From the course: After Effects Compositing: 2 Matching Foreground to Background

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Match shadow grain and color with an adjustment layer

Match shadow grain and color with an adjustment layer - After Effects Tutorial

From the course: After Effects Compositing: 2 Matching Foreground to Background

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Match shadow grain and color with an adjustment layer

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No doubt you are already aware that not every shadow is black. In this scene the shadows appear slightly bluish and not entirely opaque. So, instead of adding a black layer and adjust the opacity, let's use color matching and a blending mode and look at the benefits of approaching it that way. This shadow layer is a C4D scene, and it's using the shadow setting in the multi-pass options. Whether you use Cinema or another 3D app, your shadow pass probably will look a lot like this. No alpha channel, just black over white. I'll use a copy, just to speed things up a little bit. And I have to insist that you not key out the white. Instead, use a blending mode, Multiply in this case, cancels out all of the white in the image, and leaves you with some nice subtle black edges. So what we are not going to do is adjust the opacity of the shadow. Instead, let's see what happens if we apply a levels effect directly to this layer. Now, I'll go channel by channel just as I would with a color match.…

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