Digital composites are composed of pieces from different photographs stitched together to create a single realistic, or abstract, image. Composites permit the artist to move beyond the limitations of photography and create something new and unique. Photoshop provides the opportunity to explore and create anything that the mind can imagine. Of course, producing good composites requires skills beyond basic selections. This month, I will address how to put the pieces together.

I will begin with two separate photographs. The first image is a stand of aspens against the night sky. The shot was taken 30 minutes after sunset with the trees silhouetted against the twilight. The second image was created almost a year later at Bryce Canyon National Park. It shows a full moon against a black sky. The image was taken while standing in the hotel parking 10 minutes before going to bed. For those who are artistically inclined, this image holds little merit. It is a simple record shot of the moon. For the digital artist, however, the image holds possibilities. I did not take this image as a stand alone shot. I took it because I wanted a full moon that could be inserted into future composites. To record maximum detail, I used a Canon 1Ds with a 600mm lens and 2x teleconverter. The end result is a detailed record of the full moon that is easily selected.

In this case, I want to add the full moon to the aspen image. To do this, I start with both images open in Photoshop. The compositing process involves the following steps.

1. Select the moon.
2. Move the moon into the aspen image.
3. Adjust the size of the moon so that it is correctly proportioned.
4. Position the moon in the desired location.

The first step in creating this composite is to select the moon. While several selection methods are available, the uniform background makes the magic wand ideal (could that fact have possibly been in my mind when I took this picture?). Setting a tolerance of "30" and keeping contiguous checked I click on the night sky. The result is a perfect selection of everything in the image except the moon. Select à Inverse alters the selection so that only the moon is included.

Now that the moon is selected, I can move it to the aspen image. This is most easily done with the move tool (top right of the toolbar). With the selection active (visible marching ants around the moon), left click on top of the moon and hold down the mouse button. Drag the cursor over the aspen image and release the mouse. A copy of the moon will appear. On the layer palette, a new layer containing just the moon will be created automatically.

One of the challenges of digital composting is that images have different resolutions and subject size varies. Moving a piece of one image into another does not guarantee that the new element will be correctly sized. In fact, odds are against it. In this case, the moon is abnormally large, giving the appearance that it is falling from the sky and about to crash into the earth. Since this is not a poster for a new science fiction thriller, I need to adjust the size of the moon so that it fits in with the rest of the image.

To resize the moon, I make the moon's layer active (highlighted with blue on the layer's palette). I then go to Edit à Free Transform. This command creates a box around the moon with a small square in each corner. I then position the cursor over one of the corner squares, hold down "shift", and click on a corner square. Moving the cursor causes the moon to increase or decrease in size, depending on the direction of the movement. Holding down "shift" maintains the proportions as resizing occurs. Clicking and dragging the corner boxes without "shift" will distort the moon. Once the moon is the desired size, I finalize the change by hitting "Enter" on the keyboard.

A word of warning: Photoshop is very good at reducing size, but it can experience problems when trying to enlarge elements. Significant enlargements often appear pixilated and do not maintain the photographic quality of the original image. This occurs because enlarging elements requires the creation of pixels that are not part of the original image. For best results, it is important to begin with the highest resolution files available.

With the moon inserted and properly sized, it can be positioned within the image. Using the move tool, I can click and drag the moon anywhere I want. For best results, however, I need to be aware of other elements in the frame. For example, placing the moon on top of the tree branches produces the impression that the moon is closer then the trees. Not a common sight in the real world. While techniques exist that permit me to place the branches over the moon, they involve advanced compositing techniques. Placing the moon between the branches of the tree creates a realistic composite with minimum difficulty.

Chris Gamel has been an active wildlife photographer for the past 14 years. The combination of his biological research and photographic interests has taken him around the world. In 2001, Chris discovered the joys of digital photography and he hasn't looked back. Chris lives with his wife and daughter in Salt Lake City where he teaches courses at Weber State University and Salt Lake Community College. To see more of Chris's photography, visit his web site at www.Animal-Antics.net.

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