10 Apr Composites / STEP Up

There are any number of skill sets necessary to render believable composites.
I have spent years culling from the, ‘great unwashed multitude,’ carefully modifying and perfecting those that serve us best.

Understanding Perspective, Light and Shadow.
Advanced Selections and Masks.
Layers, Layer Styles and Blending Modes.
Shadows, Tracks and Silhouettes.
Surreal Atmospheres, Textures, Color Grading and More….

Often my work is over-the-top. I get it. I do what pleases me.
But yours needn’t be. Less-is-more works really well with skillfully and tastefully done composites.
They are crazy-interesting to “spin” and so much fun both afield and in post.

“I don’t see a point in dwelling on people’s small-minded ego problems. It’s not my problem, it’s their problem.” lynn hill

_Photo composites are just now emerging from an identity crisis of sorts, peer group social stigma leftovers from the single-shot slide era.
What you shot is what you got. We lived it and were happy and comfortably in agreement within its limitations. But, “…the times, they are a changin’.”

A number of visionaries today, many with single-shots numbering in the tens, or even hundreds of thousands, are finding expression through *earlier forms of artistic romanticism, luminism and even quietism in their images.

We are mindful and up front, and continue to defend the notion that editorial images document real-life issues in a truthful manner. And that the, “decisive moment” remains,
“…the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson

That said, ours is a style apart. It’s authentic, it’s doable and we love it. Join us.

Contact Me Now for personalized instruction.  Tutorials in the works as well, per volume of community request.

*The popular Hudson River School of Art visual style, represented by the likes of Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, and others, “considered to represent
a contemplative perception of nature,” while John Frederick Kensett’s vision, “shifted the visual concern for landscape to an interest in quietism,
making pictures of mood that depict a poetic experience of nature.”

None of them ever claimed to have painted a split-second in time. The notion would have seemed nonsensical.
They did small studies and, often years later, painted their final composite collections of smaller studies into larger, more expressive pieces.
John Muir’s descriptions of guiding these early luminaries into Yosemite high country makes for great reading and informs us of their calculated and thought-provoking methods.

**That said, and in-concert with Focal Length and Perspective Shifts, Landscape Diorama, or any form of manipulation, including exposure blends or even introducing friends or models
into otherwise single-shot landscapes, there are some rules. At least in my mind. And please, these are just my self-imposed guidelines.
Still, it’s important to understand that we each have a responsibility to set some sacred boundaries, and then honor them.

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; I 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.

Remember this; you are declaring your methods for their sake, 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!