Lighting and its Importance in Compositing Images?

djsilver666666

I have two pictures that I am trying to combine. Here is the orig group shot:


Here is the person I am trying to combine:


Cut:


And here is my attempt at replacing the girl on the back-right row with this girl:


I cannot seem to get the lighting on her hair or face to look right. I did increase the red hue of her face to match the other people, and smudged the edges to look real. But anybody know how to get that bright light look on her face? I tried using a partially transparent brush, and the dodge tool. Neither looked real...

BTW my deadline is before Friday evening, so suggestions are welcome. The party where I hand out the DVD slidewhow is on Sunday, but I need to burn/compile all the DVDs...

Here is what she looks like when I added some highlights for the sun:

pathfinder

The sun is coming from the left in the group shot and the right in the portrait that you are trying to add. That won't look right

You might try flipping the portrait horizontally 180 degrees so that the sun seems to come from her left side also

djsilver666666

??
The sun is on the right in the group shot, not the left. The lighting in the portrait is pretty ambiant, not really from either side.

Also I think the way she is facing in the "cut" version seems to aggree with how she would be facing the camera, if she was facing the way she is in the "Orig" then she would be on the right side and facing right (away from the camera). But I'll give it a shot...

Anthony

First you see her, now you don't...
I'm worried about the girl who is now airbrushed out...

Anthony

djsilver666666

That girl left the team early in the season, too over-committed so she decided to drop soccer.

I will not be including this picture in the slideshow because my edit was deemed to artificial.

pathfinder

djsilver666666 wrote:

??
The sun is on the right in the group shot, not the left. The lighting in the portrait is pretty ambiant, not really from either side.

Also I think the way she is facing in the "cut" version seems to aggree with how she would be facing the camera, if she was facing the way she is in the "Orig" then she would be on the right side and facing right (away from the camera). But I'll give it a shot...

The sun IS coming from the viewer's right in the group shot - see the highlights on the left side of their faces. Where I come from, light on the left side of your face is left side lighting.....

djsilver666666

Oh, sorry about that. You were referring to the light as the subject would see it, is that the way people normally refer to the light direction? I normally refer to it the way I see it...