Creating Your Reality with Composite Photography
Lesson 37 of 60
On-Location Sky Capture

Creating Your Reality with Composite Photography
Lesson 37 of 60
On-Location Sky Capture
Lesson Info
On-Location Sky Capture
Alright so a total bonus is that we actually have some really cool clouds, but this is a composite course. So we're going to pretend that the sky sucks and we happen to go to another location where the sky was totally awesome. What we have here is shooting the sky isn't just like taking pictures of random clouds, because if you're gonna be shooting a horizon line, like we just did for our background piece. We want to make sure that the clouds and the sky are gonna match up with it. So if we took pictures of the sky straight up and then used that to replace the sky on a horizon like landscape shot. It's not gonna make any sense. So we wanna make sure that we shoot the sky with the right perspective and a similar camera lens. Similar aperture, everything that's gonna make sense. So it's once again shooting for more options so you have the information to make your composite as believable as possible. That's photographing skies. I will actually run out where I live. We get incredible storm...
s in summer. So we have amazing skies that happen a lot. So I'm very thankful that my camera is quite weatherproof, because I'll be out there and just soaked. From head to toe because the rains just coming down. Hiding under trees so I don't get hit by lightning photographing these incredible storm clouds. Yeah, I like photographing skies. I think that's actually one of my favorite things. You can just sit there and wait, and the clouds are gonna move. You want the time lapse with the sky moving. You just sit there and you can photograph, you know, 500 gigs of skies in an afternoon just by hanging out. So, it's kind of fun.
Class Description
With the right Adobe® Photoshop® know-how and studio shoot experience, you can merge fact and fiction into a reality that lives up to your imagination. Renee Robyn has made a career of turning everyday photos from her travels into eye-catching images. Robyn will teach you how to add people and other elements to your existing landscape photos using ethereal custom effects.
In this class you’ll learn:
- How to choose or set up a shoot for your background image
- How to direct posing during a shoot, and work with directional light in-studio to make your subject fit into the background image
- How to composite your subject into your image using Photoshop
Photo compositing allows you to breathe interesting ideas into your photos. Open your hard drive, walk into your memory, and turn past experiences into fantastic new realities.
Lessons
- Class Introduction
- Why You Should Sketch Your Composite
- What to Look for in Your Background
- Posing Your Model
- Communicate with Your Team
- Elements of Compositing
- Learning from Failure & Criticism
- On-Location Safety Tips
- How to Nail the Right Perspective for Your Composite Photo
- Gauging Light & Exposure On-Location
- On-Location Posing
- Cliff Shoot Location Final Thoughts
- Tips for Culling Images
- Culling Images Q&A
- Preparing Your Image for Composite
- Composite Image Cleanup
- Adding Background Image to Composite
- The Difference Between Flow & Opacity
- Composite Sky Elements
- Using Curves to Color Match
- Adding Atmospheric Depth to Image
- Using Color Efex Pro to Manipulate Color
- Using the Liquify Tool
- Color Theory & Monitor Calibration
- Adding Smoke Layer to Image
- Selective Sharpening
- Crop Your Image
- Goal Setting for Digital Artists
- Review of Location Composite
- Understand Angle & Height for Your Base Plate Image
- Base Plate Focus Point
- Base Plate Lighting Tips
- How to Use a Stand-In for Base Plate Image
- Capture On-Location Base Plate Image
- Student Positioning Demo
- Base Plate Sketching
- On-Location Sky Capture
- What to Look for in a Base Plate Model
- Building Composite Model Lighting
- Composite Model Test Shots for Angle Matching
- Composite Model Shoot: The Art of Fabric Throwing
- Composite Model Shoot: Working with Hair
- Composite Model Shoot: Posing Techniques
- Composite Test with Final Shot
- Lighting Setup Overview
- Culling Model Shoot Images
- Adjusting Skintone Colors
- Merging Background with Model
- How to Mask Hair
- Creating a Layer Mask with the Brush Tool
- Creating Shadow Layers
- Removing Visual Distractions with Stamp Tool
- Replacing Sky with Layer Mask
- Drawing Hair Strands and Atmospheric Depth
- Creating Contrast in Your Composite
- Adding Atmospheric Elements
- Using Particle Shop
- Selective Color Adjustments
- Cropping, Sharpening, & Final Touches
- Closing Thoughts
Reviews
Dino Maez
i have to say, the class was AMAZING! in every way from the tricks and technique's of mastering this art form to the personalized attention given by Renee. through the class you are able to learn information that would normally take the average person years of trial and error. Renee gives you the gift of benefitting from her her experiences and what she has learned THE HARD WAY! Renee is an outstanding instructor full of passion for what she does, and with a strong desire to not only improve the art, but more importantly, pay it forward, by sharing her knowledge with others. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the event in person, truly a once in a lifetime experience for me, the staff at creative live were THE BEST! they are helpful in every way and really made this event something special, i can't say enough about the experience i had and would highly recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to go down for a class, it will be an experience that you will never forget. but the best part of creative live is that wether you are there in person or wether you are watching from the comfort of your own home, you are involved in the class in REAL TIME, you have the ear and attention of the skilled artist giving the instruction, being there myself i can tell you that Renee was regularly given questions and comments from the viewers via the creative live staff and she would respond to them as they came, in that way you are very much apart of the class you are never left without getting that personalized attention of an amazing artist or that specific question you have answered, and even better you have the option to purchase the class and have it as a constant resource in your tool kit that you can refer back to at any point that you need a refresher or want to recall that special technique that was demonstrated. thank you thank you to renee and all the staff at creative live you have a life long member in me. and i would recomend that everyone take advantage of this valuable resource dino maez
Sheldon Carvalho
Awesome class. I've been following Renee for a very long time. I love her work and to finally see her work and get an image done from start to finish was quite something.. I love the way she sees things and the way she treats her work and all fellow creative. I would recommend this to everyone interested in getting into composting. Looking forward to creating and making my own art work. But it now :) Have fun creating. :)
Tristan Wilhelm
Very good class. I enjoyed the very friendly, approachable and quirky style Renee teaches with. I did feel, as others have said that she could get off on bunny trails and tell stories and I was glad for Creative Live's option to speed up the video. But great tips and it was extremely helpful watching it how she would do it. Thank you much Renee, and also, I'm a PC user that unites with you.