How'm I doin'?

[Grumpy John]

I have absolutely no incentive to take the camera out at the moment, so I'm having a play around with Photoshop.
I thought that I'd try and do something different with an image I captured at the 2012 Zombie Shuffle in Melbourne.

#1. The original image with the exposure boosted to +1.8 to give me better separation between the subject and background.


#2. Into Photoshop and remove B/G. Not sure what to do with veil and shoes yet, will depend on how the finished image looks.


Download a couple of stock images from unsplash.com. Thank you Isac.
#3. Graveyard.


#4. Ominous Sky.


#5. Some masks, layers and there you go.


It needs quite a bit of fine tuning, but I have saved all the PSD files so I can go back and edit to my hearts content.
Thoughts, comments, criticisms all welcome. Happy to upload any images to help with suggestions.

[HansE]

Looks like fun. You are having some success more than what I'm feeling at the moment. Hoping to see what you finish up with.

[Grumpy John]

Thanks Hans, Trying for moody, but not too dark. It's a fine line. Also needs work on the feet and the girls veil. Waiting for the master to chime in .

[HansE]

The veil is interesting. If you have the people as a layer on top you maybe able to erase a bit of the colour out of it.

[Isac]

The veil is a bit tricky, but I'd just use a soft brush on the mask and reduce it a bit. Because you are after a darker image it won't be noticeable. Here's a few tips:

If you bring the couple forward by increasing their size and cut off their legs a bit, it will place them next to the closest grave stone,
I reckon the night scene would look cool if you used the RAW method as below:

I think the birds need to be a lot smaller. See below from Unsplash. (just search “bats”).

I had to denoise it first with Colormancer at setting 95 and all others to zero.
You can use the same RAW method to do the sky image, save it as a JPG and then use Luminar-4 to do the sky replacement.
I even put a moon in for effect, also from Unsplash.

P.S. If you want to try “Color Lookup” in PS pick “Moonlight” or “NightfromDay”, they do a good job.
Finished "Artistic Creation".


If you want to play with the PSD file, let me know and I'll WeTransfer it.
Cheers, I hope this is useful.

[Grumpy John]

That looks really good Isac. I like what you've done with the bats and the moon. I was going to add a moon, but I thought it would be too much. If you wouldn't mind sending me the PSD file so I can have a look at it that would be great.

[Isac]

On its way. I hope it shows everything clearly enough, if not get in touch. Cheers, Greg

[Grumpy John]

Got it, thanks mate. I have to go out for a while today, will look at it when I get back home.