Making a switched background look more real

[WooD]

I was just playing around with this shot to see what I could come up with.
I used the extract tool in CS2 to remove her from the original, then used the history brush to touch that up. Then I moved her to the bench. I used a warming filter to try, and blend the two images together more. It still looks most hideous. What could I have done to get the two images to merge together better? I know the shot looks too fake due to body, and bench placement. I'm just looking for ways to actually pull something like this off in the future.


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[kimspics]

I think this is just the coolest thing to do and cannot wait to learn how to do this!!! just looking though here is what I see and what first came to mind. i again love what you did but I think she is dressed to formal to be sitting on the bench. I think if she were wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of weathered blue jeans it would go great with the background. This is only my opinion and not to be critical-this may be what you wanted- Again the idea is fantastic and your model is very pretty.

[dognutmom]

I would love to be able to do these types of things better!

One thing that I noticed .... the lighting on the girl is soft, and seems to be coming from her upper right based on the light on her right shoulder and shin.

The lighting on the background looks like it is coming from the upper left based on the lighting on some of the red leaves.

Anyway, great extraction of the girl!

[WooD]

More casual effect, still sucks. Maybe I should try B&W.


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[peeperita]

you've done an admirable job of the extractions.....

i can appreciate your wanting to do this and keep doing it til you get it right.....and to that end i have a couple of suggestions....

put a layer or two of shadows between the model and the bench.....your eye can tell you where they would naturally be on the bench when there's an object between it and it's light source.....

i would also work with your background color to more closely match that of the girl.....i see a lot of blue there....i took your first image to editing and i felt that i successfully corrected much of the mismatching of colors there by using the selective color function and toying with the blues and cyans.....

a tool i seldom use except in times of great need.....usually a composite...is render/lighting effects.....although i could really use more skill with that tool, it does offer a gradient light source that falls on different parts of the field according to the color values....it's worth a shot.....

keep plugging away at it til you get it right.....it's the only way to master anything.....

peeper

[jiminyClickit]

WooD,

Some of the most expensive equipment in the world has been used to produce videos of this thing and that thing. And for whatever reason, these professionals do not always put in a believable shadow (or none at all) as peeperita described. Oversight or mistake, who knows? You can approach reality by looking at everthing that casts a shadow for a day or two: placement, color, sharp/soft (and why), light/dark (when, where). It can make-or-break.

[xxpinballxx]

hey wood might want to play around a little bit placing shadows on the bench behind her....either burning them there or in your blending options add drop shadow and mask where you dont want it being shadowed. Will add a bit more to the real feel.
Its fun playing like this with photos and great when you're bored....

[Nicole]

They are a good start, but I think the suggestions made so far are good. The shadows just aren't there, and they do need to be in order to make the pictures look even more realistic. Also, I think Peeperita made a good point about making sure that both pictures have the same colour tone. Good start though.

[wulf]

What things do you need to consider? Scale, lighting, shadows, colour and interaction with the background. For example, on the first shot, it looks like there was 2'-3' between her back and the front hand; the bench isn't that wide and so immediately the illusion is under threat. If the model shot was taken sitting on a similar bench, the result would probably be easier to blend in.

Wulf

[WooD]

Originally Posted by wulf

What things do you need to consider? Scale, lighting, shadows, colour and interaction with the background. For example, on the first shot, it looks like there was 2'-3' between her back and the front hand; the bench isn't that wide and so immediately the illusion is under threat. If the model shot was taken sitting on a similar bench, the result would probably be easier to blend in.

Wulf

In my first post I said "I know the shot looks too fake due to body, and bench placement. I'm just looking for ways to actually pull something like this off in the future".

I've thought about all you have mentioned above, except the shadows is something that never crossed my mind. That's all to come later, right now I'm trying to figure how to get more of a blend between two pictures. On the second shot I desaturated the picture of the girl a little, and it seemed to help.

Look at the first pic posted, she is about two times over size compared to the bench, and if you look at her @ss, you can see it is a couple inches off the bench. Like I said before I wasn't trying to fool anyone, just using a couple shots I already had to use as learning tools.