Photograph editing...?

I'm on an OTTB Facebook group and I see a lot of those pretty horse portraits with black backgrounds and it got me thinking about fiddling around with photo editing.

I used a photograph of my Thoroughbred from a professional shoot that was done a few years ago, and I do have permission from the photographer to use these as I please as long as I don't sell anything or claim the photos are my work.

First I made the background black (along with anything else I didn't want in the final image... like myself and most of the stud chain). Then I painted the nylon halter over the parts the stud chain covered... but then I decided that halter was too old and ratty. So I attempted to paint over it and make it look like leather and added a nameplate. Tweaked some lighting and color things, and voila.

So... yeah.



I guess it looks okay? It was my first time attempting remotely realistic leather or brass. If it looks decent I might grab the awesome camera that's sitting around and start taking my own photos... I think something like this might be a nifty Christmas present for the barn folks? I know the little girl might not be overly enthused, but since she's getting too big for the little Welsh Ponies she's leasing I thought it might be something nice to have a little portrait like this of the mares before they send them back to their owners?

I think you did an amazing job turning it into a black background photo :o

The photos you see with the black backgrounds are usually taken in places where the light shines on the subject, but the background is already darker in comparison. A great place to use would be the barn doorway! It will make your editing much easier. I haven't attempted to take these personally (I've got fidgety ponies), but I have fellow photographer friends who have and that's what they do.

Yes, I saw a video on that. Unfortunately I don't have any current photos done like that to do anything with... so made do with what I've got X

There's an old cattle barn that serves as a shelter in the field, and there's a gate that can separate the field into two areas. So I can bring out whatever horses I need and not have to worry about them wandering off... except maybe Reno, but hey.

I only have two suggestions - the way the mane has been cut out makes it look a little flat and straight, so I'd recommend going in there with a very small fuzzy brush on your layer mask and make the edges a little softer. The second is the background, which to me, because it is so very black and matte, draws your eye more than the horse does. I would suggest adding some depth to the background by making it slightly lighter or darker in places to create a sense of space. If you matched the lighter areas on the horse to slightly lighter background, that could give that real background feeling, so it feels more like the style of photograph you're talking about.

I agree with River on the background. The painting of the halter looks amazing - my only other suggestion would to be to give the horse itself some sort of gentle treatment to make it look softer so that the style of the halter and the horse blend better. Just something to soften the sharpness of the photo itself i guess.

Oddly enough, I used the fuzziest/softest brush I have to go around the edges of Reno. I wouldn't intend to use this method for any other photos. Really just want to use the photography method and do minor touch ups in program for anything in the future, and hopefully not need to do much more "replacement" of tack XD

The background is a little too stark... maybe something around the lines of a soft radial gradient and perhaps not pure black but rather a really dark desaturated color?

Don't really plan on doing any more halters or anything unless it's actual drawings, but I'll have to fiddle around with brush settings anyway. I don't get really sharp lines in SAI currently.

Personally I'd do a radial gradient like you suggested, but nothing too bright and maybe use a dark/black brown as opposed to pure black for your darkest colours a little lighter/desaturated colour for your lighter parts. I also feel like he looks a bit too purple and dark? His muzzle just sort of blends into the bg on my screen. I'd like to see an unedited colours version of him on a black bg with the edited halter (which is amazing, I suck at doing leather painting myself) to see what it looks like or at least just not as purple. Or at least put the normal colours over the purpleish one at a low opacity just to balance it out a bit.

Unfortunately It's all one giant layer now. My screen I think displays colors a little bit differently than some others. It's just factory settings though, so maybe it's a Lenovo thing.

I still can't believe I painted that leather so well... boggles my mind a bit.