Portriat background

[Paladin]

Hi all,

Am looking for some nice background to be superimposed my subject onto...can someone point to any place I can find it...or anyone here has it??

 

[erwinx]

CP and Ruby (Peninsula) both have. If doing portraits for fun, might consider buying curtain material instead because its not cheap.

 

[Paladin]

Originally posted by erwinx
CP and Ruby (Peninsula) both have. If doing portraits for fun, might consider buying curtain material instead because its not cheap.

Erm..was thinking more on anybody having a digital background that I can use...:embrass:

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by Paladin
Erm..was thinking more on anybody having a digital background that I can use...:embrass:

What kind of background are you looking for in particular? Scenery or patterns?

There is a "Render" function/filter in Photoshop. I used it to render the clouds background when I modified your familiy portrait earlier.

Have you tried that?

 

[Paladin]

Yep....tried that but is gives a consistent pattern PS did not have the option to configure how the pattern will be....want ot make it as near to studio bkgd as possible.....

 

[Paladin]

Anybody has any? Or any recommendation on what curtain material is good for backgd...Heard that Spotlight is closing down...may go and take a look....

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by Paladin
Yep....tried that but is gives a consistent pattern PS did not have the option to configure how the pattern will be....want ot make it as near to studio bkgd as possible.....

You can randomize the patterns by applying some distortion to it.

Let me know if the following work for you:

1. For this background I rendered the clouds and then applied wave and twirl distortions to it:

2. For this bacground I rendered the clouds, applied wave and glass distortions to it:

3. For this I rendered 2 layers of clouds using different colour schemes, applied wave and twirl on the bottom layer, wave and glass on the top layer, and blended the top layer downwards with 50% opacity, and then adjusted the levels to increase the contrast. I think the effect is very interesting because of the complex colours and textures involved.

 

[roygoh]

And here are the final results, with an additional spot lighting effect rendered on the background before adding the subject:

If you think this is what you are looking for, let me know and I can give you more details of the process if you are interested.

This is my first attempt at doing this, so it is really not very difficult. The possibilities are endless.

- Roy

 

[Paladin]

Hi Roy,

This is defintely good enough....seems that my limitation is my knowledge of PS.

How do you get the black halo effect surrounding the baby to give lighting effect?

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by Paladin
Hi Roy,

This is defintely good enough....seems that my limitation is my knowledge of PS.

How do you get the black halo effect surrounding the baby to give lighting effect?

Hi Paladin,

I used Filter>Render>Lighting Effect.

Select the spot light effect, and then play around with the various settings to get the desired effect.

Here's the setting:

that created this effect:

Have fun, and share your work if you don't mind!

- Roy

 

[roygoh]

You can try Filters>Texture>Texturizer and add a Canvas texture to the background also. The effect makes the background more realistic.

 

[Paladin]

Thanks!

BTW...cute baby!!

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by Paladin
Thanks!

BTW...cute baby!!

You're welcomed!

The baby is my son, Keven. Picture was taken about a month ago when he was 4 months old.

 

[Ansel]

Wow, raygoh, you are really a PS guru ! Now I know who to direct PS questions to.

Originally posted by roygoh
You're welcomed!

The baby is my son, Keven. Picture was taken about a month ago when he was 4 months old.

Wah...you have 4 months old baby still got time to play with PS. Not bad man.

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by Ansel
Wow, raygoh, you are really a PS guru ! Now I know who to direct PS questions to.

I'm also learning...:embrass:
Would gladly share my experience here.

Originally posted by Ansel
Wah...you have 4 months old baby still got time to play with PS. Not bad man.

Hehe...super multi tasking...and sleep less. The above was done during lunch time in the office. After Keven is born, he has become my main subject for photography.

 

[firestone]

Real nice..
And I'm more impressed with the extraction of your baby from the original background, how did you do it?!

What kind of 'real' background was the baby shot against?

 

[Paladin]

After Keven is born, he has become my main subject for photography

Same here...my twins has given me many opportunities. Now I must try to look at other subjects too...else all my pics will be just them....

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by firestone
Real nice..
And I'm more impressed with the extraction of your baby from the original background, how did you do it?!

What kind of 'real' background was the baby shot against?

The original background was a plain wall, but it is usually not very important as long as there is enough colour contrast between the subject and the background as that will make the extraction easier.

I outlined my method here some time ago:

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30307

Let me know if you need more details.

- Roy

 

[roygoh]

The outline of Keven from the top of the ear downwards is very clearly separated from the background. So the extraction tool or the magic wand tool will do a very good job of selection here.

The problem is in the hair, where it is practically impossible for the sofware to determind the separation clearly. So I did the separation manually, using eraser of various sizes and opacity to remove the original background whil maintianing the natural look as much as possible.

- Roy

 

[Paladin]

Originally posted by roygoh
The outline of Keven from the top of the ear downwards is very clearly separated from the background. So the extraction tool or the magic wand tool will do a very good job of selection here.

The problem is in the hair, where it is practically impossible for the sofware to determind the separation clearly. So I did the separation manually, using eraser of various sizes and opacity to remove the original background whil maintianing the natural look as much as possible.

- Roy

As a note: What is the feather size you use for selection?

You also still not sleeping??