Help filling the rest of my image with black...

[macnmore]

I have a small studio for my photography, and when I have families, I have some space on the outside of my backdrops that needs to be fixed in photoshop. If I simply use the brush tool, it just looks fake. I've attached an example of what I'm talking about. On this picture, I want to paint everything a similar shade as the black backdrop, but not have it look like the family is super-imposed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp27/macnmore/TarenFamily-2-1.jpg

 

[iDad]

I would just select the area and work with less exposure you'll never know

 

[macnmore]

I'm not sure what your talking about. I can make the selection of the area in question, but what do you mean by just work with less exposure?

 

[iDad]

Go to >image> adjustments>exposure> use scale and reduce it to black

 

[pswift]

Create a new layer, fill it with the color you like and use that as your background by using a mask. You can also use a photo as background or touch up the plain background with some effects.

Best is to get the background right from the start when you take the shot.