Pascal Baetens. Nude Photography. The Art and The Craft. 2007

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140 postproduction

adding backgrounds

one of the advantages of digital technology is that if you lack

an interesting location or attractive background for the shoot

you can introduce one later on the computer. the setting has

a huge impact on a subject, so it must be chosen with care.

Even if it’s beautiful, it won’t enhance the image if it doesn’t

suit the model’s pose or appearance. Here, the orchids

emphasize her delicate skin tones and demure expression.

1 using the magic wand and

the lasso tool, i made a

selection around the model

and converted it into a mask.

this removed the model from

the background. At the same

time i decided to “cut off” her

ponytail, to give a nice smooth

line down her neck.

2 i copied a desaturated image

of orchids into a new layer and

made it invisible. i then selected

the model layer and used the

magic wand and lasso to select

the background. At this stage

i refined the background layer,

adjusting the color saturation

and blurring it slightly.

Refining the image

i took this shot of sofie against a plain white background. this made it easier

to define the lines of her body clearly. the basic stages were removing her from

the background, adding a new background, and making color adjustments.