Photo effects tip advice

WriterDude · Jul 31, 2015

Hi.

Looking for some pointers as to where to start with this one.

I want to doctor some images for my novel.

A sculpture, for example, which in the story stands eight feet tall, but in reality is barely three inches and made of clay, but I'd like to pose a shot of visitors beside it.

I'll need photoshop of course, but the two images will need to be taken with the same angle and light conditions. This is the bit I don't know.

Any websites or blogs or books that might be of use?

Thank in advance.

Ken · Jul 31, 2015

In general, probably best to get/take the photo of the people first. The lighting for the statue is easy to replicate since it's small and readily accessible. For the people, ideally have just one light source then you know where to station the light for the statue. As long as you line up the lights the same the photoshopping will be easy as it'll just be a matter of darkening or lightening the shadow. Making the statue seem tall is trickier. To get that right may take some doing. Probably an art to it or technique. My two cents. G'luck.

WriterDude · Aug 1, 2015

Thanks. It's the trigonometry of it all. I'm guessing that there is a formula that tells me if the full scale image is taken at a height of three metres, distance four metres horizontal, at noon, at latitude blah, in September, the corresponding model shot would need...

I could probably work it but there's an industry doing this stuff for seventy or so years so don't want reinvent the wheel, badly. And I'll probably need new equipment too.

Cheers.

SBibb · Aug 7, 2015

I tend to eyeball things when doing photomanipulation, but I've found that making sure shadows/reflections are in place, that the light source is coming from the same direction, and that the edges are blended well goes a long ways toward making a super-imposed image look 'real.' You might take a look through some of the DeviantArt tutorials. I learned a lot about photomanipulation / photographic illustration from there. Also, be sure your color balances match up. If there's a strong red tint to the people, your statue should probably have a strong red tint, too.

Good luck with your project.

marinapr9 · Aug 15, 2015

It's vital to get the light and shadow as realistic as possible. Can you post your images here? Here is an example of what I did with a rather flat set of images.

Photo effects tip advice

WriterDude

Writer?

Ken

WriterDude

Writer?

SBibb

marinapr9

Digital Artist