Help with wedding photos background..

[nfs92]

Hi, new to this forum so excuse me for any questions already asked
I've looked all over the net and cant find any answers..

I'd prefer not to post the photos in question as they are my personal wedding photos. These were taken in a (not-so) professional photo shoot, and I wish to change the background. I can delete the original background and impose it onto the desired image however the photos just do not naturally blend together. I smoothed out the edges of the original photos as seamlessly as I could yet they still look very forced on the background.

Any help or tutorials which empathize more on how to make the two images look more natural with each other instead of an obvious copy paste would sincerely be appreciated. I don't want to pay someone to do it when I have the time and such a useful software available myself, and these photos are very dear to me. Please help me

 

[ibclare]

Of course Photoshop can be used for this quite well. The results are going to depend a lot on your level of skill. The biggest part of making this look realistic will be how well you select out the people or the background. Then it is a matter of making sure the color balance, sharpness, lighting, etc. are of the same or similar quality and knowing how to fix this.

I understand these are personal photos, but if you have one which is not too private, it might be helpful for us in helping you if you would post an image and a background you prefer for it.

The first tutorials I would suggest you try are ones which help you make selections properly, cleanly. This is something all Photoshoppers learn, for me it was the first thing. But I didn't learn to do it really well until I really had a need for it, learned the many tricks this program has, and practiced them, a lot. You have the need for it, so that is good motivation.

Google making selections in Photoshop and see what you come up with. Try just making a selection in one of the photos. Come back with your results on any one selection (it doesn't even need to include faces if you prefer), post them here and we can give you our input on how to improve the work you've done. That's just on the selection itself. We'll get to mixing it with a new BG after that.

At least, this is my suggestion. We are always happy to help someone learn and have the patience to take you through it a step at a time. Like I said early on, your skill and your experience level are going to be a huge factor in how well or how quickly this happens for you. If you are willing to spend the time learning and don't want the results overnight, you're on the right track.

 

[nfs92]

Hi thanks ever so much for the response! I'll get on it right away and share my results with you

I know that you saod this is something for later however do you know if photoshop (cs6 to be precise) has anything that could help get the exposure/contrast etc etc for the background which will compliment the ones in the original image?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[IamSam]

I know that you saod this is something for later however do you know if photoshop (cs6 to be precise) has anything that could help get the exposure/contrast etc etc for the background which will compliment the ones in the original image?

There are any number of adjustment layers that can be applied to the background only to accomplish this. A Curves adjustment layer for starters.

 

[iDad]

Exposure, brightness/contrast for the next two

 

[nfs92]

I've tried a few selection methods but perhaps I'm not doing it correct. Any advice?

I just cant get a smooth selection with the suits as the original images are against a black curtain and the men are wearing dark suits, unless I do it very manually which is very frustrating. The other issue is just that the skin doesn't blend so naturally against the background :/ its as if it stands very prominently as a cut out, i tried using the burn tool to make a slight shadow over the background but its too obvious.

Attached is a sample image and the background I'm wanting for these photos.

 

[MikeMc]

Hard to help with out seeing what your needs are. Some times manually selecting things using the pen tool IS the only option. I personally use masks for everything, and then working on the part(s) that the mask has left for me.Mask out what you want and then move it onto the background.

The pictures look formal, and a poor PS job will make them look awful. SO find one shot,,,,blur the actual face and let us see the whole enchilada. In your top two, the suit will be tough, the gown and arm are easy, but you may need a combination of tools for the whole image.

Help us help you

 

[IamSam]

A trick I recently learned from Tom (I think) is to duplicate your layer (one you don't mind destroying) and apply a Exposure adjustment or a Shadows and Highlights adjustment to the duped layer so you can see the edge definition better for making a selection.

 

[Fatboy73]

The biggest obstacles when compositing photos is
1. Lighting, Lighting, Light and lighting. You have to make sure the the direction of the light source matches and the type of light(natural or artificial.
2. Resolution. If the resolution on the photos you are trying to match isn't the same, the picture won't look natural no matter what else you try.
3 Lighting Temperature. If one photo is taken in cool lighting and the other is a warm yellow lighting, that has to be changed so that they match.

Once these issues are fixed your photos "should" be able to blend seamlessly. It also helps to remember to slightly blur just the edges of the foreground objects so as to get rid of any sharp messy edges. Also if you are putting your self in front of any thing with a strong color, the edges of anything put into the foreground will pick up some of that color.

