Photoshop Masking & Compositing, Second Edition

Foreword

There is a well-known saying that compares painting to photography: Painters include and photographers exclude. Painters begin with a blank canvas and decide what elements to add to create their interpretation of the scene; every brush stroke and mark on the canvas are gestures of their hand and have a reason for being there. Photographers start with a scene from the world in front of the lens that is often chaotic and visually cluttered, and through conscious composition, they decide what to exclude until the scene is just how they want it.

Although the source material begins as photographs, creating a composite image has much in common with painting. Everything in the image has a purpose, which is to build the story of the scene and ...