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trying to put a car on a mountain road


K

kar1zma

Well-Known Member
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first off i wanna give a big thanks to
iamsam , cretole and other photoshopgurus who helped me with my
older project. i had to abandon it cause it was a lost cause.

however i hope that i will be able to take this project and get the finish
im hoping for

so this is my image mountain road srt.jpg

and this is the look im trying to replicate

i-tbVqKFx-X2.jpg
 
Plus the "pro" graphic has lots of little anomalies, like shadows that go diagonally in from the side of the road, even though the sun is in the centre of the background plus the weird reflections of something on the bonnet.
 
okay, you need to add a bit of a yellowish green hue to the car.
to do that, duplicate the car layer. go to Image>adjustments>photo filter
select a green photo filter and edit the colour to account for the slightly more yellow hue you see in the image.

Then, you'll need to use a layer mask to allow the trees to be visible through the rear window. to do that
add a layer mask to the car
using the lasso tool, select the area of the rear window that is visible
on the layer mask, paint this selection grey, the windscreen will still be visible, but it should let some of the background through.

you'll also need to apply a shadow to the right of the car. and to the road on the right of the car.

the right being as you see it. not from a driver's perspective.
 
thanks for the steps i will try that
however i wanted the put a glow at the back of the car as in the challenger
pic to mimic a sun

i was thinking of eliminating the shadows on the road so i can
put a shadow in front of the car.
 
If this is the approximate direction of the main light source, where would the cars shadow be?
Would the trees to our left be casting shadows or not?

Screen Shot 2014-01-11 at 9.49.38 PM.png
 
Let's take a look at perspective.....

Which graphic best represents the perspective angle in which the photograph of the car was taken?

PerspectiveGraphic_A.png

PerspectiveGraphic_B.png

Now compare the cars perspective to the road.
 
iamsam thanks for looking at my new thread

i am aware of the direction of the original shadows from the trees. i wanted to clear them out
and am trying to do that. however i may do another version of the pic with the original shadows.
i want to get in a sun glow and some flares as in the pic im trying to emulate

now from your post no 9 i feel the car BG as well as the subject both fit prespective no B
the photograph of both are from a low angle more suggestive of B.
 
k this is what i came up with
the color tone of the BG dosent exactly match the challenger pics

im trying to center trhe glow of the sun concentrate it in the middle
dont know how.
ur suggestions gurus on how i can tweak this better

mountain road srt.jpg
 
Kar1zma said:
i am aware of the direction of the original shadows from the trees. i wanted to clear them out
and am trying to do that. however i may do another version of the pic with the original shadows.
i want to get in a sun glow and some flares as in the pic im trying to emulate
Click to expand...

Will the original lighting, and subsequent shadows, of the ORIGINAL BG support the "believability" of a newly placed light source (glow) in the rear and center of the altered image?

The more work you have to do with Photoshop, the less likely you will be able to produce a convincing composite. The biggest part of making this or any composite work, is choosing the right BG and primary subject by matching lighting and perspective, and making sure the color, reflections, shadows will all be of similar quality and direction. Your starting off by placing yourself in a position to fail.

How happy are you with your last manipulation in post #12? If your happy, I'm happy.
 
I know I sound a bit down on you but you can accomplish this type of effect with what you have. However, it requires a lot of work!

In order to force the BG to work, I had to make many changes! (reminder: I did this very fast to demonstrate.....it needs a lot more work!)

I copied the right side, reversed it, and moved it to the left side. I used a layer mask and the Brush Tool to blend the two sides leaving the car in the middle.
I used the Clone Tool and the transform function (warp and resizing) to change the left side so it did not match the symmetry of the right. (quickly, so it can be much better) I also cloned out some elements on the road.
I removed the original sky using a Channel selection process, and replaced it with a much brighter one.
Since I did not have the original car and I'm working on your posted image, I had to use the Pen Tool to cut out the car so I could place layers beneath it and the background. I also cut out the back window to which I filled with white and added a bright Outer Glow using a layer style.
I used a gradient set to foreground to transparent and the FG color white, from the bottom up. I then used a layer mask and the Brush Tool to remove the shaded area in front of the car.
I also added the drop shadow and transformed it using the "perspective" function in free transform. I then added a layer mask to the shadow layer and used the Gradient Tool to fade it.
I used a Lens Flare brush to add the lens flare.
I probably did several other things I'm forgetting to mention.

MountainRoadCarNew_02.png

These types of composites are difficult and time consuming. They require a fairly good working knowledge of Ps techniques. If you want to learn them, start slow and easy one technique at a time.
 
Last edited:
@zeealex
it was definitly missing the lens flare but the one u added is too bright and "in your face" i think something more like the
one in the challenger soft flares around the car would suit the effect. the pics has a dark grundge cinematic poster kinda feel

@crotale
im trying to achieve a dark grundge movie poster kinda feel in this project. what do u feel is missing in my work
how can i tighten up the real feel.

@iamsam
sir i am always learning from ur criticism. your quick work on my pic is amazing and looks soo real.
but ur effect is totally opposite to what i want to achieve. i would like a dark, action filled movie
poster kinda feel from my work. i will definitly be following ur guidlines to try and recreate the work uve
done. its a great excercise to hone my PS skills. but i really need ur advice on how to sell my work
it needs some more tweaking. please help me with it. im not getting the right blue shade
nor am i happy with the yellow glow
 
i did a few minor changes looking better but i need some soft lens flares
not satisfied with the default ones in CS6

mountain road srt.jpg

iamsam ur definitly right about the windshield. things to consider
1- the tinted windshield looks odd something needs to be done about it
2- the yellow area mimicing a sunlit portion dosent feel so real

any suggestions
 
Last edited:
I think the back window needs to be cut out and some light needs to be coming through.

How are you making the yellow area?

Try a new layer and then a large soft brush using yellow. Then lower layers opacity or try different layer modes (or both).
 
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