Photomontages

I still have a very vivid memory of a photograph I came across online years ago. It was a picture of a cow sitting on a patch of grass. Before you question why this photograph left such a deep impression on me, I must explain that the cow and the patch of grass was situated in the middle of outer space. What baffled me was how realistic the photograph looked. It was as if the photographer was at that scene taking the picture. Intrigued by this, I explored how the artist was able to create this picture and found out the techniques that were used.

What the artist did was creating a photo montage – that is, combining several layers of pictures and photographs to form a seamless image. As seen in the picture that I came across, a layer containing the image of the cow and the grass and another separate layer with the image of the moon was assembled together to produce the picture. Lest you think that it is a simple method of just piling the layers on top of one another, it requires the artist to make many adjustments to the layers before it can be finally combined. Not only has the colour and shades be adjusted, the shadow and angle of the images have to match one another. Should any one of these components be miscalculated, it might dent the chances of the image looking realistic.

The trick to creating realistic images is to first adjust the images to similar contrast. Make sure that the colour scheme of both images is at the same tone. The next thing is to ensure that the background colour of both images matches. If the sky on the first layer is baby blue, make sure that the sky on the other layer is also baby blue. Once you achieve similar levels, it will be easier for you to make alterations. Also, any differences can be spotted easily and necessary adjustments can be made.

Other Visitors Read