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Changing Backgrounds and Light

Lesson 5 from: FAST CLASS: Fine Art Compositing

Brooke Shaden

Changing Backgrounds and Light

Lesson 5 from: FAST CLASS: Fine Art Compositing

Brooke Shaden

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Lesson Info

5. Changing Backgrounds and Light

Lesson Info

Changing Backgrounds and Light

let's talk about changing backgrounds. So giving the picture atmosphere. That is one of the reasons why I would move somebody to a different background. That is what I did in both of these instances, and in this case, I was unable to shoot somebody in that location. That was Alaska. I was not getting in that water. I mean, it's not gonna happen. Not to mention I can't walk on water, So that's also a problem. So I went ahead and I moved each of these subjects to a new background. I know that's a really creepy picture, but okay, so way have the before picture in my bedroom just on a white wall. Simple, simple. I did that because I loved the direction of the light that was coming through the window. It was soft, yet I could make it more dynamic leader if I wanted to. Okay, no more head. And then we have a normal All right, though that's were just skipping right past that. We don't need to talk about that at length. And, uh, let's see. So now I'm going to move myself. So here is the backdr...

op that I chose Did the backdrop look like that to begin with? No, I mean, what What is this? Nothing. Looks like that in the background of anything. Well, not in my life. It's way more complicated than that. There was a mountain right there. So I just painted that out. Chose this color because I felt like it was a really neutral background that I could work with dis saturated everything because that's very pink. I didn't want my skin to be very pink to match it, so I made it match. My skin popped myself right in there. So I put myself in there, and what I loved about it was the light on my body. I started to change the light on the rocks a little bit, so that would match a little bit better than it had more of a direction. And this is my layer mask of just cutting myself out. So I just used away a mask for that. Yeah, that's that's how my head looks all the time. It's like a little war. I don't know what that is, but okay, so I started adding a few clouds in the background. Really, really subtle. Started changing the whiting on those rocks. So in general, on this I wasn't just lassoing the whole thing and thing that needs to be brighter because it didn't. What needed to be brighter were very specific points of these rocks. Then it looked like the light was coming from a certain direction. So for this one, I started building. So this was the entire frame, and that was the first picture that I started with. Now I shot this at, like noon. It was like Hi, son, not good lighting. But the great thing about lighting like this, if you're looking in a flat object, it's kind of okay because you could just dole the exposure down. So instead of the light being directional, say, at 2 p.m. Where it's kind of like really harshly hitting somebody, I was just photographing the flat lake and the mountains in the background, which meant that the whole thing was kind of flat. So when I put this all together and I start stitching this, you can see that it's still kind of looks like it's bright. You can kind of tell, but it's noon. But I think in the final picture you can't tell it all at least like I mean, that was my goal. So they're reversing this picture, and I ended up to saturating at a little bit and doling it down. Now I don't fit their like It doesn't look right yet I just That was the initial cut out. I photographed myself at my house after the fact I then put myself in this background. Then I shot this background for this image. So I knew where to focus. I knew where I wanted my body to be in all of that. But then I started adding dress on. So I did this all of my house, still just photographing that fabric, trying to put it on there. Okay. And then we have this edition of the clouds, and that's what really helps this picture. So if I take just one step back also the hair you know, hair is a really important part, Dio. But here it's still I would say that now we've achieved this sort of overcast look with the whiting. But then when you see clouds coming, you don't even question it. You're just like, Well, maybe you dio just tell me because honestly, you won't offend me, but But I look at this and I say, Oh, there are clouds. Must be stormy, like it just just just how I think so, because of doing the light and adding those clouds and it kind of worked out all right. And then I faded that dress because I didn't want there to be a harsh line on the dress. It was kind of awkward looking, and I didn't want to create shadows and stuff, so I just faded it into the water and then ended there.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Favorite Photoshop Tools
Lighting Effects
Adorama Gear Guide
Logic Checklist
Must Have Shots
Practice Files - Building a Dress
Practice Files - Cutting out Hair from Background
Practice Files - Levitation
Practice Files - Swapping Hand

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