Compositing is a problem-solving tool and an extension to my photography vision. It adds layers to the idea and helps me be more creative. There are different reasons why you might want to use compositing in your work. Here are some of the reasons why I create composites.
Let me begin with the premise that no fine art ideas — whether surreal, conceptual photography, or from a personal place of exploration — begin with editing. Like all art pieces or even pure photographs, editing is only as good as the original image and concept, as long as it is shot correctly with the proper forethought and attention to detail.
The bottom line is whether you’re photographing for black & white images or color, learn the difference between an f-stop and a bus stop, print and frame your work, and look at life in shades of gray, not hard and fast rules.
There are a number of ways you can create contrast in the studio. I love to use multiple lights, sometimes with hard modifiers, and then refine the look with negative and positive fill to create a full range of tones and make my images pop.
Backdrops usually aren’t cheap. Good ones definitely aren’t. The costs can really go uphill if you’re adding several colors and styles to your arsenal. You’re gonna need something dark, and something bright! Maybe something with a floral pattern, and of course one with an old masters pattern.
We often use black & white photography as a method for focusing on the emotion in an image. In fact, there are only two reasons that we will convert an image to black & white. Both have to do with eliminating distractions.
Looking back over my career for the last 20 years, there is a distinct line of when my work went from predominantly black & white to taking an immediate turn to color. It happened when I captured that first medium format digital image in 2004 and I never looked back.
Here are five commonly used video lighting scenarios that you should know if you’re making any sort of film. I’ll admit these are over-simplifications because there are many ways to do each of these setups.
Now is the time to decide. Are you going to fight for your business and livelihood or are you going to throw in the towel? I hope this has helped you in some way to understand you are not in this alone and there is a path forward. Don’t ever give up!
You hear the notification from your email and… Yes! You have a new booking for your studio. You encourage your potential client into an actual paying client… Now, how do you take a client that’s nervous and relax them for their badass session?
