TECHNIQUES PRO PHOTO EFFECTS
COMPOSITING
Assuming then that you’ve planned your piece,
carefully cut out your elements, how do you go
about putting them together?
De Pasquale has a straightforward approach,
believing that “the tools can be learnt without
problems. The important thing is how to solve each
problem, and knowing what tool to use. The best
thing you can do is find many artists who do similar
things, to understand how to resolve different
situations.” So, for Bush, the number one thing when
it comes to compositing is that “the photos you’re
using don’t have harsh lighting or dark shadows; use
more neutral lighting.” He advises that you really
“take your time removing the backgrounds from
images. Use Curves and Levels correctly. Become
skilled in digital painting in order to smoothly blend
one photo to another.” But that’s the point, the tools
can be learnt and must be. So practise and practise
some more, and don’t expect your first attempts toblend as smoothly as the ones on these pages. You’ll
find your own style and your own strategies in time,
and you’ll be all the better for it.
“In addition to consistent lighting, sharpness,
contrast, noise, and resolution,” says Muram, “I tend
to retouch over the edges of masks once we have
finalised layout and colour. This allows me to blend
all of the separate parts of my composite into a final
layer that feels like one image.”
For Johansson, it’s really all about control. You
can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear after all,
and you can’t composite perfectly if the pieces
you’re working with aren’t good enough. Perspective
and light are key, because “Most other things can be
changed, such as colour, contrast and brightness. I
realised early in order to make my work look
realistic I need to shoot all the parts myself, I think
using stock photography is often a compromise
with either perspective or light. I think it’s alsoTHE KEY TO GREAT LAYER MASKS IS TO PRACTICE THE DIFFERENT REASONS FOR USING THEM, AS BRANDON CAWOOD EXPLAINS
LAYER MASKING
01
ALL ABOUT THE GIRL
Background replacement is one of the
key tasks that is often needed in both retouching
work and in creative photomanipulation. Here,
Cawood can change where this young woman is
with a Layer Mask.02
ADJUST THE EYES
Next, if he wants to add intensity to the
piece then he can adjust her eyes. This is using a
Layer Mask to affect only one part of the image.03
ON THE FENCE
Lastly, if you need to create depth in a
image, then placing an object behind something
in your image is a good way to do it. And again,
creating a Layer Mask is the answer.
© Brandon CawoodCLIPPING MASKS
For this striking illustration, Zach Bush’s wife
kindly posed for him, and once he wanted to
create highlights, he needed the help of a Clipping
Mask. He says: “When I want to place in some
highlights on the body I create a new Curves layer
and invert the layer mask to hide the effect and
turn it into a Clipping Mask. Then I will begin to
paint in the highlights using the tablet.”
But, as Renato Nascimento notes, “Each
professional has his or her own way to create...
Layer Masks and Clipping Masks are useful,
but I don’t see them as essentials.” He uses
them when he knows he has to work
non-destructively because he might have to go
back, but “keeping a lot of layers with its
masks can make a lot bigger and heavier file.”WORKING SIMPLY WITH THE
CONTENTS AND TRANSPARENCY OF
YOUR LAYERS, CLIPPING MASKS ARE
A GREAT WAY TO COMBINE IMAGESSet Them Free:fantastic image, Erik Johansson Even in the most
tries to follow “the rules and limitations of the camera”
© Erik Johansson© Zach Bush