Premium/ How it was done – The story behind the image

No matter where we live most people would love to have a photo of them in a beautiful environment. Composite photography can be a fun way to explore different avenues of creatively bringing other environments to your subject.

My name is TJ Cartwright and although I predominantly shoot black and whites street photography, I have fun doing composite photography projects when I’m traveling and at home. For this tutorial, I’ll walk through the preparation, reasons why I used specific gear, and my editing process to make this image for my client.

Preparation
For this shoot, a client approached me about collaborating to create some creative photos for their portfolio. Whenever I’m doing these types of photos with a client, I push for an in-person meeting or video call so we can easily share photos and concepts to help clarify our ideas and purpose behind them. I find this to cut down confusion because many times your client won’t be artistic but they can convey the smaller pieces of what they envision by showing portions of other completed bodies of work. I also find it helpful if you come prepared to share three to four ideas of your own to help them expand upon what their final image could be. Of course, this is also the time to work out the details of how many shots will be provided, deadlines, setting a shooting date, how much time you’ll need them for, and the cost of your services.

Gear
Once you’ve settled on a specific direction it’s time to focus on what gear will be needed for a shoot.

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