Hooked on composites

Here is another composite which combines a studio shot with a shot taken out-and-about. I am getting quite ‘hooked’ on doing these composites because with each one I am learning a little bit more about:

• Planning the concept of the composite beforehand
• Taking the studio shot in a way that will make the selection easier to cut out in post-processing.
• Finding a background that complements the studio shot in respect to lighting & perspective.
• Making the selection of the studio shot in post-processing such that it isn’t obviously cut-out when I remove the original background.
• Adding a new background and blending it in.

Quite what the commercial rewards are for this type of shot remains to be seen but at least I’m enjoying the ride.

The hook & chain has been hanging in one of our sheds for many years and probably came from an old industrial tramway that ran behind our property between a small clay mine and the nearby Blists Hill brickworks. It looks as if it may have been used to connect the narrow-gauge goods wagons to each other which I’m assuming were horse-drawn. The site of the Blists Hill brickworks is now a Victorian Town museum which, coincidentally, was where I took the background shot during my ‘Day at the museum‘.

I hung the hook & chain to an overhead wire in front of my 18% neutral-grey collapsible background. It was an easy shot to take lit either side by two strobes each fitted with 28″ x 20″ softbox. The selection was made in post-processing and an image of a re-creation of a Victorian iron foundry was processed as the background.