Merged Photo Too Pixelated

[odeho19]

I am trying to cut a guy out of his wedding photo, (I know, I know) and merge him in to his sons wedding photo. However when I merge the two together, the original is really pixelated around the edges where it's in contact with the new one. Here is what I'm working with:

This is Dennis in his old wedding shot. (She's literally no longer in the picture. HAHA)

NOW, she's no longer in the picture:

This is his sons wedding pic:

And here is the goal, sort of:

I can post a shot of what I'm "getting" after I merge Dennis into his sons shot if needed. What I've been doing, is starting with his sons shot, importing the cut-out of Dennis, and after positioning him, I adjust the transparency so that I can see his daughter-in-law through him. Then, using the eraser tool, (I've blown the pics up to about 1,600 x original), I erase Dennis from his sons shot.

I then reduce it down to 100%, and I get a fairly decent shot, but as I said, where I've erased Dennis, you can clearly see the square pix-elation of him.

I'm wondering if I'm starting out with too large of an original photo of Dennis, or if I need to "blur" it somehow BEFORE I start erasing him from the merge. Other than that, I'm completely stumped. I'm rather new to all of this, but I've spent some time reading around before posting this, so I may have just overlooked something I'm unaware of. And advice would surely be appreciated. Thanks!

[odeho19]

BTW, here is the pic that I could create, just to show what I'm talking about. The pixelation is mostly up and down the bride's arm:

However, it does appear all around the outline of Dennis.

[zookey]

I am no expert (by no means) but what I have done when adding people or objects from one picture into another....

Put Dennis on a separate layer and erase the parts of him that would be hidden behind the daughter-in-laws dress ect. Then I can play with the adjustments on the "Dennis Layer" so he matches the people in the "Son's Wedding" layer. Then I either Feather or Gaussian blur the "Dennis Layer" so he doesn't look so Square or Imported.

I am sure the other people here may have other (Better) ways of doing this... but I am pretty sure they will all include adding Dennis on a separate layer.

Hope this helps a bit....Good luck! By the way the son doesn't appear to have gotten married in MN.... no SNOW! Sorry just a bit on Minnesota humor from one Minnesotan to another.....

EDIT.... Not Gaussian blur, but Feather Selection might be it.

Edited April 1, 2012 by zookey

[Ego Eram Reputo]

@odeho19: This section of the forum is reserved for the publishing of tutorials. That's why this particular section is cunningly named "Beginner Tutorials"

Your question is better suited to the Paint.NET Discussion & Questions section, therefore....,

<moved>

In answer to your question - you need to anti-alias or feather the edges of Dennis.

To do this you need him on his own layer. Cut out the bits that are overlapped by the foreground as zookey mentioned. Then try running this plugin to soften the edges:

AA's assistant - found in this plugin pack: Dpy's Plugin Pack

Here's a quick chop to give you an idea.

Obviously more work is required around the bride's arm! At least Dennis is now in the right picture and nicely blended into the background.

[odeho19]

First off, I'm sorry about posting in the wrong area. I didn't pay enough attention to where I was at, and will do so in the future.

Secondly, I thought, (and again, I may have something not set up correctly, so forgive me in advance) I was supposed to get an e-mail notification if, and when someone posted a reply to my little thread here. Hmmmmm........I just checked, and switched them all to "immediate", so that might help. :-)

On to the issue at hand, shall we? I was giving this problem I'm having some "thought" of my own, so if this makes no sense, chalk it up to either naivete, or my "noob-ness", but both of these pics are obviously taken decades apart from each other. And with differing cameras, and I thought that maybe the "content" alone might be making a difference. Is there a chance that because the 1st photo, (of Dennis and his bride) being much larger, and thus the pixels would be larger, and trying to "stuff" him in to a newer, smaller pixelated photo, might be causing some of these issues I'm having.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I re-size the larger photo FIRST, and then cut Dennis out, (and use all of the aforementioned advice, also) won't that help? Or is that just plain dumb, and I should just run with the advice already given, and be happy? I'm just thinking that if the pixels are closer in size to begin with, that maybe they won't be as much of an issue to work with.

Brilliance? Or do I get a pat on the head, and sent back to my desk? ;-)

[pdnnoob]

*pats head*

No, the pixels are not any bigger from one image to the next...at least not within paint.net. The reason you see pixels around the edge is that they aren't "anti-aliased." Mr. EER (above your last post) has the right idea, he just didn't do all the work for you

Edited April 5, 2012 by pdnnoob

[odeho19]

*rubs head, pats belly*

Ahhh.....all better now. Thanks. Well, I took all of the advice given, and tried to input it in. I think I need more practice getting the erasing down, because I think I took a few too many pixels out that shouldn't have been removed. But, for what I'm doing, (and who I'm doing it for), this'll do.

If anyone has any other thoughts, I would appreciate them.

Oh, and before I forget, Zookey, I've never actually "seen" a good, middle of the winter, outdoors wedding in Minnesota, but if you ever do, let me know how they stayed warm. Maybe "Ollie & Lena" had one? HAHA