Composite

C&C Welcome

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/47401703@N06/7​874897144/

Tough to perfectly crop around her hair, but you probably can do a bit better. But overall, I think it would be a tough sell to try and place a real subject against such an unrealistic computer generated image.

What he said^^^ Use the define edges option in PS for smooth edges on the hair.

Yea, see what you mean about the hair, as for "selling the image as real" it's meant for her birthday cake so she wanted something special...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/47401703@N06/7​875641476/

And here is another with a little more realistic background

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/47401703@N06/7​875937402/

Hair is the real tough nut to crack in these. I've even resorted to using a tapering brush to paint on strands to give it a more realistic look after compositing. But I'm sure she is not as critical as us guys and she's sure to love it.

The first has a shadow issue, she wouldn't cast a shadow on the sky

Qbx wrote in post #14915465
Hair is the real tough nut to crack in these. I've even resorted to using a tapering brush to paint on strands to give it a more realistic look after compositing. But I'm sure she is not as critical as us guys and she's sure to love it.

Thanks QBX!

What did you think of the second one?

gen2roller wrote in post #14915475
The first has a shadow issue, she wouldn't cast a shadow on the sky

Good point, but I didn't pull the shadow back on the second, odd that it's not as noticiable?

On the third I didn't add any shadow...

I find the Unicorn hard to make out. Recommend finding a different unicorn I spent more time trying to figure out what the unicorn is doing versus looking at the girl. And after all SHE is what the photo is about.

Here in South America there's LOOOTS of pictures like this, they love them! But on the cake, will you be able to see those fine details that everyone is talking about, around her hair? I would think that it might not even show..but then again, I haven't seen pictures on cakes before...unless you're just printing it out and placing the picture ON the cake...but I doubt that.

ttleahy wrote in post #14915895
I find the Unicorn hard to make out. Recommend finding a different unicorn I spent more time trying to figure out what the unicorn is doing versus looking at the girl. And after all SHE is what the photo is about.

It's not a Unicorn, but a Princess horse, and I feel more drawn to her, but I might be biased

S.Johnsen wrote in post #14915994
Here in South America there's LOOOTS of pictures like this, they love them! But on the cake, will you be able to see those fine details that everyone is talking about, around her hair? I would think that it might not even show..but then again, I haven't seen pictures on cakes before...unless you're just printing it out and placing the picture ON the cake...but I doubt that.

Here in the USA, they scan the picture in and then use some machinery to put the image on the cake with frosting etc, so yes, even the first one will probably work well.

When the cake is made, in about 3 weeks, I will make certain to attach a picture of it to this thread for comparison.

I think that they are adorable for what they are intended for, a young beautiful girl's birthday. Nice job in that regard!

as to aiding realism against the background (and please note that I don't do composites so no expert) would it help to reduce the contrast on the girl and maybe the grass and horse, then insert against the background, and finally increase the contrast back to where it should be on the whole composited image? This would seem to me to reduce the apparent differences in realism between the different parts of the composited image.

I know she will LOVE it!!

http://www.youtube.com …ture=youtube_gd​ata_player

i tried this one a couple of times as a tutorial it did the job for me hope it helps