Question on Cutting Out

I made a design last night that included me cutting out a model from one of my photoshoots, so I did that... and then after all was said and done, I'm thinking she looks a little choppy and "dropped" into the photo. is there some way to make her look a little more smooth?

I got most of the edges cleaned up and used a feather, and even burned around the edges a tad to make it blend but it still looks very cut out.

Any tips on how to make the drop in look more realistic?

Would apprecaite it !

She looks a bit brightly lit for the overcast sky. You could try Levels or Curves to adjust the brightness down, and maybe add a bit of green using either Colour Balance or Variations. (I'm assuming you've still got separate layers)

Also, the plume of smoke might need a bit of attention. A small amount of Gaussian Blur and a bit of Smudge Tool at the base to blend it in?

My opinion

Awesome. Thank you for the help!!

I'm good at editing photos, but not editing them TOGETHER.




Still..any tips on dropping lasso'd images into a new background without it looking choppy?

To get clean, smooth selections for cutting images out of their backgrounds, there is no better way than by mastering the Pen Tool. When you use the Pen to get smooth lines, there is no 'choppiness'.

Using the Lasso Tool is quicker, but you don't get as clean a selection. However, depending on the image and the final result you're aiming for, the Lasso Tool can give an acceptable result.

For a quick way to clean up edges of a selection made with the Lasso Tool, give this a try:-

To start with, make the selection as accurately as possible. Once you've got your selection, before you delete the background and drop it into your new image, go Select > Modify > Contract. In the 'Contract Selection' dialog, set to contract by 1 pixel, then click OK.
Then delete the background. This should get rid of the bits of background colour remaining in your selection.

It won't work with every image, but as it's quick and simple, it's worth a try.

Hope this helps