For the majority of compositions I am displaying here, I relatively follow the same process so I will simply display the final product unless there were any struggles or a different approach had to be taken.
Using a stock image of smouldering coal and a couple of steaks, I followed a similar process to create this composition from a birds eye view. The only step I didn't take was having to reconstruct the fire pit.
This was the first composition I created using the new generative AI tool in photoshop. I initially sourced a stock image of kids playing in the park and composited the swing ball set into the scene. I then selected the background area and generated a new image that made the scene look more like an enclosed english back garden as this is our core target market. To then make the boys look like they were interacting with the product I used the generative fill tool to change their pose and facial expression before recolouring the paddles to match the product we were selling.
These compositions were a real challenge of having to morph two images where we wanted a factual of the child interacting with the hot water bottle which meant having to take a selection from an existing lifestyle of the child standing up (except her torso was cut from the shot) and morph that with another lifestyle shot (a selection of the child sitting on the bed holding the product.)
The biggest challenge was creating a seamless blend of the two images without the proportions looking off or her upper body looking bent over due to the selection coming from a sitting down pose. A lot of colour matching and shadow building was applied to make this work.
This next series of images was a task of using the products of generative fill to composite. There was a mistake in the studio where the child should have been photographed cuddling the hot water bottle under a duvet but instead the shot was taken of her lying on top of the sheets which isn't a very effective way of selling a warm and cosy product. The bedsheets were also a cold clinical white which looked more like a hospital bed than a childs bedroom.
Using generative fill between myself and the lead designer, we re-constructed the pillow that the child was lying on while generating a duvet to put over the subject being careful not to completely cover the product and to mask it out where an arm could look like it is tucked over the top (this is to maintain focal features).
By this point we had already begun building the assets and with that I have set out a corresponding colour scheme for each water bottle design. This is where I saw an opportunity to create visual consistency thus drawing unity between each of the assets where I would take the two selected colours for each assets and use these to recolour the bedsheets, helping build a more convincing, cosy child bedroom.
Getting the generated outcomes to match each pose of the child was really challenging but through tweaking and further shadow building we got there in the end, really adding a new dimension to the finish of our assets.
This composition was built in a slightly different way where the speaker in reality is actually a very small product (as you can see from the previous two images) which meant building a lifestyle using the products true dimensions was going to be counter-productive as the product would not be the focal point if it was even seen at all due to how tiny it is. This meant taking a new approach by focusing on perspectives.
I decided to source a stock image of a simple counter top where I would composite the speaker onto. Next, I sourced another stock photo, this time of a kids party (hinting the target market to the viewer) and placing this behind the counter as a background. I then went and applied a blur effect giving the illusion that the party was happening in the distance.
As a result this meant I could create a lifestyle where the speaker is still the focal point by building an image where the speaker is shot at an extreme closeup with the party going on in the background. Once the colours were established, the whole thing was pulled together by editing the colour of the wooden surface, some colour matching techniques were applied and the building of shadows.
These basket compositions were actually the first compositions I ever made, really happy to see how much I have progressed these skills over a short period of time.
Building the shadows for this comp was a little more tricky as they had to work with the lighting in the original image. As this is high summer, there is a clear contrast between what is bright light and what is shadow as well as where this hits the product and how that would look in reality. This involved skewing the angle of the shadows and adding more depth and highlights to certain areas.
One of the best tricks I learnt when it comes to compositing that can be seen in this example is the small details that really helps bring the realism to life:
- Using a very small brush size at 100% opacity, I went and removed small sections of the sun lounger where it has contact with the grass, this is to look like fine grass blades overlapping the product to make it really look like it is set in that garden.
- The second which is probably my favourite is creating a clipped layer to the product (in this case the sun lounger) and using the brush tool on a very low opacity (5-10% at most) and lightly painting a green hue (sampled from the grass). This is especially effective in images like this where there is a lot of sunlight or the product has shiny, reflective surfaces to create a finish where the grass is subtly reflecting off the product (due to the lighting or material of the image in question). It is such a small detail but really helps ground the composited feature and brings the outcome to life.
This followed the same technique as the speaker due to stock images of casino environments being too busy to create a focal feature, many subjects holding alcohol which is expected with a game like this but the business can't be seen actively promoting this and the angle of the product not realistically working with any of the images. This called for the use of an extreme close up on a table with a blurred background image relevant to the product to help set the scene.
