Skip to main content

Analyze Composite Mistakes

Lesson 45 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

Analyze Composite Mistakes

Lesson 45 from: Fine Art Photography: The Complete Guide

Brooke Shaden

most popular photo & video

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2000+ more >

Lesson Info

45. Analyze Composite Mistakes

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

19:06
2

Storytelling & Ideas

27:34
3

Universal Symbols in Stories

03:19
4

Create Interactive Characters

02:16
5

The Story is in The Details

04:13
6

Giving Your Audience Feelings

05:49
7

Guided Daydream Exercise

04:20
8

Elements of Imagery

02:19
9

The Death Scenario

01:47
10

Associations with Objects

03:01
11

Three Writing Exercises

06:39
12

Connection Through Art

30:35
13

Break Through Imposter Syndrome

07:40
14

Layering Inspiration

23:13
15

Creating an Original Narrative

07:42
16

Analyze an Image

04:12
17

Translate Emotion into Images

04:31
18

Finding Parts in Images

06:02
19

Finding Your Target Audience

04:05
20

Where Do You Want Your Images to Live?

12:01
21

Create a Series That Targets Your Audience

32:43
22

Formatting Your Work

06:08
23

Additional Materials to Attract Clients

07:24
24

Which Social Media Platforms Will be Useful?

04:17
25

How to Make Money from Your Target Audience

11:27
26

Circle of Focus

07:55
27

The Pillars of Branding

06:18
28

Planning Your Photoshoot

09:05
29

Choose Every Element for The Series

07:38
30

Write a Descriptive Paragraph

09:37
31

Sketch Your Ideas

17:27
32

Choose Your Gear

02:50
33

How to Utilize Costumes, Props & Locations

26:18
34

What Tells a Story in a Series?

13:06
35

Set Design Overview

01:43
36

Color Theory

19:50
37

Lighting for the Scene

12:05
38

Props, Wardrobe & Time Period for Set Design

06:00
39

Locations

04:31
40

Subject Within the Scene

07:26
41

Set Design Arrangement

05:46
42

Fine Art Compositing

03:46
43

Plan The Composite Before Shooting

10:29
44

Checklist for Composite Shooting

18:52
45

Analyze Composite Mistakes

12:11
46

Shoot: Black Backdrop for White Clothing

10:42
47

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Color Clothing

08:36
48

Shoot: Black Backdrop for Accessories

08:17
49

Shoot: Miniature Scene

09:59
50

Editing Workflow Overview

01:57
51

Add Fabric to Make a Big Dress

08:35
52

Edit Details of Images

08:09
53

Add Smoke & Texture

10:47
54

Blend Multiple Images Into One Composite

24:58
55

Put Subject Into a Miniature Scenario

17:55
56

Location Scouting & Test Photoshoot

22:10
57

Self Portrait Test Shoots

22:30
58

Shoot for Edit

04:21
59

Shoot Extra Stock Images

10:01
60

Practice the Shoot

25:07
61

Introduction to Shooting Photo Series

03:33
62

Shoot: Vine Image

10:40
63

Shoot: Sand Image

09:50
64

Shoot: End Table Image

04:59
65

Shoot: Bed Image

06:18
66

Shoot: Wall Paper Image

05:54
67

Shoot: Chair Image

08:02
68

Shoot: Mirror Image

06:57
69

Shoot: Moss Image

05:48
70

Shoot: Tree Image

07:33
71

Shoot: Fish Tank Image

04:09
72

Shoot: Feather Image

09:00
73

View Photo Series for Cohesion & Advanced Compositing

07:35
74

Edit Multiple Images to Show Cohesion

36:55
75

Edit Images with Advanced Compositing

29:33
76

Decide How to Start the Composite

09:35
77

Organize Final Images

21:37
78

Choosing Images for Your Portfolio

08:19
79

Order the Images in Your Portfolio

16:28
80

Why do Some Images Sell More Than Others?

16:03
81

Analyze Student Portfolio Image Order

11:42
82

Framing, Sizing, Editioning & Pricing

02:19
83

Determine Sizes for Prints

16:44
84

How to Choose Paper

13:56
85

How to Choose Editions

07:18
86

Pricing Strategies

18:59
87

How to Present Your Images

13:26
88

Example Pricing Exercise

09:39
89

Print Examples

08:23
90

Licensing, Commissions & Contracts

04:44
91

How to Keep Licensing Organized

06:07
92

How to Prepare Files for Licensing

07:28
93

Pricing Your Licensed Images

12:33
94

Contract Terms for Licensing

12:07
95

Where to Sell Images

04:55
96

Commission Pricing Structure

08:23
97

Contract for Commissions

12:17
98

Questions for a Commission Shoot

08:45
99

Working with Galleries

08:58
100

Benefits of Galleries

07:39
101

Contracts for Galleries

10:32
102

How to Find Galleries

05:22
103

Choose Images to Show

08:53
104

Hanging the Images

03:38
105

Importance of Proofing Prints

08:04
106

Interview with Soren Christensen Gallery

21:59
107

Press Package Overview

04:35
108

Artist Statement for Your Series

18:20
109

Write Your 'About Me' Page

09:04
110

Importance of Your Headshot

03:55
111

Create a Leave Behind & Elevator Pitch

20:19
112

Writing For Fine Art

04:44
113

Define Your Writing Style

14:49
114

Find Your Genre

06:41
115

What Sets You Apart?

