Composite Photography

If you ever entered the dark depths of Deviant Art a few years back, you would have most likely stumbled upon the name Conzpiracy at some point in your journey. Like a modern-day urban legend, his complex manipulations of the macabre made waves through the DA community.

You’ve heard of hand-painted backdrops, and you’ve probably heard of digital backdrops, but The Backdrop Studio is offering something different: backdrops that look like pieces of art all by themselves. 

Sell the fake or add to the surrealism. As a creative retoucher and composite photographer, these are two aspects that in my opinion are very important: you either learn techniques to help blend realism into the piece or to make it stand out and add surrealism.

It’s always interesting to see how gelled lighting can shape the aesthetic of a portrait, especially when we can match that colored gel with a small amount of post production to create an interesting background to a scene. Here’s a quick photography breakdown and post processing tutorial that will help you create a neon sign inspired portrait with just a few complementary colored gels and Photoshop.

Creating dynamic and interesting images in a time crunch situation sometimes means you’ll have to finish your images in post to develop the most iconic and exciting imagery for yourself or a client. This has usually meant a good amount of time spent in Photoshop to extract and then blend  your foreground and subject with your sky. In this video you will get to see how Luminar 4 can save you time and help you create an epic back-lit environmental portrait.

Creating composite image can be a fun blend of imagination and a range of practical post-processing techniques. Two of the most important skills for creating convincing results are matching light and color. This helpful video will show you a range of tools to check your work and to achieve the best results.

Recently I was thinking about the year so far and noticed that my output for the year was down compared to other years. Why was this?

What do you think of when you hear the term "composite"? Lots of hours with the Pen tool cutting out elements or fiddling around with the Refine Edge tool?

Everyone loves a good hack; something that makes life a little easier.

One of the things Photoshop sells itself on is automated tools, the tools where it uses AI or an algorithm to do the work for you.

Mario Olvera is a photographer, digital artist, and friend from Mexico. He creates surreal conceptual composite images and commercial works.

One thing to remember when creating composites is that a couple of extra little details can make a huge difference.

When creating composites using various images from multiple photos, each part has its unique color balance. This is where most beginners tend to fail when creating a composite.

One of the biggest challenges in creating a composite image is generating realistic shadows for a subject you may have moved into a different background. But what if you didn't need to create a new one? 

Being a freelance photographer and digital artist, I have resigned myself to the fact that I will not always be able to use my own photography in the images I create for clients.

We are living in an exciting time, where software and machine learning are rapidly changing the way we approach work. For some industries, artificial intelligence will destroy job opportunities, but for other industries, it will revolutionize productivity. How will photography and the retouching world fare as editing software begins using this exciting technology?

Cyberpunk is very "in" at the moment. With the impending release of the video game and the rise of Synthwave music, a lot of cyberpunk art is being created.

If you're a photographer who also does digital art or compositing, I promise you're going to want to watch this quick tutorial.

AI has surely become a catch phrase, and we are seeing it all the time in photography applications. Luminar touts AI and Topaz, and even Adobe is jumping on the AI Bandwagon. Topaz Mask AI is one of the latest apps using AI, and I put it to the test.

Light stands are not known for being inconspicuous, and as such, if they are in your shot, they can be a real pain to deal with. However, with some careful planning, you can make it super easy to quickly composite the light stand out in Photoshop, and this helpful video will show you exactly how to do that.

Sometimes it is good to step away from commercial work for a little while and practice styles or techniques you would not normally use or would like to get better at.

In today's Fstoppers video, I set out to create some conceptual fashion images with Puerto Rican model Krystal Xamairy. Using the brand new Tamron 35mm f/1.4 lens, a few strobe lights, and a couple colored LED panels, I will walk you step by step through the entire process.

Having completed what proved to be one of the most challenging shoots of my career, I was then faced with the task of editing and compositing the images. Due to my inexperience, getting the results that I wanted using Photoshop proved to be a steep learning curve. Here’s how I went about it.

