Flanman-
It is possible to do this but there are many factors to consider. The
quality of your final image will depend largely on two things: How
much time you want to put into each image, and how closely the
following attributes of both images match (In this example we'll use
"your car" and "your beach".)
1. Environment
a. Surroundings (body/window reflections.)
b. Lighting (Sun direction, shadows, etc.)
2. Camera
a. Focal length (or lens) 21mm, 35mm, 100mm, etc.
b. Camera position.
Make no mistake what you are trying to do can be fairly difficult.
But taking these things into consideration will help you make a better
final image. Here is a brief description of these items:
Surroundings:
As smallfoor-ga pointed out one of the biggest give-aways to this
photo manipulation will be what the car itself is reflecting.
Therefore whenever possible you should shoot the car so that is is
reflecting as little as possible. In the extreme case you could bring
a bunch of white or black cloth with you to block most, or at least
some of the major reflections that would be distracting to your eye if
you were to envision the car pasted over a background of a beach.
Another option is to always park the car in front of a big
black/white/grey building I'm guessing this probably really isn't an
option so let's not even consider it. ;) Ideally you would be
photographing these cars in a parking lot of some sort. Clear out as
many cars as you can behind you so there will be the least amount
visible in the reflections. Another alernative is to paint the
reflections out later using some image manipulation software. This is
fairly difficult to do and make the photo look un-touched, so you will
probably have to live with whatever reflections are in the photo you
take. Just try to minimize them.
Lighting:
This is very important attribute to consider. The lighting in your
beach photo should be as close as possible to the lighting in your car
photo. For instance if in your beach photo there were shadows falling
to the right of the palm trees but the shadows and lighting cues in
your car photo were falling to the left the image would be a pretty
obvious fake. What you may want to do is take several photographs of
the beach from the exact same camera position (more on that later)
under a few different ligthing conditions. This way you could have
coverage if the sun in your car photo is behind you, in front of you,
to the left, etc. Another thing to consider which relates also to the
"Surroundings" is what the sky is doing. Ideally your beach image
would have a partially cloudy sky. That way you are covered regardless
of what the sky reflected in your car is.
TIP - Don't make the beach image be at sunset. Since you will probably
be photographing the cars at all times of the day you want an beach
image (or images) that can accept a car from all times of day.
Otherwise to get a convincing car on the beach you would need to
photograph all of your cars at sunset. Not very effecient.
Focal length:
This is a fairly important aspect of any image. I assume you have a
fairly recent digital camera with a zoom function. In order for your
car to feel like it is the same environment as your beach both
photographs should be taken with the same focal length. The easiest
way to ensure this is to take all of your photos with either the
camera zoomed all the way in or all the way out. That way all of your
images will be at the same focal length.
Camera position:
Perhaps the most important (and most difficult!) thing to match up is
the camera position. If your background (beach) and your forground
(car) are not shot from the same position it will be fairly obvious.
Since our eyes are used to seeing all perspective lines fall off in
the same way in an image as soon as we detect a change in this
something stick out. (It is for this same reason that it is important
to shoot everything with the same focal length!) One way to prevent
this is to make sure to put the camera at roughly the same position
relative to the car for every photo you take. Here is an example of
how to establish this position:
Go to the beach on the (partly cloudy) day you want to shoot your
background images. Put your car in front of the beach and using a
tripod (if you don't have one you may want to think about getting one)
frame your car up (make sure to be zoomed all the way in or all the
way out) and take a photo. Measure the distance from the camera to the
car. You may want to make a diagram of where the camera is relative to
the center of the car. Also note the camera height and if you are
zoomed all the way in or all the way out. Then move your car, leaving
the camera on the tripod and take another photo of just the beach. You
may want to leave your camera in the tripod and take a few more photos
of just the beach under different ligthing conditions. Sun behind the
clouds, sun somewhere else on the horizon, etc. You may also want to
take photos of your car under these lighing conditions. The photos of
*your* car in front of the beach are important because now you will
have reference of what a car really looks like placed in front of the
beach. This will come in handy later when trying to make a car that
*isn't* in front of the beach appear as though it is.
TIP - Since this beach image will be the image you put all of your
cars in front of you may want to leave some space on either side of
the car to allow for bigger cars.
Once you have your camera diagram you should use it to place the
camera whenever you photograph your cars. If you can't follow it
exactly try to get as close as possible otherwise your final image
will look like a fake.
-----------------
Once you have your master background images and some car images you
must now cut the car out of it's environment and paste it over the
beach. This can be done with any number of image manipulation tools. I
reccommend using Adobe Photoshop. Use a lasso (or similar) tool to
trace around the car (be sure to include any shadows or other features
that would help plant the car into the background.) You may also need
to cut out the windows so you can see your beach through your car
windows. Once you have a selection you are happy with Copy it and
paste it into your beach image. Hopefully if you took the
above-mentioned items into account when you took your photos your car
will require minimal photo touchup work. Once you do a few you will
learn many tricks to make future images easier.
Random Tips:
- Take some practice photos of random cars to test out your pipeline.
Maybe shooting some cars in the parking lot of the beach on the same
day as your background shoot would be a good idea.
- One thing that will make cutting your car out easier is if there is
a fairly plain background behind the car itself. If at all possible
try to always shoot the car in front of a solid color wall or
something like that.
- Since you probably want to minmize the amount of windows you need to
paint out while combining your images try shooting your car from an
angle where you don't see through the windows.
- If you don't have one already get a book on whatever image software
you are going to use. There is likely a tutorial on doing something
similar to what you are trying to do in there.
Advanced Tips:
- Another thing to keep in mind is the settings your camera was using
while taking the photos. If you shoot on "Auto" for all of the photos
they will probably all be take with slightly different settings and
therefore exposures. Some photos may appear darker than others, etc.
To eliminate or minimize this try to keep the settings the same on all
of your photos.
- You may also want to shoot the beach (or alternate location) under
different weather conditions. That way if there is rain or snow or
leaves on the car you are photographing you can put it over an
appropriate background. Just remember to make a camera diagram at each
background location you shoot and shoot the cars accordingly.
Well, I hope that helps... Good luck! |