02:25
116

Write to Different Audiences

05:10
117

Write for Blogging

39:57
118

Speak About Your Work

14:21
119

Branding for Video

07:37
120

Clearly Define Video Talking Points

14:27
121

Types of Video Content

31:45
122

Interview Practice

13:22
123

Diversifying Social Media Content

22:32
124

Create an Intentional Social Media Persona

24:48
125

Monetize Your Social Media Presence

18:46
126

Social Media Posting Plan

04:01
127

Choose Networks to Use & Invest

02:57
128

Presentation of Final Images

19:13
129

Printing Your Series

09:16
130

How to Work With a Print Lab

13:39
131

Proofing Your Prints

10:11
132

Bad Vs. Good Prints

03:32
133

Find Confidence to Print

10:50
134

Why Critique?

06:55
135

Critiquing Your Own Portfolio

10:39
136

Critique of Brooke's Series

16:18
137

Critique of Student Series

40:07
138

Yours is a Story Worth Telling

02:09

Lesson Info

Analyze Composite Mistakes

So let's just quickly, before we talk about our props and get to shooting, let's go through a couple of images of mine here, that I have, that I think perhaps had some compositing, not errors, 'cause I think I worked through them, but potential pitfalls in these images. We looked at this image already, if you guys remember, it was like that tree stump-looking thing, and then you guys made fun of me, because there was a car in the background. I remember, I don't forget these things, and it was a pretty sad image. So we already liked at this one, so this is a good one to start with in terms of what could have gone wrong in this picture? And that's what I'm asking you. What could have gonna wrong? So if I said to you, right now, pretend you've never seen this picture at all, and I was like, guys, look at this picture. Okay, just take a look at the details. Take a look at the angles. Now go recreate this picture. You have a day. What would you be thinking about? What are the different chec...

