13 Aug CAN YOU TRUST PHOTO COMPOSITES?
LANDSCAPE COMPOSITES PHILOSOPHY
JULY 17, 2023
First; Full Disclosure.
Find a way to share, by way of obvious genre, or title transparency, or outright absurdity of subject matter just what you’ve done.
Second; Authenticity
Try and capture all elements from one location and in as short a time frame as possible.
For images that are a bit more fantastical I defer to rule #1, and say so unabashedly. You’re not going to find a whale for your apocalyptic desert scene sky, if that’s your thing, out floating over Joshua Tree National Park. And nobody expects you would, but we still, at times, skirt a sad little world where if you don’t say so, you risk being branded a counterfeit.
In-concert with Focal Length and Perspective Shifts, or any form of manipulation, including exposure blends
or even introducing friends or models into otherwise single-shot landscapes, by necessity, there exist some unspoken rules.
At least in my mind. Look, anything goes and your work is your own, I’m cool with that, these are just my self-imposed guidelines.
Still, it’s helpful to understand that we each shoulder some responsibility to set some sacred boundaries, and then honor them.
“This archaic attitude is finally crumbling and its impending doom is well deserved. Good folks have been so afraid of being labeled, “photo-choppers” that they’ve often felt compelled to turn a blind eye to their own “grey area” skill sets and at times even sheepishly omit what it took to achieve their amazing results. It’s time to let that shit go and move the flock on.”
Remember this; you are declaring your methods for the sake of others, you have every right to be super proud of yourselves.
These are advanced skill-sets. You’ll invest time, energy and money to be competent, but you’ll rock. And it feels freakin’ amazing. No apologies.
Just honest-to-golly goodness!
For further inspiration, study early natural history dioramas pioneers, and composite visionaries such as Norman Rockwell.