Composing - Car and Model

[derLitograph]

I changed the background. Originally it was a showroom of a tuning factory "Geiger Cars". I decided to put the car into a forrest background.
Hope you like it:
http://www.derlitograph.de/index.php?showimage=941

[Mike]

Are you asking for a critique?

[derLitograph]

no, only recognition!
:-)

haha.

If you want to critique - shoot!

[Ant]

Impossible focuses. They guy seems to float and the shoulder on the right is mushy. He also does not seem to really exist in the scene - shadowing, hard edges. Check the cars tires - color, mask

[derLitograph]

@Ant. Can you do any processing examples on my pic?

[Ant]

too small, no layers. just do it yourself.

[Mike]

It appears that the light on the trees is coming from upper right and going to lower left. He is standing on the shadow of a tree, yet he is not casting a shadow. If the light is coming from behind him, why the big hi lite on his face?

Also under the car there are very bight sun spot areas. So the car has holes in it that allow the light to pass through and hit the ground?

[dataflow]

i think you guy are looking at the image as retouches.
try looking at it from a style perspective.

not everything has to be real world perfect.
by the looks of the image it is not meant to represent the real world.

looking at it as a design its great.
if i seen it on a poster i wouldnt look at all the things that the above posts have pointed out

[pixelzombie]

if it's not aesthetically pleasing, the design principle tends to get lost...

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by derLitograph

no, only recognition!
:-) haha. If you want to critique - shoot!

I recognize that you went through a lot of work selecting the right components to make this grouping.. Put in a lot of time working on the individual elements to make them look good (the car, trees, man) the design is great, JUST not finished and still looks fake.. It is the little details (like you put into all the other elements to make them look good) that count most and your finished composite deserves the same attention to detail.. as Ant and Mike have pointed out..

Then again maybe you will be happy doing haphazard work and will be satisfied with "WOW, It looks Freakin Great!!" instead of listening to constructive criticism and learning from it.

[namphoto]

hey.. i think it looks pretty damn cool, i guess there are some flaws, but its lookin pretty nice.

whatd you use to mask the subject

[derLitograph]

@Senior members: Well, your eyes are maybe to much trained concerning retouches.
My main criteria - as a non professional - is how it looks overall. This image should not look (as dataflow said) like a real world image. BUT ... constructive criticism is very good to learn. So please do not stop to do so in the future.

@dataflow and namphoto: Thank you. Glad, someone likes it the way I do. namphoto, do you mean which selection tool I used for masking this subject? the path tool...

[derLitograph]

Originally Posted by Mike

It appears that the light on the trees is coming from upper right and going to lower left. He is standing on the shadow of a tree, yet he is not casting a shadow. If the light is coming from behind him, why the big hi lite on his face?

Also under the car there are very bight sun spot areas. So the car has holes in it that allow the light to pass through and hit the ground?

Hi Mike,
I looked again at my image with your posting in mind. Let's say there is a lightning setup that will avoid shadows on the face of the guy on the photo. That also would avoid a shadow coming from the person because of the backlight.
But you are right with the very bright sun spots under the car. I will change that.

THANKS

[derLitograph]

Changed version!
http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/5lqe-5-jpg.html

[AdamZx3]

I like the image overall but agree it still needs tweaks.

The thing that pops out at me the most is the left tire....it's way to light, and needs to be darker. It's good how you toned down the highights on the ground but they need to be a solid coverage of shadow.

Here's a quick change I made in photoshop, I just added shadows to the ground and to the guy a bit to try and make him blend into the scene better, such as shadowing the part of the car he's leaning on. It's a bit rough and now pixelated, but this is what I would work towards to polish up the image.

[Kevin Connery]

Originally Posted by derLitograph

@Senior members: Well, your eyes are maybe to much trained concerning retouches.

A "normal" viewer will still see many of the mismatches, but it'll be subconscious; they won't be able to articulate why something "feels wrong", but it'll still have the effect of reducing believability.

In this case, since the image is obviously not intended to look like a photograph, that artificiality is much more acceptable. Were this designed to look like a real photo, the mismatches noted could easily spoil the illusion. As an illustration, a lot of little details can still be real-world-impossible and still be effective (if not necessarily optimum.)

[CaptainHook]

I think people are looking at the small details instead of the big picture first.
The perspective of the car/man to the background is off.
It seems like all three elements were taken at different angles with different
horizon lines.

Both the car and man should be 'further back', (higher and smaller).

Making the feet sit on the ground is THE hardest part.

[pixelzombie]

i kind of like photos that have fake perspective, assuming they are done right...

[derLitograph]

Although the man and the car were photographed together in one photo.

[CaptainHook]

Originally Posted by derLitograph

Although the man and the car were photographed together in one photo.

But it's their relationship with the background that i said looks off...?

Although now you mention it, the man DOES look pasted in front of
the car! Ha.

Also, the shadow of the man you've added back on after
putting on the reflection, is that the right angle?
The shadow on the left arm indicates it doing something different
than it is. Maybe not.

Eh. You can always find things wrong if you're looking for them.
On any image.

[derLitograph]

Originally Posted by CaptainHook

Eh. You can always find things wrong if you're looking for them.
On any image.

NOOOO, not on mine. Mine is perfect :-))

[Orisinal]

Hi

Youre forgetting the shoes

The ground is blurred and his shoes is sharp like razors.
Thats the No1 easiest way to tell if you have a cut in.

But hey, its a cool pic.

Br Orisinal

[lightbox_image]

The reflection on the car shows the garage, not the trees. That was odd.

The trees are half baked and half greeny. That I don't like.

Composition is OK to my eyes, it looks like cartoon, or 1960 style...

[sonny7]

The perspective of the car seems off in relation to its environment. The mans feet seem to be off the ground. As mentioned by others, the light source seems to be coming from several angles. I cannot see the background through the rear window. There is no reflection of the trees in the front bumper and the car. That is my take on this image. I retouched cars for Hertz ads for several years and all these issues were common.