Fading Pics into background

[FatherMerrin]

Hi,

I'm currently doing some Lightscribe friendly versions of my fanedit disc covers. But I'm struggling with it.



Basically I'd like to make the edges of the Qui-Gon Jinn pic fade into the black background. I've tried a couple of things, but I can't quite nail it.

Any suggestions will be most welcome.

PS. Sorry if this topic is in the wrong section, I wasn't sure where to put it.

Thanks,
FM

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

FM, perfect section for this. Here is my suggestion. I would first up the contrast slightly on Qui-Gon, and adjust the levels to make the dark areas more black. If there is still a difference in quality, you can try a few things. One, you could change the opacity of Qui-Gon, to make him fade overall into the underlying image. Or you could use your eraser tool (change the pressure or opacity to something small, so you arent erasing him completely) and erase small areas that you want to blend specifically.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

OK, I ran through this really quick, just to give you an example, I did just what I said above

> Qui-Gon is a separate layer
> upped the contrast on Qui-Gon
> adjusted the levels to make dark spots more black
> used eraser tool with opacity set low (roughly 30 or less) to fade out edges and dark spots into black background

just takes a minute, and here is what it turned out like:

 

[FatherMerrin]

Thanks ThrowgnCpr. I took the Qui-Gon pic into a seperate section but I can't get it nowhere near as good as what you've managed. The thing is I've never used the Contrast & Level facilties before. Can you please give me a more detail? A sort of idiot's guide?

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

OK, I am doing this in photoshop, but the process should be similar in other software.

After you have a separate layer for the quigon pic:

> click on image -> adjust -> brightness & contrast. lets adjust the brightness to -10 and the contrast to +40. click OK

> click on image -> adjust -> levels. Make sure the channel is set to RGB, and you should have a histogram with three arrows on the x-axis. One on the left is black, middle one is midtone, and right is white. Slide the black one to the right about where the first input level equals 15ish. That should darken the dark areas. click OK

>click on your eraser tool from the tools pallet. Use a soft round brush around size 65. set the opacity low, approximately 30%. Now begin to erase some of the areas around the edge of Qui-Gon. Particularly where the photo is extra misty in areas of his robe. basically you want to get rid of the edges of that picture clip, and make sure that really only his face and hand are visible, and the robe fades into the background.

Once you have it roughed out pretty good, you can go back and adjust the contrast and/or levels slightly if you think it needs it. I hope this helps a bit more.

 

[FatherMerrin]

Classy :smile:



Thank you so much ThrowgnCpr. I should beable to get through the others now in no time.

Thanks again.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

no problem. ...anything to help get some cool cover art around here

 

[T-HOPE]

What I would have done is first make the Qui-Jon pic a bit darker. Then use the airbrush tool with an opacity of 50% and then paint over the edges until it fits nicely. Ofcourse one can change the opacity during the painting to give more effects.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

yeah, essentially, when you have a solid color background, either erasing some of the image, or painting over it with the background color will produce the same effect. I made a few touch ups to this example at the end by using the airbrush tool like you indicated. However, when your background is not solid, its best to use the erase tool, so that the underlayer is visible in the blend, and you don't get an awkward gradient look.