Tom Pickering, APSA  


Black Hog by Tom Pickering, APSA

August 2019 - Black Hog

August 2019 - Tom Pickering, APSA

Original 1

August 2019 - Tom Pickering, APSA

Original 2

About the Image(s)

Specs: Samsung Galaxy S6, F1.9, 1/1000s, ISO 40, Handheld, Natural Light

Captured at our local Wal-Mart parking lot.

Brought into Photoshop (Original 1), toned with ACR, background removed with the Pen tool and replaced with one of my painted backgrounds (Original 2), blemishes removed with Spot Healing Brush and Patch Tool.

Something seems off to me with this one, but I can't put my finger on it, so obviously I need other eyes. Suggestions?


This round’s discussion is now closed!
19 comments posted




Angela Bonner   Angela Bonner
(Groups 20 & 81)
Is it me or does the bike in the original look more straight on than yours?
Love the BG. You say it is a painted BG? Do you mean actually painted or PS? If PS could you perhaps give some idea as to how you did it please?   Posted: 08/02/2019 15:48:33
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Regarding the bike's angle, it is the same as the original, though filling the image more in the result. Also, the toning done in ACR gives it a very different look.

In the sense that I used the Smudge brush with a large brush tip in PS to move colors around in a dark landscape image, I feel that I did, in fact, paint the background. I have several like that I've made over time from photographs of different things.   Posted: 08/04/2019 23:47:24



Bev Caine   Bev Caine
(Groups 24 & 48 & 58)
Love the image. I don't think the bike is off. I think it's a change in the perspective with a relatively blank canvas.   Posted: 08/04/2019 22:04:46
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Thanks, Bev! I do agree - that and the toning done in ACR makes it look quite different.   Posted: 08/04/2019 23:48:26



Larry Treadwell   Larry Treadwell
(Groups 36 & 67)
For me there are two things that seem awkward. First is the very dark shadow of the bike. I feel you may have made it too black and thus dominant. I would also like to see just a bit of additional room at the top and the bottom as the image feel crowded.

You did a really good job on that extract.   Posted: 08/06/2019 13:34:49
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Thanks, Larry! Very good feedback and I will adjust accordingly. This is what I love about the DD study groups! d:¬{D   Posted: 08/06/2019 13:40:04



Rusty Pinckney   Rusty Pinckney
I agree the the shadow of the bike it too dark. Maybe deleting it would work. I like the background. The merge is well done.   Posted: 08/13/2019 23:41:02
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
I have found that without the shadow, the bike or car look like they're floating in space. The shadow grounds the subject. So, I need to ease up on the shadow a bit it would appear. d;¬{D   Posted: 08/14/2019 00:35:33



 
I think the shadow needs to be there, but not as prominent as it is currently. I really like the background. Never thought of using a smudge brush... actually I've never used the smudge brush! I'll have to give it a try. Wonderful toning work!   Posted: 08/15/2019 16:28:39
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
It can be a slow process, depending on your machine. The bigger the brush, the longer it takes to process a stroke, so it can take a while.

I found some new brushes designed for painting in Photoshop and have started experimenting with creating some more backgrounds from scratch. Here's an example:   Posted: 08/15/2019 18:18:42
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Rusty Pinckney   Rusty Pinckney
I plan on creating backgrounds in the future. Thanks Tom for planting the idea.   Posted: 08/31/2019 13:28:33



Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Here's the results with the suggestions made so far: 1) gave a little more room at the top; and 2) lowered the opacity on the shadow a bit. What do you think now?   Posted: 08/15/2019 18:14:34
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Nice rendering - the second shadow (lower opacity) does look better. It's interesting that you left the yellow and blue reflections from the parking lot lines in the original. I don't think it detracts, it just caught my eye.   Posted: 08/22/2019 12:06:18
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Yeah, it bothers me some. The mask work on motorcycles is a very long and tedious process and sometimes I just run out of steam about the cleanup.   Posted: 08/23/2019 12:10:54
 
The overall look is great.   Posted: 08/23/2019 12:42:23



Arabella Dane   Arabella Dane
Although the subject is not very appealing to me the way you have processed it does intrigue me. The comments are all excellent... and the weird perspective and strange shadow effects are extremely creative.   Posted: 08/23/2019 11:04:55
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Not a biker babe, eh? d;¬{D

By weird perspective, you're referring to the angle of the shot? I do tend to get down fairly low when I'm taking vehicle shots (when my old knees can handle. which is less and less).

As far as the shadow, it is copied from the original in order to ground the vehicle in the painted background. Otherwise, the vehicle floating tends to weird people out. d;¬{D   Posted: 08/23/2019 12:54:22



Georgianne Giese   Georgianne Giese
(Group 77)
Tom, the colors and texture of your image are lovely, in my opinion. I do like the tweaking of the shadow, with the front shadow a bit lighter than the back shadow and both of them lightened.

One thing that you might try is to give more space above and to the left of the bike. I tried using Content Aware fill option of the crop tool in PS CC. But the middle top of the texture became to 'heavy'. With the original texture it would have worked better. I also changed the size to a standard size of approximately 12 X 16 (3 X 4 ratio).   Posted: 08/26/2019 18:27:21
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Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Nice of you to drop by, Georgianne! I've never thought of having that much open space above, but I do see a value in it. d;¬{D   Posted: 08/27/2019 00:37:54