Major Challenge (for Me Anyway)

chuckinsocal

Hi Gang,

My latest project is taking custom cars out of their original ugly environment and putting them in a place where the car is the star (hey ... cool motto!).

Some Before and Afters follow so you can see what I'm trying to accomplish.

My major challenge is removing the pavement from under the cars while preserving the original shadows with their soft edges. I've tried every which way but the results are always unsatisfactory. The problem is trying to separate a black tire that's in a black shadow from black pavement. It's also hard to follow the irregular contour of some shadows with very soft edges so the results look natural. I've tried feathering selections and soft brushes but it always comes out looking artificial (see the Yellow Ford Woody).

I don't know if I can make artificial shadows in PSCS but I'm thinkng they will look manufactured as well.

I wanna get really good at this because my plan is to take photos of these cars at local car shows, which are always held either in a parking lot or on the streets, remove the car, put it in a nicer place, and sell the results to the owners. And I want the work to be near perfect and not amatuer looking.

The samples are below. Any thoughts or advice will be highly valued.

As always, thanks in advance for your help.

Chuck Cannova
http://chuckinsocal.SmugMug.com


Sorry if I went overboard with the examples.

Chuck

chuckinsocal

Examples
See Below ...

chuckinsocal

The Real Examples

LiquidAir

I have never done it, but here is what I would try:

1. Duplicate the image on a second layer.
2. Convert that new layer to B&W
2. Clone out all the large detail on the ground (bit spots, lines, etc.)
3. Clone out the edges of the car. You want to work around 50-100 pixels in from the edge.
4. Paint the rest of the car over with a white brush.
5. Paint the background other areas with no shadow white.
6. Use a Gaussian blur to smooth out all the fine detail in the asphalt.
7. Invert this layer.
8. Using the layer you just created as a mask, create a new black color layer and place it between your extracted car and the background.
9. Adjust the levels on your new layer mask to taste.

chuckinsocal

Wow ...
I'm gonna be in uncharted territory. I'll try to work through it step by step but I might have to come back for a little help on some of the steps that I'm not familiar with.

Thanks for the response.

Chuck Cannova
http://chuckinsocal.SmugMug.com

kwcrow

Very Nice Work!
The only thing I would change is make the shadows softer on the first pictures technique by using a layer mask and applying gaussian blur to it. If you already have a mask for the whole image, you could select the edges of the shadow with the lasso tool while on the mask layer. (make sure the selection is wide enough to allow a smooth gaussian transition) and apply gaussian blur to your liking. I think it is all you need to make it look more natural. I think I like the no pavement look with man-made soft shadow better although the pavement shots remind me of my favorite thread in the "Other Cool Shots" section http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=44725 it is the most viewed thread in that section, "I have been OOBing". You might try that technique also, it is easier than it looks and there are a couple of great tutorials by Serrator to get you going.