Composite Editing help needed

I have a background I shot months back and a family portrait I cut out the people perfectly but when I drag the cutout into the background and resize it I need to keep aspect ratio correct since I have trouble trying to eye-ball it.

I also found that when copying people into another photo they look almost flat, not 2 dimensional. The cut outs never look right.

Using PS I assume? If you used Ctrl + T to resize, did you hold down the Shift key to lock the proportions?

It would help us to help you if you could post a photo of what you've got thus far. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by having trouble trying to eye-ball the aspect ratio.....you shouldn't have to eye-ball anything. You can enter numbers that will make it absolutely exact.

You have to know the background when you shoot the portrait so you can light it to match. Otherwise it will look flat despite the care you take in merging the two images.

mdaddyrabbit wrote in post #15936319
I have a background I shot months back and a family portrait I cut out the people perfectly but when I drag the cutout into the background and resize it I need to keep aspect ratio correct since I have trouble trying to eye-ball it.

I also found that when copying people into another photo they look almost flat, not 2 dimensional. The cut outs never look right.

Maybe clarify here: do you mean they look almost flat, not 3 dimensional? Quite a difference there!

Thanks for answering my question guys. Today is the first time I have had an opportunity to get back to this thread. My knock outs of people when dropped in other backgrounds don't look 3 dimensional to look as though they belong.

mdaddyrabbit wrote in post #15942223
Thanks for answering my question guys. Today is the first time I have had an opportunity to get back to this thread. My knock outs of people when dropped in other backgrounds don't look 3 dimensional to look as though they belong.

Maybe post one or two examples of your efforts...

It may be because the lighting of the subjects was relatively diffused and lacks form, something that may be exacerbated by a background shot under different, more contrasty conditions.

When compositing like this, one needs to be aware of the final image and how each component of it is shot, assuring that the composite will look seamless and convincing. Lighting is critical to achieving a convincing composite.

kirk

Did you feather the edges of your cutout? If you leave it a hard line it will always look a little pasted on.