Composite Image

[ylwdog]

I want to create a panoramic portrait of the you man seen in the files attached. I have never done this. The b/g image contains the first photo of the subject and I would like to add the next photo on the b/g. However; the image is lacking the way it currently is. I realize there are no shadows for one issue, if anyone could offer how to add a believable shadow and how else I might need to work with the image.

thanks,

doug

[shumski]

Hi doug
Why not to copy shadow from another boy, and paste in place with a bit of transformations?

[Britsdad]

Hiya Doug,

Thought I'd have a quickie with this.
I quickly cut out the boy and added to the composite, added a blank layer below him, and air brushed a shadow, (I did try duping the boy and filling with black and transforming, but gave up the idea) added a layer mask and put a black to white gradient onto the shadow to fade it out, blurred it and dropped the opacity to 16%
Still didn't look right until I free transformed him upright and made him a gnats smaller (I think making him more upright is the key)
Hope this helps you somehow.

John

[ylwdog]

Thanks for the responses.
Shumski- my retouching is yet to do this, so I would need to visualize this- but thank you for the suggestion.

John- That looks very believable. I agree w/ him standing more upright. I will try this. I was mucking around w/ the distort tool earlier- is that what you used?

doug

[Britsdad]

No, I just used "free transform" and turned him into place.

John

[ylwdog]

Thanks John.... That worked like a charm.

[Britsdad]

Glad I helped :-)

[TriniK]

Having no links to, other than wishing I were more like - Steve Caplin, I highly recommend his books. His webinars are quite brilliant but since remembering everything that is demonstrated in the webinars is virtually impossible, I bought both of his books and since compositing and drawing in Photoshop is primarily what I do, they have been invaluable.

[ylwdog]

Thank you- I will have a look. Do you have a site showing your work?

[TriniK]

No - I am one of those who thinks that nothing I do is worth looking at by anyone since just even a cursory look at the internet and other people's work leaves me wondering why I even bother. Cheerful little bundle of joy am I not! )
However - attached is a sample of the type of thing that I have to do.
Original image and "the proposed feel" of the event.

[ylwdog]

It took me a second to figure out what I was looking at- that is really great! I cannot even envision how something like this would go together. Great work.

[TriniK]

Thank you - I am such a nitwit that constant positive reinforcement is like oxygen for me, so with your words I live to draw another day!

[ylwdog]

You are too funny! If you want- I have a photo of a Flutist on a swing hanging from a cherry tree that needs some help. Interested?

[TriniK]

Always love looking at a challenge. Just got a phone call re a render (don't know why they actually call it that since it is just 2D and not actually a 3D render however...) which I have to get cracking on tomorrow.
All the best
O2

[palms]

Originally Posted by TriniK

Having no links to, other than wishing I were more like - Steve Caplin, I highly recommend his books. His webinars are quite brilliant but since remembering everything that is demonstrated in the webinars is virtually impossible, I bought both of his books and since compositing and drawing in Photoshop is primarily what I do, they have been invaluable.

I second that ( but i think there are three books, ) well worth the money

Palms

[palms]

Sorry couldnt help myself and had a mess around, hope you dont mind !

Palms

[ylwdog]

No I don't mind... Have at it.

[renata]

There are lots of ways to make shadows...

One way:
- Duplicate a layer with a boy (just the boy - not the white background). Call this layer "shadow".
- Use threshold or some other way to make shadow all black
- Blur the shadow. A LOT. (e.g gaussian blur)
- Then edit->free transform (or some other way to swing the shadow in the direction you want)
- Reduce the opacity of the shadow. A LOT. (see slider on layers panel)

I admit to owning three of Steve Caplin's books. All highly recommended:
Art & Design in Photoshop
How to cheat in Photoshop CS5
100% Photoshop.

For aussies, I paid about a third the price by buying them from Amazon UK compared to buying them locally (and they have free shipping at the moment). Unbelievable.

Finally, Steve Caplin has at least one website: http://www.howtocheatinphotoshop.com/
Follow the link on this to get to the forum. It has fun Friday challenges.

[Chain]

Rotating/transforming him a bit does help. Getting the perspective to look believable is important, however it can be tricky.

The second shot of the boy might already have a shadow in the original image that you can re-use? I imagine they were originally shot on the same background so it shouldn't be too hard to blend together...

Also, it seems the two images have a different exposure, at least the upper body has quite different brightness. I'd at least try to see if tweaking that helps a bit.

[ylwdog]

Originally Posted by renata

There are lots of ways to make shadows...

One way:
- Duplicate a layer with a boy (just the boy - not the white background). Call this layer "shadow".
- Use threshold or some other way to make shadow all black
- Blur the shadow. A LOT. (e.g gaussian blur)
- Then edit->free transform (or some other way to swing the shadow in the direction you want)
- Reduce the opacity of the shadow. A LOT. (see slider on layers panel)

I admit to owning three of Steve Caplin's books. All highly recommended:
Art & Design in Photoshop
How to cheat in Photoshop CS5
100% Photoshop.

For aussies, I paid about a third the price by buying them from Amazon UK compared to buying them locally (and they have free shipping at the moment). Unbelievable.

Finally, Steve Caplin has at least one website: http://www.howtocheatinphotoshop.com/
Follow the link on this to get to the forum. It has fun Friday challenges.

Thank you Renata.

[ylwdog]

Originally Posted by Chain

Rotating/transforming him a bit does help. Getting the perspective to look believable is important, however it can be tricky.

The second shot of the boy might already have a shadow in the original image that you can re-use? I imagine they were originally shot on the same background so it shouldn't be too hard to blend together...

Also, it seems the two images have a different exposure, at least the upper body has quite different brightness. I'd at least try to see if tweaking that helps a bit.

Those are great points- thank you. I will go back and look at that and see if had changed my exposure... may very well be the case.

Cheers-

doug