What can I do To make this photo better?

[fischerphotos]

Ok, this deer is obviously photoshoped. Can someone please help me to make this deer look “Real?” I don’t plan on

photoshoping photos and selling them I just think its fun to play around with. Someone told me you have to “Flatten”

it. Yeah I don’t know what that means. So can yall help?<div></div>

[sheldonnalos]

The fact that the deer appears to have eaten something radioactive and is glowing blue doesn't help your goal of looking realistic. Neither does the fact that one of the horns has fallen off. Perhaps you could add a horn back on (paint it?) and also remove the blue glow (draw magic wand around deer, hue saturation tool, desaturate blues).

[sheldonnalos]

At second glance, I see what you are doing... the deer has lost his horn. My initial thought was that he was

pondering some long deceased ancestor.

[zaakiy_siddiqui]

Deer is not in high enough resolution to get a realistic effect.

 

Also, once you have a higher resolution deer, blur it ever so slightly to get the correct depth of field effect

[fischerphotos]

Well I put it at a lower resolution to make him smaller. Is there another way to change the size without effecting the resolution?

[ron_burgis]

First you have to understand that you eye automatically go to the lightest point (the trees).

I darkened the trees, lightened the deer.I then used my favorite tool, the "quick selection tool" to isolate the deer and added a hue/saturation adjustment layer to remove the blue and bring back the brown.

 

<a href="http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r87/ronbrp/?action=view&current=Untitled-1-25.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r87/ronbrp/Untitled-1-25.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[ron_burgis]

Zaakiy made a good point about blurring so here you go,

 

<a href="http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r87/ronbrp/?action=view&current=Untitled-1copy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r87/ronbrp/Untitled-1copy.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[karl_knographer]

This is a pretty simple exercise to make look better once you develop basic PS skills, with elements or a full version. This took about 10 minutes:

 

with magnetic lasso, select right antlers, copy and move to left, edit>transform>flip horizontal

use move tool to position antlers

select blue areas of deer >desaturate 50%>use color balance or hue/saturation to correct to warm

do the above in multiple steps

copy background layer

use levels or curves to lighten deer and background

use eraser or history brush to erase foreground lightening

use burn tool to darken trees and foreground

make selections and color balance front trees

 

A quick fix.<div></div>

[scott_ferris]

Another!<div></div>

[scott_ferris]

I think apart from the lighting and the colour balance the thing that throws it off is the perspective, the picture is taken from below the level of the deers belly, I moved the deer so it sits higher in the distance, you are looking under its belly to the fence in mine so the perspective is better. So the lighting, well its direction, and the perspective need to be consistent for you to have much chance of making it look life like.

[fischerphotos]

Thank you for all of yalls help

[kckong]

IMHO the light and shadow on the tree and the deer are inconsistent. The strong shadows on the tree suggest harsh

light from slightly behind camera right,. But the right side of the deer is darker than the back left which shows a hint

of backlighting.

 

That's a big hint that the deer is transplanted. Unless the tusks (horns?) beside the tree have been artificially lighted

Strobist style :)

 

Maybe you can find a deer image with matching light?

 

HTH

[steve_dawson1]

Tusks and horns = antlers.

[kckong]

LOL thank you Steve ... though the 3 upstanding ones on the left still look like elephants' tusks to me LOL

[fischerphotos]

Deer lose there antlers at a certain time of year then grow them back. Have you ever seen a picture on this wensite of a deer with fuzzy antlers? Thats the deer growing back his antlers. Eventually the fuzzyness (velvet) comes off. In the picture I gave the deer one antler because I wanted to show that he just lost one.

[tonycussen]

For christ sake! i'm no expert but take a decent shot of the deer first.

[fischerphotos]

What do you mean take a decent shot of the deer? It is a decent shot!

[kckong]

Colton, I haven't seen one on this website before ......

 

..... but I've seen antlers in a chinese medicine shop before LOL nice to know they fall off naturally & regenerate, I thought they killed the deer to get the antlers :)

[fischerphotos]

Here is a photo kc kong.

[fischerphotos]

Sorry it didn't load.<div></div>

[JeffOwen]

It took me a few moments to see the link between the deer and the foreground so I took about 5 mins to change the position of the deer and bring him nearer.<div></div>

[saskphotog]

I think this thread proves there is nothing that you can do to make this look like a real photo.

 

"You can't get there from here; you have to start from somewhere else."