Colin Anderson is a composite photographer from Australia whose work is super stylistic and conceptual. He has worked with many large companies including Adobe, the Discovery Channel, and IBM.

Nemanja Sekulic has amassed a huge following on YouTube with his fantastic photo-manipulations and tutorials.

Creating fantasy composites is always fun: you get to invent your very own worlds and characters. Technically, in a composite sense, you can also get away with more unrealistic elements.

We are now four parts into the art of composite series, and this week we touch upon style and influence.

So let me start with a bold statement. Adrian Sommeling is probably the most famous composite artist in the world.

Anya Anti is an internationally published photo artist from the Ukraine who now lives in the Big Apple. If you have never seen her work, you are missing out on a whole series of quirky, interesting, and fantastical images that stir up emotion and imagination.

Welcome back to The Art of Composite Photography. In the previous parts, we have covered pre-visualization, planning, and unbreakable rules.

What's up? Glad you could make it for part 2 of my Art of Composite Photography series.

Over the past 7 years since I first bought my camera, I have been lucky enough to meet a fair amount of the people that I looked up to in the industry. Some of them I have become very good friends with.

Do you have an image that is more popular with people than any of your others? One that stands out head and shoulders above all your work?

If you have dipped your feet into the movie poster or book cover industry, like me, you will know that one of the most underrated aspects of the poster and the cover industry is typography. The typography you use can make or break an image. Most digital artists, think of it as an afterthought but I guarantee you it is one of the most vital pieces of the puzzle to publisher or distributor.

As you can probably tell by my work I am a huge fan of composite photography. I chose the path of the composite warrior for a couple of reasons in the beginning.

In this composite walkthrough, I take you through the various processes it took to create this advertising image. Throughout the video, you will hear my thoughts and why I decided on certain aspects.

You hear it all the time from photographers across the entire range of experience: “I don’t Photoshop my photos.” That photographer is most likely afraid of Photoshop or afraid to disclose that they Photoshop images, and so instead they wrap themselves in this puritanical line as cover.

Last week David Strauss and I challenged each other in the next installment of our Puerto Rican Photo Challenge series. You guys voted on the best image and in this video the loser has to accept defeat!

Over the past few days, you may have noticed an influx of 3D photos in your Facebook feed. That's because this feature was previously limited to dual-camera iPhone devices, but on April 16, Oculus introduced new features allow users to create 3D photos and upload them into their feed from a computer. Here's how you can create your own.

I do not think I have heard this many great tips for visual control and storytelling in such a short video before.

Last week, we continued our exploration of Puerto Rico with our second shootout challenge. This time, we mixed it up a little bit with a guest photographer, and the results were pretty interesting.

Do you need to put together a mood board or share some ideas with regards to the location you're looking for? Soon, it'll be possible to draw some lines and have it generated by AI. This video shows what's to come. 

This week we continue our Puerto Rican Photo Challenge. In our second challenge, two photographers explore the elaborate cave systems hidden deep within the central hills of Puerto Rico. In the full article, you can vote which image was the best and later this week we will reveal the winning image.

Getting a pinpoint selection of an object in Photoshop is one of the most basic skills but also can be one of the hardest tasks to do. Here are five tips for getting accurate selections on even the most difficult details.

In this composite walkthrough, photographer and digital artist Clinton Lofhouse shares how he created this striking composite and gives several tips for how to make a fantasy image like this one believable.

Composite work can be fun and exciting, but sometime you may feel defeated at the end when the blending does not match up. Making a believable composite is tricky but not impossible. 

There’s nothing quite like a sunburst to add that last punch to a fantastic landscape. Last week we covered the composition, settings, and environmental factors needed to snap a crisp sunburst. Today, we will finish up in Lightroom and Photoshop.

If you rely heavily on HDR for your image processing, I have some news for you: It can be a lazy approach, and you may be using it in the wrong applications. It's time to learn about the limitations of HDR and far better alternatives at your disposal.