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.