The Red Dress and the Sea

The Red Dress and the Sea  [Canon 5D]
January, 2008

Today's image is a blend of three photographs: the red dress is from a shop window in Honolulu; the coastal photo is from Acadia National Park in Maine; and the top part of the sky above the hook is from another Maine image. This is a recent collage created specifically for a short session on Creative Collage that I taught at FOTOfusion last week in Delray Beach, Florida. I really like how this one turned out. I feel it has just the right amount of quiet surrealism that is necessary in a collage.

If you want to learn more about the technical and aesthetic considerations involved in creating multiple image collages, then I have a couple of workshops coming up this year that may be of interest to you:

For an in-depth exploration with plenty of time to work on your own images, the ideal class is a 5-day workshop called The Creative Collage with Adobe Photoshop CS3 that I'll be teaching June 2 - 6 at the excellent Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging on the central California coast near San Luis Obispo.  These classes tend to fill fast, especially at that time of year, so if you are interested in participating, click the class title for a link to the workshop's page at the Lepp Institute site. The computer lab at the Lepp Institute is really first rate, with fast Windows computers kitted out with dual monitors and Canon 5100 printers (as well as larger format printers adjacent to the main lab area). Tiered stadium seating ensures that everyone has a clear view of the main screen. I've taught there several times over the past five years and I always look forward to going back. It is truly one of the best digital lab facilities I've taught at.

If a shorter version of that class will fit your schedule better (or if you're hankering for an excuse to make a trip to Hawaii), then I'll be teaching a 2-day version at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in Honolulu on April 12 - 13. I'm re-working the syllabus for both versions of this class with new material that takes advantage of new features in Photoshop CS3. When I have that finished I'll post a link to it here. Stay tuned!

Comments

[Darrell Shurtz]

Hi Sean--I like the image. However, to me, the darkened area up on the lefthand side of the image starting at the neck and proceeding down to the waist is a bit distracting. It looks like a mistake was made. Was there a reason you elected to add that dark area? Was it for seperation from the background? (Listen to me--big critic!!)
All the best,
Darrell

[Sean]

Darrell...the dark area you refer to is intentional and it is the original shadow that the dress form cast on the wall of the display. I wanted to keep a hint of the shadow to give the optical illusion that the dress was hanging against the "wall" of the sky.

[Darrell Shurtz]

I gotcha Sean. Thanks for the information.
Darrell

[Flower Girl dress]

This is really fantastic and remarkable one

[coach outlet stores]

sounds awesome! and this post is just gorgeous!*