Draft composite - what would you do

[petersweden]

Hi

I want to create a composite where my model seems to be hanging from the ledge of a cliff. I have done a very rough draft of the composite just to see if it is worth spending a few hours doing a real composite.

What is your opinion? I am also not sure how to determine her correct size, she is probably too large in the draft.

Thanks

Peter

[petersweden]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Separate files for background and model if you want to try for yourself.

[skoobey]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Lighting in not corresponding well, and neither does the angle to make it look real. She is shot from a downward angle and appears to be pulled away from the camera rather than down by the force of gravity. Light should be at a sharper angle, more of a short light, now it'll appear like that there is a light source in the cliff. Also, she is far too big the way you're placed her.

What you can do, if these are the images you have, or want to use is to: make her darker, much darker overall, and make her half-third the size.

[petersweden]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Would this work better?

[philbach]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Well I darkened the foreground rock on the left which is in the shade and decreased the size of the model.

[skoobey]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Why insist on bringing together two elements that obviously don't match? I already stated what will make it look better IMHO.

[philbach]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

So Skoobey what is an IMHO?

[klev]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

The color and lighting on the woman make no sense with respect to her environment. You really should review similar work, as you seem to get stuck on the exact same point each time. I believe you can learn to recognize it, but practice isn't helping.

So Skoobey what is an IMHO?

It stands for "In my humble opinion." I never use that acronym for obvious reasons.

[petersweden]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Lighting in not corresponding well, and neither does the angle to make it look real. She is shot from a downward angle and appears to be pulled away from the camera rather than down by the force of gravity. Light should be at a sharper angle, more of a short light, now it'll appear like that there is a light source in the cliff. Also, she is far too big the way you're placed her.

What you can do, if these are the images you have, or want to use is to: make her darker, much darker overall, and make her half-third the size.

What would a background look like where the lighting would correspond better and where would she be placed vertically to fit the perspective correctly?

[petersweden]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Lighting in not corresponding well, and neither does the angle to make it look real. She is shot from a downward angle and appears to be pulled away from the camera rather than down by the force of gravity. Light should be at a sharper angle, more of a short light, now it'll appear like that there is a light source in the cliff. Also, she is far too big the way you're placed her.

What you can do, if these are the images you have, or want to use is to: make her darker, much darker overall, and make her half-third the size.

Is it possible to find out vanishing point for the model? She is shot on a white seamless so the real background doesn´t provide any clues.

[petersweden]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Is this how the lighting should have been in order to fit the background?

[klev]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Is this how the lighting should have been in order to fit the background?

Not really. It's taken at a totally different time. I don't know how it is that you don't see she looks all one color. It's like you just took a brush and painted in her skin using color mode.

The background elements have distinct shadows and highlights and a direction to the lighting, none of which match each other or her. It's usually difficult for me to comment on these, because I wouldn't do most things the way you do them.

Her positioning doesn't bother me as much, although she feels out of place in this scene. Her hand also looks like it's closed. It doesn't appear as if it could be grasping that ledge.

[skoobey]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Well yes, more like that angle lighting-wise.

About her position in relation to the backdrop, It's simply needs to match, forget about trying to calculate vanishing points, because you're not trying to shoot her from far away and fit her into the right corner of your viewfinder. Shoot tethered and and try to match. You need to develop your sense of perspective, keep practicing and it'll come.

[Profesh]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Would this work better?

Not really, no: for one, her orientation with respect to the cliff face implies that she should probably be hanging from the other side, but even if we overlook that discrepancy the location of the light-source would almost certainly present a near-total silhouette, and then of course there's the still more fundamental problem of introducing a figure shot from an overhead viewpoint into a scene being observed from below (which, ironically, a silhouette could at least somewhat disguise).

Not unsalvageable; but it certainly raises the question of why such obvious physical and logistical considerations weren't addressed at the outset, given the (potentially, several) hours of unnecessary and painstaking work now required to rectify the issue.

Edit: I'll try my hand at solving this later.

[petersweden]

Re: Draft composite - what would you do

Well yes, more like that angle lighting-wise.

About her position in relation to the backdrop, It's simply needs to match, forget about trying to calculate vanishing points, because you're not trying to shoot her from far away and fit her into the right corner of your viewfinder. Shoot tethered and and try to match. You need to develop your sense of perspective, keep practicing and it'll come.

Ok I think now I see what you mean. I find perspective hard. Since I can see the top of her thigh but not the bottom that implies she was shot from above, right?