affinity photo Completing my fanfiction composite - Creating a rain/storm Effect, adding a vehicle

[SolidSnake2003]

@v_kyr @carl123 @iconoclast @firstdefence Here is a preview without the lightning, I have added more light around the lights, fixed the shadow of the ambulance to the best of my ability. I may add another character to cast light on the dog, just got to find the right base:

The biggest reason I decided against the lightning is cause I'm not very good with the refine selection, and can't make it look right when refining the selection to get around the different leaves of the trees and bushes.

[v_kyr]

[firstdefence]

7 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

@v_kyr @carl123 @iconoclast @firstdefence Here is a preview without the lightning, I have added more light around the lights, fixed the shadow of the ambulance to the best of my ability. I may add another character to cast light on the dog, just got to find the right base:

The biggest reason I decided against the lightning is cause I'm not very good with the refine selection, and can't make it look right when refining the selection to get around the different leaves of the trees and bushes.

Never seen a 3 armed cop before, but besides that, flip him horizontally to face into the image, it will work better, like this...

[SolidSnake2003]

43 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

Never seen a 3 armed cop before, but besides that, flip him horizontally to face into the image, it will work better, like this...

@firstdefence Thanks, sorry it didn't click for some reason that there was three arms, sorry again that I didn't notice. This was the first time that I have worked with AI created artwork

[firstdefence]

16 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

@firstdefence Thanks, sorry it didn't click for some reason that there was three arms, sorry again that I didn't notice. This was the first time that I have worked with AI created artwork

people think Ai is all that but in actuality it's not all that clever, hence the three armed guy, it can also have problems with faces.

In any scene you have to have the correct lighting, which isn't easy to do when you are adding elements from different sources so don't beat yourself up. Our brains will filter out anomalies such as the third arm because the focus will be on the torch light not necessarily anywhere else so it's an easy miss, that said it would be easy enough to erase the arm underneath the torch. 

In terms of aesthetics, I would say it's always better to have people facing into a picture not out of it, the person looking in draws the eye into the image not out of it.

You are doing ok, fresh eyes can always see things you miss and you will always get different opinions on how an image should look.

For the paramedic guy I used the prompts "Paramedic, heroic, standing tall"

For the background with the ambulance I used the prompts: "Old haunted derelict large house, lightning storm in the background, rear view of new ambulance parked on the driveway its back doors open, realistic, dramatic lighting. Horror. close-up"

Although for the latter background image, some of the prompts were ignored by the Ai

[SolidSnake2003]

@v_kyr @firstdefence @carl123 @iconoclast Here is a new preview, I created the paramedics wheeling out Georgie using AI, then I added them to the composite:

 

I Hope you all like it

[iconoclast]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:06 PM, firstdefence said:

Never seen a 3 armed cop before, but besides that, flip him horizontally to face into the image, it will work better, like this...

Hey it's a horror movie! Three arms are very spooky.

Your version looks more credible, in my opinion. We should possibly differenciate "credible" from "realistic" in this case, because Hollywood lightings usually aren't realistic too, but well composed. If the paramedic in front of the scene is important for the plot, I think they would have set some more light from his backside on him, or a weak light from the front (maybe bluelight) .

[iconoclast]

1 hour ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

@v_kyr @firstdefence @carl123 @iconoclast Here is a new preview, I created the paramedics wheeling out Georgie using AI, then I added them to the composite:

 

I Hope you all like it

It definitely looks good, but my problem is still that the lighting isn't plausible. E.G., if the paramedics are lighted so much, why is there no light on the ground? But it is definitely a progress that you darkened the house. That's absolutely OK, in my opinion.

[v_kyr]

10 minutes ago, iconoclast said:

Hey it's a horror movie! Three arms are very spooky.

One can add some motion blur, so it looks finally like he has just raised his left arm with the lamp.

4 minutes ago, iconoclast said:

It definitely looks good, but my problem is still that the lighting isn't plausible. E.G., if the paramedics are lighted so much, why is there no light on the ground?

Jip this and where does that spot light origin wise come from?

[firstdefence]

The paramedics need shadows to ground them to the grass, and re the light source, maybe a street lamp or just a decorative garden lamp.

[iconoclast]

2 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

The paramedics need shadows to ground them to the grass, and re the light source, maybe a street lamp or just a decorative garden lamp.

But if there is shadow, there needs to be light too. No shadow without light.

[firstdefence]

A bit like this maybe...

[SolidSnake2003]

15 hours ago, firstdefence said:

A bit like this maybe...

@firstdefence @v_kyr @carl123 @iconoclast How about this?

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

How about this?

It's better, but your lamp somehow looks quite high for that garden. Further if the lamp is placed like that, it would leave the peoples front in shadow and also would cast shadows more forward.

The guys in above shown image got also some front lighting, as otherwise their faces and bodies would be kept in dark (shadow) here due to the strong backlights!

The people in your image are overall more front lighted. Thus the lamp has IMO be to be placed either between them or in front of them and the shadows would then cast to backward (if the lamp stands in front of them).

