Deconstructing a Composite Image: The Making of ‘Framed’


As we are all stuck indoors at the moment, with no workshops happening, we thought it would be nice to share some of our stuff online. In this example, Sharon talks about the making of her image called ‘Framed’ featuring the lovely Aimee Sneddon. We hope to add a few more of these ‘deconstructions’ over the next few weeks. Stay safe everyone – Rob and Sharon

1. The full image as it appears in exhibitions and salons.

2. This is our home studio: it’s a small room at the back of our lounge and shows that you don’t need lots of space to create images. Three Rotolights were used - a NEO2 above her head with another on the right, and an AEOS through an umbrella on the left

3. Original image with Aimee holding an old picture frame

4. Inside Old Moreton Hall near Congleton in Cheshire

5. Aimee cut out and the layer placed on top of the Moreton Hall image

6. Shadows added to ‘ground’ Aimee. A Dodge and Burn layer was then added to add depth to the image

7. NIK – Colour effects – Darken/Lighten centre used to emphasise the light on Aimee’s face

8. I darkened the windows as I thought they were a bit distracting. Added a bit to the bottom of the image as I thought the original framing was a bit tight. Finally brightened the image up a bit and added a vignette.