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Placing Someone Into a Disney Photo
By: Brian MacGowan
I want in too!
The photographer never seems to get into the photos; they always seem to be behind the camera and seldom in front. With the aid of
our computer and digital camera we have come up with a solution to this dilemma. This article will describe what we do to bring
the other person into the photo. Besides adding someone into the photo I will also give you a quick run down on how to correct the
color and the contrast of the photo as well as removing elements that detract from the overall image.
The instructions will be for JASC Paint
Shop Pro, which is a very affordable graphics and photo editor. This workflow can be used for other image editing programs such
as Adobe Photo Shop, you will just have to do some adapting to suit your program.
The Work Flow
Using our digital camera we take two pictures: Sandy and the kids standing together and then another of Brian and the kids together.
We try to ensure that we stand in the same spot for each photo so that we do not need to do a lot of extra fiddling.
At the end of each day when we get back to our hotel room we download
the photos into directories dated for that day on our laptop. The dated directories allows us to go back afterwards and see what we
did on a specific day. Downloading to the laptop keeps the photos safer, plus it allows us to off-load our memory cards so that we
will have plenty of room the next day for pictures.
When we get home we transfer all of the photos to our main desktop
computer. We then pull the photos into Paint Shop Pro. Once the photos are in Paint Shop Pro we apply any image corrections such
colour, contrast and clarity. Next we cut the require people out of one photo and using the layer function we paste the cut people
into the other image. Finally we remove any unwanted elements such as people, furniture, etc.
Isn't This a Lot of Work?
Yes, this may sound like a lot of work, but not really. Why not just
ask someone to use our camera and take an picture of the whole family? We could, but there are times when there may not be anyone around
to take our picture. Besides, we truly enjoy being able to do this.
On With the Show
Color Correction
I have found that many digital cameras shoot a little cool, meaning
that the images have a blue cast to them. There are a number of factors that may be attributed to this, such as the camera itself
and the lighting condition at the time the photo was taken. To correct for any shift in color use the Automatic Color Balance tool.
This will bring up the following menu:
The Illuminant Temperature of the photo is what makes the image
appear either cool (blue) or warm (red/orange). When there are people in the shot, generally a warmer image is prefered over that of a
cooler one. Adjusting the Automatic Color Balance between 5000 and 6500 will remove any blue from the image.
If your image has an overall color cast, use the Remove color cast
to remove the color. You may get a color cast, if for example, you have scanned in an image that has yellowed with age, the Remove
color cast option will remove the yellow.
Click on the icon of the eye to view the color correction on the actual image without committing the changes.
Contrast Enhancement
No image is perfect from the get go. Often besides correcting the color
balance, the contrast of the image may require a slight adjustment as well. Contrast is the degree of difference between the light
and dark areas of the image. If there is not enough contrast the image will appear flat or dull. If there is too much contrast then
the image will appear to be washed out. One way of correcting the contrast is to select the Automatic Contrast Enhanement tool.
This will bring up the following menu:
In many cases the default values will give you satisfactory results,
but it may take some experimentation in order to get the proper contrast enhancement. In the case of the above photos I elected
to go with the Bold appearance in order to increase the contrast in the trunk in Tree of Life.
The Results
As you can see the color balance and contrast enhancements have improved the overall quality of the image.
Now that we have the settings for the photo of the girls and myself,
the same color balance and contrast enhancements values can be applied to the photo of Sandy and the girls.
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