Here I'll be featuring some of the composites, or comps as they are called, using my photos or digital images I've realized. I'll include an FYI - How I Did This explaination for each. Basically, I'm attempting to make a dull to interesting scene even more interesting. Come here to get ideas, skills and more on what to do with all your images.
These three images used for these comps were literally taken over 100 miles apart, on different days in the same season. I didn't plan ahead of time for the comps to be made, but looking thru my images, I began to think 'what if?' and came up with these two comps from the three images.
Originally shot as a persective shot, these daisies against a blue sky was dramatic. The train shot was literally done out the car window, from the hip so-to-speak, while I was driving going to yet another place. Both of us were moving, I was at the right place, at the right time and just took the pic hoping for the best. The dried fall grass set against a cloud filled sky was another dramatic contrast image.
The first image needed something in the background and since the empty blue sky of the original daisy image was perfectly matched for almost anything, I chose the field and sky one. The field and sky needed something too, in order to break up the singularity of the image. I simply placed the daisy image on a layer above the field and sky, then selected for the all blue sky in the daisy image, deleted it, then cleaned up some of the image remnants left behind. As you can see, some of the taller grasses from the daisy image are gone, but that really makes no difference since the background composite has the same type of grass. The daisies, now set in a field by themselves sets up a sort of loner, wild growth interpretation.
The second comp is comprised of all three images. Again, the train sky needed some clouds, and adding the daisies gives a much better sense of depth to the comp. The field and sky image was place on a bottom layer, with the train on the next, and the daisies above that. I used the clone tool on the clouds in this one to fill in and cover up some of the image elements in both the train and field one. The daisies were moved until a more balanced look was achieved.
How This Image Was Done: This is a composite image, comprised of two photos, taken in completely different locations and on different days. I don't plan for composites, even though it is generally a good idea to so, that way you'll know ahead of time what to photograph. Instead, I look through my library of photos I've taken, and see what I can come up with. When doing composites, things you have to keep in mind for each image should be: shadow direction, light brightness, relative scale, and believability (if you're going for realism.)
In the hawk image (this is a Cooper's Hawk), I selected the sky background then deleted it. I dropped the selection, copied the layer and placed it on a layer above the tree image. In the tree image, I then added some motion blur, 8 pixels worth, to give it a feel as if I was panning the camera to match the speed of the hawk, which also gives it some 3D depth. But to get these images were vastly different in approach. The tree, being solidly rooted in soil, doesn't move much, but being leafless on a bright, sunny day in a cloudless sky was simply a great photo opportunity. The hawk was another challenge. I've learned that a lot of predatory birds are no longer afraid of moving cars (at least where I live), but will take flight if you stop and get out for a closer look. So, it's an invisible magic spot I have to find where I can stop the car, point the camera out the window, and grab a shot. Sometimes they take flight, which in this case worked well. I managed to grab about 10 shots as it flew and circled, this being the best one. I used a Nikon F100 with a 70-210 zoom, set to 210mm for the hawk, and a 28-105mm set on 50mm for the tree. Both were shot on Kodak 400 print film.