help needed-tribute to a fallen friend

About a month ago a young 18 year old boy went to bed and never woke up. He was an up and coming pro motocrosser with a bright future.
I am trying to gather photos from all over the MX community and present them in a printed collage to the family in August when friends celebrate his life.

My PP skills are limited to making images look their best and not really cutting and pasting in a project like this. The goal in mind is to have this image as the full size poster and add the other photos around and all over it, keeping the rider clear. Is there anyone who can point me in the right way to have this done? Any help is appreciated. Thank you so much.

Matt

Cutting and pasting will be fine. Perhaps elaborate on the problems you're having and you'll get more help.

What software?
Photoshop?
http://help.adobe.com …05-8C92-504C842769E1.html
Lightroom?
http://lightroomkiller​tips.com …i-photo-picture-packages/

You can also do it manually in PS: https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=8677372&p​ostcount=3

As mentioned, more detail would be helpful. The only thing I can suggest based on your post would be to utilize an editor that has a layer mask feature and if you already have the app, learn to use layer masks.

Masks will be the key to blending the images you paste onto the main poster picture so that you don't have hard transition lines. On the other hand, you might also incorporate a few hard paste lines and/or drop shadows. It's all a matter of design. Hope that helps.

If you get really stuck there's always Microsoft's AutoCollage

http://research.micros​oft.com …dge/projects/au​tocollage/

I use LR2.7 and will be getting CS5 in a few days. My biggest issue is when ever I try to cut images, I can never get a clean cut. There always seems to be pieces missing. I am not going to be using the entire image, but cutting out the rider and placing him on the big photo. The only image that will be whole, is the one I posted. All the others will have the rider cut out and placed on the big photo..

I believe the help op is looking for is regarding background removal and subject extraction. Nothing to do with the posted image but his other images.

Just my understanding.

Baadil wrote in post #10471529
I believe the help op is looking for is regarding background removal and subject extraction. Nothing to do with the posted image but his other images.

Just my understanding.

BINGO! sorry I didnt make all that clear. I'm in a million different places right now.

mattymx wrote in post #10471463
I use LR2.7 and will be getting CS5 in a few days. My biggest issue is when ever I try to cut images, I can never get a clean cut. There always seems to be pieces missing. I am not going to be using the entire image, but cutting out the rider and placing him on the big photo. The only image that will be whole, is the one I posted. All the others will have the rider cut out and placed on the big photo..

What software have you been using to try to cut and paste? Knowing that can help us to give you some pointed advice.

Using CS5 will certainly make "all things possible", but the key will be in learning to make selections and refine them so that when you paste them/layer them into a background image they will look reasonably well-blended.

Right now I have been unable to figure out how to cut with LR2. In the past I used PS7 but that was on my old PC and it is no longer a working PC. I bought CS5 yesterday in hopes it will help me with this task so we will see what happens when I get it.

This project was going to be done by someone else, but they had to back out because of other plans for his memorial ride day.

Thanks everyone for helping me. With your help I hope I can make it special, but it is going to take a lot of learning on my end.

Here are a few links to start you out...

http://www.depiction.n​et …hop/backgroundr​emoval.php
http://graphicssoft.ab​out.com …oshop/l/blremov​ebackg.htm
http://blog.thembid.co​m …nds-quickly-in-photoshop/
http://www.tutorialbus​.com/backgroundtutoria​l/

Also, learn about Quick masks. They will help you a lot with extracting.

One last thing; It is probably best to do your own practice and post before/after shots here for others to comment on and help you out.

HTH

mattymx wrote in post #10472011
Right now I have been unable to figure out how to cut with LR2. In the past I used PS7 but that was on my old PC and it is no longer a working PC. I bought CS5 yesterday in hopes it will help me with this task so we will see what happens when I get it.

Well then, you need to know that LR does not do that type of thing. People who use LR should have a pixel editor so that when they need to they can do "things", whether it be collages such as this project or the other myriad of things LR is not designed to handle.

So, It's good that you are getting CS5 in -- that will definitely handle it. Take some time to read up on making selections and working with layers. You can find a lot of help here, asking specific questions and doing forum searches for things like "photoshop selections", and if you go to Google and try a search for something like "photoshop layer tutorial" (or whatever specific terms you want to search for) you will find a ton of resources out here to try to get a quick start.

If you are getting CS5 because you can afford the best, good for you. But you should also know that there are less expensive alternatives, such as Photoshop Elements, the "little brother" who uses a lot of CS "hand me downs" so that you can get most of what you need done in a smaller package at a fraction of the price!

Thanks Tony. I have been reading up a lot on what and how to do this since I am getting CS5. The last thing I want to do is make it look like some novice hack job. Searches have been a key in learning this so far and that is what it takes to learn what can do certain tasks. As for the price of CS5, I am hoping that buying a never installed copy from a friend of a friend who is selling all his photo supplies to pay for his divorce works out. I really appreciate all the help from you all. Keep it coming!

mattymx wrote in post #10473285
Thanks Tony. I have been reading up a lot on what and how to do this since I am getting CS5. The last thing I want to do is make it look like some novice hack job. Searches have been a key in learning this so far and that is what it takes to learn what can do certain tasks. As for the price of CS5, I am hoping that buying a never installed copy from a friend of a friend who is selling all his photo supplies to pay for his divorce works out. I really appreciate all the help from you all. Keep it coming!

Well, OK. Know that there are illegitimate copies of Photoshop out there, and it can be hard to distinguish until you install one and then try to register it and are informed that you are using a bad serial number.

If I were you, I'd take a laptop to where you are meeting this person and do the installation and registration before letting him/her walk away with the bucks. It's like buying a nice "amost new" camera, shelling out the bucks and going home with it before you ever turn it on and take some shots with it -- good for the seller, but for you not so much.

I have heard horror stories about people getting ripped off. It is a trusted friend of one of my best friends, life long at that so it should be OK. We will see....