Thank you and I couldn't agree more. Problem was that there were hundreds or maybe a thousand layers. I was working with mainly smart objects too. So all that stuff really was lagging my computer. At the end even a rotation was taking 10 minutes and a save was over 45 minutes. The reflection was the last thing I worked on and it was a huge pain in the butt. I pretty much could not do it any better due to the lag.

I was so afraid to flatten/rasterize the Smart Objects in case I wanted to change something, but at this point with everything done that won't be an issue. I can just open it (while waiting 20 minutes), rasterize what I can, and wait 10 minutes each time until the lag subsides. Then I can do as you say. I was hoping to get away with it but your Eagle Eyes dialed right into that error.

I probably need to learn how to manage those Smart Objects and stuff.

use the principle of "green screen" as a background to make selection extraction easier and you have ONE clear simple jpg to play with.

Well I tried. I researched reflections extensively for hours. Watched many Youtube videos, read many tutorials, and Google Imaged till my eyes bled. It seems when the subject is level with the ground/water, the reflection is basically a "mirror" of the actual subject. As for the shape of the reflection, there may be some slight Skewing or maybe some types of light/medium distortions caused by complex light sources, but none of it appeared drastic or changed the overall shape of the reflection. Yes the reflecting surface may cause various types of "ripples", especially water, as well as Hue/Sat/Contrast etc changes, but I am saying that the overall shape of the reflection is consistently VERY similar to the subject's. It seems you basically take the subject, flip vertically... Voila!, instant reflection.

In my searches and tutorials I am not seeing any Perspective changes where the reflection appears to be coming "at us" in the way a shadow would act. I made some gifs and one jpg here so you can see what I am saying. https://imgur.com/a/QHr7qi5

Also here is a Google image search for "bicycle reflections" and "mountain reflections". The results were the same no matter what I searched for on Google. As a not, severe blacklisting from sunsets seemed to make the most difference in the shape of the reflections.

www.goo.gl/1oVo1r
www.goo.gl/sKR4bk

So, I am pretty stuck as to what to do. I think I may gradually mask it, blur it some, maybe turn down the contrast, de-saturate or otherwise mess with the color, and call it a day.

For my final thoughts, the reflections seem to be going "downwards" rather than "at us" like a shadow would. Perhaps one of our Photographers or other Photoshoppers can chime in, or maybe you can show me some Chops or images that replicate your idea. That would be way cool.

Mahalo seestah.

Mahalo Z. Started off making an oval for the the body and went from there.

Mooohalo lolu.

TY seestah.

Haha.

TY. Sometimes these things come together.

Thanks my Angel.

My scooter company is working on a larger model about this big. https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/07/ad/ef/29/the-giant-scooter.jpg

TY lolu.

The source pieces were easy to cut out with the Pen Tool (with a 1px feather) since there was a lot of curves and straight lines. After some of the pieces, such as the rear fender and under the seat, were Warped and Puppet Warped into shape I did have to Pen them out one more time to get perfect lines and curves.

I rarely use it too. I wish we could change the color of the outline that it makes as well as the color of the nodes. They get hard to see because they are grey.

TY George. It came together pretty easily. I should make a video tutorial on how it was made.

Thank you. It all came together nicely.

Thank you skyangel

Thanks Still. It all melded together somehow. With the steel branches it turned out nice. Glad you like it.

Thanks lolu.

Thnx lchappell. I appreciate it.

Mooohalo...

Thanks CM. Simple but effective.

That is a very difficult question. This Chop had some difficulties but also had some good things going for it. The main problem was the car external source was underexposed, and had lot of lost detail. Due to loss of detail, I probably could not "lighten" the car parts to match the source pipes, so I decided to darken the "source" pipes to match the car parts. You can see this in the engine block, the heat-fin thingy, and the front end part in steps 7, 8, and 9. Color Match worked good as a start (which took a bit of finagling) and then some lighting/color adjustments to dial it in.

Cutting things out properly is vital too. I generally use a 1px feather when cutting things out but sometimes that is greater or even much much much greater. The enemy is a "hard edged cut out" that looks like a cut out. If the 1px feather doesn't look good you can always re-mask and re-feather it as you already have your "base-line" cut out. Also cleaning the edges from **ANY** fringing, to me, is key. Even something minor like these "yuckies" on this spring should be taken out IMO https://image.ibb.co/dn0nr8/springs.gif. This is rather easy to do. Clip a layer on top of the springs. Sometimes I use Multiply, Hard Light, Overlay, but this time I kept it at a Normal Layer. Then just clone in some matching color from the springs to cover the yuckies and it will lessen that "cut out look".

Also when blending something in, remember that you do not always have to use a 100% brush while masking. A lot of the time it's best to use a lower opacity soft brush (22%-44% in my opinion but u can go higher or lower if needed) and just keep brushing from the outside to the inside which will create sort of a feathered mask. It takes time, but your blend can come out WAY better. Don't forget you can change the hardness of your brush so sometimes a harder brush will do better, but this is not usual.

Get used to your Pen Tool when cutting something out and make sure you can set your mouse/tablet to a lower DPI to make it move slower when using a Lasso or even while painting/masking. Use Smart Objects when you can, and also use Clipping Mask layer adjustments. You shuold almost NEVER work destructively.

Beyond that the brightness and color should matching, which is a whole 'nother ball game. Sometimes you may even have a bright/dark "spot" on something that needs to be taken care of, so that will have to be masked (generally with soft feather)and adjusted accordingly.

Proper shadowing or lightening of areas is also vital. A lot of the times you should use several layers when making a shadow. Make a darker one on top (this one will generally be smaller in size), and get lighter and lighter towards the bottom layers (these I generally make larger and lager). You want to do it this way because if you put the lighter shadow layers on top of the darker one, it may make the dark shadow layer TOO dark. You can change your brush shape with F5, so a lot of the times it's best to use an "oval" brush when doing this.

I'm probably missing a million things, but these are the ones that popped into my head while sitting here. Watch YouTube videos. Besides looking at other's work, it's one of the best ways to learn. Hope this helps.

Thanks SA. It all fit together nicely. I had two final versions and basically after a coin toss, I decided on this one. The other one didn't have that "old fashioned" look but it was definitely awesome too. Sometimes nothing is good enough, but this time I had two to choose from. Not a usual situation.

You could have put both in the contest if they look different enough. You are allowed more than one in a contest.

Mahalo seestah. My score surprised me. Didn't expect that high.

It all came together pretty easily actually. Once I found that source car, it was destiny.

TY BTW.

rturnbow. I need a vacation after making that one.

Take your pick..


https://media.giphy.com/media/12N7qJJSez3Ggw/giphy.gif
https://media.giphy.com/media/VFZDuY0nePXry/giphy.gif

(added it to the sources BTW)

Thanks Sir George.

Mahalo MM. WTH do you have to make to hit 70 points? I have yet to hit 70.