Alright, let’s talk about this “shaq sleeping” thing I messed around with today. It started kinda dumb, honestly.
First, I saw this picture of Shaq sleeping somewhere online. Don’t remember where, doesn’t matter. But I thought, “Hey, that’d be funny to mess with.” So, I grabbed the image. That was step one: find the Shaq image.
Next, I wanted to put him in a ridiculous place. I thought about the moon, a rollercoaster, maybe even a board meeting. Finally, I settled on a crowded subway car. Why? Seemed the most absurd. So, I needed a subway image. Find a subway image. Google Images to the rescue. Found a suitably packed train.
Then came the tricky part: Photoshop time. I’m no expert, mind you. Just a dude who knows enough to be dangerous. I cut Shaq out of his original background – rough edges and all, didn’t bother being perfect. Then, I pasted him into the subway car. It looked awful. Like, REALLY awful.
So, I had to mess with the blending modes. Tried a bunch of ’em – Multiply, Overlay, Screen… nothing looked quite right. Eventually, I landed on “Soft Light” and knocked the opacity down a bit. Still janky, but better. I also played with the shadows and highlights to try and make him look like he was actually casting light on the surrounding passengers. A bit.
Added some motion blur to the subway car to give the impression it was moving. Just a slight blur, nothing crazy. Then, I darkened Shaq’s image a tad to match the lighting in the train.
Now, for the finishing touches. I decided to add a speech bubble coming from a nearby passenger. Added the speech bubble. What did it say? “Is that Shaq?” Classic. Used a basic, sans-serif font – nothing fancy.
Finally, I added a little watermark in the corner – just my initials. Saved the image as a JPEG, and that was it.
The final product? Pretty dumb. But it made me laugh, and that’s all that matters, right? I learned a few things about blending modes and shadow manipulation along the way. Mostly, I learned that I need to get better at Photoshop.
- Found Shaq image
- Found subway image
- Photoshop time: Cutting, pasting, blending
- Added motion blur
- Added speech bubble
- Saved the image
Lessons Learned
Honestly, the biggest takeaway is that even a simple, silly project like this can teach you something. I definitely got a better feel for how different blending modes affect the overall look of an image. And I reinforced the importance of subtle adjustments to lighting and shadows.
Will I do it again? Probably. It’s a fun way to kill an afternoon and flex those creative muscles, even if the end result is pure, unadulterated nonsense. Maybe next time, Shaq will be sleeping on Mars.
