Compositing Tips

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.

Compositing should keep light direction in mind.

Night sky over mountains
Compositing is a commonly utilized technique when using star trackers, as the long exposures required for space photography would blur the mountains. Matching colour and light intensity is challenging. Fail.
composigte deep sky and setting sun
Matching the colouring helps the images blend. Dimming the stars to better match the brightness of the foreground also reveals more of the milky way, adding interest and enhancing the scale. Pass.

Foreground objects (even the size of mountains) should match well. A tripod for long exposures is critical.

Technical aspects of these images.

Shot in RAW format (NEF), images are edited and composited in Photoshop.