Photo Compositing

Landscapes (and interiors, too) are often composites of two or more images. That’s because movement, the angle and intensity of light, depth of focus, and nearby/distant objects come into play. Let’s take a look at how.

spray mountains sunset
Looking southward, the setting sun’s golden light shines on the tops of the mountain range from the west, but shines on the clouds from the east, causing an interesting (still beautiful) but unnatural effect. Fail.
setting sun on mountains, spray lake Alberta
The setting sun beautifully lights both the tops of the mountain range and the clouds from the west. This 2-image version is more accurate, allowing additional dark sky at the top to frame the mountains beautifully. Pass.
slippery slope original
Original mountains image
original aurora image
Original aurora image
aurora over mountains at sunset
Composite Image

Compositing offers opportunities to be creative.

Creating art from otherwise lacklustre photos can lead to some fun and completely unintended outcomes.

composite foreground
foreground
composite trees
trees
Destination Unknown
Composite: Destination: Unknown
forgetmenot reflection
Pond Foreground (20 sec)
deep milky
Milky Way Sky (900 sec)
milky-blue-sky-water
Final Composite Image

Compositing with motion or video offers even opportunities to be creative.

Starting with original photos, generative fill in Photoshop was used to paint larger scenes.

The Aurora Borealis originally captured over open winter prairies has it’s foreground replaced with a pond and sky extended.

Evergreen trees and a rock-studded stream added to a photograph of Upper Junction Falls near Turner Valley AB

First, watch closely as this abandoned farmhouse from SE Saskatchewan is transformed into a haunted house, then an old farmstead scene is created, all in the dark of night, of course.

A rainbow over Dry Island Provincial Park and the open prairies of central Alberta gains a lake and very dramatic skies.

Technical aspects of these images.

Shot in RAW format (NEF), images are edited and composited in Photoshop. Videos are created with Quicktime and iMovie.