Night to Day: Matte Painting

To begin my process I first removed the sky from the original background. I did this by using the color range on the sky and after that applied a refine edge for a better selection. Then I placed my selection in a layer mask. Next step was to remove the people and tent. The spot healing brush was used to accomplish the removal of the unnecessary items. While doing the spot healing process some of the railings from the building were taken away, to get back these railings the clone stamp was used with a soft brush. For the remaining development of turning this building into a night scene, adjustment layers were the basic fundamentals. Working with the building, first adjustment layer I used was the brightness to really bring down the shadows. Next was the levels and this brought out some of the mid-tones back into the image. I slightly applied some curve to the image to gather some more darkness. One major adjustment layer was the hue/saturation. This brought out more of the dark tan colors in the building and the green in grass. Lastly the photo filter was used to add a slight shade of violet over the image. Now working the sky was my next goal. I added brightness/contrast, exposure, and color balance were the adjustment layers I used to get a fitting picture to match the building and its lighting. Also I duplicated the moon to add to another layer where overlay blending mode was used.    

ORIGINAL DAY IMAGE



MY REDONE NIGHT SCENE

Matte Painting Pratice: Cliff

In class we are now working on matte paintings. Matte painting can be a photo or multiple photos combined with painting done over to create a whole new mood and/or scene. Given three photos, I had to put them together to create my matte painting. Only beginning the process we are just working with adjustment layers to color correct the images to fit together. I begin with the photo of the man, which he was removed him from the background. I did this by using quick mask tool and I decided to remove the background instead of painting over the man to get the selection. This seemed easier to me after examining the photo. Refine edge was used after getting my selection were I did a few modifies like smooth edge, shift edge, and contrast. After that I then placed my newly selected man into a different background which seemed more adventurous. Now with my man in the new background I needed to replace the sky. Again I used the quick mask tool to on the sky to get a selection, after that I deleted it to make room for my new sky. The photo of the new sky to my convenience fitted nicely and all I had to do was insert the photo. To begin color correcting I started using color balance on the entire photo and brought out colors I thought necessary. Then hue/saturation was applied to lighten up some of the colors. Now I began using levels separately on the three different images to bring the shadows and mid-tones to the same level. Brightness/contrast was used on the sky and the man to help with the balance. To help finish my piece I added a warming photo filter. Last adjustment layer I added and I thought was necessary was the vibrance and this made the image to look gloomy. My one thought on the piece while working on it was the achieving a nondestructive work flow. It’s a step I missed but it was only while working the quick mask.