You know how it is. When someone mentions they have a Photography/Photoshop issue, I try to see if I can come up with a simple easy-to-follow answer.
Yesterday Janice Sutton was looking for some Botox for a set of home staging photos. It's that same old problem of too much backlight flooding in through the windows.
Just looking at her photos, it struck me that merging the images in Photoshop might be the quickest fix. Especially since it looks like Janice has some photos showing the view out of the window, and others showing the room interior from basically the same angle. I'm using two of Janice's images here.
The screen shots in this demo are from Photoshop 7. This is equally doable in later versions of Photoshop, and in Elements.
1. Choose images that are similar in size, shot from the same angle. One with the view out the window properly exposed, Choose one with the room interior properly exposed. Open both images.
2. Click the Magnetic Lasso tool.
3. Trace (lasso) the outline of the window, (in the view shot) clicking at each corner to anchor the lasso.
4. When you reach the starting point, click to close the rectangle. The lasso will change to the "marching ants" outline to indicate a complete selection.
5. Click the Move Tool
6. Then, click to place a checkmark in Auto Select Layer. This will save having to reselect the view in a later step.
7. Click in the selected view, then drag the view from the "view image" into the image of the room interior.
8. Position the view as closely as you can in the window frame, then hit Edit -> Transform -> Skew. (If you had not checked Auto Select Layer, you would have to lasso the view all over again to do this.)
8. Grab the skew handles and pull outward, inward, upward or downward until the view is properly nested in the window frame.
9. Be sure veritcal and horizonal lines match up. When you are satisifed with the "fit", hit Enter to apply the transformation. You'll need to repeat the process for each window section.
Important note: In Photoshop Elements 5, the skew tool is found under Image -> Transform -> Skew (insted of Edit -> Transform)
CJ, you are so cool. I think I love you ;)
A follow up question here.. So I am assuming both pictures have to be relatively similar in size (i.e. in window size) or the skewed result may look strange in scales? Or that's not a concern at all?
Cheers,
Cindy
Marchel -- Yes, you are just selecting one section of an image, and dragging it into a different image. Sort of like "Copy and Paste". Here are a couple more examples:
Photoshopping Paparazzi Style
Photoshop Elements: Beyond The Lasso
Cindy -- Yes, both pictures should be about the same size. If they are not, you can always resize one or the other before starting.
Thanks for the info and keep up with the good posts. I just got the new version of adobe photoshop and I have a lot to learn.
Cheryl: I am not very tech-oriented, and I really need to be. That is one of the most amazing photo tricks I have ever seen. Just where do I start in educating myself to able to eventually DO something like that.
What do you recommend as the FIRST course to take, FIRST book to read, or FIRST website or FIRST software package to purchase for someone like ME who really has almost no clue about how to do that, but who really wants to learn. About two months ago I purchased a Canon Rebel XTi camera. Sooo... I do have a decent camera, and am gradually learning how to use it. Please... where do I start ??
Karen,
For Basic, Beginning from Step One Photography, I think some of the best tutorials on the web or in print are right here on Active Rain in the stuff Bryce Mohan and I have written. (Not to sound biased or anything like that. <s>) Jodie Coston's free online photography course at morguefile.com is also good.
For photo editing software, I would start with Photoshop Elements. It's $64.99 on Amazon. It's a trimmed down version of Photoshop. If you decide to move up the full-power version of Photoshop later on, you'll already be acquainted with the interface and menu structure.
For Photoshop and Photoshop Elements Books, I do like Adobe's Classroom In A Book series of books. I like the practical approach... First you do step one, then you do step two ... Learn how to do it first, then it's easier to grasp the theory behind it.
I love Cheryl's tutorials and recommend them frequently.
But I also suggest that the newcomers to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements consider full audio/visual web based training at Lynda.com. This site hosts video training on hundreds of programs - to include Photoshop and Photoshop Elements with offerings for older versions in addition to current versions. The Essentials training course for Photoshop Elements 5 is approximately 13 hours served up in bite sized pieces of 5-12 minutes each. You can watch them in the sequence intended by the trainer or pick out a single task or subject and watch only that brief video (or come back to review a segment anytime).
Most of the courses are program specific, but some offerings may deal with a general topic such as business graphics. Access is subscription based. You subscribe to the site and you have access to all content. The most attractive pricing option is $25 per month - no contract commitment. If you complete the Photoshop series in the first month you can cancel and you have a complete course for $25. Or you can continue and view other courses that interest you or you can return to review Photoshop segments as needed at any time during your subscription. New titles and updates are being added regularly, so you may want to check back to see if new courses are in your fields of interest.
You can enter the site without an account and have access to selected segments of most courses as a demo to see if you like the approach and the presentations.
Cheryl's tutorials are always keyed to real estate topics - not so on Lynda.com - but the combination of both sources may give you a good foundation with the programs.
Enjoy