JA background swap

[Josie Stahl]

Hi Damien, I'm attempting a background swap and I'm having a bit of trouble blending the 2 part.

1st photo is original SOOR

2nd is my edit

3rd is the new background that is not my photo. I got it from here: https://www.1zoom.me/en/wallpaper/525353/z15887/1600x1200

4th photo is my best attempt at blending the 2 images.

5th is the area I'm having the most trouble with - down the side of the gentleman's leg. Would you do anything different? That area is masked a little rough because I'm not so sure about what I did. I also added a few unrefined shadows. Do I just need to polish it or something else?

Or is that not my biggest problem?

[Damien Symonds]

It does seem to be encroaching on his leg an unnatural amount, doesn't it?  I think you've left a bit too much grass there.

[Josie Stahl]

Ok. Does this look any better? (rough masking)

[Damien Symonds]

Yeah, that might be better.

May I see a screenshot of the layers panel?

[Josie Stahl]

 

[Damien Symonds]

Thanks.

I wanted to suggest adding a Levels layer immediately above the "couple" layer, then clipping it to that layer, then going to the Red channel and bringing the black slider in to about 20.  Yes it will make his suit clip a bit, but it will balance the colour with their surrounds a bit more, I think.

[Josie Stahl]

Is this what you had in mind?

 

 

[Damien Symonds]

Hmmm ... 20 is definitely too much, isn't it?  Fiddle around with it and see if there's a spot where it looks good.

[Josie Stahl]

To me anything higher than 7 makes them look green. What do you think?

[Damien Symonds]

Hang on ... you've warmed the background.  Which is great!  So you don't need to fiddle with the red channel on the people after all.

[Josie Stahl]

I actually did that from the start but must have had that layer turned off when I posted previous photo. This is my final image then. Thank you!

[Damien Symonds]

Ah yeah, that gels well.