Damien Symonds

Well, it was a variation of this method. I opened the sky photo, and (on a new layer) cloned out the pole and stuff. I saved that sky photo as a PSD file, and closed it. I opened the dog photo, and File>Place to insert the sky photo onto the dog photo. I lined up the horizon as accurately as possible. I applied a sufficient amount of blur to the sky to be plausible. Then I duplicated that sky layer. I turned the top one off, and returned to the bottom one for the time being. I changed its blend mode to "Multiply", and masked it around the head of the dog. In some areas, where the sky was quite light, the masking was very easy, I could let the sky encroach onto the fur naturally. In other areas, where the sky was darker, I had to zoom in and patiently and carefully mask until it looked good. Then I returned to the top copy, which was still on "Normal" blend mode, and masked it in everywhere else. Finally, I added a Levels layer to make the bottom of the sky a bit lighter, so it plausibly matched the existing horizon. If you can allow me a few minutes, I'll upload the PSD file so you can follow along.

Not at all. The lighting is lovely.

Can you tell us the solution?

When you open your PDF in Adobe Reader, and press Ctrl D to get the file info, what size does it say it is there?

Then may I see a colour photo example of a background you like? Or more explanation of what you want, exactly?

You're worrying about nothing, I promise. It's just how the lighting is. In the two "sample" photos, your lighting is way too dark. I've adjusted one of them so that the rug is the same as your photo. See how the background becomes light?

Hi Chelsee, do you intend for your photo to be black-and-white as well?

Hi Deinna, do you have another photo that shows what the backdrop should look like?

No, sorry. Generic numbers are incredibly dangerous.

Hi Paige, is this what you mean?

As hard drive space isn't your primary concern presently, I reckon don't worry about it.

Safe as a bank, yes. Very well regarded.

Next, run CleanMyMac.

You have to set that up manually, via Edit>Keyboard Shortcuts. Have you done so? By default, Ctrl L simply opens the Levels dialog, which is much different, and of course destructive.

Sure it will, just press Cmd - (minus), the same way you'd zoom out in Photoshop itself.

Oh yes, for sure. It will be easier to replace the entire thing, rather than trying to line up that squiggly pattern.

No, that's great!!! Perfect.

Hi Jodie, simply add a "Solid Color" adjustment layer, white in colour, and mask it on to the background. It should only be the work of minutes.

Oh gosh, this is such a tricky question. The face-value answer is: They'd need to be the same number of megapixels as your own camera (I assume you're combining them with some of your own photos?) so that their quality is a good match, if you know what I mean. However, it isn't always so. If you're using a stock image for a background, well, backgrounds tend to be blurrier than a subject, so you might get away with a smaller file. In fact, sometimes I've successfully used very small phone photos as backgrounds (artistically blurred, of course) for composites. I guess what I'm trying to say is, get them as close in size to your own photos as possible. If you can't get them that big, pay very close attention to how you use them, to make sure your composite doesn't end up with glaring disparities of focus.

Hi Donna, is this a new problem? I mean, has it been working ok in the past?

Oh yeah, jpegs must not enter into this. I can't stress this enough. That vector text is crucial.

The reason they say that stuff about text is to prevent problems with black text. But as far as I can tell from a quick skim, you don't have any black text anyway, so I think you'll be fine. Stick with your sRGB work. Please be sure to read this if you haven't already - it's vitally important.

My first thought with a question like this is, do you have an entirely clear photo of the backdrop you can borrow from? Did you take any snaps of your setup without any subjects in front of it?

Hi Jennifer, There's nothing wrong with the actual calibration, though, right? It's just this reminder thing?

Just save it as a jpeg for upload here.