Being Neighbourly UPDATED

I am adding a new photo to the previous post, and here's the story.

Lena was quite thrilled with the previous photo: at least she was until she realized that she had forgotten the lady's bonnet and corsage.

I returned to take a shot of the amendments. I had thought to just shoot the lady (so to speak) and composite her new parts onto the original image. I did that, but it didn't quite work right to my eyes.

So ... I did it all from scratch again. I selected, masked and extracted the figures from the background. I then added the same background and candle as in the original post.

I did do something differently, however. The figures were very close to the edge in the first version, with very little breathing room. So I added space on either side and turned it into something closer to a 6x4 format ... although it isn't exact. I also deleted the "snowy" texture that they were standing in in the first version, and just stood them right in the snow in the background image. In any case, here is the new result.

I liked the first version, but I like this one more.

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We have a good neighbour whom I've written about in the past. In the days before we hired out snow removal, she would frequently clear our driveway with her snowblower. This was when I still shovelled, which I didn't mind doing, but I also appreciated her help from time to time. I still wouldn't mind shovelling, but it seems best that I don't, so this will be our third winter of hiring a contractor. Or is it the fourth year already?

She keeps an eye our place when we're away, and sometimes brings over produce from her garden. It goes beyond us of course; she's a general do-gooder in the neighbourhood.

The other day, she showed Sue the Victorian Christmas Carolers that's she's been working on sense last winter. But she had been unable to take a decent picture. That is when Sue volunteered my services. I had heard that it would be pretty cluttered down in Lean's basement, so I took my older Canon  over 7D and not my newer and preferred 6D. I chose the 7D because I have a wide angle lens for it and figured that I might need it to get a photo in a tight space.

Here is what I came up with. It's good for context. You can see how big the figures are. She made them from papier mache and created all of the clothes herself. She did come over last winter and peruse Victorian costumes on my computer with me, and she followed those images to create these.

Well, she could stuff that photo in her album, but Sue and I thought that we could do more with it. So, I cropped the photo and then did some photoshop work to extract the characters from that background. I then did a search for a winterish background as well as a candle to light up the lamp.

Lena was thrilled with the result, but we then thought that it could be turned into her Christmas card, so here's some text that I added as a trial.

Then she was miffed because she had forgotten to fully clothe the mother figure. I went back the next day with my other camera, just to shoot the mother. She had also cleared out the space well enough that I could shoot the whole scene again.

It's definitely a better quality photo and it is also much less cropped, but I am not sure if I am inclined to completely make a whole new image with the required photoshop work. I might, however, choose to superimpose the lady's bonnet and corsage. We shall see. Right now we are in the midst of a busy weekend with company, so whatever I do, if anything, will have to wait.

Lena did show me a few pictures she took of the work in progress. I scanned then and though they might interest some of you.