PS Tutorial: A Creative Fruit Cup Composite

About 20 min read

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Getting an orange into a cup comes down to selections and masks. Work in layers — orange in the cup, orange on the handle, orange sliced — then use perspective and Curves so the light matches. Compositing in Online PS is really practice in layer relationships.

1. Open Online PS → new canvas & colour fill

  1. Open Online PS (zaixianps.cc)
  2. Press Ctrl+N → set width 1200 px, height 1800 px, resolution 300 dpi, background Transparent, then click Create.
  3. At the bottom of the Layers panel click New Fill or Adjustment Layer → Solid Color and choose pale yellow #FFF8E1 (a warm base for the cup); tick “current layer only”.
  4. Drag the cup asset (PNG or PSD) into the canvas, press Ctrl+T, hold Shift to keep the proportions and position it in the middle of the canvas.

💡 Tip: if you don't have a cup asset ready, search “glass cup png” on Freepik and download a royalty-free PNG.

2. Orange in the cup (selection + mask)

  1. Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it “Orange‑body”.
  2. Use the Rectangular/Elliptical Marquee (M) to draw the area the orange occupies inside the cup (about 70% of the height), right-click → Feather 5 px to soften the edge.
  3. Drag the orange asset (a whole orange PNG) into that layer, press Ctrl+T → scale it until it fills the selection.
  4. Right-click the “Orange‑body” layer → Add Layer Mask. The mask already covers the selected area; if the fill isn't complete, brush on the mask with the Brush (B), soft round, 30% opacity, so the orange sits naturally against the cup wall.

🖌️ Brush shortcuts: B → Alt toggles the foreground/background colour.

3. Orange on the handle (same method)

  1. New layer → “Orange‑handle”.
  2. Use the Lasso tool (L) to draw a selection over the handle, Feather 3 px.
  3. Drag the orange asset in again, adjust with Ctrl+T, keeping a natural curve.
  4. Add a mask to the “Orange‑handle” layer and brush on it with a soft round brush (20% opacity) to blend it into the handle shape.

🔍 If the handle's curve looks unnatural, refine it with Edit → Transform → Warp (Ctrl+T → Warp).

4. The cut orange (perspective + mask)

  1. New layer → “Sliced orange”. Drag in the PNG of the already-cut orange.
  2. Select that layer, Ctrl+T → right-click → Perspective, then pull the top-left and top-right corners so the base of the orange matches the sight line of the cup's rim (about 30° of perspective).
  3. Press Enter to confirm, then add a mask to the layer.
  4. On the mask, use a soft round brush (35% opacity) along the lower edge of the orange so the exposed flesh overlaps the rim naturally.

⚙️ Perspective shortcut: Ctrl+T → right-click inside the transform box → Perspective.

5. Orange lid & other decorations

  1. New layer → “Lid orange”. Drag in the whole-orange image.
  2. Ctrl+T → scale it down so it only covers the top of the cup.
  3. Add a mask and fade the lower edge with a soft round brush (20% opacity) so the orange reads as part of the lid.
  4. Keep adding layers for leaves, mint, powdered sugar and other decorations, positioning and scaling each with Ctrl+T.
  5. Mask each decoration separately and refine the coverage with the brush so it sits naturally on the cup or the orange.

🟢 To line decorations up, turn on View → Grid (Ctrl+') as a reference.

6‑20. Detail work: Curves, shadows, colour

Every step below pairs a Curves adjustment layer with a mask to control light and shade locally, backed up by Hue/Saturation, blend modes and similar tools for the finer rendering.

