Gents,

I've been mulling over which would be the best software for placing backgrounds in my pics of my dios or figures. I haven't done any photoshop work yet and don't quite know the best for the $ value. I really don't relish spending a fortune, but I understand some have come down in price. Problem is, I don't know which software is going to place pics from the web behind my figures and dios, etc., without getting a degree in photoshop. I've spent years perfecting my painting skills, and now my photo skills, but I'd like to take a shortcut and gt great pics behind my dios like Steve Zaloga and others. Your comments and suggestions would be grealy appreciated guys.

Thx, Ski.

Get PS7, has everything you need and a bunch you dont, its a steep learning curve but once you get past it you will forget about modeling and spend all your time on PS lol.

I currently use Photoshop CS and it is a very good software for accomplishing the results you are after, learning its uses is easier with help but not that difficult.

Thx Chris and Darren,

That helps bigtime. As for spending more time with PS, just enough to learn for the results I need. Hard enough getting time to paint.

Thx again guys, Ski.

And btw, if you don't feel like buying big bucks, you could try a freeware graphics editing program, like GIMP.
The user interface in GIMP is very different compared to photoshop (which isn't necesssarily a drawback, as you mentioned you haven't used PS before), but the GIMPshop plugin makes it look and function similarly to photoshop.

I do not use GIMP, but do heavily use CS3 in my business. I can strongly say that Photoshop will do what you need. The only thing is that CS3 is not cheap at all and finding an earlier version is impossible at this point. From a learning curve perspective, it is not that hard, at least for your needs. You'll basically need to extract your model from the background, then paste it over a different one. To obtain the desired depth of field and create the impresion your model is shot in the real background, you will need to make your background appear out of focus. For this you need to work with layers, so you can apply filters only to the desired layer(s). It isn't hard, but you'll need a bit of practice. If you need help, I can try to guide you, time permitting.
Cheers!

Guys,

Thx again for the replies. I think I'll give GIMP a go and I'll post the results shortly.

Thx agian, Ski.

Well Guys,

I gave GIMP a go and the results are at the bottom. The learning curve wasn't too bad after I dug, and dug, and dug for the tutorial that explained what I needed. Honestly, the first day my computer had a barrell pointed at it for a few minutes. I layered and then used the paint method, which is not what I really wanted, but it worked. Very time consuming and the pic from above would take days to complete. What I was really searching for was the "Corel Knockout" effect from Photoshop. I haven't reviewed the tutorial for GIMPSHOP yet, so it may have that feature too. I initiall loaded gimpshiop, but it jammed up and I unistalled it. At any rate, I find the background needs to be close in light composition to blend easier with the top layer photo. Still more to learn, but you guys have been a great help.

Thx again guys. I hope I can get this curve up to speed because I have dio with palm trees and grass that would probably run me into next year before the photo touch up would be done.

I have never used Gimp but on PS you can blur/soften the cropped image which helps remove the look of a superimposed image. You have done a nice job of cutting your figure image from its original background.

Thx Darren,

This is only the beginning. I got so excited I decided to do the tougher one and it only took me a short time, now that I know how to do it. But, you are right, it's time to learn some more tricks with better software.

Ski.