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Compositing...worlds apart!
Photoshop
The funny thing behind this photo was the mess surrounding it. This shot was originally supposed to be in studio, but because of some problems with the studio time etc, I had to improvise. This photo ended up being taken just across the street from the studio in some really strong open shade.  So a few weeks later, and 2000 miles away in Utah, I shot this skate park, a few miles from where I live. I knew I had to get the shot in the morning, because it is a pretty large skate park, and trying to light it at night, would have required massive amounts of light... as the park itself is not lit. I also knew I could not shoot in the afternoon, as it would be swarming with kids. When I pulled up it was about nine o'clock. I shot from a few angles, but mostly from this final angle at different zoom lengths. There were just a few kids there at that time, so I would wait until they were mostly out of the shot before clicking the shutter. When I felt I had something I wanted, I pulled my MacBook Pro out in the shade to see what I had to work with. It's interesting to me, as I seem to always feel that the shot is not working... and yet, in the end, it is exactly what I had in my mind.  The light in this image was key, as I believe it set the mood for the entire shot. At first, I was going to shoot the light ploes at the University down the street, as they have the big "stadium lights", but as I was driving on my way to shoot them, I passed these lights at a fire-station, just next door from the skate park. They seemed perfect for the shot, as I wanted lots of character, and the huge stadium lights would have been too big, and overpowering for the final shot. Anyone who shoots composites knows one of the hardest parts is keeping perspective and focus. This is where good LCD's come in handy. The part that was giving me the most trouble with the lights, was shooting them at the angles they would need to be at, when I placed them into the final scene.   My work flow is about 50/50 right now, as far as actual photography, and post-production, so it is always fun to see the picture unfolding as I am working on it. This is an early screen shot of the skate park, after I carefully masked out the background and applied levels and curves adjustments to the actual park. I also ended up horizontally flipping the entire skate park to match the shadows of the model.  This next shot is where I added the light poles. It was crucial that they followed the perspective, and shadows of the scene. Because everything was shot during the day, I also had to "turn on the lights", for each pole, to create the light-bulb glow that would have been there. I also had to do lots of erasing and cloning to the bases of each pole because in the original, some were covered by bushes etc. I chose to create more distance and overall size to the park as well, by simply making the far back light pole significantly smaller. The stairs next to it -in reality- are only two feet tall.    Don't let the simplicity of the picture fool you, as there was a lot of work done to get the look just the way I wanted it. I however, have to try and sum it up for the sake of time. So this screenshot shows quite a difference, though some changes are subtle. I added the skater to start getting a better visual overall, and also added the effect of light hitting the ground under each light pole. I made the decision to not have a light pole next to the model as I thought it would take away from him. Instead, hinting at that fact, I also lit the ground underneath him -slightly offset- to help the viewer assume there is a pole just out of frame.  This next shot is more or less dodging and burning, and a good amount at that! I also added some rough shadowing under the skaters feet, to start eliminating the "hovering" look.  Many layers were used in addition to just the actual composite layers in this project. This gives me 100% control in my workflow... which, as you can see, is very important to me. This is how, for instance, I was able to keep the selections of cement under each light, virtually untouched from the rest of the process, thus adding to the allusion of light effecting the ground naturally. In this final screenshot I added the "light beams", coming from each light bulb. I also went over the entire image, fine-tuning every part of it. As a last step I pulled out some of the saturation from the skater layer, and also lowered the opacity of the light beams in the background. Finished!  I have wonderfully vivid memories of growing up near the beach, in southern California. Sometimes, late at night, I would see this "hazy" lighting effect at a grocery store, as the weather moved in off the ocean. The temperature would drop, and the night air -heavy with moisture- would muffle the city noises, creating an almost "eerie" atmosphere. And that is exactly what I wanted for this shot... absolute silence, and the feeling of being completely alone. Let me know if it worked! REPLIES
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