MERRY CHRISTMAS from the warm and cozy Rudis house to yours. I pray it is a blessing to be with family and that your New Year is as fruitful as you could imagine!
In this live event, I will reveal our annual Christmas Card (this one is a doozy!) and show you how I composite our cards from beginning to end.
You’ll see everything from:
• How I light my subject(s)
• How I pick the perfect background
• How I mask us in the background
• How I make believable shadows
• How I refine masks with all kinds of tools (including the dreaded Pen tool)
Even if you have NO desire to composite a Christmas Card, what you will learn in this event will carry into every composite you want to create.
***Bonus for Elite Members Only***
I added a bonus video to the reel below. In the bonus video, you will see all our Christmas Cards through the years. From our very first card with no children in 2010 until now. Enjoy them or use them as inspiration for your own designs.
Thanks Blake for a truly fun and informative Christmas themed lesson. I hope you and your family are as warm on this cold winter night as you make us feel when you share your passion and Joy with us. Merry Christmas.
🙂 We are trying to keep warm in this -4 degree weather, we could use some of that warm passion to heat up the whole of Missouri, haha! Merry Christmas!
What a wonderful looking family. I do hope the dog is a female, so your wonderful wife is not the only lady in the family!! I have a feeling, she,… like my mother might think a family of males can be a handful at times!!! Thank you for all you do for us. I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas, and all the best in the coming year!
She is in a family of males. But she also did pick out the dog 😉 That’s on her! haha
She is a wonderful boy mom an often says she’d have no idea what to do with a girl. Merry Christmas!
Wonderful to have a family tradition…Merry Christmas to you and your family
We do love it! Thank you!
Great compositing video, but I was surprised at the way you made the shadow. Why didn’t you use the drop shadow function and separate the shadow into a new layer? You can then do all the perspective manipulations and more in that layer.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Xmas and looking forward to you printing tutorial in 2023!
Rick Du Boisson
For sure! So the drop shadow would work, but the benefit of using the subjects is that the shape created is not uniform. The Drop shadow often appears too uniform and doesn’t have the same gradient-like effect in all the spots that come together in the blur, like the thin arms or feet. So I use the actual subject to make a less structured shadow like the drop shadow. With single objects like a cup or ball or something, drop shadow can work, but with a complex subject, I find this approach to be more realistic.
Great video and card! I hope you and your family stay happy and healthy. Just one question – why didn’t you have matching PJs in the picture? 🙂
I did 😉 for some reason mine came with a white shirt. It was a package deal my wife bought online.
Hallo Blake, it is JOY to watch the process making your Xmas card come to live! And such a tribute to your beloved family!
Enjoy the holidays and have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Successful New Year!
Thanks for instructing us the way you do!!!
All my pleasure, my friend! Have a wonderful Christmas!
thank you, I was able to do a special Christmas Card for my Wife and our 1st Christmas in our new home here in Fredericksburg TX. Much Appreciated.
A very joyous and Blessed Christmas to you and your family
When using the lasso tool and brush to modify the mask, I’ll use ctrl-backspace (PC) instead of a brush and it fills the selections in one quick take. [Sometimes alt-backspace depending on how my default fore/background colors are set.]
I’ll have to try that. One thing I didn’t mention is that sometimes with the soft edge brush I don’t put the middle of it on the selection. That way the soft part makes a natural blend like a feathered edge. Sometimes that can be more effective than just filling it with black.
Thank you Blake and family!
Happy Holidays and best wishes for the new year!
And YES agree, definitely hard wood floors!
Best to all
Ugh! I may cave sooner than later. haha
That’s awesome, Blake. I’m so glad I’m an Elite member b/c it’s now February and this is the first time I’ve had to look at this. I see that no-one answered your question about whether the carpet stayed or went. I’m with Sarah. A hardwood floor is easier to keep clean. However, if tender footed you needs carpet then maybe a rug would suit? We were on an expedition cruise off the high seas surrounding the Sub-Antarctic Islands over Christmas. Ponant, the French shipping line served us with a French menu. Now I’m wondering what Tonee Gee has for Christmas Dinner?