As others have mentioned, it always helps if you can post at least one picture that you are working on, so we can see what you might be having problems with.

Best,
Chris

 

[Tom Mann]

"A trick I recently learned from Tom (I think) is to duplicate your layer (one you don't mind destroying) and apply a Exposure adjustment or a Shadows and Highlights adjustment to the duped layer so you can see the edge definition better for making a selection...."

Yup, that was most likely me. I use this method all of the time myself. I learned it years ago from a tutorial put out by one of the developers of 3rd party masking software. I forgot if it was onOne, Vertus, Topaz, or one of the firms that is no longer in business.

Some other techniques I've found helpful include:

1. Because these techniques magnify noise in the image, it's best to immediately convert your image to 16 bits per channel (possibly intentionally adding a trace of noise after conversion to break up banding artifacts), and then apply these techniques to a highly de-noised version of that image (which you then discard after you use it to develop the mask).

2. After you artificially boost the visibility of the shadows and/or highlights, also temporarily put in a vibrance / saturation adjustment layer to boost color differences between the object(s) of interest and everything else. Some of the masking algorithms, even your own eyes (if you are using the pen tool) use color as well as (or even more than) brightness differences to figure out what's actually an edge.

3. If the image is still giving you problems after applying all of the above, you can also apply techniques that increase local contrast to further reduce the burden placed on the masking algorithm. These include the high pass filter (at fairly large R), as well as USM (also at fairly large R), and/or any of the 3rd party local contrast algorithms such as Topaz Detail, Topaz Adjust, Nik Detail Extractor, and lesser known ones such as:
http://thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/contrastmaster/main.htm (very adjustable)
http://www.mehdiplugins.com/english/localequalization.htm (simple, almost no adjustments)
http://www.photo-plugins.com/Plugins/Plugins/Local-Contrast-Enhancement-2.html (simple, almost no adjustments).

HTH,

T

 

[Tom Mann]

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was that ACR can be used to very quickly develop a version of the image for masking. Especially now that in the CC version of PS, one can use it within PS (instead of a pre-processor), one can easily develop an image where detail in both the shadow and highlight regions are brought out. For example, using ACR and nothing else, it probably took me less than 30 seconds to get to the following temporary image and then a couple of clicks of the "quick select" tool on the background got me the selection you see.



BTW, one of the problems with this approach is that sometimes it "sees into the shadows" too well and shows every fold, crease and seam on edges of the clothing, making the edge look strangely lumpy, not smooth curve like one expects. You can see a bit of this just below the top of the man's shoulder on the above selection.

One can try to use the smooth parameter in "refine edge" to help make the edge less lumpy, but I've never been very happy with the results of this. If lumpiness of the edge is a problem, once the edge can actually be seen, I'll often switch to the pen tool or one of the manual selection tools (polygonal lasso) and just draw in my own selection (ie, minus edge lumpiness) in the problem area.

Cheers,

T

 

[nfs92]

Hi guysss,

Ive taken a sample image off the net, combined with the background I attached earlier.
I did the selection techniques I knew, refined the edges of the selection also to make it as smooth as possible. The end result is similar and as unnatural as the wedding photos I was talking of earlier.
Now could you take a look and please correct me on where I am going wrong and how I can fix this ?

 

[iDad]

Looking at the image on the right I think I would duplicate the image put the top layer in the vivid light mode and reduced the fill by maybe 50%

 

[nfs92]

Looking at the image on the right I think I would duplicate the image put the top layer in the vivid light mode and reduced the fill by maybe 50%

i'm sorry, i just tried this but in all honesty it looks exactly the same..

 

[iDad]

Well it looks a little different to me but not the edges when you're making the selection perhaps you should feather .05 pixels

 

[MikeMc]

I fix the edges of my mask with a soft brush I use my Wacom and stylus pressure I haven't had as much luck with the feather command

Also a duplicate blurred background layer will make a dimension

 

[Paul]

A LOT OF THOSE EDGES ARE LOST IF I AM HONEST WITH YOU very blurry too

 

[MikeMc]

Tom M can give you a better sounding explanation, but IMHO the first image is strongly lit from the front as looking at the hard sharp small shadow..this background is a diffused light, I played with a couple of layers, Gaussian blur and a few blending modes And had a nice edge until I looked at the figure..contrast and lighting create a harsh looking edge

 

[IamSam]

I agree with mike on this one, the problem I see is in the lighting. A soft shadow would help.

The only edges I see that are a bit too hard are around her head and shoulder area.