance of selecting the right background and lighting to match the athlete's pose is highlighted.

The video covers how to use AI-generated images as background plates and upscale them using Photoshop's Super Zoom feature.

Techniques for refining selections, especially hair, using masks and overlay modes are shown.

The use of the Neural Filters' harmonize feature to match the color and contrast of the foreground and background is demonstrated.

Adding a grain layer to unify the texture of the image is discussed.

The process of selectively darkening the image except for the subject's face to draw focus is shown.

Enhancing the catch lights in the subject's eyes using a small brush and overlay blend mode is demonstrated.

The choice to use AI tools like MidJourney and Firefly over generative fill for background creation is justified.

The potential for future improvements in AI-generated image quality and speed is acknowledged.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and explore more content.