Picture this {New Braunfels Photographer}

Howdy folks! It's Jayme here. Since Lisa's away this weekend at the big ImagingUSA photography conference put on by Professional Photographers of America, I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with you some of the fun things we get to do here that aren't directly wedding or portrait related.

Occasionally, Lisa and myself get inquiries from aspiring models desiring edgy, creative and attractive photos to add to their portfolio. These glamour photography sessions are always fun, because as a photographer, we're allowed to experiment in interesting ways. A while back, I worked with a male model who needed some new shots to freshen up his portfolio. After a number of traditional head shots and poses, inspiration suddenly struck me. "Lay down on the grass," I said, "and hold your hand up toward me like this." A little dubious, he went along with my odd request. To be completely honest, I wasn't entirely sure what I had in mind would work, but nothing ventured nothing gained, right? Here's the final result:



There's a reason Lisa and I don't do this type of photo composite often--it's incredibly time consuming. I used half a dozen different image to piece this together, building each of the individual photo "prints" in Photoshop before layering them into the final image. I also created shadows to give the scattered images the illusion of depth, and went so far as to cut out actual size paper squares so I could try different arrangements and strike the perfect aesthetic balance. Crazy, I know.

I've since learned a variety of tricks and shortcuts that would dramatically cut down on the hours needed to recreate an image like this. But getting there is half the fun, especially if you do so without a road map!