Turning One Photo Object Into Many

A Photoshop Based Tutorial

A Photoshop Based Tutorial

It is said that ONE is the loneliest number.

But with a few Photoshop tricks, we can easily add many friends!

You start with your solo item. Then, create a guide that we’ll use to place all the new friends. This will help keep the spacing uniform and give the perspective required for realism.

Using the Marquee tool, drag out a rectangle to the approximate length you’ll need, Don’t fuss too much here. Next, fill your rectangle with a color that contrasts with your object. Finally, use EDIT > FREE TRANSFORM  to create the perspective. If you hold down the “Ctrl” key, you’ll be able to drag the corners however you like to create the perspective size you need. Use the Center of your original object as the starting point and height for your perspective. Once set, put this guide layer below your object.

Next we create the “Friends”. Use Ctrl-J to duplicate your object, then move that new layer below the original. It’s easiest to work on only one side, start with the right. Move your new object into position (about 1/2 way sticking out from the original) then use EDIT > TRANSFORM > SCALE to shrink it down to fit between the bottom and top of your guides. Holding the “Shift” key ensures that the proportions stay true. Once this is complete, just keep repeating until you have enough objects.

Once you have the right side completed, you can turn off your guide layer and merge all your object layers together.

To create the other side (left) simply copy the right side layer (the composite you just merged) and use EDIT > TRANSFORM > FLIP HORIZONTAL and move it into position directly behind or in front of the right side.

Add a background or any other special effects and you’re done!

Of course there are many other ways to accomplish this, but I find this to be a very simple and reliable (although tedious!) trick for relieving the loneliness of ONE.

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