FAQ - How I Made My Dream World

I know I promised I would be posting the rest of the series of my conceptual shoot, but believe it or not I've tried doing a dozen times already and for some reason my computer seems to get cranky EVERY single time I try to save specifically those files only in JPEG.  Anyway, I can't wait to share it with you all besides an awesome fashion shoot I did while in Brazil--coming soon!

Back to business, I've been wanting to break apart my dream world composite, more as a proof to myself that I can pretend to be C.J. Burton occasionally. ;) 

Basically, I used three different main elements for my final image:

A picture of a girl

A picture of the ice cream (to be the ice cream tree)

A picture of a perfectly shaped drop of ice cream (which took a few trials)

 The secret to making your own composite image and make it look realistic (as much illustrative as it may be--like mine here) are the following variables:

1. Perspective
2. Lighting
3. Grain/Noise
4. Edges

Perspective: It's rather obvious when the elements of a composite were not captured from the same angle. Not how the images I used where taken from an "above" angle. Making sure the images were taken from the right angle is key to a realistic optical illusion.

Lighting: I believe this is one of the most important variable for a realistic composite image. Make sure the direction, intensity and color of the light is the same for all elements of your final product.  Don't forget that when I say "color of the light" I mean the type of lighting--natural, artificial or both. These different types of light give off different washes of color, and when mixed with another kind of light (including natural light) this will make your color correcting trickier. Moreover, the use of shadows greatly benefits the "reality" of the composite.

Grain (for film) or noise (for digital) can also interfere with how real your composite may look. You might be thinking how, but the reason is the following: sometimes the resolution and amount of noise in a certain element of the composite may be different than another one. Imagine if the ice cream tree wasn't as sharp as the little girl? Or if an image had been originally darker than the other and when exposed further it showed random colorful pixels all over the place? This is the type of noise you want to get rid off in any image.

Finally, edges, when closely looked at may give in that the image is not "real". When selecting the edges of a subject, remember that optically in real life edges get slightly softer, therefore remember to [almost] always feather it about .5-1%. Photoshop has great selection tools, including the "Refine Edge" option, included in the later versions of Ps.

So those are the tips I have for making your own composite and the basic explanation of how I made my very first, entitled "Where Ice Cream Grows on Trees". 

The final image: "Where Ice Cream Grows on Trees"