DSLR Photography Forum

I took this shot while staying at my mothers house over Easter. I only took it because I was bored and it was raining outside at the time. Anyway.. Its one of her favourite statuettes and she asked me to print the photo for her but I hate the curtain in the background and the weird table surface.

The is the resized original.



I would appreciate anyone having a go at improving / removing or changing the background in anyway. Don't be afraid to be imaginative.

This is the only one I have done so far but I think I could be much better.



Feel free to use the full version of either shot to edit...(click photo to resize).

To be honest, I don't dislike the background in the original, but of course that's entirely a question of personal preference. If your mom likes the curtain, I'd say maybe to do some careful brightening of the shadows on the side of the figure, and print it :-)

Your idea to fix it is not too bad, but I don't like the blue (=cold) tone, and the figure stands out less.

Also I find that the table and your perspective add to the original picture, I wouldn't wipe all of it out.

just my opinion though....

uli

Sorry smarti if you didn't find that very usefull. I've tried some tricks on it, but not come up with anything remotely better than the original.... yet....

uli

I kinda like the golden curtain actually - perhaps it's a turnoff because you know what it is...

My suggestion would be maybe just a plain golden background ...

I like both versions, although in the original you can tell that it leans a little.
And there's no way I could drop-in a background cleaner than you already did.

Personally, I would go out and buy the same exact statuette and take it with me around town, photographing it in a variety of interesting locations over the next few weeks.
Then make prints of the best 4-6 photos.

...and of course, don't be afraid to go completely over-the-top...

Lol @ Toad.... totally awesome.

Ok, the gauntlet has been thrown...

My pathetic attempt...

Nice one Jules - this is a great background substitution!!

Beware though! Once you get into doing this sort of thing, it is a slippery slope...

Thanks Mr T... it was a very quick and dirty one, and a poor attempt at that.

Any other takers?

I tried already with your original picture in the morning, I tried desaturating the background and adding a vignette, but I didn't like it very much... I will try tomorrow adding a background with one of my pictures...

Sorry I couldn't help ...

Thanks everyone. Great efforts Toad and Jules. You inspired me to have another go with one of my previous shots (A sunset that I thought was too plain at the time but kinda right for this because it was plain and not to distracting - I even gave it a fair bit of extra blur to make it look out of focus). What do you think?

That's the ticket - be adventurous in your background. Looks great!

Smarti, I LOVE it!! Your mum will be blown away

I think this is great Smarti...
I like a lot the way yo took advantage of the light in the angel to match with the background...

Yes, I think the same you Mum will love it