Photoshop question

KTBoom2006-E510

I am very new to Photography, but I am taking it very serious. I hope to have a business going by the end of next year. Anyways, my question is

How do I put a different background in a picture?
Example: I have a friend who took her kids to a photographer in which the kdis were just in front of a black background sheet. Somehow after everything was done, it looks as if an old city is behind them.

Is there anyway to do that with my computer without it looking fake?

Any help would be great! Thanks

kelsow

I have been using photoshop since 3.0
The best way to learn is to take a course or 2 but if that isn't an option,
do what I did and search on line for tutorials like these, http://www.kirupa.com/motiongraphics/index.htm

There are many out there and with a lot of practise it will become easier.

Good luck

jfriend

KTBoom2006-E510 wrote:

I am very new to Photography, but I am taking it very serious. I hope to have a business going by the end of next year. Anyways, my question is

How do I put a different background in a picture?
Example: I have a friend who took her kids to a photographer in which the kdis were just in front of a black background sheet. Somehow after everything was done, it looks as if an old city is behind them.

Is there anyway to do that with my computer without it looking fake?

Any help would be great! Thanks

It is all quite doable on your computer, particularly when you've pre-planned the shot and used a plain background. There is a fair amount of technique involved in making it look real, but it is something you can learn. I would suggest three things:

First, use Google and read a lot. If you search for "replace background photoshop" on Google, you will find a ton of helpful articles on the subject. I was going to post a bunch of links to the articles, but figured it would be more helpful to show you how to find them yourself. You can click on the previous link to just see the Google search results. You may also want to read about "green screen" techniques which use a pure colored background to make it easier to replace that background with a different image.

Second, buy the book "Photoshop Compositing and Masking" by Katrin Eismann. It's a great book that starts at ground zero, but also gets pretty advanced.

Third, practice on your own images using the techniques you've learned. When you run into problems or questions, post your images and questions both here at dgrin and over on the retouching forum at dpreview. If you have a good attitude and show some appreciation for the help you recieve, you'd be surprised how many people will jump into help. A lot of what I learned in Photoshop was from either just trying to solve problems on my own images or picking up other people's images who asked questions and trying to see if I can figure out how to do what they need. Sometimes I post my results to help them - sometimes I just learn from it without posting.

SloYerRoll

Good post John!

LittleLew

jfriend wrote:

Second, buy the book "Photoshop Compositing and Masking" by Katrin Eismann. It's a great book that starts at ground zero, but also gets pretty advanced.

Great book.

pathfinder

KT,

Like JFriend said, all you need to do is know how to do Selections, and how to work with Layers and Masks.

Unfortunately, this is like saying that to fly a jet fighter, all you need to know is how to take off, land, fly in the air, and navigate at the same time.

Obviously, each of these skills, whether flying, or Photoshopping, can take some time and effort to achieve mastery of.

Using green screens or blue screens is the way this is done in the video/movie world. The same techniques can be used for still images. But again, the devil is in the details, as a green screen can reflect green light on your subject if they are too close, your subject needs to avoid wearing any green apparel, etc.

If you look around the links jfriend provided, or that you search the web for, I am sure you can find the information you need.

SloYerRoll

And lynda.com is a fantastic resource.

25.00 a month for unlimited video tutorial access from photoshop gurus.

jfriend

KTBoom2006-E510 wrote:

I am very new to Photography, but I am taking it very serious. I hope to have a business going by the end of next year. Anyways, my question is

How do I put a different background in a picture?
Example: I have a friend who took her kids to a photographer in which the kdis were just in front of a black background sheet. Somehow after everything was done, it looks as if an old city is behind them.

Is there anyway to do that with my computer without it looking fake?

Any help would be great! Thanks

FYI, there are third party programs (that you buy) that purport to make cutting something out from the background easier. This is one called Fluid Mask 3 that I've heard of, but I've never actually used any of them: http://www.vertustech.com/index.htm. You can, of course, learn to do it yourself.

KTBoom2006-E510

Thank you
Thank you all for your help. I have got to the point of selecting and getting a new background. But now I just need to find a background that would go good with my Picture. Just have to do some more googling. Like I said, thanks! And I am sure I will be back for more questions. :ivar


~Katie~