Create depth and motion

In an ideal world, when creating 2.5D movies using existing photographs we would like all the separate elements within the image to have been shot separately and using the same light.

Of course, in the real world it's impossible to delete buildings, lamp-posts and so on, which is where Photoshop comes into play. By using some of the advanced features of Photoshop we can recreate elements of photos that aren't in the original shot, enabling us to break apart a photo and reconstruct it in a way that allows us to fly an After Effects camera through the environment flawlessly.

In the following tutorial you will learn how to do this using an existing shot taken in Toronto, Canada, and you'll also learn how to disperse the layers to create a 3D world using After Effects, resulting in a 10-second motion clip.

Click here to download the support files (54.7MB)

Click here to download the tutorial for free