  1. Lift the background with a gradient
    • Add a Curves layer → select RGB, click once in the lower left to lift the shadows and once in the upper right to pull the highlights down, so the background glows faintly.
    • On that curve's mask, invert the fill (Ctrl+I) and brush a soft glow around the edges of the canvas with a soft round brush (15% opacity).
  2. Drop shadow (bottom)
    • Add another Curves layer → bend the curve down overall (darken the shadows) to build shadow density.
    • On its mask, use a soft round brush (30% opacity) to paint an elliptical shadow under the cup; soften it with Filter → Gaussian Blur.
  3. Shadow on the orange slice
    • Add a Curves layer for the “Sliced orange” layer → darken the midtones slightly for a sense of inner depth.
    • Invert the mask with Ctrl+I, then brush along the lower edge of the orange (30% opacity) for a subtle shadow at the rim.
  4. Deepen the decoration shadows
    • Add a Curves layer to each decoration layer (leaves, powdered sugar and so on), lifting the shadows slightly with the left point to create a shadow.
    • For a stronger shadow, right-click the curve layer → Blending Mode → Multiply.
  5. Light and shade on the handle
    • Add a Curves layer → lift the brightness on the left of the handle and darken the right, implying light from the upper left.
    • Invert the mask, then brush a shadow under the handle with a soft round brush (10% opacity).
  6. Overall cup contrast
    • Above the “Cup‑overall” layer add another Curves layer, work on the RGB channel and apply a gentle S‑curve for contrast, then strengthen the lit side of the cup with the brush on the mask.
  7. Brighten the cut orange
    • Add a Curves layer for “Sliced orange” → lift the midtones about 10% to restore the fresh look inside the slice.
  8. Lid shadow
    • Above the “Lid orange” layer add a Curves layer → darken the right side slightly to imply light from the upper left.
  9. Cup, handle and lid casting on each other
    • Above the “Cup body” layer add a Curves layer → lift the shadow on the right of the handle a little, so the lid casts onto the body.
  10. Colour blending: tinting the shadow
    • Add a normal layer and set its blend mode to Color.
    • With a soft round brush (dark orange #C68E50), brush lightly in the shadow under the lid so the shadow picks up a warm orange tint and reads more three-dimensional.
  11. Refine the handle shadow
    • Above “Orange‑handle” add a Curves layer → darken the right side slightly.
    • Brush on the mask (20% opacity) to strengthen the shadow at the base of the handle.
  12. Leaf shadow and hue shift
    • Leaf layer → Curves: click the lower left to lift the shadows, the upper right to lift the highlights slightly.
    • Then add Hue/Saturation (Ctrl+U), nudge the leaf channel's hue toward green (+10) and lower saturation by 5% so the leaf looks natural.
    • Add another normal layer in Color mode and brush dark green #557A3C at the base of the leaf for a contact shadow.
  13. Shading the orange segments
    • For the segments on the “Orange‑body” layer (Select → Color Range is handy for picking out orange), add a Curves layer → pull the shadows down on the left to create a cast shadow.
  14. Light and shade on the decorations
    • Add a Curves layer to every decoration layer (sweets, stars, plastic forks and so on). Example values (see the diagram): 
      Curve point 1: (0, 0)
Curve point 2: (70, 65)   // lift the midtones slightly
Curve point 3: (255, 240) // pull the highlights down slightly
  15. Layer organisation & unified grading
    • Select all the related layers → right-click → Group (Ctrl+G) and name it “Fruit cup”.
    • Above the group add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, shift the overall hue slightly warm (+5) and raise overall saturation by 8%.
    • Add a Selective Color layer (Adjustment → Selective Color) and give the reds and yellows a little extra light so the orange looks fresher.

💎 Tips in short:

  • For a Curves layer's mask, “inverted fill + soft round brush” is the easiest way to control local brightness.
  • After any Ctrl+T → Warp, remember to press Enter to confirm, otherwise the mask won't take effect.
  • If you want softer shadows, add Gaussian Blur to the curve layer (Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur, radius 5‑8px).

Done! Export and share

  1. Check that every layer is visible, and hide the mask borders on the adjustment layers (they don't affect the result).
  2. File → Export As PNG (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S); keeping the transparent background makes later compositing easier.
  3. To post on social media, use File → Export As JPEG or PNG.

References

  • Online PS
  • Adobe Photoshop official documentation
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