justinlalaland
10-05-2006, 09:17 AM
Hi All,
Im new to Matte painting, been a user of photoshop for about 8 yrs but this is a whole new and exciting area for me which im studying alongside compositing!
Anyway, i have a few technical questions, any help would be appreciated:
1 - I keep coming across the issue where one photo I bring in appears to be much sharper than another and thus just looks like ive stuck one photo on another. Whats the best way to fix this? Unsharp Mask on the sharper layer? I notice quite a few pics which are more illustrative although believable, than stuff that really does look 100% like a photo, is this due to more painting and texturing than simply putting 2 images together and adding adjustment layers?
2 - The other whats the most effective way of essentially toning down the brightness of another image so it fits, for example I have a pic of a rock face that looks like it was shot in a hot country, which I would like as a foreground element in a green misty valley scene. But the rock is very white and the sun makes it even brighter, and the shadows much darker so looks unreal against the background. Whats the best way of toning down the brights and darks (so it looks more like it was shot in the Autumn or winter) without it looking fake (as it has looked for me so far) is it just a case of being persistant with a levels and curves adjustment layer?
3 - Lastly, I have the Dylan and Christian DVDs and they always start with blocking in. I was wondering if that is the main approach, I just wondered that if you cant find ref photo to match your shapes do you simply clone the texture onto the shape to achieve it, is that the idea?
Thanks guys (and girls)
Justin
Im new to Matte painting, been a user of photoshop for about 8 yrs but this is a whole new and exciting area for me which im studying alongside compositing!
Anyway, i have a few technical questions, any help would be appreciated:
1 - I keep coming across the issue where one photo I bring in appears to be much sharper than another and thus just looks like ive stuck one photo on another. Whats the best way to fix this? Unsharp Mask on the sharper layer? I notice quite a few pics which are more illustrative although believable, than stuff that really does look 100% like a photo, is this due to more painting and texturing than simply putting 2 images together and adding adjustment layers?
2 - The other whats the most effective way of essentially toning down the brightness of another image so it fits, for example I have a pic of a rock face that looks like it was shot in a hot country, which I would like as a foreground element in a green misty valley scene. But the rock is very white and the sun makes it even brighter, and the shadows much darker so looks unreal against the background. Whats the best way of toning down the brights and darks (so it looks more like it was shot in the Autumn or winter) without it looking fake (as it has looked for me so far) is it just a case of being persistant with a levels and curves adjustment layer?
3 - Lastly, I have the Dylan and Christian DVDs and they always start with blocking in. I was wondering if that is the main approach, I just wondered that if you cant find ref photo to match your shapes do you simply clone the texture onto the shape to achieve it, is that the idea?
Thanks guys (and girls)
Justin