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Made my first sig


Littleguy

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After 10 years of begging other people to make a sig for me I made my first attempt at my own. Here is what I came up with.

 

http://www.newcelica.org/photopost/data/500/signature.jpeg

 

I know the picture isn't the best one to use, but this is mainly a learning experience for me. I'm pretty comfortable cutting the area I want to use and making a border/adding text, but there are still some questions I haven't figured out.

 

1. How do I make the car stand out or replace the background entirely? I'm using pixlr. and I tried their blur and smudge function but there's got to be a better way.

 

2. Can I take any pic I want as the background and then add in the car as a layer?

 

3. Is there any way to add HDR effects to the shot of the car I would be using?

 

I've been playing on pixlr and watching tutorials on youtube for the past couple of hours and as I type this sentence I'm thinking I should have come up with a better result, lol.

 

Any help is always appreciated. :lolguy:

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After 10 years of begging other people to make a sig for me I made my first attempt at my own. Here is what I came up with.

 

http://www.newcelica.org/photopost/data/500/signature.jpeg

 

I know the picture isn't the best one to use, but this is mainly a learning experience for me. I'm pretty comfortable cutting the area I want to use and making a border/adding text, but there are still some questions I haven't figured out.

 

1. How do I make the car stand out or replace the background entirely? I'm using pixlr. and I tried their blur and smudge function but there's got to be a better way. Not familiar with pixlr, but with PS you can layer off the car, and work entirely on the background layer, blurring or adding effects as desired.

 

2. Can I take any pic I want as the background and then add in the car as a layer? You can if the angles are right. That often looks terrible but you can. At least that's been my experience.

3. Is there any way to add HDR effects to the shot of the car I would be using? In PS you can fake HDR by making 3 images with up and down stepped exposure, but it's not the same as using a decent camera in bracket mode.Generally the fake "HDR" images I see all look noisy, and awful, especially if using JPGs instead of RAW images.

 

I've been playing on pixlr and watching tutorials on youtube for the past couple of hours and as I type this sentence I'm thinking I should have come up with a better result, lol. If you like it, it's just fine.

 

Any help is always appreciated. :lolguy:

 

:) Just my 0.02.

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:) Just my 0.02.

 

Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate them. I've been using my Rebel T3 and generally save a raw and jpg version of each shot. I think I'm gonna have to buck up and get PS just because so many people use it and learning will probably be easier.

 

Jones, I like to be the guy who tackles something he shouldn't and then calls a professional half way into it when everything is screwed, hahaha, really I just want to learn because I think it will help me have more fun with my camera.

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Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate them. I've been using my Rebel T3 and generally save a raw and jpg version of each shot. I think I'm gonna have to buck up and get PS just because so many people use it and learning will probably be easier.

 

Jones, I like to be the guy who tackles something he shouldn't and then calls a professional half way into it when everything is screwed, hahaha, really I just want to learn because I think it will help me have more fun with my camera.

 

Lightroom would be ooooodles cheaper and then you could just use Paint.net for other editing. (or Elements..)

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After 10 years of begging other people to make a sig for me I made my first attempt at my own. Here is what I came up with.

 

http://www.newcelica.org/photopost/data/500/signature.jpeg

 

I know the picture isn't the best one to use, but this is mainly a learning experience for me. I'm pretty comfortable cutting the area I want to use and making a border/adding text, but there are still some questions I haven't figured out.

 

First, the car is now sexy. Love the stance. In terms of the pic, it works and is better than many I've seen in sigs here. Just keep an eye on your focal length. This looks to have been shot at greater than 30mm actual and thus the reason the front wheel appears so large compared to the rear. Step back and zoom. Look for 50-120mm on this shot. It will help pop it out from the background a bit too. I did the same thing on my Fusion in my sig. However, I shot that with limited range P&S. That image would work great for an extraction and popping in a new background. Easier to do than you might think.

 

1. How do I make the car stand out or replace the background entirely? I'm using pixlr. and I tried their blur and smudge function but there's got to be a better way.
Use Photoshop or like. I've used it since way back in v4. I might be able to hook you up on a copy of CS5 :gabe: PM me your mailing addy. I can see warming that shot up and putting in a nice Texas like back drop.

 

2. Can I take any pic I want as the background and then add in the car as a layer?
Yes, but the key is the focal length and scale. I can help you with that. I do it a lot with my on site events. I like to collect backgrounds and scenes for just such edits.

 

3. Is there any way to add HDR effects to the shot of the car I would be using?
an effect yes. not sure it would have an impact on this shot though. what are you looking to do with it? surrealistic type effect?

 

I've been playing on pixlr and watching tutorials on youtube for the past couple of hours and as I type this sentence I'm thinking I should have come up with a better result, lol.
practice is the fun. you did well. My immediate suggestion would be to lose the text at the top and bring the drop shadow on the screen name closer and lighten it up a bit.
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