I need some advice on a sig I am trying to create

[PlanetHendrix]

Here is what I have so far:



What I am trying to do is place these in a way that has the woman look like she is looking at herself. These are the photos that I am using:



I was hoping for some advice on how I could make this work. Can someone help me?

[Cy!]

move the left girl slightly lower.

kill the text till the rest is done

use a single central light source top center to explain the opposing shadows. If you want the text top center behind like that use a really light bright color with a hazy glow in front of your main light source . Or even use the text AS your light source with appropriate glare to explain the shadows on the girls. I'd do a color select on the blue, mat it, and use a gradient mask to add gamma to the top fading to about the base color at the bottom to blend the background with your light source.

That help? Kaos is really good at using light sources in his seamless collages, you might ask him. The hard part about simple sigs like this is to give them depth without being obvious. I'm not really a fan of using the sparkle/gas effect, (usually because there's too much imo) but it's been a really popular style for years.

For me, the most important part is choose a light line(s) and STICK TO IT. And make sure your text follows that same line for lighting. Not much looks more amateur to me than a nifty background with loads of lighting with a main subject that CANNOT possibly be lit that way.

You can do it!

[PlanetHendrix]

move the left girl slightly lower.

kill the text till the rest is done

use a single central light source top center to explain the opposing shadows. If you want the text top center behind like that use a really light bright color with a hazy glow in front of your main light source . Or even use the text AS your light source with appropriate glare to explain the shadows on the girls. I'd do a color select on the blue, mat it, and use a gradient mask to add gamma to the top fading to about the base color at the bottom to blend the background with your light source.

That help? Kaos is really good at using light sources in his seamless collages, you might ask him. The hard part about simple sigs like this is to give them depth without being obvious. I'm not really a fan of using the sparkle/gas effect, (usually because there's too much imo) but it's been a really popular style for years.

For me, the most important part is choose a light line(s) and STICK TO IT. And make sure your text follows that same line for lighting. Not much looks more amateur to me than a nifty background with loads of lighting with a main subject that CANNOT possibly be lit that way.

You can do it!

This does help and will take a bit for me to try these things. I will definitely be re-posting in here and getting more advice.

[PlanetHendrix]

How is the angel? Does it look like the eye lines match better.

[Graphical User Interface]

I think Cy's advice is all good, one thing I can add is a simple trick that might help with the size and placement of the girl she's looking at. Dupe the looking shot, flip it and position it left to right, then put the other one on top, reduce opacity to 30-50% and scale it until it matches. Then return opacity to 100%, add a layer mask and soften the right edge as a start on the transition from one image to the other.

Oh and I'd recommend trying Selective Colour for the different colouration in the backgrounds, should help. But there's a lot of variation there which might not be easy to even out so a colour selection with some kind of overlay may be your best option here.

[Cy!]

GUI's right on the color selection. IMO, the very worst part of this is going to be her cropped hand. Youll have to get other pics from the shoot in as close a pose as you can and put it back. For the background blue. Stick a soft oval gradient as a lowest layer, then when you color select and start masking you have a layer down deep that will help blend your alpha in the other working layers. Just keep the gradient soft.

If you want her to look herself in the eye try a plastic ruler. then just match it up. I know thats low-tech but its hella quick.

Keep on tryin

[Cy!]

heres aquicky, took about 5 minutes using pre-existing abstract wallpapers, layered, mode changed for effect and merged down each time. then just use a sunburst brush @ 50% opacity, start tiny and increase brushsize 15% each time and save.

[PlanetHendrix]

I'll give it a shot.

[PlanetHendrix]

New try.

Does this look ok and that she is looking at herself?



Click to see.

and how does the background look?

[Magge]

If i had the time ... i would try to learn how to do stuff like that.
I am so impressed with you guys ! ... Amazing !

[PlanetHendrix]

The latest incarnation. How is that. Now the lighting.

[merlin!]

Del, I hate to be negative but, the shadows are throwin' me off. Under the ass of both, it appears the light source is centrally located.

[PlanetHendrix]

Del, I hate to be negative but, the shadows are throwin' me off. Under the ass of both, it appears the light source is centrally located.

I can see what it looks like with out. I was just trying to keep some depth from the original photo.

[Cy!]

try adding in a central light source.

new layer
fill black
grab a large soft brush - set it big
color white
set the mode to lighten only
move that layer around and see how it looks.

[PlanetHendrix]

I actually used a lighting effect to try and get the same idea. What do you think?