Digital Montage

Here are a few attempts at Digital Montage. Before digital imaging and computers were invented Montage was carried out in the darkroom or pictures were cut up and layered on to an existing image or from scratch onto a blank medium, the final image was then photographed and then printed.

Nowadays the same results can be achieved by using imaging software such as Photoshop and Paintshop Pro. in minutes. 

This first image was shot in the studio using a single soft box directly in front of the sitter. To get the cracked head and face effect i`d previously gone outside to shoot some texture images and came across loose bark and chippings in the college grounds which i decided to use. I then copied the texture layer onto the portrait  layer then blended them together with the blending tool. Its sometimes hit and miss but in this case I was really happy with the results especially around his forehead.

 This next Image contains 2 layers, the background is a building in Manchester I took on a previous shoot, the corn field was taken last summer in Scotland on holiday. Like the previous image I layered the corn field onto the image of the building. I then used the erase tool in between the corn to reveal the detail of the building behind.

This next image was a bit more complicated and included several layers. This is part of an experiment for a project I'm currently working on in conjunction with the church itself.

 

This montage is a simple 2 layer image consisting of a base image of a daffodil with a downloaded image of autumn leaves blended together.

Last but not least is my most recent stab at montage, simple but effective, this image or the background image was taken at the weekend prior to having friends around our house for a meal. The top layer of the image was a texture downloaded from the internet and then once again blended the image over the top. I thought this image worked quite well and maybe could be used as a menu cover for a restaurant or dinner night invitations.

My thoughts.

Not that long ago Photoshop seemed quite intimidating although now i`m getting on with it a bit more and it has been fun and quite therapeutic.

Thanks to -

  http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/textures/