Fine Art Compositing

Lesson 42 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

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42. Fine Art Compositing

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Yours is a Story Worth Telling

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Fine Art Compositing

We are talking about compositing and a little bit of set design, but we're gonna do it really, really practically now, because so far, we have done things a little bit more on the computer just showing examples, and now we actually get to take some pictures, and we got some really fun setups today that we'll see how they go when we get to edit them. I never know exactly, because how can anyone know exactly how something is going to go in editing. I definitely don't. So, we've got some fun things to do, but first I wanna talk about exactly how I'm approaching this setup, and why I've chosen to talk specifically about these things. So, one of the things is compositing, that being taking a picture, taking another picture, and then combining those two images later on in posts, and the other one is set design, which I've chosen to talk about just slightly during this segment because of the way that you have to understand set design principles to make an image look good. That's just a given,...

because that's what we do is we place certain objects in certain ways, we find certain objects in certain ways, and we choose to photograph it, because it already looks good. So that's what we're doing right now is just taking a quick look at compositing and set design, and how do those things fit together, how do they mesh, how can we make them look seamless. So, first things first, we're shooting on a budget. I'm pretending that I have no budget, which is not hard to pretend, 'cause I usually have no budget, so it's really easy to imagine, and I don't know about you guys, but I generally try to keep myself to about $10 or less for a photo shoot. If you can imagine, I've already photographed about 800 images in the last nine years of being a photographer. So if I spend a lot of money on every single image, I would probably not have made that money back. There are some people who are spending a thousand dollars per image, and if I had done that, well, that's a lot of money, 800 images times a thousand dollars each. So, I don't do that. I try to keep it really simple. So I've got really simple stuff back here. We have backdrops, and one is gray, one is black, and I'll talk about that in a second, but in reality, I would probably just use bedsheets here. That's totally fine, and I would use duct tape, and I would tape them up on the wall, and that's how I do my shooting most of the time when I'm at home. So, if I'm not out on location, I'm duct taping bedsheets to my wall, ripping the paint off my wall, repainting my wall. You know how it goes, it's probably not actually very practical, but here we have nice backdrops, so this is totally new for me, something that I don't usually get to work with, but it's even better than bed sheets in a way, because it's super smooth. So we've got these seamless, smooth backdrops. I think they're actually called seamless backdrops. Does that sound right? I don't really know. It just sounds familiar, and it's good, because they have no texture, and they don't have any seams in them, and that's perfect for compositing, because the more you have in the background, the more clutter, the less easy it's going to be to cut somebody off of that background. Maybe you guys have already had the experience of shooting somebody, let's say, in a forest, and you get that image home, and you're like, oh, I wish that I hadn't shot that at that location. It could have been a lot better, so you try to cut someone out, and then their hair is brown, and the trees are brown, and you can't decide what's a hair and what's a leaf, and then suddenly you're just stressed about it, and there's nothing you can do. So we're trying to avoid that right now by planning ahead, and trying to figure out exactly what we want to capture, so we can then maybe move somebody to a different background.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Guided Daydream & Writing Exercises Workbook (Lessons 1-11)

Creating an Original Narrative Workbook (Lessons 12-18)

Finding Your Target Audience Workbook (Lessons 19-27)

Planning Your Series Workbook (Lessons 28-34)

Set Design Workbook (Lessons 35-41)

Compositing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 42-49)

Editing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 50-55)

Location Scouting Workbook (Lessons 56-60)

Stock Image Downloads for Practice (Lessons 61-72)

Organizing Your Portfolio Workbook (Lessons 77-81)

Pricing & Editioning Your Work Workbook (Lessons 82-89)

Writing Contracts & Licensing Images Workbook (Lessons 90-98)

Gallery Best Practices (Lessons 99-106)

Pitch Package Workbook (Lessons 107-111)

Writing Your Brand Workbook (Lessons 112-117)

Marketing Workbook (Lessons 118-122)

Social Media Workbook (Lessons 123-127)

Printing Methods Checklist (Lessons 128-133)

Self Critique Workbook (Lessons 134-137)

Bonus Materials Guide

Syllabus

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Brooke Shaden

Brooke explores the darkness and light in people, and her work looks at that juxtaposition. As a self-portrait artist, she photographs herself and becomes the characters of dreams inspired by a childhood of intense imagination and fear.

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topics covered in this class

Fine Art Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

April S.

I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.

Ron Landis

I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.

Angel Ricci

When the title says comprehensive, it means comprehensive! I loved every part of this course. It's inspirational, motivating, and insightful towards creating art work. Even if you are not necessarily considering a fine art specialty, the concepts discussed in this course are applicable to many areas! I find this super useful as a videographer and photographer and look to apply all of these exercises and concepts for my personal and business work moving forward. It is lengthy, but you will not regret a single minute. Brooke Shaden is an amazing artist and educator. I recommend keeping up with her work, presentations, and any future courses that may come in the future.

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Fine Art Compositing

Fine Art Compositing

Lesson Info

42. Fine Art Compositing

Lessons

Class Introduction

Storytelling & Ideas

Universal Symbols in Stories

Create Interactive Characters

The Story is in The Details

Giving Your Audience Feelings

Guided Daydream Exercise

Elements of Imagery

The Death Scenario

Associations with Objects

Three Writing Exercises

Connection Through Art

Break Through Imposter Syndrome

Layering Inspiration

Creating an Original Narrative

Analyze an Image

Translate Emotion into Images

Finding Parts in Images

Finding Your Target Audience

Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?

Create a Series That Targets Your Audience

Formatting Your Work

Additional Materials to Attract Clients

Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?

How to Make Money from Your Target Audience

Circle of Focus

The Pillars of Branding

Planning Your Photoshoot

Choose Every Element for The Series

Write a Descriptive Paragraph

Sketch Your Ideas

Choose Your Gear

How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations

What Tells a Story in a Series?

Set Design Overview

Color Theory

Lighting for the Scene

Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design

Locations

Subject Within the Scene

Set Design Arrangement

Fine Art Compositing

Plan The Composite Before Shooting

Checklist for Composite Shooting

Analyze Composite Mistakes

Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories

Shoot: Miniature Scene

Editing Workflow Overview

Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress

Edit Details of Images

Add Smoke & Texture

Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite

Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario

Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot

Self Portrait Test Shoots

Shoot for Edit

Shoot Extra Stock Images

Practice the Shoot

Introduction to Shooting Photo Series

Shoot: Vine Image

Shoot: Sand Image

Shoot: End Table Image

Shoot: Bed Image

Shoot: Wall Paper Image

Shoot: Chair Image

Shoot: Mirror Image

Shoot: Moss Image

Shoot: Tree Image

Shoot: Fish Tank Image

Shoot: Feather Image

View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing

Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion