PS edit help - what to do to improve portrait

I took this for the school I work at.
Originally shot in a white room, with boring white wall behind.
Only had a hot shoe flash available, but used bounce off a low ceiling

Workflow so far
1. Removed background and replaced it
2. Changed one face as the person wasnt smiling (can you guess who? )
3. Add spotlight effect on wall

Pushed my PS skills with this. Still not quite happy, still looks to unnatural to me

Can anyone please advise on what to do to improve the shot?

Thanks in advance

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There are several reasons why it looks "unnatural" to you and to anyone with a keen eye.

1. The extraction of the subjects from the original photo(s) was not particularly well done. Just look at their hair and there are quite obvious signs that they were lifted from another photo. There is an art to extracting fine details like hair and you haven't mastered that; in fact I'd wager you used basic selection tools like the Lasso and not more advanced tools.
2. A dark backdrop is not a good choice in this instance; it just shows up the color fringing in the hair. Choose a color that would allow you to blend the hair colors into the background. Also I don't see any sign of a "spotlit" backdrop.
3. Good job on the head swap.

Extraction and background swapping require advanced selection skills...if you post the original photos you're likely to get a lot of help.

pelooyen wrote in post #11780866
I took this for the school I work at.
Originally shot in a white room, with boring white wall behind.
Only had a hot shoe flash available, but used bounce off a low ceiling

Workflow so far
1. Removed background and replaced it
2. Changed one face as the person wasnt smiling (can you guess who? )
3. Add spotlight effect on wall

Pushed my PS skills with this. Still not quite happy, still looks to unnatural to me

Can anyone please advise on what to do to improve the shot?

Thanks in advance

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Thanks - honest appraisal and definitely need more 'skilling'
I did use more than lasso, I used magic erase as well as background erase, but I am sure I can do much more. I am still only finding my way around CS5

So here goes, who can help me get a group shot that looks natural with a better background?

Here is the the original photo

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Had a quick play with Picture 1, here is the result:

Scaled down and uncropped for viewing here:

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Quad-Response wrote in post #11781339
I used a random digital background to show you, the PSD file for this mask is 53mb if its any use to you.
Regards
Chris

Thanks Chris
I am having a look at the demo now.

I would like the mask you created if possible. How do I get it?

Paul

pelooyen wrote in post #11783490
Thanks Chris
I am having a look at the demo now.

I would like the mask you created if possible. How do I get it?

Paul

Your Welcome

I can upload it if you want, then post the link here or can email it. Will take a few minutes to upload.

To Add, mask uploaded Paul. I would recommend you start from scratch to get it exactly how you want it. My mask was a quick job but with a little more time you should be able to get it much better.

http://www.quad-response.com/images/ma​skedit.psd (55+MB BTW)

Also take a look here for a great video on how to use Remask 3:
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=_zrDGQdLCTA

Thanks again

Original photo is best. Just erase the brick lines for a clean white background, and level it. Reduce the side shadow if you like.

Here's a quick edit.

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