"Derek Fountain" wrote in message
Nick wrote:
I sometimes remove the background in a pic and then stick in a new one. However, the resulting pic looks fake and seems as though its a cut&paste job.
What do I have to do to make the pic look realistic?
More than "stick in a new one" I’m afraid.
You need to look at the light in the two images, intensity, colour and direction. You need to look at image noise, focus and other characteristics, then work out how to match all of these attributes in the two images. Then you need to actually do a good enough job of matching those attributes to fool the human brain, and that’s not easy.
Starting with 2 images with very similar characteristics is by far the easiest way, but even then it’s nowhere near as easy as some very talented people make it look.
yes it is not simple
add to above info:
look at shadows, does your subject have one, if not you have to create it are your cut outs smooth edged? use feather and smooth, look at good selection techniques
should the background be slightly blurred like a lens would do? one thing I find very useful to match lighting is the filter render lighting effects
often you can make the subject or background a better match in terms of light direction
pay attention to perspective and proportions
practice makes perfect