Source Files:
Before doing anything to the pictures, I saved them all as PSD files and adjusted the levels. I began with the background picture of the White House. I used the magnetic lasso to select George Bush from the photo of him speaking. I moved it onto my background and used the Free Transform option to resize it. I had to use the rubber stamp to cover up the microphone cord. Next, I got the martini using the magic wand and selecting the inverse. I used the martini to cover the microphone in his hand. I then erased the stem of the martini glass to make it appears as though he is holding it.
Next, I used the magnetic lasso to select John McCain, and I moved him into the picture. I also had to resize him using Free Transform. I partially covered Bush's picture with McCain to make it look like his arm is around him. This also allowed to to hide some of the areas that were harder to get a good selection. I had to be careful to make sure it looked like they were standing on the same plane.
I used the rectangular marquee to select the Ron Paul sign. I tried to erase most of the grass from that picture, but the legs of the sign were hard to see, so it did not turn out perfectly.
I made a copy of each of the layer of the objects I moved into the picture, and used the color overlay option to make them black. I used free transform to manipulate the copied layers to match the shadows in the background picture. Once I had them placed where I wanted them, I reduced the opacity to around 67%. I also used the burn and dodge tools to create highlights and shadows on the objects that were consistent with the light in the picture.
Finally, I added the "Lunch on the campaign trail" caption with a drop shadow.
One of the hardest parts of this project were selecting the images of George Bush and John McCain. It was especially difficult to get a good selection on their hands. the dark background of the door behind McCain was hard to separate from his dark suit.
I had to go back several times and add more to the selection or use the eraser to reduce a halo around them.
4 comments:
I know how you feel about selecting McCain and Bush. I had to select ben Stein for mine and i wresteld with that for nearly an hour trying to get him perfect. Good job though. I like how Ron Paul is campaigning on the white house lawn too. But for some reason I don't see Bush as a martini drinker. I didn't notice the drink at first glance though, until I saw the picture of it by itself. The pic was a lot funnier then. Great work.
This is really good work. I like it a lot. It's crazy how small you were able to make the martini glass and to fit it into Bush's hand perfectly. The Ron Paul sign looks very real and the shadows seemed to work out nicely. This combining images assignment is the most fun assignment we've had this semester. Did you get these images off google image? The photo would've gotten extremely interesting if you threw Obama in there. Great work man.
Chris,
First off, I like your idea! And just glancing at the picture, it looks like your selections came out fairly clean. A couple of critiques, however. First, I think that your images would blend a bit better if they had a little more light on them. If you'll notice, there is a lot of light shining on the White House, but some of your images are too dark to reflect that. Try messing with the levels before you add your images to match the lighting. Second, I would suggest making your drop shadows a bit more transparent.
Great job!
-Martin
This one is cool. I totally agree with you and Alex when it comes to selcting people. I had a time with that and that wasn't the only thing. I'm terrible at this=(. But back to your post, I really like the scheme of the picture it actually looks like something that you would see on SNL or something maybe even a campaign flyer/poster. Great job!
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