klist items that you would need to go through in your head to be able to recreate this picture? So if you wanted to shout them out, or repeat them, and what first runs through your mind if I were to say, break, you have one hour. I just took it from a day to an hour, you know, gotta make you feel really nervous. Okay, you have one hour. What are you gonna do? I love doin' this to people. What are you gonna do? I'm so mean. I would really wanna find a tree. Did it have a lot behind it? Oh yeah, sorry, could you use a mic? That would be awesome. I would really find a tree that didn't have a lot behind it. Yeah, that would be good If it's possible. Yeah, so find a tree that already looks good in its environment. Yeah, yeah, smart thing that I will do next time for sure. (laughs) Yeah. I would photograph my model where I could control the lights so that it would be on her as opposed to behind her. Good, yeah. So controlled lighting in this situation. And it's interesting to note also controlled lighting, because one thing that I showed you when we went through how this image was created, was that obviously there was a tree here and I didn't show you where she was. Oop, I'm touching my print, where she was in relation to the tree. I didn't show you the original image of myself running through the forest, but I photographed myself against this tree. You would think, oh yeah, that makes sense. Of course, you photographed yourself against the tree and it was great for lighting, but what it wasn't good for is the fact that I had to add this black hole behind me. It was not there before. There was just a normal tree there, which was much lighter. I ended up darkening the tree down, but the tree was kind of beige in color, against my beige hair. I'm so beige in this picture, right. I turned my hair a little bit red, but it was beige. So you had a lot of beige going on, and that was my mistake. I remember getting home with this image and thinking, why didn't I just photograph myself against a black backdrop. It would have been so simple, right. Instead of having to cut all along my dress and along the little flowers and everything, it would have been so much easier. So controlled lighting, controlled backdrop, so what else? You guys, you're down to 55 minutes. Yeah, that's how long you have. You don't have much time. Okay, so I've got controlled subject, a cleaner background. What else do you have to consider? For example, do you think it's likely that you're gonna go out and find a tree that looks this cool, with all of these? No, I mean maybe you will, right, like, you know, I go to India every year and every year I feel like I just miraculously do not have my camera where I need to be when I find trees that look just like this. So I don't have very easy access to the roots. So another thing that I'm considering is not just where can I find these things but what angle am I going go photograph them at? Do I need to get down low with them? What angle do I shoot my subject at? What is the main angle that you're getting, first and foremost? So, for example, you might photograph your subject first. That's the first thing that you do. Well that's going to be your standard angle that you're gonna wanna photograph things at, 'cause that's your first shot that you're taking to go in this image. I photographed the tree first. That was my first angle so I photographed myself at that some angle. Then what about the tree roots? And there's always some latitude that you have in Photoshop with perspective shifts, because there is a tool called perspective and you can change the perspective. And that's really great. But the more you change the perspective, or skew or distort your images, the more your pixels are literally stretching in weird directions, so when you go to print an image like this, suddenly you're going to see that, oh, that little tree root that I tried to warp into place has a weird look to it, where all the pixels are sort of stretching in one direction and that is terrible. You can get away with it on the internet generally, where your images are really tiny, and you can't see the details, but not in a print like this. So that's another thing that I'm thinking about. And I would say those are the main things for this image. So if we look at a new picture here, we've go a much simpler image. (blows air) I hate when little things are on my prints. Oh, okay, I got it. Okay! So we've got this image here and I say that it's simpler, although it was an editing challenge as all things are when you having done something before. So if told you, okay now you have 30 minutes, because you guys aren't sweating enough about this. You have 30 minutes and you have to go make this happen. You have to make it look like stuffing is coming out of somebody. I know that this image freaks some people out, but you have to do it, okay. It could be coming out of your arm. It could be coming out of your throat if you're really creepy and distorted, who knows. I think Samantha is, so, yeah. You can do the throat image. So what would you do? What would you go grab? Yeah. Some sort of a pillow that you could put, skin tone around it-- Awesome. Easier to cut out. Exactly, and that was my thought process as well, when I did this image. So I went and found a pillow and I took a knife. I don't know, I just love knives, like just (roars), and anyway, so I opened up this pillow and it had this perfect stuffing in it, and I seemed to match pillows really well with my skin tone, and I opened it up, and it fit perfectly. So, okay, you've all have a pillow, you found the pillow of your dreams, that has just the perfect stuffing in it, and it matches your skin tone, so then how do you photograph it? 'Cause let's say I have a pillowcase, and I've got my pillow and I've got me, and they're two separate images, how are you working with that? Make sure that it's the same angle that you shoot you're model at, essentially. Exactly. So we've got the same angle, which is easy in this situation, because I'm shooting this on my bed, so it's not like, you know, I'm in two separate places or anything like that. The lighting is the same, yep. Oh, I took it from you. I took it from you, I'm sorry. So the lighting is the same, and there's one other thing that I didn't think about when I photographed this, and that is the background, because this whole area here of the image, wherever you see that cut, was the pillowcase, blended into my skin, and I photographed that, just against my wall in the background. My wall is beige. I have a lot of beige going on in my life. This needs to change, just mental note, but the wall was beige and I darkened it later, manually in Photoshop, so this was an almost white wall behind me. And I photograph this pillow on that wall, but then the top of the stuffing had to intersect with my head, which was much darker. I'd wet my hair for this image so that I would have darker hair. So that was a little bit of nightmare because I had all of these little pieces of stuffing sticking out and it was against a white backdrop. So I had to go in, and this is the same thing as the fabric, I just made it up wherever I thought I should cut around the edges 'cause you don't know, right. Like you're not lookin' at that, like, oh clearly you just edited that however, you wanted, no. And I made it fit into this space, and these are the things that need to be thought about ahead of time with compositing, is not just what is the lighting, what is the angle, you know, that kind of thing, but how is this gonna go together? Like I've got a pillowcase, I've got a person. How do they blend? What are the points in which the pillowcase meets my back. What is the point at which the pillowcase will intersect with the wall and my head? All those things I totally forgot to think about that, because it's not there in front of you. Lighting is there in front of you. Perspective, you have to make a choice about that right. You just have to, or you don't and then things don't look very good. But it's still a choice that you're making right there in the moment when you're shooting, but how this intersects with my head is not a choice that you're making in the moment. So it's just something to think about, and then if we just look at this last image, which we've already talked about some. Okay, so now, you have five minutes to make this picture, 'cause we're just upping the ante, right. Okay, so we've already talked about perspective, right, and things like that, and in fact, I often, do you guys have someone that you always show your images to or frequently show your images to when you create? I do that with my husband and it's a bad idea, generally, you know, because there's always gonna be something wrong that I'm too lazy to fix, or whatever the situation is, but I finished this image and he actually had one major problem with this picture, and I wanna know if you guys have the same problem with this picture. If you looked at it and you were like, something is off here. And you know what, you might say something totally different and I'm like, oh shoot, that's also wrong. That's okay too, but does anything pop into your mind as being wrong? And it's okay, you won't offend me. I mean no one's perfect. Yeah. Well one thing, maybe the hair would probably blow much higher in the wind-- like the dress. That's true. I have thought about this many times since then. But that wasn't the thing. But I still agree with you. Lighting on the field as opposed to the very dark skies. Okay, let me give you a hint. It's this area that he's upset about. And I'll tell you, it wasn't what I thought he was gonna say. 'Cause, you know like once you get to know someone, you approach them and you're like, I know, I know what you're gonna say! You don't even have to say it 'cause I get it, but he actually had a problem with the perspective of these clouds on this fabric. Think feeling like it wasn't quite the right perspective. It wasn't shot from the right angle, based on how we're looking at this picture, and that it wasn't quite mapped correctly over the wrinkles of this sheet, and you know, we have our differences, and I'll just move on and I'll be like, look it's already printed, it's done, oh well. And that's just the difference between some people, but still I would argue is an issue in this situation. Well five minutes is up. I hope you guys have made your picture, and I hope that you did not make that mistake that I just made.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Guided Daydream & Writing Exercises Workbook (Lessons 1-11)
Creating an Original Narrative Workbook (Lessons 12-18)
Finding Your Target Audience Workbook (Lessons 19-27)
Planning Your Series Workbook (Lessons 28-34)
Set Design Workbook (Lessons 35-41)
Compositing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 42-49)
Editing Workflow Checklist (Lessons 50-55)
Location Scouting Workbook (Lessons 56-60)
Stock Image Downloads for Practice (Lessons 61-72)
Organizing Your Portfolio Workbook (Lessons 77-81)
Pricing & Editioning Your Work Workbook (Lessons 82-89)
Writing Contracts & Licensing Images Workbook (Lessons 90-98)
Gallery Best Practices (Lessons 99-106)
Pitch Package Workbook (Lessons 107-111)
Writing Your Brand Workbook (Lessons 112-117)
Marketing Workbook (Lessons 118-122)
Social Media Workbook (Lessons 123-127)
Printing Methods Checklist (Lessons 128-133)
Self Critique Workbook (Lessons 134-137)
Bonus Materials Guide
Syllabus
Image Edit Videos

