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not_cg
not_cg
Participant
May 24, 2018
Question

Can't Match Image "Quality"

  • May 24, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 423 views

Hello,

I'm trying to add my brother into a picture with his girlfriend (dumb I know), but I'm still new with Photoshop (CC 2018) and can't seem to make it look right. I looked up at least ten tutorials on how to match skin tones, ambiance, brightness/contrast/hue tweaking, increase grittiness/sharpness, etc. and no combination I can find makes it look right.

Here's what I managed to do with various masks and adjustments:

And here is the "original" (before filters):

I'm sure there are several things that I'm missing or didn't do correctly, so if anyone could help I would be grateful.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    not_cg
    not_cgAuthor
    Participant
    May 27, 2018

    Thanks guys, it looks a lot better now!

    K
    Katie Houghton
    Inspiring
    May 27, 2018

    Yes. He needs a blur to soften the image. Make sure you soften his edges. He looks cutout since his image is not integrated into the background enough. Look at the edges of the girls and match that. Try using Select and Mask and add Edge Detection and decontamination as well as maybe a slight feather.

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 24, 2018

    Aside from the difference in sharpness, the lighting seems passably similar, so that should work. The "haze" is lens flare.

    A steep Curves layer can often reveal the mismatch:

    With the same Curves it should look like this, here you can see they match:

    And the final result:

    Of course, I'm generally allergic to burnt-out highlights, but sometimes it's not so important. I'm not too bothered here.

      PECourtejoie
      Community Expert
      PECourtejoieCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 24, 2018

      Hello, I would blur the brother in the latest image, and maybe add even blown out highlights on the brother, but excellent work!

      Mylenium
      Mylenium
      Legend
      May 24, 2018

      Your brother's photo is a lot sharper than the girls. That's one. Point two: The ladies have some sort of haze/ gamma that makes the image look milky. So start by slightly blurring your bro and adjusting the colors to mimic the haze effect. The rest will take soem time. e.g. you might want to create a duplicate layer and blur it even further, then overlay it with Add or screen belnding mode to mimic the glowy look due to the haze/ soft focus. It's all in these details...

      Mylenium

      rayek.elfin
      rayek.elfin
      Legend
      May 24, 2018

      Well, for one the lighting is completely different between the two photos, not merely the colours and sharpness. These last two are relatively easily dealt with, but matching the lighting will take more work and thought.

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