Creating Photo Montages

[loki]

Hi there,
I had come across a tutorial somewhere (I don't recall where) on how to more realistically combine multiple images together. For example, creating a composite portrait from several differant photographs and making the finished photo look natural, not like a bunch of cutouts "glued" together. I would like to eventually use digital backgrounds for some of my portraits, but usually the subject appears to be a cutout and doesn't blend in naturally with the background. I had come across a soluction to this awhile ago, but I can't remember how it was done. And now of course I can't find the article... do'h! Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[okplayer]

not sure if you've seen this but there's a tutorial on this site here that might help you. Besides that, feather feather feather. It really depends on what exactly you're trying to do, but using soft brushes and feathering selections really tends to help avoid cutouts.

[nycks1]

I use a technique by Martin Evening, in Adobe photoshop 7.0 for Photographers. I shoot with a D60 and use digital backgrounds. People love to be able choose different BG. Here are some samples

[nycks1]

I don't know how to post pictures

[stuart h]

An essential element in composting images is the use of layer masks. These will help you to merge images as you like without discarding image information. Paint with black on the mask to hide portions of your image and if you go too far paint with white to show those areas.
Another technique is to zoom in (to 100%) and check how much noise or artifacts there are in your images. Using Filter>Noise or Filter>Grain you can match images more effectively so they all have similar levels of dots visible. Also, blend modes between layers can give some wonderful options to composite your images.

Good luck and have fun playing!

[Neve]

Cutout Tutorial

Did a search and found this....

http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/index.php?m=show&id=17

[Legacy~Art]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/elleuk/

Do you mean like the one on my homepage?

If so Danny added a link last week, sorry can't find it on my list.

[Legacy~Art]

Neve i think your repeating yourself lol!

[CJ Swartz]

loki,

Look at this thread http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...hlight=collage and you will see my post with several links included -- one is to an Acrobat file submitted by a member here with some tips on creating collages --it's too big to upload to a forum thread, but you can save it to your hard drive and read through it. (When you find the link, right-click on it with your mouse (if you use a PC) and choose "Save target as" to save it.)

If you need any help with this, just ask. Don't know if it's what you're looking for, but it's a good addition to Ed's tutorial on avoiding the cut-out look.

[Neve]

You're right Elle, thanks for looking after me in my current sensitive state!

[Legacy~Art]

Hey NEVE i know your feeling poorly, but don't milk it JOKE! lol

You sit there and i go get you a nice cup of tea (psssttt your have to send me a plane ticket first)

Then i get you some chicken soup to make you feel better.

There there Neve.

[Neve]

A cup o' char sounds good to me! Ticket on its way.......WOOOSH!