TECHNIQUES
Capture backgrounds
Shoot the composite environment for your subject
One of the challenges of pro composite photography is knowing which elements should be captured first. Which works better – finding a subject to fit a background or a background to match your subject?
In an ideal world, we would have a concept of what the final image will look like when shooting the elements, as this would ensure lighting and colour were aligned throughout the whole process. Though this isn’t always possible, we can optimise our working practises to make pulling content elements together as smooth as possible. Generally speaking, we should approach the image from the perspective of the subject first. Since this is where we want viewers to look, we should get this area right before building the environment around it.