Movie Poster – Miss Koppejan

Instructions:

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Face Photo

Start by making a new PS document, size 850 x 1100 px.

Click on the photo below and copy the full-size image (or find a good quality side profile photo of a person’s face if you’re doing a different movie).

Make sure it has a darker area for the neck/shoulders on the bottom right.
It can be a color photo – you will be making all the photos black & white later on.

CTRL+T to resize/position it along the right-side of the canvas, rotating the head a bit, leaving room at the bottom for the credits, movie name…

Rename the layer “face”.

Remove Background

Hide the Background layer for now, then select the face photo layer.

Go to Properties and Remove Background.

Your face layer will now have a mask like this…

Show the Background layer again.

CTRL+G to put it into a group/folder. Rename the folder “photos”.

Text

Credits

Click off in an empty area in the Layers panel.

Then add a new group at the top; rename it “text”.

Copy the credits picture below and paste it in.

Rename the layer…

Add a layer style – Color Overlay – setting it to black (first reset to default).

CTRL+T to resize/position in the bottom-left area like this.

Award

Copy in the awards picture below and paste it.

Add a layer style – Color Overlay – setting it to white.

Resize/position in the bottom-right area, over the photo

Collapse both layers…

Actors & Tagline

Use the Text tool to add text in separate text layers:

Make sure to click (not click & drag) to type text.
Actors: make the text white and position it against the top-right area of the face photo
Tagline: type out a phrase from the movie; make the text black and position it on the top-left area
Fonts used in my example: “Norwester” for actors, “Henny Penny” for tag line (you can use other fonts if you prefer)

Movie Name

Click off the text layers. Add a new group/folder at the top and rename it “movie name”.

Add a text layer for each word in the movie title.

Resize and position them along the left, so they are close together and bigger/taller.
Make one of the words a brighter color.
Font used in my example: “Jester Jumble”

Layer Styles

Select the movie name folder, and add the following layer styles:

Drop Shadow: reset to default, then increase opacity to 50% and the size to about 25 px
Inner Shadow: reset to default, then increase size to about 35 px

When you’re done, collapse the movie name folder.

More Photos

Scene Photo

Hide the text and movie name folders for now. Select the face photo layer.

Paste in the scene photo from the movie below (or your own movie photo).

Rename the layer.

Resize and position it over the top/right area of the face…

Hide the face photo for now. Add layer mask.

Select the Brush tool, reset it first to go back to a normal brush.

Then make sure it’s soft, about size 150 px. Make your foreground color black.

Paint around the edges to erase/hide them so it blends with the photo behind it.
Show the face layer again.
Then move/position the scene photo as shown below, leaving room for the actors names at the top and so we still see the face.

Katniss Photo

Paste in the photo below.

Rename the layer. Resize/position the photo as shown below. Add a layer mask and erase the edges…

Photo Adjustments

Black & White

Select the top photo layer.

Add an adjustment layer … Black & White. Go to the Properties tab and adjust the Reds and Blues sliders to about -40.

Color Balance

Add another adjustment layer … Color Balance. Adjust the sliders to -40 and -20.

Levels

Add another adjustment layer … Levels. Push the black slider a bit to the right, push the white slider a bit to the left.

Collapse the photos folder.

Show the text folders again.

Here’s what you should have so far…

Finishing Touches

Texture Background

Click on the photo below and copy the full-size image…

Select the Background layer (can keep it hidden or show again), then paste the photo below into your document.

CTRL+T and resize it to fill the canvas…

Spotlight

Set your colors to default, then change the foreground color to red (or whatever bright color you part of the movie name text to). Then go to the Gradient tool.