I cannot deny I have been pretty stoked about this week's theme. I had been thinking about some composite ideas for a while, usually writing them down for planning purposes, and hunting down the right images to help bring them to fruition. The excitement heightened when the "Fantasy" theme was selected for the week, as I had just put a few images into my "stock" folder that I knew would work with a recent photo I hadn't yet processed.
I have been carefully squirreling away some stock images, whether free or purchased, and filing images I have taken myself into a stock folder. Things like backgrounds, skies, bland/colorless images of my own pets. I had taken a photo of our cat, Barney, this past week, when he followed me onto the back patio while I was trying to capture a bluebird photo.
Barney always looks so wistful in his photos, almost like he is thinking of far greater things. In this particular photo, he led me down the path of daydreaming, so I started mulling over what cats might dream about. That is the process that led to my image this week.
First, below, find the three images I used to construct the final one.
I have been carefully squirreling away some stock images, whether free or purchased, and filing images I have taken myself into a stock folder. Things like backgrounds, skies, bland/colorless images of my own pets. I had taken a photo of our cat, Barney, this past week, when he followed me onto the back patio while I was trying to capture a bluebird photo.
Barney always looks so wistful in his photos, almost like he is thinking of far greater things. In this particular photo, he led me down the path of daydreaming, so I started mulling over what cats might dream about. That is the process that led to my image this week.
First, below, find the three images I used to construct the final one.
Barney loves to lay on the patio porch wall, and as you can see (this is the original RAW image with no edits, just converted to JPEG) he is against a pretty bland background, which screams for additions of color. The first thing I did in the editing process, was remove the lines from the vinyl siding behind him. I left the rest of the image intact, and edited it with a blank background.
Since I wanted Barney to be dreaming, I used a sky overlay called "Dotted Sky." I've made it into a JPEG here for you to see, but it really is an overlay which I purchased as part of a series. I had to work it into the scene properly, then edit it to fit my idea.
The image of the fish in a bowl is an adobe stock free image. (Adobe has a huge volume of fish in bowls.) I thought about using a photo with a fish jumping out of the bowl, but knew I would have to change the viewpoint focus in Barney's eyes. I opted for the fish in a bowl so he could appear to be staring at it. I still had to change Barney's eyes somewhat to focus in the correct direction, but not as much as I would have for a jumping fish. The fish in the bowl was the hardest item to work into the scene. I actually experimented with glass bowls and the level of distortion they provided to objects behind them, in order to finalize the placement and editing into the scene.
The final image, which I'm calling "Cat Dream #19" is below.
Since I wanted Barney to be dreaming, I used a sky overlay called "Dotted Sky." I've made it into a JPEG here for you to see, but it really is an overlay which I purchased as part of a series. I had to work it into the scene properly, then edit it to fit my idea.
The image of the fish in a bowl is an adobe stock free image. (Adobe has a huge volume of fish in bowls.) I thought about using a photo with a fish jumping out of the bowl, but knew I would have to change the viewpoint focus in Barney's eyes. I opted for the fish in a bowl so he could appear to be staring at it. I still had to change Barney's eyes somewhat to focus in the correct direction, but not as much as I would have for a jumping fish. The fish in the bowl was the hardest item to work into the scene. I actually experimented with glass bowls and the level of distortion they provided to objects behind them, in order to finalize the placement and editing into the scene.
The final image, which I'm calling "Cat Dream #19" is below.
I had loads of fun working on this! I hope you like it!
I am looking forward to seeing what others have done. Fantasy is a wide open theme, and can be so much fun. Feel free to comment and give me your thoughts on this one. I am relatively new to composites. When I have more time, I will continue with my other ideas and saved stock images.
For those of you who have been following the blog, you know it's time to take a trip around the circle and enjoy other interpretations of the theme. This week start the circle with Cynthia Wood of Pets We Love Photography, serving Toronto and Collingwood, Ontario.
Enjoy!
I am looking forward to seeing what others have done. Fantasy is a wide open theme, and can be so much fun. Feel free to comment and give me your thoughts on this one. I am relatively new to composites. When I have more time, I will continue with my other ideas and saved stock images.
For those of you who have been following the blog, you know it's time to take a trip around the circle and enjoy other interpretations of the theme. This week start the circle with Cynthia Wood of Pets We Love Photography, serving Toronto and Collingwood, Ontario.
Enjoy!
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