Attached Link: Elemental Spirits:Fire

Hi, I've got a piece here which has been created using a combination of Photoshop and Poser. I'm very new to the whole art thing in general so please excuse me is this sounds like a silly question.

As you can see my peice is almost done but I'm having a problem painting the right  shadow between the wings and the body. The whole thing looks loke it's been "pasted together,"  mainly because it has. How  can I make it look complete?

You can have a look for yourself by clicking the above link.

For the shadows, try the Dodge/Burn Tool, or duplicate the layer the wings are on, apply a Layer Style>Color Overlay (pick your shadow color); then erase to reveal what you want not to be in shadow.

stolenanjel,

The first thing you need to do to make a believable shadow is to identify what is casting shadows, where the shadows are falling and what depth the shadows are.  If you go back to Poser and place a large box with dimensions a bit larger than your wings close behind your character and then render.  You will then be able to see what the shadow pattern will be that needs to be replicated on your pasted wings.  At this point you could follow Ofthepasts suggestion and use the dodge and burn tool to try and replicate the pattern.

 Another option that you might try is to take the new render with the box and add it as a new layer to your main image and then lower the opacity so you can see the wings below.  Match up the characters position of both images and then mask out the wings.   With the box render layer selected press Ctrl+J to make a new layer from your selection and then delete or hide the box render layer.  You will now have a new layer in the shape of the wings with the shadow pattern on it.  If you now change the blending mode of the new shadow layer to multiply you should be getting near to something like an accurate shadow placement and pattern.  Tweaking the new shadow layers opacity and blending mode might bring the shadow layer to a more believable state.  If the edges of your new shadow layer are to harsh just use the eraser tool with a soft brush and a lowered opacity to soften the edges.

Because I don't have your source images I haven't been able to test this method so I am just picturing this approach in my mind so I hope it works.

Shane

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As I look at the image, the problem doesn't seem to be shadows, but lighting.  You have a bright light source on the wings coming from the rear-upper left, but no such light is affecting the person.  You can paint all the shadows you want, but if the ighting doesn't match, the image won't be coherent.

Quote - stolenanjel,

...If you go back to Poser and place a large box with dimensions a bit larger than your wings close behind your character and then render.  You will then be able to see what the shadow pattern will be that needs to be replicated on your pasted wings.  At this point you could follow Ofthepasts suggestion and use the dodge and burn tool to try and replicate the pattern...

 

Brilliant! That is so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it. Thank you!

Imager is correct but you can correct this light inconsistency to an acceptable level in 2 stages.

First stage is to try and even out the light levels in the wings layer:

1. Select the wings layer, add a new level adjustment layer and then create a clipping mask to confine the level adjustments to just the wings layer.
2. Add a layer mask to the levels layer and then go to the channels tab of this layer and select the levels layer mask.
3. Select your gradient tool with a radial gradient black to white.
4. Now create your radial gradient with the starting point (first mouse click) on the brightest spot of the wings layer and the end point (second moue click) where the light levels even out.
5. Play around with the levels sliders to get as even light distribution as you can.  Don't worry if the wings layer is washed out. When your happy with the result merge these three layers.
6. Now add a second level adjustment layer (repeating step 1) above the first and adjust the sliders to bring back the colour and contrast. 

Once this is done the next stage is to add the new light source.

1. Goto Filter>Render>Lighting Effects
2. Leave the Style at Default then choose Omni as the light type
3. In your preview window move the light source to where the light source in your character render is.
4. Adjust the outer ring to spread the light and adjust the Intensity slider to adjust the strength of the omni light.
5. If your not happy with the new light source go back and try different preset styles for the lighting effect until you find one that your happy with.

Since my post above addressing the shadow creation I have tested the method in the second paragraph out and it works well.  The only addition I would make is that you should assign an off white colour (or a colour that matches the wings) to the box in Poser for your shadow pattern.

Shane

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Just as an after thought (which probably should have been my first thought) is it feasible to take the jpeg image of the wings and map it to the face of a cube and place this behind your character thus getting the shadows projected directly onto your wings, and then cut and paste the result to compose your picture.  You could still use the method I described above to correct the inconsistent light source of your wings source image.

Shane

My Renderosity Store
Virtual Furnishing
My Portfolio