Friday, July 1, 2011

Chinese Photographer Bungles Photoshop Paste

Photoshop Paste Problem?
There's a right way to do Photoshop. And then, there are so many wrong ways to do Photoshop.

This photo represents a huge gaff for the Chinese photographer blamed for its creation. Apparently the photographer thought he could improve his original two shots by bring all three government road officials into one scene.

Unfortunately, he forgot that in order to effectively and seamlessly paste someone or something into a new scene you must physically connect them in some way.

Typically, we'll use a shadow of their body, or at least some darkening of the surroundings near their feet.

If we are going to sit them on something, or have them lying down we'll need to be sure to add both shadows or darkening AND some appropriate scrunching of their clothes at the contact points.

The key element to "Cut and Paste" Photoshop is that when complete you should not be able to tell. That means considering the quantity and quality of light between the two original photographs, as well as matching the direction of the light, and as we see here, grounding your subject into the new scene with shadows.

A tough public lesson to learn for this Chinese photographer, but hopefully, knowing these key points will keep you from ultimate embarrassment later on.

You can view the full story by Laura Rozen | The Envoy – Thu, Jun 30, 2011

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/fake-photo-fallout-chinese-officials-embrace-social-media-171223649.html