So here is an example of me working an image that has potential, but the background really distracts from the moment. In the raw photo you see the lovely Civil-War era F-150s in the background. So I needed to bring in a new field and blend it in with the original. Most of the work involved tracing a mask around the hay that is being flung up in the air as those pesky rebels were being shot with a Canon oops I mean cannon. Most of the work involved creating a mask around the soldiers and the hay... this was done at 100% magnification or more to get the edges right. Once I was able to work out the masking, I used a different cornfield image along with the clone stamp, the healing brush and the spot healing brush to work the parts together. I took the finished piece into Alien Skin's Exposure 5 to give it that Tin-type look with my own special sauce recipe. Not a lot of fancy techniques, just good ole elbow grease and Alien Skin. :D

original image... gotta love the trucks!