Compositing Tutorial

[mikeconley]

Hello all, longtime lurker, 1st time poster.
I am looking for tutorials that will teach me how to composite 15 plus images as shown in Paul's blog. I do some composting (two or three images) so I understand it is a mixture of techniques. However, I can't begin to comprehend how to blend so many images. My goal is not to duplicate Paul’s work but understand the techniques for composting numerous images. I have a vision but lack the skills to composite to this degree.

Do the books by Katrin Eismann and Steve Caplin touch on this type of composite work?

http://paulbyun.blogspot.com/



Thanks Mike

[mikedimples]

What you linked is called HDR compositing, and it can be done automatically or manually. To have Photoshop do it, go into BridgeCS4 (3?) and select all the images, then tools > photoshop >merge to HDR. There are stand alone programs that give higher quality results, like Photomatix.

To do this manually, you'll need to mask in the best tones from each image using contrast masking.

This effect can also be faked somewhat with tonemapping, but you'll need a RAW file.

**note that you can't take any 15 images and HDR them, they must have been taken with HDR in mind using a tripod and taking many shots with varying exposure so you can capture the full tonal range of the image**

Then he separately took HDR photo of the girl with each shot lighting a different area of her. Looks like he then sloppily composited the girl and the church together -- something looks fishy in the end result.

[plantphoto]

There are plenty of books out there on comping,I have books by both the authors you mention but it still takes time & practice to produce good results (that's presuming you are new to photoshop).I also think a background as a photographer helps but that's just my view.
Cheers,
Simon

[mikeconley]

I have a reasonable level of skills in both photography and Photoshop but certainly not an expert. As I said, I do composite work today but with just a few images. I am also striving to create a “look” that is similar to Paul’s and the work of this gentleman at quantzphoto.com. He obviously has a high level of knowledge relative to compositing. His processing is close to what I am trying to achieve as well. I am working on the creation of my own look which falls somewhere in between the two folks mentioned above. To accomplish my goal, I must improve my composting skills.

[snook305]

I have done many compositing course from internet and VTC's but no one seems to tech perspective and How to deal with proper shdawo placement to make the image seem like it was actually there whne shot. I find that the most frustrating part of compositing and no one seems to teach that part. Does anybody have any good information or links as to how to grasp that.
I have been retocuhing for 18 years now and am just getting into the compositing side of things.
I would appreciate any good information on thesetechnique. MAsking and working with layers is under my belt now, just want to learn some more about perpsectively how to shade and put the elements together ina different scenes by warping and shading.
Bert Monroy has some cool things but no one ever shows people for instance in new backgrounds with their feet inluded.
Thnaks for any heads up
Snook

PS. also thsi forum seem to get very little interest, why is that and is there any other forums for compositing techniques?
Thanks again

[LonK]

You might want to look into the books by photomontage artist Steve Caplin. His "How to Cheat in Photoshop" also has a support website which includes a forum.

[snook305]

Thanks Lonnie I have his first book but cannot find much on shadowing.
My problem many times is I have variuos images from different shoots and want to incorporate them together, often many times I have a hard time making the feet area of people look right with the shadow, specially when it is a REALLY soft shadow and when I throw objects in making them look right? Would you use the perspective lines of the image to fit it in correctly? in other word if I have a room and throw in a chicken for example, do I make guides for the vanishing points and then place the chicken in the vanishing points?
Thanks for any further help..:+]
Snook

PS. I checked out his forums but like most there are very few replies.

[LonK]

If the shadow you desire drops to the rear or to the front (+/- about 45 degrees), you can generally create a reasonably good shadow from a very dark dup of the cutout subject. Use the transform tool to position the shadow using resize, skew, perspective as needed. Use liquify (and/or warp) for finer adjustments, such as positioning the shadow at the point(s) it joins the subject. Make a gradient mask with quick mask and gaussian blur, blurring more as the shadow gets further from the subject. Use the same type of mask to reduce opacity, again fading with distance.

If you wish a shadow cast from light coming from above or from the side, you'll probably have to resort to painting it as you'll likely not be able to distort a dup realistically. The shadow outline won't even resemble the shape of the subject.

It should go without saying that the shadow should correspond as nearly as possible with the direction and characteristics of the light already hitting the subject. It follows that in comping, the lighting on all of the subjects should be very similar. Not respecting these simple guidelines is the biggest reason for failure with faux shadowing. Just remember to "follow the light".

