Why placing one image into another looks unnatural?

Question

Hi,

Is anybody able to tell me why my end results of image replacement look very unnatural?

For example, when i try to photoshop a person from one image into a different photo the end results look obviously photoshopped and like the person is standing in front of/seperate from the background image.

For example I have quick selected this guy and put him in other image of the beach. I have put the man twice next to each other so sorry for any confusion:)

I think the attempt on the right looks abit more natural then left one, but it came with a lot of flaws on clothing, face etc.

The one on the left looks very obvious that this was not the original image he was photograpped in.

I have tried to use blur which looked awful, .refine edges, change contrast, shift edges, feather, gradient map then multiple ...but they both still look unnatural/obviously photoshopped and like they are in front of the image insted of realistically blended into it.

I would like my result to look seamless like in the original photo.

Can anyone provide any advice regarding how to have more natural results,particulary the edges and to look blended in with "new image"?

(I'm not sure if it is as obvious here but it is very obvious in photoshop or when i look at the image on my ipad).

davescm · Accepted Answer

It is hard to tell much from those images as they look more like low quality screen photos than direct screen shots.

However in general terms, when compositing, you want :

a. Images that fit well in terms of size, pose etc but also in sharpness and resolution. A poor resolution foreground image will never look good on a high resolution background.

b. A good mask - that may include soft/hard edges as appropriate and possibly carrying out some colour decontamination around the edges to match the new background.

c. Matched lighting - in terms of colour and direction

d. Shadows that match on the background and foreground images - both colour and direction, strength and hard/soft borders. This will involve painting in new shadows (drop shadow effects never look realistic in a composite)

e. Saturation - the saturation of the foreground and background images should match - you can adjust with a hue/saturation layer

Dave

Barb Binder · Answer

Lots of things come into play, but let's start with the shadows. There is a heavy shadow of his head on his chest, indicating the sun is out behind him, but no corresponding shadow on the sand for his body.

~Barb

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