• https://www.learntopaintpodcast.com/blog/understanding-light-amp-shadow-terminology

[iconoclast]

I think, the lamp would also cast light to the ground, not only to the people. It wouldn't only throw a shadow. As I already said: No light without shadow and vice versa. And the brighter the light, the darker the shadow. It's even a little more complex, because light has a colour cast most times (e.G. a blueish one at lunchtime and a more red one in the evening, fire and old lightbulbs emit slightly warm yellowish to redish light, while LED- and Neonlight often is more blueish...). And so have shadows - in the complementary colour of the light colour. But I think this is not so important in this case, because the difference is too small at night.

These things are very good design mediums for composition, to produce expression, plasticity and suspense. Light is very important in horror movies.

But after all: if nobody detects the flaw, it might be not so important. It is all a matter of aspiration.

[SolidSnake2003]

@v_kyr @iconoclast @firstdefence This is still a huge work in progress. I didn't like the lamp all that much anyway. Plus I don't think people can put street lights in their yard, they work differently than regular lights. Plus since this story takes place in the 80s, I'm trying to stay true to.there basic technology.. I don't know if solar lights or anything like that was around, but flashlights were. Would a photo of a cop from behind pointing a flashlight toward them work in this context. Here is a different fan art creation by someone else with a general idea of how I want to position the officer or who ever is holding the light. https://www.instagram.com/p/CN6QliuhwtS/?igshid=MmU2YjMzNjRlOQ== Plus another part I'm not sure of is if I should add any light rays coming out of the windows.

[v_kyr]

20 minutes ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

Would a photo of a cop from behind pointing a flashlight toward them work in this context.

Sure, as this would then clearly indicate for this scene where the front lightment of the people comes/stems from.

[SolidSnake2003]

@v_kyr @iconoclast @firstdefence @carl123 Here is a new preview of the image. I have opened up the ambulance again and got the doors back as best as I could. I've got an AI cop image created, and added it, and then put a trapezoid shape there to guide me on creating the light when I get there. Plus I added some light to the dog since she is facing that general direction. Plus I have added the mother in front of the ambulance, and will search for a base image for the father later. I also added a bag inside of the ambulance for stuff that the mother is brining to the hospital:

Hope you all like how it is coming along.

[iconoclast]

My first impression is that the light angle of the woman in the foreground doesn't match to the one of the man on the left. I think, she will not work. Maybe if you flip her horizontally.

[SolidSnake2003]

5 hours ago, iconoclast said:

My first impression is that the light angle of the woman in the foreground doesn't match to the one of the man on the left. I think, she will not work. Maybe if you flip her horizontally.

@iconoclast Would adding lights from the ambulance make it blend better?

 

[iconoclast]

1 hour ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

@iconoclast Would adding lights from the ambulance make it blend better?

 

Don't think so. Look, the main light on the guy on the left comes from somewhere on the right side. The main light on the woman comes from the left side. And there are no plausible sources for these lights. If there should be some sorts of lanterns somewhere outside the boundaries of the image , they should affect all things around them. You are trying to make a very complex collage. The only ways to get this done are to find images that fit to each other or to retouch, not to say paint a very lot. And that is not easy without enough knowledge about light.

[SolidSnake2003]

2 hours ago, iconoclast said:

Don't think so. Look, the main light on the guy on the left comes from somewhere on the right side. The main light on the woman comes from the left side. And there are no plausible sources for these lights. If there should be some sorts of lanterns somewhere outside the boundaries of the image , they should affect all things around them. You are trying to make a very complex collage. The only ways to get this done are to find images that fit to each other or to retouch, not to say paint a very lot. And that is not easy without enough knowledge about light.

@iconoclast Would this image from The Good Doctor be better than change the face to match the actress?

@v_kyr @firstdefence @Dan C @carl123 Is there any tutorials to change hair color so I can make the hair look red instead of brown? Another thing I'm wanting to do is make it look like she's holding an umbrella since this is taking place during a rainstorm.

[firstdefence]

Light to mid colour hair such as Blonde to lightish browns can be coloured with a pixel layer and the colour of choice painted onto it and the blend mode changed to overlay.

Darker hair colours probably need to be lightened first, so, black hair can be changed to grey using the brightness and contrast adjustment layer, then a recolour adjustment layer used atop of it.

 

[SolidSnake2003]

14 hours ago, firstdefence said:

Light to mid colour hair such as Blonde to lightish browns can be coloured with a pixel layer and the colour of choice painted onto it and the blend mode changed to overlay.

Darker hair colours probably need to be lightened first, so, black hair can be changed to grey using the brightness and contrast adjustment layer, then a recolour adjustment layer used atop of it.

 

Instead of making her look like Darby Stanchfield, I've decided to make her an actress named Sprague Grayden who has long dark brown hair, here is what I have done so far with the coloring, and trying to get things in place before cutting her outchap02_denbrough-house_ambulance-storm_sharon.afphoto

[SolidSnake2003]

9 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

Instead of making her look like Darby Stanchfield, I've decided to make her an actress named Sprague Grayden who has long dark brown hair, here is what I have done so far with the coloring, and trying to get things in place before cutting her outchap02_denbrough-house_ambulance-storm_sharon.afphoto

@v_kyr @firstdefence @carl123 @iconoclast I hope it was alright that I shared the project file of creating the mother.