Parisienne composite
Late last year, I put together a shoot with a couple of great models at the DeVere hotel in Cheadle that I titled "A little bit of Paris in Cheadle" . My original intention had always been to give the final image more of the Parisienne feel that I envisioned during the original shoot, but as ever time got the better of me and I never managed to get back and perform the final edit. Even the original edit managed to get me a Silver Bar award in the Guild of Professional Photographer's image of the month competition. However, in the last couple of days I finally made the time to finish it off. As I didn't have anything suitable for a backdrop in my own archive, I scoured the stock libraries to find something suitable. I didn't want anything as obvious as the Eiffel Tower at night. Something a little more subtle suited better. Eventually I found a great shot of Notre Dame taken from the opposite side of the Seine at dusk which was perfect. Then it was a case of some serious masking in Photoshop.....
You can see from the screen grab below that several tweaks to my masks were required to get the railings etc as tidy as possible. I then positioned the backdrop image just where I wanted it, and finished off by darkening the inside of the glass door behind Jen and a couple of presets in Lightroom. Around 2 to 3 hours work all tolled.
And here is the original image complete with lovely red roof and bird poo stains. I'm really happy that I finally managed to finish this off and I love the result (at top).