how to blend a daytime and nightime pic

[kar1zma]

i tried to smudge off the reflections as much as i could
without destroying the body. but im stuck at that
tried cloning but keep getting u unwanted areas on the body

i will reduce the brightness of the windows now
followed by some shadow and will get back with the progress pic

 

[kar1zma]

ok this is my latest progress

1- windows darkened
2- photo cropped for better composition
3- shadows added (should i make the shadows longer or darker?)

ive been trying to get the car color to match the lights
and im stuck at that
as mentioned in my previous posts i was using gradients to get a uniform car color
its ok but not what im looking for i have another pic below of the same car shot at night
notice the shine and glow. i would like to get this effect on the body


ur suggestions and advice please

 

[kar1zma]

i added a gradient map changed the blend mode to vivid light
and got this result looks quote nice

i guess i need to clear out the reflections and get some more
shine on the car

what do u think

 

[IamSam]

Not bad so far! I definitely do not like the darkened windows! If reality is what your after, we should work on those!

On a new layer make a selection of the windows using the Pen Tool...
(note: I only did one window on this side of the car, you make a selection of all three!)


Use you Gradient Tool and make a Linear gradient from bottom to top.


Then lower the gradient layers opacity to about 80%.


Here's mine before I added the reflections......color was not that far off.

 

[kar1zma]

wow the windows look perfect now
i will try the technique u have shown me

however could u elaborate on how to get rid of the
reflections

 

[IamSam]

Mostly I used the Healing Brush Tool, and the Clone Stamp Tool. Sample close to the area you want to eliminate and sample often.

When I had the reflections removed, to blend the colors I used the Brush Tool set to 50% Opacity and 4% fill (sampling close the the blend line)......and the Smudge Tool set to about 16%

Always work on a duplicate. Takes a little practice.

 

[kar1zma]

i started off with a new car angle
i wasnt liking the car angle i began with

i found a better pic
ill post the work i did on it in a bit

 

[kar1zma]

ok this is my new edit
i like the angle of the car in this pic better
looks more natural

things ive done

1- darkened the windows
2- removed some reflections ( only minor)
3- added a reflection of the wheel in water
4- added a shadow to make the car feel more natural
5- added a simple gradent layer and changed the blend mode to overlay gives the car a more natural feel
6- selected the back portion of the car onto a new layer and used levels and some hue/saturation
to match the color to the rest of the body.
7- i cropped the top 10 and left 10% of the pics for better prespective

now i need to give the car the right uniform colors
get some city lights glow over it
are the shadows ok. do they need to be longer? im not totally happy with the shadows

suggestions please

 

[kar1zma]

ok i did some more editing

1- car looked tilted from back so shifted the car a bit
2- added an orange glow to mimic the street lights
3- used high pass to sharpen the image


things i would like to do
1- add some purple glow/streaks on the body
2- the front end of the car is too sharp when compared to the background i need to blur it
ive tried a few options but im stuck cant get it right

 

[IamSam]

The front of the car is floating in the last image (post #29). It's poppin a wheelie!
You had the angle right in the previous image (post #28). You need to use the "ground plane" to position the car!

The lighting on the rear of the car is off. It would work if you increased the ground lighting implying a light source coming from the rear. There would also be a light reflection(s) in the rear window.

You have tree reflections in the side of the car and your attempt to remove the tree reflection on the trunk (boot) needs some more work.

Use your Blur Tool to blur the front of the car.

 

[Crotale]

Aside from the obvious variances between the lighting of the added object and the background, as well as shading around the vehicle to help it better blend into the background, one thing I noticed that is really throwing off the image is the scale. Considering the perspective of the original background, you almost cannot expect to fit that car into view unless you scale it as you have, but it needs to be placed "deeper" into the background. This means the actual perspective of the car still needs to be tweaked to make it work at all.

Not only were both images shot at different camera heights and angles, but focal lengths as well. Focal length has a direct impact on perspective, especially for objects in the foreground. The closer the object is to the camera, or the more significant it is in the picture, the more the impact will be seen. This directly affects any objects you may want to add into the scene.

Edit: Iamsam essentially noted the same thing as I was posting this.

 

[kar1zma]

im gonna try to start all over by cropping the background and placing the car again
the biggest problem as always been prespective.

im still not able to clone out the elements from the car
that seems to be my biggest issue for now

im gonna try this one more time to see what result i get
i guess the background pic has a lot to do with the prespective
not coming out right.

 

[kar1zma]

so this is my latest effort from scratch

1- cropped the background for better prespective
2- sized the car . i feel it fits better . the overall pic looks more natural
3- added more realistic shadow
4- tined the windows ( im not entirely happy with that) suggestions on this please
5- added a green to red gradient to reduce the intensity of the lights
6- added a black to white gradient ( dont know why but the car looks more blended in)
7- added a reflection for the front rim which is over water

now i need to work on from here
i guess i need to

1- added realistic lighting
2- remove relfection

suggestion my gurus!!!!

 

[SCTRWD]

There are lots of free dodge charger 3D models on the Internet.
Download, place it on your image, choose some similar to background image for Environment or Image Based Light.

 

[kar1zma]

There are lots of free dodge charger 3D models on the Internet.
Download, place it on your image, choose some similar to background image for Environment or Image Based Light.

thanks for the info
im interested in learning about the various photoshop tools and techniques
that i can employ to improve the pics. im trying to get creative
this is a testing ground for me. i wanna improve on the pics i have
the gurus here have really helped me with my image and the way i use photoshop

 

[IamSam]

OK, you seem to have your own ideas of what looks right and what doesn't. Your certainly entitled to an opinion. You seem to ignore any suggestions that are being made to you.

I feel like I can't really help you further until your ready to try something outside your preexisting ideas, otherwise we are going in circles.

 

[kar1zma]

@iamsam

im here to learn from the experts here. im not trying to ignore . if i have done so then i am sorry
let me start fresh
as per ur post #30 i have tried to fix the car angle. added the tint by gradient. i have also tried to remove as much as reflections as i can by following your earlier instruction of cloning and smudging. however im not sure what u mean by

"The lighting on the rear of the car is off. It would work if you increased the ground lighting implying a light source coming from the rear. There would also be a light reflection(s) in the rear window.

how do i achieve the ground lighting exactly. i will assume u mean by a street light bulb from behind. in that way the reflection
will fall on the rear of the car and a reflection on the rear windshield.



i have tried to follow crotale's suggestion by making the object more closer so as to increase
impact.

i am here to learn and more than willing to experiment with new ideas. please keep the
criticism and suggestions going

 

[IamSam]

The most pressing issue is perspective. The front of the car is still floating. For some reason your trying to level the top of the car. Based on the BG's perspective, the cars left front tire would be partially submerged in the water. This car image may not work with this BG. Post the original so I can experiment.

Please re-read Crotale's post. He states that you need to move the car deeper (not closer) into the BG.

Remove the crop.
Remove the red green gradient.

 

[kar1zma]

got u iamsam

here is the original car and background



and

i guess ur right the car pic may not suit the background
the older pic of the car did not. so i left that and redid the work with this pic
however photoshop gives us the power to do a lot. i shall try a little more before
giving this up

 

[Crotale]

Before you continue, I invite you to take a better look at the lighting and shadowing in the car image compared to the background image. The light sources are vastly different, coming in from different directions and angles. That will make the challenge of creating a believable final product extremely hard for even the most experienced photoshopper. I would try to find a car image that at least has the basic light coming from a similar direction and elevation angle, well, at least something close to it.