Tutorial - Photo montage

Here is an interesting montage that I have created for a book cover on feminine spirituality. The original sculpture is a large item in a stately home in England and I photographed it using the natural, available light coming into the gallery. I also tried to position myself not only to get a decent composition of the sculpture, but also to try and get a plain background - in this case a stone wall - instead of a background cluttered by other sculptures or windows.

Once I had downloaded it onto the computer, I then opened the image in Photoshop and used the rectangular marquee tool to draw a rectangle around the whole image. I then went into Edit/Copy. Then I went into File/New and the menu that opens then has the correct dimensions for a the new file canvas that I am going to create. At the bottom of this menu I selected the 'Clear background' option, opened the new file and then opened Edit/Paste to put this image of the sculpture onto a clear background. I then used the eraser tool to rub away all the backround, getting in very close with a small diameter eraser so that I could get into all the little corners and angles. I am then left with an image of the statue on a clear background. I then selected another image of a dramatic sky, making sure that the image of the sky was more than big enough to create a background to the sculpture image and that both files had the same resolution - in this case 72 d.p.i.  These settings could be altered and matched using the Image/Image size menu. I chose the largest sky image that I could because if the image was quite small, even though I could enlarge it to a decent size, the image quality would be poor, looking 'grainy' or having a coarse texture.

I opened the sky image, and then, using the marqee tool, I drew a rectangle around the sculpture image, copied it as before and pasted it onto the sky image by clicking on the sky image window to activate it and then going into Edit/Paste. The sculture then sits against a dramatic sky. Using the 'Move' tool, I could move the sculture image around over the sky to get the best position. I wanted the lightning to appear to be related to the vase/beaker that she is holding aloft. Once I was happy with the positioning and also happy that there were no remanants of the original background wall in front of the sky, I cropped the image and then saved it as a jpeg by going into File/Save As and selecting jpeg as the file type.

In it's original form, this image is made up of two layers -  the background sky (base layer) with a clear film (Layer 1) laid over it on which is printed the sculture image. However, once I save this as a jpeg, these layers are merged together and I will no longer have the opportunity to move the sculpture into a new position over the background. If I want to keep the option of being able to move the sculpture to a new position against the sky, I will also have to save the image as a Photoshop file rather than a jpeg.

Statues

Statue, originally uploaded by foto-art.

I love these old gravestones in local cemetries; they have a beauty an sometimes an eroticism all of their own. Alas many of them are falling into disrepair or have been vandalised so over the last few years I have taken photos of the more interesting ones, especially with an eye to this kind of montage work. This image is one that I had not planned but arose as I was looking at various images and elements. What I like is the contrast between the shiny sleek figure on the left and the the rougher stone figure on the right, creating a slightly surreal and erotic image. Thus I do not close my mind to creativity after the image is taken, but continue to thing of different ways of cropping or enhancing images on the computer, especially at this time of the year, whicj in England is rather dull, damp and cold, so outdoor photography is minimised and darkroom/computer work emphasised until the better light and weather comes along.

New York - Statue of Liberty

new york - statue of liberty, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Statue of Liberty. A spur-of-the-moment shot taken from the Queen Mary II as we set sail. What pleased me about this shot was the juxtaposition of the two elements: the Statue of Liberty and the boat.

Angelicus Eroticus - Photoshop photomontage tutorial

angelicus eroticus, originally uploaded by foto-art.

There are three basic images in this montage: the sky, the angel monument and breasts. Using the magic wand and eraser tool, the background of the angel image was removed, leaving just the angel figure. To make sure that parts of the angel image itself were not accidentally removed, I used the Tolerance control situated just below the drop down menu headings at the top of the photoshop window. The file of the sky was opened. Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, a rectangle was drawn around the border of the angel image and this was copied in Edit/Copy. I then clicked on File/New and set the background to Transparent. I opened the new file and clicked on Edit/Paste and the angel image appeared in the new file. Using the Magic Wand tool I clicked on the background and Cntrl/X to delete it. I carefully went around the angel image to make sure that all unwanted background was removed, revealing the checkerboard transparent background. Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, I dragged a box around the border of the Angel image and clicked on Edit/Copy. I clicked on the sky file and then clicked on Edit/Paste and the Angel appeared in a new layer over the sky background.

An image of a topless lady in roughly the same position as the angel was then opened. Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, a box was drawn around the outer edge and using the same procedure as above, it was copied onto the angel. This was was then undone in Edit/Step Backward, and any adjustments to the size of the image were made in Image/Image Size. When I was happy with the size of the image, most of the image was erased leaving the breasts and an area surrounding them up to the neck and down to the stomach. Using the Erase Tool in combination with Brush Size and Opacity controls at the top of the Photoshop Window, the area around the breasts was vignetted out to produce a very soft edge with only the shape of the breasts defined. I then copied this image into a new file with a transparent background as described above. Using the magic wand, the background was erased to leave a transparent area surrounding the breasts. In Image/Mode, Greyscale was clicked on in the drop down menu, to turn this to a black and white image. In Image/Adjust, the Contrast was increased. This new image was in turn copied and pasted onto the Angel/Sky image, and using the Move tool, the breasts were placed in position. On the Layers Box, (the bottom box on the right hand side of the Photoshop Window), the opacity control was altered to about 45%. Any retouching was then carried out as required on the layer concerned, before the file was saved in File/Save As with a new name as a JPEG file.

angelicus eroticata

angelicus eroticata, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Photo montage using Photoshop

Angelica Eroticus - Photo Montage

angelica eroticus, originally uploaded by foto-art.

I wanted to capture some of the monuments in the local cemeteries as I think that they have a beauty all of their own. They are fast disappearing now what with the politically correct brigade removing them if there is the slightest chance that they may topple over and yobbos defacing them. As I took these images, what struck me about some of them was the slight erotic quality that some of the angels had, so I decided to enhance this by using photomontage techniques in Photoshop. In all these angel photos, images of breasts have been added to increase the sense of eroticism.