I’m not big on post processing my images. Nothing wrong with those who do, it is just not my style. And also, I have a very short attention span and often get distracted by things while working… I call it the “shiny object” syndrome. “Oh LOOK! A shiny object!” and then I run off to check out the shiny object.
So with a wonderful bout of slight insomnia last night, I decided to start working on some post processing and montage in photoshop. You are never too old to learn new things, and having different things you can offer a client (or just do for fun) is always a good idea. And knowing how to do it before hand is pretty practical… as compared to telling someone you can, shooting, and then figuring out how it’s going to all work together (yes, I do that too, just don’t tell clients hahaha… kidding… not really…maybe).
I was doing some street shooting not too long ago and came across some street performers doing some flips and acrobatics and decided to snap some images. I pulled out a small series of the big finale flip they did over some people they chose from the audience.
Here is the series of 7 images I took
I know, I know… I didn’t do anything revolutionary with the end montage. I just manually put them all together. Call it a learning experience… and a few hours of work. I’ve always loved seeing composite images like this, so why not try and make one myself?
What did I learn?
- Try not to move to keep your background consistent — As I wasn’t sure where the guy would land, I ended up moving slightly to the left to capture it all. I ended up moving the entire background which led to some annoying fixes. Nothing major, but could of saved time. And plus, near the end, I have part of a guy’s shirt in there.
- Hair is a pain! — This I already knew from regular headshot fixing. Thankfully, this guy had dreads, making it a little bit easier to put together.
- Shoot more than you need to, but use what you have to — One of my shots didn’t make it into the montage. Can you tell which? The reason it’s not in there is that it was hiding the face of the image in the back and I liked the guy’s expression. It’s not just about putting all the images in there, you still need to select which
- Watch those shadows — I had masked out most of the image and forgot to originally keep the shadow from the first photo. Shadows are part of the image, be mindful
And the end result?
Thanks for reading! 🙂