Are you a photographer who has ever found the perfect place at the wrong moment? Photographers visit places every day and find less than ideal conditions. composite photography might be able help you with any of these issues: poor sunsets, animals facing in the wrong direction, lack of light, and many other difficulties that photographers face.

What’s Composite Photography?

Composite photography simply means that a photographer creates one image by using two or more images. You can create a composite from many different images, so it doesn’t matter what type of photographer you might be.

Composite is often a synonym for replacing boring blue skies with bright red and orange sunsets. Composites are more than just a sky replacement. Composites are used by photographers for many other purposes, such as collages, focus stacks and fantasy scenes, focal length blends and more.

You can decide how much compositing work you want to do to an image. This guide will show you how to composite your images. We will only be discussing how to combine two photos from one scene.

Why use composite photography?

Many purposes can be served by composite photography. Photographers sometimes try to capture scenes that are impossible or create images that are not possible. Some photographers want to capture better photography at places they might never return to again. To overcome camera limitations, some photographers use composite photography. If you are using multiple photos of the same scene, the idea is to use one image with a beautiful sky and another with a pleasant foreground.

How do I plan for a composite shoot?

A tripod is necessary if you want to make a composite. Because the images can be blended together easily if they are taken from the same location. It is possible to combine images taken from different locations, but it requires advanced techniques. Set up your tripod at the desired spot and make sure it doesn’t move or get bumped. If you want to capture images of good lighting in the sky and the foreground, you may need to wait several shots between shots.

How can I use composite photography?

Photoshop is the most popular program for creating composite images. There are many programs available that can help you do this, but none quite as powerful as Photoshop. Photoshop makes it easy to create any type of composite you want. Let’s take a look at the steps involved in creating a Photoshop composite.

Step 1 – Open the images in Photoshop and align layers

First, open Photoshop and then select the layers. Next, click Shift + Click on both layers and then go to Edit> Auto-Align layers. Hit OK to allow it to load. The two images will be automatically aligned. You should align both images, even if the tripod was used.

Step 2 – Create a Layer Mask for the Top Layer

Click to add a layer mask. The layer mask button can be found in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, between the fx and adjustment layers buttons (circle with a slash through). The image will be accompanied by a layer mask. The layer mask will appear completely white at the beginning, so everything on the layer will be visible. If we add some black to the layer mask, it will begin to cover some of the layer that we are currently on, allowing the layer below to shine through.

Step 3 – Grab the Brush Tool, and Paint

Next, grab your brush tool. It is easy to select the brush tool from the menu bar at the top of the screen, or you can hit B with your keyboard. Adjust the brush settings by going to the menu bar at the top of your screen. I prefer to work with a Hardness setting of 0% and an Opacity setting of 100%. Smoothing and flow can also be set at 100%. This will allow for soft, feathered adjustments. You can adjust the size of the brush to suit your image. You will now need to return to the menu bar at the left of your screen and choose black to be the color you are painting with.

After you have chosen black, begin painting! Keep in mind that black will hide any parts of your image you don’t want to see.

Step 4 – Make sure the Exposures Match

To make the process smoothest, ensure that your exposures are identical. After you have completed the painting of the part of the image that you want to combine, take a moment to review it and make sure it looks natural. You will need to adjust the brightness of one or both images. You can do this in the Camera Raw filter, which is located at Filter > Camera Raw Filter. After the exposures have been balanced, you can return to your original image and continue editing as you would normally.

Before

After

Congratulations! You just created your first composite photo. Although it can take years to master the art of composite, every time you make a composite image you will learn new techniques and tricks to make it even more enjoyable.