Helping out a friend in need, now I need some help too.

[BLWNHR]

Hey guys, I'm here to ask for some help from you friendly AP'ers.

A friend of mine's father passed away last year and the one good shot she had of her and her dad was taken in a pharmacy. She asked me if I could cut them out and put them on a nice background.

I've done the cutting out, but don't know what to do about a background and was wondering if you guys could help.

What sort of background do you think would work with this image?

What should I do about matching the lighting sources in the new background to the existing photograph?

I don't know whether to go internet trauling to look for a background, or try to take something myself. I've got this far but now I'm lost.

Also, does anyone have any experience with feathering edges to make the look less harsh? I'm using PS CS3.


Original
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/Meg_and_Dad_a.jpg


Cutout
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/Meg_and_Dad_cutout_a.jpg

[Kym]

Suggestions...

a) a plain background - neutral colour slightly textured like a backdrop curtain - maybe gaussian blurr it a bit

b) Photograph somewhere they both liked to go and put that as the background
Edit: Even slightly OOF so its like a DoF thing

[IanB]

I did very similar but rougher for an idea; must admit i did not see the second image until replying. I just added white layer and erased it where required. Did a quick levels adjustment.

Hope that helps. Sad to think that this is the only good photo of him/them; always amazes me that with all the photos taken today, people still go on ahead without leaving a good photo of themselves

:)

[saratoga]

I think the background is a really personal choice, either plain(white or coloured) like above or as someone suggested a favourite place but blurred a little.

With regard to feathering, don't feather....use a mask instead. It's pretty easy and much more flexible and powerful than feathering. I never feather anymore!

Once you have the people on a separate layer: (I'm on a mac and CS2 so you will have to adapt)

>Command click on the layer thumbnail in the layers pallete...this will select all the pixels in that layer...ie the people.

> Click on the mask icon (it's a little rectangle with a circle in the middle) in the layers pallete to apply a mask to this layer. You will see the black and white mask thumbnail next to the layer thumbnail and the mask will have a border around the thumbnail. The border means the mask is selected. If you want to work on the image click on th image thumbnail but for now make sure you are working on the mask.

> Go to Filter>Other>Minimum and put in something like 3 pixels. This will tighten up the mask on your image and you will loose a few pixels from around the edge.

>Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and put in something like .9 or 1.3 etc....will depend on the resolution of you image. You will then regain some of your edge and it will be a little bit soft.

You will need to play around with the numbers a little but this is a very effective technique. Unlike feathering the edges....you have not lost any information and you can paint in or remove more detail as required. Just paint with a black or white brush...black hides....white reveals!....just make sure you are painting on the mask and not the image.

To just view you mask "option"(alt) click on the mask layer thumbnail.

To view your image without the mask, "shift" click on the image layer thumbnail.

Hope this helps and good luck with finding a background.

[dbax]

Suggestions...

a) a plain background - neutral colour slightly textured like a backdrop curtain - maybe gaussian blurr it a bit

b) Photograph somewhere they both liked to go and put that as the background
Edit: Even slightly OOF so its like a DoF thing

I think Kyms suggestions are correct, plains/textures or somewhere they have personal memeories from.
Good luck