This entry from Manny Quintero came in after the deadline for the Portrait HDR Composite, but I love it and thought I would share it with you. Manny is one of my students in Comm 300 Digital Imaging. He went on our photo excursion to Bannack Ghost Town, Montana. My daughter, Zoe, was one of our seven models, and Manny took a great portrait of her on the stairs of the old hotel. So when he placed her in this train station HDR that I shot in the DC subway, it was a great combo! I love how he added the old trains on the sides, and the clock tower in the middle… to bring the past in with the present. You can see my original HDR of the Foggy Bottom subway platform below.
Nice work, Manny!
Too bad we did not get this one in the contest! You may have given the others a run for their money. 🙂 Thanks for sending it my way anyway.
In fact…
Does anyone else have more composites they want to send in?
I will still take them now…. but I would need them by Friday morning 10:00am MST.
Upcoming tutorial… I am planning to post a tutorial Sunday or Monday on TIPS FOR SHOOTING FIREWORKS… just in time for the Fourth of July.
Manny Quintero - FoggyBottomTrain - Portrait HDR Composite - Joel Grimes Style - Caryn Esplin
Original HDR background - Caryn Esplin - Foggy Bottom Train - Washington D.C. - copyright2012
Wow I am impressed. That is a cool combination of styles all in one picture. Great work on that composite of both the train and the girl.
Holy smokes!! He completely redid that!! I’m very impressed… and I can’t wait for this summer when I have time to work on things like this! Way to go, Manny!
This is great! I love how he added the trains! Great composite!
I know, right? He really has a vision for this! What a natural digital artist Manny is. 🙂 Manny, will you explain your process for this awesome composite? (BTW, I had to lighten it a bit, because it was much too dark when I first posted it on my blog. I tested it on a few different monitors and about half the detail was gone. I hope that is okay?)
Hey thanks you guys, I really appreciate your kind comments. My process to make composite images like this one is really simple, I just stare at my image for a while and think about the elements that would fit well into the scene. Once I figure that out then I look through my picture collection (I have thousands that I have taken over the years, all random elements) and if I don’t have them then I look them up online and email the owners for permission to use theirs; people are really nice to students. Once I have my images I stack them up in Photoshop layers and placement, sizing and also to make a rough selection of what I need. When my images are in place I refine my selections and add whatever effects that might be need. In the next step I work with a brush, or gradient to create shadows and shades, without good tones and values everything looses credibility (I still struggle with this a little). When everything looks pretty convincing, then I add color adjustment layers to finish up.
That’s it, hope this helps… or if you have suggestions to improve my own process please let me know 🙂
Good luck!
Thanks for sharing your process, Manny. It is simply beautiful and so imaginative.