1: Which Comes First, the Background or the Subject?
I get asked this one all the time. Unfortunately, it’s not a definite answer one way or the other. For me, I’d say that 70% of the time the subject usually comes first.
2: Build a Background Image Library
Building on the previous tip of using stock photography is the use of backgrounds. If you’re compositing, the background is almost as important as anything else. And if you don’t have to go to a stock photo website to get one, that makes it all that much better. I know you always hear, “Keep your camera with you at all times.” But, before I started compositing, I never did. If I wasn’t someplace spectacular, or in good light, I just didn’t bother. But, since I’ve started creating more composites, I find that no matter where I am, it has potential. I literally take photos of everything, from clouds, to baseball fields, to streetlights, cars, doors, boats, old warehouses, alleyways, you name it. Anything you think you may one day use (and even if you think you’ll never use it) becomes fair game for a photo. Why not, right? That click doesn’t cost anything, so shoot it.
Once you start shooting backgrounds, make sure you organize them. I’ve created a Backgrounds folder, and in that folder are categorized subfolders. You don’t have to have an official cataloging system—it doesn’t have to be that sophisticated. As your collection grows, though, you may want to consider a program like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (which I use for most of my photography), with all of its keywords and collections, but as you’re starting out, keep it simple.
3: Selections in Photoshop CS5 Rock!
Everything you do in compositing is based around one key part of Photoshop—selections. Without a good, clean selection, your composites will never look professional. The selection technology in Photoshop CS5 absolutely rocks! Seriously, it has literally shaved hours off of compositing work and it has even made compositing attainable to people that simply didn’t have the patience or time to try it before. It’s leaps and bounds ahead of where it ever was before Photoshop CS5. So, the first secret is to make sure you have Photoshop CS5, if you want to make life easier. It all but eliminates the need for the old selection tricks using Channels, Calculations, and the Pen tool.
4: Lighting is Everything
Lighting is the key to compositing, and not only makes selections easier, but also makes the composite look real. You can learn all of the selection tricks and Photoshop effects you want, but if the lighting on your subject vs. the lighting in the envi ronment in which you place them is different, it’ll never really look real. If you know the background up front, then you can plan ahead with your lighting. If not, using a setup similar to mine below gives you a lot of options later in Photoshop.
Most of the time, I use three lights: one main light up front to fill in the face and clothing, and then two lights on the sides that add a nice edge/accent light on the sides of the person. With two to three lights, you drastically increase your odds of getting a good selection from the background, as well as a head start to making the person fit into just about any other background. As for the back drop, generally the lighter the better.
The Main Light: The main light source here is what fills in the face and front of the subject. The modifier you put on this light pretty much controls the mood of the light on your subject. I typically use one of two modifiers: The first is a beauty dish with diffusion material over it. It gives a slightly more contrasty look to your subject, because it produces harsher shadows on the face. The other is a small-to-medium-sized Rotalux Deep Octa soft box (as seen in the second setup photo), which I tend to use more when photographing families and kids. It tends to give a softer, flatter look vs. the contrasty look the beauty dish gives.
Edge Lights: This is the key to this lighting setup. The edge lights produce a fairly hard light right along the edge of the person. I’ve seen people go from using no lighting modifier at all on these (just the bare bulb) to using large softboxes. For me, the size of the modifier is important here, but not critical. The most critical part is that there is some sort of edge light on the person. Don’t over think this part—just make sure there’s a light. Personally, I like to use a long strip bank softbox to get good coverage, from the subject’s face all the way down the side of their body. But, a small-to-medium-sized softbox, if you don’t have a strip light, can work really well, too. You’ll also notice that I use grids on these edge lights to help control the light and focus it where I want. Remember, we just want a hard edge light along the side of them. We don’t necessarily want that light to wrap around them and mix with the light coming from the front. With a grid, we can direct the light exactly where we want and get more controlled results.
Not every composite is going to start in the studio or be lit using a studio/off-camera lighting setup. Natural-light portraits can work for lots of composites, but you’re limited by that light. If you photograph someone in broad daylight at noon, you’re probably not going to be able to place them in a dark alley, and make it look real. You’ll be able to place them on another background that was shot at noon, but that’s about it.
5: Don't Kill Yourself on a Selection if the Detail Isn't Important
Don’t waste time where it isn’t needed or won’t be noticed.
6: Don't Include the Feet
This is another great secret in the compositing world. If at all possible, create the image so that you don’t have the feet included. You’d be surprised at how much feeling, movement, and mood you can create in an image, even if you don’t see the person’s entire body. Again, keep an eye out for movie posters and magazine ads, and you’ll see that most of the images that seem like they must be a composite don’t even have the people’s feet in them.
7: Color Gives Everything a Common Theme
One of the hardest parts of compositing is not necessarily putting various photos together. As you’ll see, it’s not really hard to select a person from one background and place them on another. What is more difficult is getting both the person and the background to share the same overall mood and color temperature. Color really does tie everything together, and it gives everything in the photo a common link.
8: The Compositor's Secret Weapon: Plug-ins
Let me be the first to say that I know plug-ins aren’t cheap. And I hate it when I read something that talks about all these third-party plug-ins you need in order to complete a tutorial. As if Photoshop isn’t expensive enough already, along with all the photography gear you need to take the photos. You’ll find that the free way has two issues, though: (1) it typically doesn’t look as good as the effect we get with the plug-in and (2) it takes much longer than it does with a plug-in. If you’re into compositing, plug-ins will make your life easier, plain and simple.
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