PP Challenge #15 - THE RESULT

[Donald]

Well, it went one way ... and then the other, but at the end of the day, they could not be separated.

So, we have a tie in the latest PP Challenge

Congratulations to Steve (Mrgargal) for ...................



and Cerian for .....................



Both are now invited post a message in this thread telling what they did and how they did it.

I will also be inviting one of them to provide a RAW file for the next PP Challenge, which will be along in a few days.

[Mrgargal]

Thank you all for the votes (well those of you who voted for my picture, that is LOL) and congratulations to Cerian for sharing the spotlight. Very nice work. I love to see the different ideas that I wish I would have thought of in this process.

I will give a brief "how i did it" and if anyone wants more information please ask or discus either through this forum or private message.

1. Deciding what to do with the photo: I had just performed something similar with a family vacation group photo so that helped. Right now my learning curve with Photoshop is to change a photo to make it look like something I took. In looking through some of my vacation photos I found the moonlight photo on the water (background) and thought the light house would look great at night.

2. Masking: Ok it should be masking and then masking and then more masking and then some additional masking... This took forever and being there are a number of different ways to mask in PS I always revert back to masking at essential the pixel level with the brush tool. I found that although it is painstaking slow, it is the only way to get the feel of a "taken" photo. I know that PS, as do many other programs, have numerous tools to help " refine" the edge of a mask. I feel, having a brush size down to the 4 or less pixel size works very well, if you have the time. One key factor in blending the mask along the small or difficult areas was an old quote a high school art teacher told us, "there are no lines in life" (I actually did not get along with him very well and it pains me to say after 30+ years he was right). Making sure I blended the " no lines in real life" was key (and time consuming).

3. Adding the background: This is pretty simple once you have the mask made to your perfection level. I added the background (moon and ocean scene).

3. Lighting adjustment: This one is tricky too because you have to really adjust by eye to what matches. I think taking pictures (even at my amateur level of photographic ability) helps to understand lighting and composition when you are adjusting the photos to blend together. I also had to look at how the light from the background would impact the light in the foreground. Where the dark and bright spots should be. Working off the statement "life is in the details" I "colored" the puddles and other foreground water to match the back ground

4. Illumination: Then it is a matter of turning on the lights. I made layers for the lighthouse light and street lights and adjusted those layers to get a real lighting look. Finally through the help of PS added some lens flare from the lighthouse to add a realistic appearance. I actually went though a number of different types of lighting effects for the lighthouse and settled on probably something that was less then reality but it looked good, the simple lens flare.

5. Knowing when to stop: I have found that I probably enjoy adjusting photos more then I do taking them.... well its a pretty close race. Stopping and saying its finished is my hardest issue to battle. You can keep going forever (well I can..LOL).

The two key words for adjusting this photo are Masking and Layers.

Again, thanks to all for the support and if you have any other questions or comments PLEASE let me know.