Alice in Wonderland

Mechelle also brought her Alice in Wonderland cosplay. I created an Alice in Wonderland composite before this shoot with my niece so I had some idea already of what create with this shoot. Last time I shot this cosplay was with my niece. I created a composite with her looking at the Cheshire Cat (My cat Pixel). This time I used the same image of my cat but made the background a little more interesting.

Sitting on the ground was easy for Mechelle, but we tried something a little more difficult for this next shot. I wanted to portray that she was falling into the rabbit hole but spinning in mid air. I had her lay on a bar stool and had the help of her husband holding her so she didn't fall backwards. This technique worked very well and I believe we came out with a great shot in the end.

The last shot in this series was really fun to do. I always wanted to shrink someone down to the size of a small fork. I used a reference image from the real alice in wonderland movie. I took a photo of my wife's china as the saucer and tea cup. I made sure the angle was correct and matched the angle of Mechelle. This creates the illusion that she actually is small.

I've been learning a lot about compositing as I continue to create these pieces. Every shadow, light ray, dust particle, perspective, blur, hue, shade, and position matter in a composite. If any of these key components are incorrectly placed or adjusted it would throw off the illusion and the composite would just become a collage. That is the real difference when it comes to defining a composite. It has to become real for the viewer as it is real in my head when I create it. I continue to enjoy making these and continue to learn along my journey as a compositor.

The Loud Assassin

Model Mechelle was very good at quickly striking different poses. Her natural ability to strike a pose and move smooth and quick helped me to get the perfect shots efficiently. This shoot was hilarious because every time Mechelle moved her arms in a 90 degree angle her Assassin's Creed bracers kept sliding off and hitting the ground. They must of hit the floor 5 or 6 times. I told her "Assassin's aren't loud." We both laughed and blamed it on Amazon which is where we purchased the bracers. Mechelle did awesome with this shoot despite the mishap with the bracers.

This shoot went very well and we captured some great images. We used the ladder a lot to get the effect that she was either climbing a wall or jumping down onto her next target.



The composites came very natural to me because I remember playing the Assassin's Creed video game. I remember birds in the game and thought it would be cool to add birds as to hint at that the Assassin always seemed to have a birds-eye view of the city.

Mechelle and I have already made plans to do a future shoot as Kenway from Assassin's Creed III. So stay tuned for some very patriotic shots!

"New Birth" Maternity Shoot

I had the pleasure of doing a maternity shoot with my friend Kendall. I have done a maternity shoot before, but that was before I started doing epic cosplay compositing. I was look ing forward to this shoot especially since it is so different than regular cosplay composites.

The first image I created was focused on her and her belly. I wanted to spice up the image with some beautiful color pallets that would compliment her gorgeous blue dress. Kendall requested a Mother Nature feel to the images so that's what I did. These first 2 really give off the love! She also requested waterfall backgrounds. The first image on the left I made the light come in from the right. The image on the right I made the light come in from behind giving it that powerful yet beautiful look.

This next Image was done the be a landscape to show off the beautiful fabric blowing in the wind. I also added a castle and flocks of birds in the background to add a little interest to the area near her face. I made sure the fabric curved in such a way that it draws the viewers eye around the canvas and back around to her. 

This shoot went fabulous mainly because Kendall is such a great friend and fun to work with. I wish her the best with her new baby and can't wait to shoot with her again. You can see more Maternity photos in my gallery.