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Make footage look like I’m holding something I’m not
I’m trying to figure out how I can make some footage of myself look like I’m holding something I’m not actually holding. So the footage is of me and I have my hands apart and I wanted to insert an image between them to make it look like I’m actually holding the image in real life and I can’t figure out how to make it look more real than just putting the image over the footage, which looks horrible. I want it to look like I’m holding it in the video. I’ve motion tracked my hands to try that, and it did look better since it sort of moved with my hand movement, but it still needs work. Can anyone suggest anything?
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6 Replies
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Take a careful look at the lighting, and try to match the lighting on the object you’re “holding” to the lighting you’re in. If there would be any shadows cast by you onto the object, create those, and if the object is reflective, think about what would reflect where. If the object is a still, this would be easy to do in Photoshop.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Joseph thank you so much for taking the time to reply. The lighting will definitely help, but the problem more seems to be getting it to look like it’s actually in my hands and not just pasted over the top of them. So getting it to move precisely with my hands, and getting my fingers to look more like they’re over the top of the image instead of behind it.
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Jeff –
I don’t know what sort of grip you’re using, but learning the Roto Brush could be the ticket to it looking right. I assume that you’ve tried to figure out which digits would be on top and which underneath the object you’re holding. If it’s some sort of device, the standard grip would be all fingers underneath, and thumbs above, so you’d Roto Brush the thumbs part of your hand, make a duplicate of the footage with thumbs masked, then layer that over the object. But don’t just start messing with the Roto Brush – it’s not at all intuitive – learn it from one of the posts on the Adobe After Effects Channel.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Sweet deal, thanks for your knowledge Joseph. I’ll look into the rotobrush and see if I can figure it out for this. Here’s an image of what kind of grip I’m working iwth and where things are at right now.
I’d love for you to take a look and let me know any further thoughts. Thanks so much for your time. -
I don’t think the Rotobrush will help you in this case. You’ll need to use the mask tool on the top hand to create the bottom part of your hand that is currently missing. The best thing you can do it take a picture of you or someone holding a paper just like you are in the photo and use that as a reference for what the bottom of your top hand would look like and then mask out your hand so it looks the same. Not sure if I’m making any sense.
For the bottom hand I would add some sort of shadow.
Stephen Smith
Check out my Vimeo page
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That does make sense Stephen, thanks for checking it out! I really appreciate it!
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