"Tol Eressëa" (Elvish) translates to "Lonely Island". Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien, this shot is a composite made with three different photos. My wife and I shot the subject, location, and ship separately. The main background was shot in Montaña De Oro State Park, at sunset to achieve the foggy look with a 30 second exposure. The camera was actually damaged that day by violent unpredictable waves, so this is the last shot used from it. The model, our friend Brittnii, was shot near Kaweah Lake in CA for a separate concept, but ended up fitting this project better because of the lonely pose. The ship was shot on the California coastline, but to leave a shred of mystery, I won't say exactly where. Keeping Tolkien in mind, we styled the photo as a cinematic shot with dynamic lighting. I don't recall the exact ISO or aperture used, but the gear included a Canon 70D with a 50mm f1.4 and a 10-22mm f3.5 all at around ISO 400. All lighting is natural. Thanks for looking!
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Rebecca, I updated the information. Thank you for the consideration!
Being new to the Fstoppers I’m not sure of the guidelines used for comments for example critique.
I first saw this image as a very small thumbnail and was drawn to it because of the splash of colour and the ship, once open the young lady became my attention. This is an excellent composite, it shows a believable perspective control, intrigue and mystery.
I’m going to assume you didn’t shoot these three portrait and scenics with the intention of doing a composite? I’ve tried doing this fully intending on merging and have always fought with perspective, direction of light and a host of other problems. To me you nailed this composition and achieved an image suitable for a large print wall art. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the comment! The girl and background I knew would work together as they were shot, but to be honest we got lucky with the ship as it was shot over three years ago, it was just the extra something the photo needed. We're very new, so there are more photos scrapped or put aside than there are completed. Hopefully with experience and planning, more photos will work first try and we will be more conscious of shooting similar perspectives for one cohesive photo.
Let me say up front, I am not a fan of composite pictures, in fact you could say I don't like them. Very few actually look anything other than a composite.
But then came this picture.
Yes it is still, to me, obviously a composite; no self respecting captain would pilot a ship that close to rocks, unless of course you are an Italian captain of a cruise liner :-). But it is still a very well composed picture.
I too would be happy to have it as a large wall hanging.
Thanks for the comment! I know it's not everyone's style. It comes down to suspension of disbelief, as were just trying to portray images in our heads. It's fun to break the walls of one shot takes. There are prints available on our website at www.alasseaphotography.com if you're interested. Thanks again!