Well after 7 pains taking hours I have finished my first background replacement on a photo. Here is the original
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/tobinse77/Mia_glam115-Edit-3.jpg

and the finished work
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/tobinse77/Marissa_62.jpg

Twenty-eight cowboys and not one single shot. Wow. You must be Rocky Raccoon, or Kid Dynamo...

OK Here goes.

For a first one it's really impressive.
What's very difficult is to match the lightsource with the placement of the sun. You now get light from above whilst the sun is setting on the left-hand side. A setting sun should colour the scene with a warm, reddish hue. And shadows and highlights should match blahblah. This is very difficlut to do, and I guess that it would be faster to paint the whole scene than to change lights. The line of light on her belly isn't logical. I guess I'd remove it. Also, the cable of the brake (the one towards the centre) is semi transparant in some spots.

What I do like a lot is your attention for details, like the mirroring sky. The general feeling is good also. Pretty girl, powerful bike, sunset...looking for adventure in whatever comes our way.

You used channels, or did you really paint the mask?

Thanks for the comments Tanchelyn, made a few changes based on those comments I think now its even better. The sunset used was taken by me several months back.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/tobinse77/Mia_glam115-Edit-3a.jpg

"Ride with me baby, 'till the end of the day." (another Steppenwolf classic)
Really great improvements. If you keep on going like you are going now, you'll soon create invisible replacements.
Good work!

I still think that her thigh is too bright, as if lit from above, not from the back. This is a beautifiul image overall, though, and I just love the part you caught in the wing mirror. A lovely detail.

What a lot of work to isolate that bike and 'babe'. Great work, but yeah, the light is a bit off. I would also get rid of the curb on the left.

Thanks Kort I think I will have to remove the curb, still working on adjusting the lighting more its a huge pain but also very rewarding

I agree with Kort, the light is a bit of.....but it is really lovely..you did a great job on it..it is not easy at all I can tell.....I love the sunset background very much....

I know this is gonna sound like a step sideways, but does she have to be in a "sunset"? Maybe a completely different dramatic daylight sky altogether perhaps, or was sunset wht you were going for? The trick is thatthe 2 sources of light in the image are perpendicular to each other which is why it will either be extremely difficult to put together, if not impossible to achieve realism (if tha's what you're going for).

The only direct thing I can think of to make it realistic is to make it look like she is in a pool of light in this specific area while there's a sunset in the background.

Example: Think of her standing under a streetlamp in the evening and you can still see the setting sun. Maybe even put a short wall behind her to line up the street (to break the distance between her and the black base of the sunset), and give the light "falloff" around her and even a bit crawling up on the wall.

Otherwise, why not go for a stylized graphic art type of image rather than trying to match the light?

Hope that helps-
-Lew ;-)

Another option might be to mirror the background image. Not sure but I think it'd make the lights easier to adjust...

I have tried this stuff and it is not easy..not for me.  I do wish her face/hair did not blend right into the dark sky behind.   This is better than I would do unless I took perhaps 2 days off work to manipulate the shot.    I agree with the recent comments on light.  The last image you posted is a great improvement.  So, an armchair quarterback am I now...LOL>

It's a bit of a hard one. You can see it's a 'green screen' shot.

Over all I don't like it. Mainly for the fact that the light doesn't match...

Quote - It's a bit of a hard one. You can see it's a 'green screen' shot.

Over all I don't like it. Mainly for the fact that the light doesn't match...

I have to agree, I wasnt very happy with the end result no matter how much I put into it. Its way to much work and nearly impossible to change the light source. On the upside I did learn a great deal.