Plasmapulse (1 Viewer)

[mikemiller1955]

Joachim,

Joe Quintini, The Lt., said I might ask you for some advice if you wouldn't mind.

He said you were an "artist", and might be the best option to answer my question.

I have printed out some large backdrops for some large scale dios I'm planning on doing.

They are made of 4 individual identical photos, two of them being inverted (mirrored) and all four being taped together.

There is a slight seam, that is almost invisible in the sky area, but that I would like a trick or technique to help disguise or blend it in even better.

Any ideas any tips?

Thank you,

Michael

PS...If anybody knows any tricks or has any ideas, feel free to comment.

The photos were from too far of a distance to really show the seams, but trust me, they are there.

It is made from 4 sheets of matte photo paper and if you look closely where they would be taped together, you will see them.

 

[plasmapulse]

Well, let me clarify that I am not a digital artist. I restore antique sculpture and the occasional painting and do some contemporary painting/sculpture alongside.

I did however make a Isandlwana backdrop for Joe once that was my first larger experiment with Photoshop. He got it from me printed in parts and the seams are visible. It was a try-out. I'll tell you what i would like to do if the backdrop was mine seams wise.

Your best option is to have it printed in one piece. It can be done. If you can't find a digital printer shop who does that kind of thing I would be happy to have it printed out locally and ship it to you in a tube at actual cost. It isn't very expensive and the result is 100% (you would have to digitally paste them together first). You would also have a chance to digitally touch up the seam lines (which might be there)

Touching up the seam lines physically could (probably would) make the matter worse.
You could try to place a tree or wall or figure close to the seam. The higher the better. It will distract from the seam.

You could also try to cut out some paper photo elements (physical) and paste them over the seams You would create new seams but along natural lines (outline of a tree, shrub, cloud (if you have high contrast clouds which you don't). The idea of the above is to break or lose the straight line. Use a sharp x-acto knife, put some sprayglue on (3m photomount) and paste away.

On the rest (if you don't mind);
I don't know how skilled you are at Photoshop, but for the Isandlwana backdrop I pasted three pics of the mountain together (mirrored just like yours). I cut any unwanted elements (the other two mountain tops) and lost the sky altogether. To enhance the effect of it being one large photo I pasted a large sky in place and did away with some repeating element that occur when just pasting the same pics together.

You show two backdrops. One with a forest in which you could try to do away with some of the treetops to make it less obvious they have the same pattern.

In the hilltop image it is possible to lose some trees, or add some detail to have that effect.

I have been working a few days on my isandlwana backdrop with no knowledge on digital touch- ups and the like and if you have the Photoshop program I strongly encourage you to experiment with it. Don't get me wrong, your backdrops are very nice as is but more things are possible. I could point you in the right direction if you like to give it a go.

Is this of any help? I know there are users who photoshop a lot with mini/micro dios so they might have something more useful to add.

Good luck.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Joachim,

Thanks for your detailed response.

Joe said you were a good guy to ask for help and you didn't dissapoint my expectations for advice.

You've given me a lot of options.

I guess I'll start with the digital print and the digital touch up on the seams.

Hopefully it won't get any worse.

You said it wasn't too pricey and perhaps it would suffice.

The seams aren't that bad really, and while I'm not a perfectionist, they kind of bug me, just cause I know they are there.

I have noticed they are not near as visible, if viewed from even the slightest deviance of "straight at".

I'm definitely going to buy some of the cardboard tubes you mentioned for shipping and storage.

I have found that caring for a 4 foot by 1 foot poster is difficult at best, hard to store and easily damaged or creased.

The girl at Office Depot tried to do some stuff for me before and kind of squashed the pictualization to a blur, but I have never inquired about a full size print out though.

Hopefully they can help me and if not we must have a print shop still in business after the Hurricane.

Thanks for your help, if I run out of options, I will contact you again, but you have given me a lot of ideas,

Thank you,

Michael

 

[plasmapulse]

You're welcome. What a luxury to be able to have some digital stuff done for you at the print shop. Saves you a lot of fuss. From the pics the backdrops look nice but I can imagine you wanting to have it a 100% seamless. The one piece print with some retouching is the way to go.

When done, show off your results. That would be cool.

 

[thebritfarmer]

I don't know if this will help, but when I was doing paper tole, we had to draw over the edges on the backside of the pictures to hide the white edges with a grey marker