Photographing for Compositing in Photoshop

Learn the creative and technical considerations involved in photographing with compositing in mind.

Introduction

• Welcome
• About the course
• Using the exercise files

1. The Compositing Mindset

• Types of composites
• Seeing compositing possibilities
• Creating a simple blend-mode composite
• Using blend modes to create a photorealistic composite

2. The Compositing Image Library

• Lightroom collections and keywords for a composite library
• Discussing skies, water, and landscape elements for compositing
• Recognizing and photographing symbolic elements

3. Photographing the Location Elements

• Introduction: Location shooting for composites
• Planning the shot
• Getting the shot
• Shooting additional angles
• Understanding lighting, perspective, and camera angle to aid the composite
• Using a model in the composite
• Using props: Shooting a glass bottle

4. Photographing the Studio Elements

• Introduction: Shooting in a studio for composites
• Matching studio lighting to location shots and lighting the background for masking
• Matching perspective, angle, and focal length
• Using location elements in the studio
• Shooting tethered in Lightroom for quick rough drafts
• Creating a studio mock-up composite in Photoshop

5. Composite Project: Trapped in a Bottle

• Using the Quick Selection tool to select the subject
• Perfecting the selection with Select and Mask
• Using Smart Objects for nondestructive transformations
• Refinements with blend modes and adjustment layers
• Finishing touches

6. Composite Project: Portrait

• Masking the subject
• Editing a layer mask
• Adding sand detail from another image
• Finishing touches

Composite Project: Man in a Seascape

• Combining two seascape images
• Modifying rocks for a realistic look
• Final mask touch-ups
• Using adjustment layers to create tonal styling

Conclusion

• Next steps