You may have seen the Acura commercials on TV where the car is coming out of the fire, or out of the brick wall debris. Well in this tutorial we are going to create an effect similar to the fire one in Photoshop.
First lets grab some images:
Step 1
First we are going to start by opening up our matches image and start cutting one out using the pen tool. Bring the match that we just cut out into a new 1680×1050 document.
Step 2
Downsize your match to about 60% and fill the background with black.
Step 3
Now before we go any further, I want to establish a line with my guide so we can have everything sitting on the same spot horizontally.
Step 4
Go ahead and open up the truck image in Photoshop. Let’s start out by fixing a couple things. First off this truck is going to be flipped when we bring it into our other document, so we want make sure the text on the side will be facing the right way. Go into edit>transform>flip horizontally.
Step 5
Using the square marquee tool, create a box around the emblem on the door. Do control + J to duplicate that area, then go to edit>transform>flip horizontally. Now click on the mask icon at the bottom of the layers window (the square with a circle in the middle of it). Paint, with a 0% hard black brush around the emblem we duplicated. Be careful as to get rid of the unwanted lines, but make sure the old emblem doesn’t show through.
Step 6
Repeat step 5 with the decal on the back. Afterwards, cut out the truck, including the windows. Merge the truck layer with the emblem layers by linking them then control + e to merge them together.
Step 7
Load the path (control + click on the path) that you made to cut out the truck (in the paths tab of the layers palette). Do control + shift + I to get the inverse selection and delete. Then fill the background with black
Since there will be no sky in our final image, we need to get rid of the blue reflections. So to do this go into image>adjustments>replace color. Click on a blue area and adjust the settings as I have below.
Step 8
Since the flames are going to be coming from the back of the truck we are going to darken the front side. Load the truck by control + clicking on the truck layer, and then, using a black to 0% opacity gradient, create a gradient from right to left. Change the opacity of the layer to 80%.
Step 9
Now we are going to adjust the curves, so open it up with control + m and adjust it as I have below.
We are also going to drop down the saturation so do control + u to open up the hue/saturation window.
Step 10
Now we are going to change the color balance. Using control + b go into color balance and adjust the settings as I have done below.
Step 11
Merge the truck layer and gradient layer, and bring it into our document. Using control + t, resize the truck to 20%.
Step 12
Go onto Image After and grab some fire images. Change the blend mode of each one to lighten, this will make it so you don’t have to cut them out, the black will just disappear. Using control + u change the saturation to -40 for each one.
Step 13
Now we are going to have the top of the match fade into the darkness. So to do this we are going to add a layer mask (second icon from the left at the bottom of the layers palette). Using a black to 0% opacity gradient, click and drag something you like.
Step 14
We are going to create a gradient below the truck and flames to serve as a base that everything is going to be sitting on. So to do this, we are going to create a radial gradient using a color that we can pull from the flames. I’m using #C98640. Move the gradient so the brightest part is under the flames.
Using control + t stretch out the gradient and move the bottom of the gradient so it is just below the guide. Select your square marquee tool and drag a box around the whole area above the guide and delete. With mine, I am going to drop the opacity down to 70% and the saturation (control + u) to -40.
Step 15
Create another radial gradient with the color #FF9C00 that covers the area around the flames. Adjust it with control + t until you get something you like. Change the blend mode to color burn. This layer should be just above the ground gradient we made it step 14.
Step 16
Create another radial gradient on the back end of the truck, this time it is going to be white. Stretch the gradient out and change the blend mode to overlay. This will give the back of the truck more of a highlight.
Step 17
Now I am going to give the wheels a blur so it looks like they are moving. Using the circular marquee tool, create a circle around the front tire. Go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur and adjust your setting as I have below. Repeat for the back tire.
We also want to get rid of the back tire because it is off the ground. So, using your pen tool, cut out the area and delete it.
Final
I added some text, and that’s it, a truck coming out of the flames of a match.
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