Lessons
Class Introduction
04:00 2Your Mind is the Camera
08:02 3Set the Scene
06:59 4Get Smart with Your Gear
03:20 5Posing Tips and Challenges
04:51 6Shoot Considerations
04:09 7Shoot Setup
13:02 8Shoot: Working With Animals
09:55Shoot: Creating the Look of Motion
08:54 10Shoot: Levitating Objects
11:04 11Starting the Composite: Organizing Your Images
12:37 12Working With Your Sketch to Assemble the Scene
11:23 13Selections and Masking
30:01 14Selections and Masking Continued: Painting Techniques
08:56 15Shadow Overlays
18:35Lesson Info
Posing Tips and Challenges
with Children, I would say the main thing. Don't drop them. That's just my own personal advice. Uh, so the same goes with pets, and that sounds funny, but no, you're having toe hold in very interesting situations. If you do not feel comfortable. If you don't feel like you have sticky hands, get assistance. Just because you saw me go up there, right, you know, and do these things does not mean it's a good idea if you do not feel, you know, comfortable. And you got a really good grip. Also, especially with Children. I had him. It was a cooler day, but I would probably have him where Jacket anyways with something like us. That way I can have my hand up where I really got a good hold of him on, and yet you don't see it because the jackets covered. So I'm holding onto his entire chest on the inside and I will have to photo shop out is maybe my elbow, Right. So make sure that however you consort, disguise where of your holding that's best, or if you can hold in another secure position. That ...
way, if you were covering with one part but you held it in a different position earlier. You can composite those two together, so that can also help. But sometimes you just need the, uh, healing and clone stamp tools. Right? Because you're gonna have something in there, so don't be afraid of that, but yeah, don't drop your Children or especially someone else's child. Any job eso make sure they have a secure hold and do do things. They're smart. Use a team as much as possible. Uh, okay. Pets. Yeah. Same thing in this case will have bucks north there, which is on the back of the coming out a little bit. Uh, I've never worked this animal, but we have ah, um animals owner here. And so that way she'll be working with Buck Snort and be able to control entreats. That helps, too. Right? That's one for the dog. Uh, let's see. So yet, in general, uhm, I'm going to be making sure that we're trying to minimize hands. Let's see, it looks like she's wearing the gray shirt. So I bought just ah, big baggy large gray shirt to try to make it as easy as possible for selection special with a dog's hair, which is both white and blacks could be so easy, right? What could go wrong? Yeah, let's have levitating Children. A dog on lighting that we've never set up before. Perfect for life situation. So? So we'll see what we can. Plus when you see it, I've mentioned this. The dog already looks kind of pre photo soft miniature, which is so adorable. But it will also make challenges on as we're going through and and making sure that it looks right, Right. So, yeah, question. Would you recommend somebody to wear like gloves that could be easily composited out, as opposed to hands and fingernails and all that stuff? It depends on how how far you want to go, so that can make it easier. Depends on where you're holding the animal. Yeah, great questions. So you know what? What to wear in this case, I'm hoping that gray shirt will work, but usually it's just whatever, you know, whatever I'm wearing, whatever I'm holding and clone stamp, it's not that difficult to make just fingers disappear. Something else What's hard is one you know, as we might see, entire sections of hair is sort of indention. We have the hand there. I have to invent some other things. But in general, if you can make it easier and you have gloves that are flat gray co for it. But typically, I just expect that, you know, try to minimize it where it can show. It was easy enough. Thank you. No, Uh, under 10 bucks on Amazon for a flat grey. Don't get the ones with the textures. Anytime you do gray for assured, by the way it gets those little texture sweatshirts get one that's a flat one. That way will be easier for hair selections, but yeah, try to minimize it. But don't go over the top and say yeah, question. So are there any other sort of body parts in addition to the hands that are the most challenging that people should consider? Like feet legs is tell us a little bit. Sure, Uh, so as Matt and some the other amazing experts here have talked about so far, you know what they say is tried. Avoid anything that's touching the ground, right? That's why don't make everything levitating. You don't have to know. Uh, you know, there's still point. Let's say that the baby walking on the crib, you know? So I had to hold him in just a way that I made sure that you could see the foot was touching that crib riel to put the right shadow on there. So it's not just enough to have a child in there. And even if they're close to something that's there, it will still usually cast some kind of shadow. So just be hyper aware of how the light is falling on whatever you're shooting. But yeah, so it's a challenge. Your hair is a challenging one. Uh, usually I'll have my entire arm, you know, holding on, making sure again, he doesn't fall, uh, and so have to clone stamp out if you're it's a good idea to have your child wear more solid colored clothing, right? So black pants. Great, right? This is black. I could literally probably paint black along the case, and we'll look right. So try to think ahead, not where you're cheating, but you're kind of cheating a little bit, uh, making it easier on yourself.
Class Materials
Free Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Molly B
I agree a bit with Eric Burke's review (which was a thumbs down), however, I feel like this is neither a thumbs up or thumbs down recommendation, more like a 3 to 3.5 star rating. :) That said, I agree that there was so much talking and not doing in the initial portion of the class sections. I feel like when there is a class offered for Compositing, much of the science people want to know is in the editing tips and tricks AND some of the shooting tips and tricks. Photography of the subjects is important to understand, but examples of live shooting should be kept fairly minimal. Aaron Nace still nails the science behind planning and shooting for composites and also rocks in the editing (in my opinion). Brooke Shaden is also a good example on the editing details. I feel like Bret had something different to bring to the table from the class preview with puppet warp and some of the cutting / masking tips... I agree that all the editing portions of this were super rushed and just touched on a lot of last comments of "oh isn't this neat" and no in-depth instruction on how that feature is used. I just felt like he really ran out of time. At the end he talked about re-shooting the dog, perhaps he could have gone in to puppet warp to change the lower legs and tail a bit as an effort to make it look more like his sketch? Bret seems likable, but does continuously talk about side stories and extra noise that seems could be more focused on the topic at hand. :) I still picked up some tips, but this would be more ideal bought on a sale rather than full price. :) I have a lot of photoshop knowledge and own some other composite classes on CL, so I don't feel too lacking, but this would not be for a very beginner of compositing. I wouldn't mind seeing Bret back with a more refined class structure focusing on the magic of puppet warp and other tricks to get the most out of compositing.
s
Had a good time with this course! Bret is a great instructor, you can really tell he enjoys his work and has a lot of fun engaging the audience. I've done some compositing in the past but with a much older version of PS. This course really helped me take advantage of the new features in PS CC and also helped streamline my workflow. It's a course that both experienced and beginner compositors alike can learn from. A big thanks to Bret Malley and CreativeLive for making this course!