Composite with dozens of elements

[Elliot]

Hi Damien,

Advice sought. My photo is inspired by the work of this photographer: https://mikekelley.art/?category=airportraits. After searching through this forum, I found at least one techniques that I did not use,

I took about 10 photos each of about 20 different jets. I loaded all the photos at layered into one Photoshop image, thus 200 layers. I was hoping to use a blending mode to blend the images I wanted to use. I did not know which jets I liked, I wanted to try out different combinations. I could not find a blend mode that didn't change the color of the sky or one of jets. (But recently, I found a blend-if combination that seems to work.)

I ended up looking through each layer for a jet I wanted to us in the perspective that fit the overall image. I selected it using select subject. I copied it and then pasted it into my new background, at the near top of the layer list. I made some small movements to make sure all the jets were in the same direction. Again, I used one (big) Photoshop document that ended up being 10GB.

I see that you recommend doing it the other way around, moving the layer up and select and mask the subject.

I am now working on an image that has more elements. Eventually, I'd like to try one that has 100 or more elements. Is the right way to do this to load 100 images as layers? Or do I need to bring each jet into its own document and load it as a new layer? Eventually, I'll still have 100+ layers. Is that feasible?

Do you have any other advice?

One more thing: after I positioned all the jets, I converted the whole thing into a smart object. I then used the Camera Raw Filter to do my clean processing over the whole thing, instead of applying raw processing for each jet. I figure the lighting is about the same for each jet, since I took all the photos during the same 2-hour span of the day.

Thanks!

--Elliot

 

[Damien Symonds]

I assume you found this? https://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/09/extract-then-copy-vs-copy-then-extract.html

[Elliot]

Yes. I sort of alluded to that: "I see that you recommend doing it the other way around, moving the layer up and select and mask the subject."

As I think more about this, I have two issues. One is the method for adding a new element. I can either copy and paste using your recommended technique. Or, now that I think I have a recipe for blend-if, I should use that.

The second is how to set up the overall flow. Should I load all my images as layers before I choose which actual ones I want to use, which may be up to 300 or more, or should I select one image at a time, open it in ACR, and then add it as a new layer to my working document? Or is there another method?

Thamks.

 

[Damien Symonds]

32 minutes ago, Elliot said:

As I think more about this, I have two issues. One is the method for adding a new element. I can either copy and paste using your recommended technique.

Hang on, copy and paste is definitely not my recommended technique.  Never C/P, only Place.

33 minutes ago, Elliot said:

Or, now that I think I have a recipe for blend-if, I should use that.

Blend If can be awesome, but it's not infallible.  Make sure you always check its results VERY carefully.  I suggest putting a bright red layer behind your Blend-If-ed layer to help examining for flaws.

34 minutes ago, Elliot said:

The second is how to set up the overall flow. Should I load all my images as layers before I choose which actual ones I want to use, which may be up to 300 or more, or should I select one image at a time, open it in ACR, and then add it as a new layer to my working document? Or is there another method?

Well, I'm pretty sure if I was doing it I'd want to do the one-image-at-a-time method.  My computer is no slouch, but it definitely doesn't have enough power to be placing an overabundance of full-res images at once.

But it's up to you.

[Elliot]

Got it. Thank you very much.

[Elliot]

Thanks for your advice. Work in progress on the placement, but the hard work is done.

[Damien Symonds]

Wow, groovy!  May I see a screenshot of your layers panel?

[Elliot]

I have two sets of plane placement, thus the two jet groups. The clouds were added by a cloud brush. For raw processing, I did take a shortcut:I did the raw processing on one jet and then copied all the adjustments to all the rest of them. Not perfect, but I think close enough for this. I did use the Topaz DeNoise AI tool to eliminate the noise. That was on top of removing noise using the ACR sliders for the jets. On the background,using that technique made the contrails look funny.

Thanks.

[Damien Symonds]

None of those layers are smart objects

[Elliot]

Oh right. I loaded them in as layers from ACR, which I see doesn't automatically make them smart objects. Is there an option for that? I guess I need to convert each one separately? 

I also didn't know how to apply a single curve adjustment to all the visible layers without doing a visible stamp. Once I do the stamp, I can no longer move the individual jets. What is the correct technique for this?

Thanks! 

[Elliot]

Update: I converted all the jets to smart objects. I should have done this sooner. It makes it a lot easier to move and resize them.

I grouped the jets group with the background group. Then I applied the curves adjustment as a clipping mask to the new group.

The Topaz layer breaks the ability to move the jets after post processing. I may dump that and just use ACR and unsharp mask (yes, I have taken the sharpen class).

Thanks again.