Dramatic Photo Special FX

This technique I learned from movie poster designer Tomasz Opasinski, who has worked on advertising materials for some of the biggest Hollywood films in recent years. He used this effect for the feature film I Am Legend with Will Smith, in which we take a basic photo of a building and make it seem as though it has deteriorated over time. Great technique, and surprisingly easier than you might think!

STEP ONE:
Open the image of the buildings. I actually took this shot with a Canon point-and-shoot camera when I was in New York a while back. It was overcast that day, so I was able to get good detail in the buildings, however the sky was flat and boring. But, we’ll fix that shortly. For now, select the Magic Wand tool in the Toolbox (or press Shift-W until you have it), and click on the sky area of the image. Then, Inverse the selection by pressing Command-Shift-I (PC: Ctrl-Shift-I). With the buildings now selected, press Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to Copy them.