Empty Cage

An empty animal cage. This is the same cage I used for :thumb80207330: (although I was in the cage for that photo, it's not a manipulation!)

Use the Download link for the full-sized image

If you want to put something (or someone) into the cage you will need to do something like this in gimp or photosopr or whatever you use:
(1) duplicate the ackground layer, and call the new layer cage front
(2) put the boy in the cage in a layer by himself, between the background and the cage front.
(3) make the top layer 50% opaque so you can see through to the boy...

now, you need to make the cage bars in front of the boy in the cage be solid, and you need to get rid of bars from the back of the cage that are in the top layer.

To do this,
(5) in the cage front layer, select each of the gaps between the bars of the cage, one at a time, always adding to the selection. In GIMP I use the freehand selection tool, start e.g. at the top left of one of the rectangular gaps, and make a single banana-shaped cirve down to the bottom left corner, and let go; the GIMP connects the two lines with a single straight line, and you repeat for each of the four sides of that gap.
(6) when you have selected every gap in the bars that is in front of the boy (no need to bother with the others), feather the selection e.g. by 5 to 12 pixels, and cut.
(7) now make the top layer 100% opaque. You can see through the holes that you cut, and there should be no back-of-the-cage bars going on top of the boy. All is good.
(8) lock him in: this cage doesn't have a door on the left (actually it does but it was open).
(9) If you need to, use curves in the middle layer to get the boy to match the lighting, and don't forget to give him a bit of a shadow on the back wall. You can look at my photos of a naked man in the cage as a reference if you like.

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