Join Now
Join ePHOTOzine, the friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more for free!
Hi all. Can any photoshoppers help with this problem. I am having problems trying to make my images look less obvious when they are placed on other backgrounds. If you have a look at my last photo that I put up, you can see that when viewed in larger size, you can see that it has been cut and pasted. All help welcome.
I find the best way is that when you've made the selection ( keeping really tight to it) of the person or object you want to move, go to SELECTION-MODIFY then CONTRACT, contract by about 3 pixels then FEATHER by 2 pixels. This will ensure you have no old background showing around the model and the feathering softens the edge to set it better into the new background. These figures may change depending on the size of image but always feather 1 less than contract.
Hope this helps.
Lee
It's not just the quality of the selection that counts here, though that is of course most important. You've also got to look at the direction and quality of the light and try to get them matching on the pasted and background images. For what it's worth I create a layer above the pasted image, set it to modify only the layer below via a clipping mask, and set it's layer blend mode to "Multiply". If you then paint onto that layer with a soft brush of low opacity and an appropriate colour then you can effectively paint in additional shading and shadows and sit the pasted image more convincingly into the background. No click fishing here, but if you look in my PF then most of the composites use this technique.
I also find that dodging/burning (usually burning) the edges of the pasted object helps blend in to the background layer. This softens the transition in lighting, hides obvious edges and IMO is generally better than feathering as the latter can look too obvious if you lose definition on the edges of your subject.
A bit of gaussian blur on either foreground or background layer sometimes helps to get them to a similar level of sharpness.
Guys thanks so much for the help. This is what makes this site worth every penny!
Big thanks to everyone and special thanks to Tommy and jken.
Bookmarking so I can redo my last post (Alms Cottages) the paste looks a little to artificial. Thanks guys. Colin
Add a Comment
ePHOTOzine, the web's friendliest photography community.
Upload photos, chat with photographers, win prizes and much more.
Related Content
Join Our Free Newsletter
Awards
Current Competitions
Olympus 'Portraiture' Competition - Win £1000 Worth Of Gear!
30th April 2013 - 31st May 2013
This month, to celebrate the launch of Olympus' new micro site Olympus Image Space, Olympus are giving you the chance to win £1000 worth of Olympus gear!...
Featured e2 Photo
May's Photo Month
Check out ePHOTOzine's inspirational photo month calendar! Each day click on a window to unveil new photography tips, treats and techniques.
