When the lighting lends itself to creating some composite images

[mkothare]

Took the picture in studio and then looked around for an interesting background to photoshop it on based on the direction of the lighting, face, etc.

Background courtesy ericRUMOR in Flickr Creative Commons - Free pictures group at All sizes | spacescene2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

C&C welcome on lighting, pose, image pairing. Thanks

[danchez]

it's kind of cool, bit I think it would look better if you had stars throughout the whole image. You don't need big bright ones like in the upper right, but definitely need some starts to help fill out the image. I might also tweak the temp on her, maybe a little toward the cool side to kind of match the large planet. Pretty cool though.

[mkothare]

Thanks, Dan. I did think about that. I'll have to work on my Photoshop skills more. My first attempt at cloning some of the upper star pattern to the black portion on the top left and bottom right in the picture wasn't a very natural look (got a little overdone). But I concur. The cooling would also look good.

[Flores]

the lens flare coming off the one bright star that's being eclipsed seems to detract from the image, for me.

I THINK it's because it ruins the illusion of the stars lighting her face (it's the wrong angle?)

very cool, otherwise.

[CtrlAltDel]

I love it! I couldnt have done this! Great job!

[mkothare]

Originally Posted by Flores

the lens flare coming off the one bright star that's being eclipsed seems to detract from the image, for me.

I THINK it's because it ruins the illusion of the stars lighting her face (it's the wrong angle?)

very cool, otherwise.

Thanks, Paul and Wayne.
Paul - maybe it may help to darken and reduce the flare. I'll try it offline.

[w9ctm]

I agree with Dan's comment, but I also think she is just a little too large in the image. I would think, (or at least in my mind), I think she would look better a little smaller and a little more proportionate to the vastness of the planets and stars.
I really like the concept though. I too am jealous.

[Patti Edens]

Milind,

I love this image - the concept is very creative and you did a great job of matching the light direction. The pose is perfect and the crop including a bit of the arm is just right. Good choice of a model for this as she has a lovely profile.

I do agree with the idea that she needs to be a different size in proportion to the sky elements - either larger or smaller to prevent the eye from bouncing back and forth between the sky elements and the subject. tried it out with the sky elements smaller and the stars sprinkled out a bit more, hoping that the viewer's eye would move a bit and then rest on the subject.

I did a quick example by reducing the size of the sky elements and then adding a blank layer on top where I used a soft, round brush at varying sizes and opacities and just added some stars. I blurred (Gaussian) the star layer a little bit.

[mkothare]

Thanks, Chuck.

Patti, you are awesome. Thanks for demonstrating how I could achieve the three improvement recommendations from Chuck, Paul and Dan. The soft round brush technique to create the stars is not something I had thought about. I'll be sure to practice it. One more trick in my Photoshop bag

[w9ctm]

Patti, exactly what I was thinking but didn't articulate well. In my mind, that was pretty much what I was thinking.
We all learned something with this example. Well done.