Be Enchanted Follow Me...

Yesterday I posted a behind the scenes look at my self portrait process, including a time lapse video and some unedited images, and the terrible rejects! You can check it out here:
https://steemit.com/photography/@wildempress/behind-the-scenes-with-a-self-portrait-photographer-video

That one shoot was kind of a two in one. I took close up shots of my hair blowing around for submission to a stock agency for the potential use on book covers, you can see those results here
https://steemit.com/photography/@wildempress/beautiful-self-portrait-photography

I also pulled back and took full body shots for composite images. A composite image is the combination of multiple images in Photoshop to create one seamless image. Unlike a collage, you want the final result to look like it was taken together. I mention how shooting my lighter skin, lighter colored clothing and light hair on a dark background is key to cutting out my shape on Photoshop.

As you can see the picture on its own is not amazing, however it is all I needed!

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I keep a collection of images on my computer to use over and over again in composite photography. I have files of landscape imagery I can use for background as well as elements such as the butterflies. These items get used over and over again in different images. If you plan on starting a journey in composite photography, photograph everything, and if its something that needs to be cut out, put it on a very contrasting background. I may have shot myself on a dark background, but the butterfly is shot on a white background.

Lots of people use green screen, and while it can be helpful I don't find it necessary, and I actually did not enjoy the extra step of having to remove reflective green tones from my subject.

Putting it all together in Photoshop takes practice, I also use a wacom tablet for editing, which makes the process easier. A wacom tablet is a electronic pad and pen so that when you are editing it is like drawing. I bought a medium sized one at my local electronics store (best buy) for around 200$ and it was well worth the investment for doing this type of work. Maybe one day I will make a whole post about it if anyone is interested?

I am unofficially calling this piece "Follow me to Fillory" Because I am a little bit of a The Magicians fan.
If you don't know what that is, it's a tv series on SyFy that is based on the book series of the same name by Lev Grossman.
I'm a bit of a fantasy genre nerd, always have been! Fantasy is one of my biggest artistic influences.

But I am always intrigued by what other people find inspiring, so tell me about your preferred genres and why you love them!!
If you want to see more fantasy, photography, paintings, self portraiture, composite work, than I am your gal! I am always makin' magic!