You specify REALLY soft shadow and problems with feet. Just remember that the even a very soft shadow will be pretty sharp nearer to the subject. As far as using vanishing point, I can't think of any advantage over transform/warp/liquify. Perspective, when dealing with shadows is reliant on the direction/size/distance of the light source, not the geometric perspective of the view.

HTH,

[snook305]

Hey Lonnie..
Thanks and I meant Vanishing point to get the right perspective of the object I am placing in the scene, I gues it was a 2 part question.
Thanks for help,
Snook

[LonK]

AFAIK, vanishing point won't help much synchronizing the perspective of disparate objects. You can deal with one or the other, but not both at the same time. To match perspectives, I'd suggest drawing perspective lines for each subject individually, then transform to match horizons, angles and vanishing points as nearly as you can. In the example you suggested, I'd imagine it would be quite difficult to determine the perspective of a chicken, so it would probably be just a matter of logical guessing and visual judgment.

[plantphoto]

I have just finished my latest video which covers compositing,there is a free extract hosted here on retouch pro tutorials section.The full video is in HD and nearly 3 hours long and covers compositing the background images then masking the model and compositing him into the image.
Simon

[snook305]

One of my more recent composites..:+}
http://www.ericknorpp.com/STUFF/imag...om%20Paris.jpg

Sorry about the colors they are great on the computer in Prophoto RGB
Snook

[paulbyun]

Hi

Thanks to Mike for posting something about my blog!
I just signed up on this site. It's very surprising to see my name in a first forum that I opened!

This is how I pull it off.

1. I light one object out of time. So I use "lighten"option to blend them.
2. I do take few shots with different exposures but I do not use them for HDR processing. I use them to create high lights and shadows without destroying any information
3. I composite people by the old masking fashion. I cut them out and blend them in. Sometimes, I take multiple shots with different lighting them combine them together with "lighten" option.
4. then I play with shadows/highlights
5. then I add my secret sauce to create the painting alike texture.

[snook305]

Hey Paul what lighten Option are you talking about.
Thanks
Snook

[paulbyun]

lighten option as blending mode.

[paulbyun]

Alright guys, I am back again.

I apologize for lack of detail in the description I gave earlier.
However, I am willing to provide information on every little step I take to accomplish the look of my personal work. Follow the steps below and I will hook you up!

1. Subscribe to my blog! I promise I will be providing with tons of valuable information weekly. Plus, I would love to learn about you, so I will subscribe back to yours as well.
http://paulbyun.blogspot.com/

2.Send me an email after subscribing to paul@paulbyun.com. And I will reply with every information you need to know.

as simple as that!

Thanks

[d00dle]

Originally Posted by snook305

One of my more recent composites..:+}
http://www.ericknorpp.com/STUFF/imag...om%20Paris.jpg

Sorry about the colors they are great on the computer in Prophoto RGB
Snook

wow! thats some crazy stuff rite there, snook. it looks so clean almost like 3d render.

[d00dle]

Originally Posted by paulbyun

Hi

Thanks to Mike for posting something about my blog!
I just signed up on this site. It's very surprising to see my name in a first forum that I opened!

This is how I pull it off.

1. I light one object out of time. So I use "lighten"option to blend them.
2. I do take few shots with different exposures but I do not use them for HDR processing. I use them to create high lights and shadows without destroying any information
3. I composite people by the old masking fashion. I cut them out and blend them in. Sometimes, I take multiple shots with different lighting them combine them together with "lighten" option.
4. then I play with shadows/highlights
5. then I add my secret sauce to create the painting alike texture.

thanx pual! it works really well with lighten. however, can't seem to figure out the way to keep shadow (of people) or a good way to blend it with background. anyone?

[Digiart]

Originally Posted by LonK

If you wish a shadow cast from light coming from above or from the side, you'll probably have to resort to painting it as you'll likely not be able to distort a dup realistically. The shadow outline won't even resemble the shape of the subject.

You specify REALLY soft shadow and problems with feet. Just remember that the even a very soft shadow will be pretty sharp nearer to the subject. As far as using vanishing point, I can't think of any advantage over transform/warp/liquify. Perspective, when dealing with shadows is reliant on the direction/size/distance of the light source, not the geometric perspective of the view.

HTH,

A suggestion:
the filter "Perpective shadow" from "Alien Skin Eye Candy Impact 5" does a great job in crating realistic shadows.
You can always use the > edit >transform > Wrap tool to make further adjustments.

[snook305]

Nice call.. I really like that filter a lot.. even can make reflections with original color image.
Thanks for the heads up on that one!!
Snook