This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Changing the background
There are many reasons to isolate a foreground image from a background. You may want to replace the background entirely, moving the subject to a different setting. Or you could simply want to change the foreground or background without modifying the other. In this lesson, you’ll remove the fenced in area of the background, and replace it with a different background, which you’ll enhance with color correction tools.
Close the Layer panel to return to the Composition panel, and then move the current-time indicator to the beginning of the timeline. Choose Fit from the Magnification Ratio pop-up menu at the bottom of the Composition panel.
Hide the properties for the Chickadee.mov layer, if they’re visible.
The timeline panel for Chickadee is set to 00:00 and shows the Chickadee.mov layer active. The second image shows the chickadee.mov clip in the Composition panel the with area outside the matte displayed as solid black.
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The Composition panel displays the composition, which includes only the Chickadee.mov layer, consisting only of the foreground you isolated from the clip.
Click the Project tab to display the Project panel, and double-click an empty area in the Project panel. Navigate to the Lessons/Lesson09/Assets folder, select the MillPond.mov file, and click Import or Open.
Drag the MillPond.mov clip from the Project panel to the Timeline panel, and place it below the original Chickadee.mov layer.
Click the new layer, press Enter or Return, and rename the layer Mill Pond Start. Then press Enter or Return again.
The timeline panel for Chickadee is set to 00:00 and shows the Mill Pond Start layer active as the bottom layer. The Chickadee.move layer is above it. The second image shows the chickadee.mov clip in the Composition panel with the Mill Pond Start clip visible in the area behind and outside the matte area containing the bird and the rock pool .
Select the Chickadee layer. Then, using the Selection tool (
), drag the layer to the lower half of the Composition panel. Your values should be similar to ours.
The first image shows the chickadee.mov clip in the Composition panel with the bird and rock pool repositioned toward the bottom of the screen. The Mill Pond Start clip visible in the area behind. The second image shows the Properties panel for Chickadee.mov, with the Position settings of 964 and 890. All other options are at their default settings.
Select the Mill Pond Start layer, and choose Effect > Color Correction > Hue/Saturation.
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You’ll use the Hue/Saturation effect in two different ways, so you’ll create a duplicate layer for the second effect.
With the Mill Pond Start layer selected, choose Edit > Duplicate. Rename the bottom layer Mill Pond End. Then rename the top layer to remove the number 2 from the name (so that its name is Mill Pond Start).
The first image shows the Effect Controls panel for the Mill Pond End layer. The Hue/Staturation effect has been applied and is displayed. All options are at their default settings. The second image shows the timeline panel for Chickadee is set to 00:00. Mill Pond End layer active as the third and bottom layer. The Chickadee.move layer is at the top, and Mill Pond Start in second.
Select the Mill Pond Start layer, and then, in the Effect Controls panel, do the following:
Select Colorize.
Change Colorize Hue to 56 degrees.
Change Colorize Saturation to 19.
Change Colorize Lightness to −25.
The first image shows the Effect Controls panel for the Mill Pond Start layer. The Hue/Staturation effect has been applied and is displayed. At the bottom, Colorize has been selected. Colorize Hue is set to 56 degrees. Colorize Saturation is set to 19. Change Colorize Lightness is set to ?25. The second image shows the result applied in the Composition panel, with the Mill Pond Start layer colorized to and appearing in monochromatic shades of olive green.
In the Properties panel, click the stopwatch icon for the Opacity value to create an initial keyframe at 100%.
Go to 1:10, and change the Opacity to 0.
The first image shows the Composition panel with the bird and rock pool in front and Mill Pond Start clip visible in the area behind. The second image shows the Properties panel for Mill Pond Start. A key frame has been added to the Opacity setting which is set to zero. All other options are at their default settings.
Still at 1:10, select the Mill Pond End layer.
In the Effect Controls panel, click the stopwatch icon for the Channel Range property to create an initial keyframe.
Go to the end of the footage (2:25), and change the Master Hue to -30.
The first image shows the Effect Controls panel for the Mill Pond End layer. The Hue/Staturation effect has been applied and is active. The Stopwatch has been seleced for the Color Range option. Master Hue has been changed to 30 degrees. The second image shows the result applied in the Composition panel, with the bright green foliage in the Mill Pond End layer altered to orange hues.
Press the spacebar to preview the project. Press the spacebar again when you’ve finished.
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The three images show the entire screen with the chickadee and rock pool in the front and the mill pond footage in the background. The first image shows the mill pond footage with a monochromatic dark olive hues. The second image shows the mill pond footage with the default color settings . The third image shows the mill pond footage with orange tones in the foliage.
The background transitions from a monochromatic dusk to a full summer day and then again to the beginning of fall as the leaves change.
Choose File > Increment And Save.
If you save incrementally, you can return to earlier versions of your project to make adjustments later. This can be very useful if you’re experimenting or want to try alternative effects. The Increment And Save feature preserves the previously saved version of the project and creates a new project with the same name, with an increasing number added to the filename.