Ok,
usually I can figure out how to do things in ps CS2 without much of a problem, but this time, all of my efforts have looked really fake so I'm turning to you guys for some fresh ideas. I can't figure out how to post pics any more..grrr....so that may limit me here, I realize.
My photo is a family portrait where family is wearing black shirts and they wanted to be on a black background. I used a back light to get some separation, but the lighting was too much in the end. I don't want them to disappear into the background and become floating arms and faces in a sea of black, but I also don't want an artificial halo around them...I just need the slightest separation between their black shirts (and dark hair) and the black background. The mother was very specific that she wanted black on black...I screwed up with the too light back light and given that the room I shot in was about 1/2 the size she said it would be, they are sitting very close to the background and that doesn't help matters, either. And just to further complicate things, I underexposed by about 1/2 to 2/3 a stop, so when I correct that in NX or in CS2 (take your pick) the exaggeration of the lighted background becomes even more obvious.
Here's what I've tried.
A)masking them and lightening them while selecting the inverse and darkening the background....the lines are too harsh (feathered at 50) for things like whispy hair and so on.
B)using the paint bucket tool to fill in the background...doesn't work because the backdrop was a velour/textured kind of material and so the paint bucket either leaves many little areas out or it decides to fill in things like parts of their skin.
C)using the brush tool (tried dry media brushes so the color would be applied w/texture) to fill in the background...again, trying to do so without brusing their hair or using the art history brush to remove the fill on their hair/ears/faces is too "linear" and leaves an artificial halo.
So, I am officially out of ideas, there must be a better way that I am unfamiliar with. Any help would REALLY be appreciated.
thanks very much
usually I can figure out how to do things in ps CS2 without much of a problem, but this time, all of my efforts have looked really fake so I'm turning to you guys for some fresh ideas. I can't figure out how to post pics any more..grrr....so that may limit me here, I realize.
My photo is a family portrait where family is wearing black shirts and they wanted to be on a black background. I used a back light to get some separation, but the lighting was too much in the end. I don't want them to disappear into the background and become floating arms and faces in a sea of black, but I also don't want an artificial halo around them...I just need the slightest separation between their black shirts (and dark hair) and the black background. The mother was very specific that she wanted black on black...I screwed up with the too light back light and given that the room I shot in was about 1/2 the size she said it would be, they are sitting very close to the background and that doesn't help matters, either. And just to further complicate things, I underexposed by about 1/2 to 2/3 a stop, so when I correct that in NX or in CS2 (take your pick) the exaggeration of the lighted background becomes even more obvious.
Here's what I've tried.
A)masking them and lightening them while selecting the inverse and darkening the background....the lines are too harsh (feathered at 50) for things like whispy hair and so on.
B)using the paint bucket tool to fill in the background...doesn't work because the backdrop was a velour/textured kind of material and so the paint bucket either leaves many little areas out or it decides to fill in things like parts of their skin.
C)using the brush tool (tried dry media brushes so the color would be applied w/texture) to fill in the background...again, trying to do so without brusing their hair or using the art history brush to remove the fill on their hair/ears/faces is too "linear" and leaves an artificial halo.
So, I am officially out of ideas, there must be a better way that I am unfamiliar with. Any help would REALLY be appreciated.
thanks very much
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