Digital Backgrounds

So I have been attempting to learn how to do a digital background...why you ask?  Because I am going to do the Alice in Wonderland shoot and thought it would be really cool to learn how to do.  So I went on the net and spent way too many hours trying to learn how to do this.  I checked out youtube, and there is just way too many videos on random stuff that I found it hard to find what I was looking for.  So here is what I learned.

First of all, I can make my own plain background.  You can google this and find a ton of websites telling you how to do this.  Here is mine

So What I learned after doing this, is that I needed to add a shadow to make it look more real.  You can do this in your layers menu, click 'fx' and then drop shadow.  So here is my attempt...and not a good one I might add to the drop shadow...

 

I am still trying to learn the Photoshop 5 refine tool, and its not working out like I would like to so I am going to try to look up some youtube videos on that next and I will do a post on that once I figure it out :)

So I asked my sisters friend who does graphic design and she suggested deviant art for tutorials and I loved this!  Type in tutorial and what you want to learn and there is usually something you can find with step by step.  Also if you want to have a digital background made, you can get one for around $10 to $20 from Lady Aya Productions. Which is what I plan to do for my Alice in Wonderland shoot :)  So excited to see this :)  And she will place the image if I want too.

So my last suggestion is to shoot with an all black or white background or a green screen if you have one, that way you can extract the subject easier.  Make sure they are sitting about 10 feet away and put a light on your backdrop.  And if you want to put them sitting on something in your digital background i.e. a wall, sit them on a stool when you shoot. 

So I will keep practicing and searching the web on my journey to learning digital art with photography :)  Oh and if you have any suggestions...Please Please Please fill me in :)