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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Okay, Shawn... how do you do it?
The stuff you put up in the top right corner of this blog is awesome. I just downloaded gimp and made a few bits of art myself, but I have no clue how you do such cool work. My stuff looks like my son's art compared to your stuff.
Thanks. To answer your question, lots of practice. That kind of stuff is all about Photo-Realism. If you have time, there is a place ( www.worth1000.com ) that you can frequent to pick up ideas and enter contests. I’ve won a few times over there but in the expert category, the competition is pretty stiff. There are beginners’ contests too though. I really enjoy making graphics – it’s a real rush when you have an idea and actually pull it off well.
Yea, to echo Jarrod, I would stick with gimp if I was starting out. It's got an easier learning curve then Photoshop and best of all it's free. Just stick with it and you’ll get the hang of things.
I love the sentiment of the graphic! Can you change the backwards text on the side of that one car to read something funny like “ Vol’s ’05 Season “ or whatever. Oh, and clean up around his fingers…and you can use the color match tool to get that “overcast sky” feel on the PF photo and to make it look like he was there on that day and errr… I digress, it’s a great photo :)
Here's one I put a bit more effort into. I had to actually draw part of it. Anyway, can you share this color match you speak of (in GIMP terms)? I cannot find that function, obviously.
It wasn’t criticism; just a few things that I noticed would make it more believable. I get carried away, sorry. I actually do really enjoy teaching this stuff – let me know if this helps any.
I don’t see the color matching tool in gimp so, this is how we used to do it way back when: Matching a color cast from the dominate photo to the overlays can be done with Levels (easier) or Curves (harder). Just use the levels command to add/subtract the colors ( red/green/blue ) in your overlays layers to match the background. You can then also use the brightness/contrast command to get the details and overall brightness just right ( either washed out or very crisp looking ). After that, it’s just a matter of adding reflections and shadows ( dodge and burn tools - I could write you a book on each of these topics ) to match the global lighting orientation - this really goes a long way in making a viewer think that an object is really "in" the background. Oh, and remember, put all the objects you add in proper perspective ( free transform tool ) that they were shot at to the main photo perspective. And then there is the subject of depth of field ( focus ) but, simply put, if the main object of the photo is in focus, anything closer or further way from it can be set slightly out of focus – a little goes a long way here. Put all together, this will really help make your collages more photo-realistic.
Nice sleigh. It’s really great, great, great! ( is that over-kill? :) JK – Once you get practiced at the skills to make get collages I’m sure you’ll have no shortage of ideas for them – that is, if you still remain a TN fan !!! Sorry, couldn’t help it. I know, I know Florida sucks too…
5 comments:
Gimp has the layering, et al... My shortcomings are, um... elsewhere (upstairs).
I was really just finding an excuse to give a compliment on the header.
Thanks. To answer your question, lots of practice. That kind of stuff is all about Photo-Realism. If you have time, there is a place ( www.worth1000.com ) that you can frequent to pick up ideas and enter contests. I’ve won a few times over there but in the expert category, the competition is pretty stiff. There are beginners’ contests too though. I really enjoy making graphics – it’s a real rush when you have an idea and actually pull it off well.
Yea, to echo Jarrod, I would stick with gimp if I was starting out. It's got an easier learning curve then Photoshop and best of all it's free. Just stick with it and you’ll get the hang of things.
I love the sentiment of the graphic! Can you change the backwards text on the side of that one car to read something funny like “ Vol’s ’05 Season “ or whatever. Oh, and clean up around his fingers…and you can use the color match tool to get that “overcast sky” feel on the PF photo and to make it look like he was there on that day and errr… I digress, it’s a great photo :)
Whoa! I'm not worth material, mr. critic!!!
Here's one I put a bit more effort into. I had to actually draw part of it. Anyway, can you share this color match you speak of (in GIMP terms)? I cannot find that function, obviously.
http://p089.ezboard.com/foutermonvoliafrm2.showMessage?topicID=1118.topic&index=2
It wasn’t criticism; just a few things that I noticed would make it more believable. I get carried away, sorry. I actually do really enjoy teaching this stuff – let me know if this helps any.
I don’t see the color matching tool in gimp so, this is how we used to do it way back when:
Matching a color cast from the dominate photo to the overlays can be done with Levels (easier) or Curves (harder). Just use the levels command to add/subtract the colors ( red/green/blue ) in your overlays layers to match the background. You can then also use the brightness/contrast command to get the details and overall brightness just right ( either washed out or very crisp looking ). After that, it’s just a matter of adding reflections and shadows ( dodge and burn tools - I could write you a book on each of these topics ) to match the global lighting orientation - this really goes a long way in making a viewer think that an object is really "in" the background. Oh, and remember, put all the objects you add in proper perspective ( free transform tool ) that they were shot at to the main photo perspective. And then there is the subject of depth of field ( focus ) but, simply put, if the main object of the photo is in focus, anything closer or further way from it can be set slightly out of focus – a little goes a long way here.
Put all together, this will really help make your collages more photo-realistic.
Nice sleigh. It’s really great, great, great! ( is that over-kill? :) JK – Once you get practiced at the skills to make get collages I’m sure you’ll have no shortage of ideas for them – that is, if you still remain a TN fan !!! Sorry, couldn’t help it.
I know, I know Florida sucks too…
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