Baby playing piano

[windrider86]

A whole lot of layer on this one. Found 2 different photos I wanted to use. Well, three counting the baby. The baby is my grandson. The other two I found on Google images. One of a piano and one for the music.
The original was pretty light so I did a lot of painting to darken up the areas that should not have been so light. I use the refine edge tool a lot. Powerful tool that does a great job of getting the edges down right. Always do the final layer with a mask. That way you can really finalize any areas that the refine tool may have missed.
One of the most important things I have learned about doing composites is the shadows. There always has to be shadows. How I create them is to use the lasso tool to outline the area and then duplicate that selection. I then use the hue/saturation tool to darken it all the way and make black. Add a Gaussian Blur and lower the opacity to your liking. Then use a mask to remove an areas that overlay on the original subject. Keep in mind that some areas it should overlay.

[LaBajista]

The shadow on the piano doesn't make sense with the direction of the light on the baby.

[FocalFrenzy]

This is a very nice composit. I agree that the shadow should be at the baby's right side though. I really like the "Vintage" feel that you applied to the finished shot.
P.S.
I love your avatar!.

[TNH]

I agree about the shadow, that's kind of strange, but I love the idea! That is such a cute edit... he looks like a 'Little Beethoven.'
I like how you made it look kind of old. This is such a cool edit, it looks like he's really playing the piano! Nice job...

[windrider86]

lol. even tho this isnt the critique section and wasnt looking for it, I appreciate your comments

[Barclay]

Hi windrider86,
Thought the shadow creates some issues but the concept is great. I like the idea. Will try to use this technique on some of my pictures and will share it with you later.