Ratings and Reviews

April S.
 

I tuned in for most of Brooke's lessons in this course and watched some of them more than once as they were rebroadcast. First I want to say that Brooke is a very good instructor. Her easy-going, friendly, down-to-earth, somewhat quirky manner cannot be mistaken for unprofessional. She is very prepared, she speaks well (not a bunch of hemming and hawing), she is thoughtful, she is thorough, she is very relatable and at ease, and she is definitely professional in her presentation. I really thought when I first tuned in that it would mostly be background noise while I was at work, sound to keep me company. Not because I didn't like Brooke but I really didn't think I was into fine art photography nor did I think I cared about the business side of things much. Not now anyhow. I was really wrong. Brooke sparked a deep interest in me to delve into fine art photography, to consider creating images for myself, from my imagination. In fact, I realized that this was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years though I hadn't put a name to it (the idea of creating pre-conceived images based on my own creative goals). I gleaned many little treasures from her about image sizes, working with printers, different types of paper, selling, interacting with galleries, and so much more. I may not need all of what she taught right now because I'm definitely headed in another direction at the moment, but she planted ideas and information in my head that I know will be useful at some point. Things I may not have thought of on my own, but that seed is in my head now so when the time comes, I'll know. I'd really like to buy her course but at the moment, with the holidays right around the corner, it's not in my personal budget. I'm grateful to have caught the live and rebroadcast lessons though, and her course is on my list to own. I think it's a great reference to be consulted over and over again, not watched once and forgotten. Kudos Brooke for really putting together an excellent course.

Ron Landis
 

I'm retired now, but spent decades in the people and training business. Brooke is extraordinary! Even though this course is extremely well organized and she's left nothing unattended, she moves through it with friendly conversational manners and without a sense of it being stilted. It's as though we are all her friends, not students, as she shares her heart and passion with us. What a joy it is to listen to her. And what a clear, unambiguous command of her subject. Wow! She explains it with such ease using explanations and techniques that won't overwhelm artists just starting their portfolio or the Photoshop-squeamish among us; but despite its simplicity her resulting art is breathtaking and beyond original. I wish more of my professors at school were as engaging. This was by far my best buy at Creative Live yet.

Angel Ricci
 

When the title says comprehensive, it means comprehensive! I loved every part of this course. It's inspirational, motivating, and insightful towards creating art work. Even if you are not necessarily considering a fine art specialty, the concepts discussed in this course are applicable to many areas! I find this super useful as a videographer and photographer and look to apply all of these exercises and concepts for my personal and business work moving forward. It is lengthy, but you will not regret a single minute. Brooke Shaden is an amazing artist and educator. I recommend keeping up with her work, presentations, and any future courses that may come in the future.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES