Build a fantasy world
James Paterson crafts an epic fantasy composite image with a range of images using Photoshop’s clever montage tools
Craft a fantasy composite in Photoshop
One of the best things about digital imaging is the ability it gives you to visualize places and scenes that could otherwise only exist in dreams. With a few simple Photoshop skills, anybody can craft a fantasy scene that wouldn’t look out of place on the cinema screen. In this project we’ll show you how it’s done.
You might have a selection of photos in your own library that would be ideal for a fantastical composite like this, but if you want to look further afield you’ll find tons of great resources online. We’ve used several free images from www.pixabay.com here, which is a useful resource of rights-free photos.
The great thing about a project like this is, even though these photographs have probably been displayed thousands of times in various different ways, we can still use them to create something that’s completely unique. One of the keys to compositing is mastering selections and masks.
These allow us to cut out bits and pieces then bring them together, as if we were making a collage with paper and scissors. As well as these powerful tools, we’ll also explore how to colourmatch our photos. This is vital when bringing together a range of photos from different sources like this. If the colours don’t match, then the whole concept falls down.
Once understood, these tools and techniques can be used to build all kinds of exciting worlds.