I’m in the midst of creating a new video series, so while I process those thoughts and do some shooting for it, I thought I would share this little speed edit video! I recorded my editing process on a whim last week. It was a fun one to edit, and if you look closely you can see a couple of instances where I tried something and doubled back when it didn’t work. I love exploring through editing; trying one piece here or there and moving it around until it fits. That is the greatest thing about compositing – being able to explore visually while trying to create your most authentic vision.

Music: “Halation” by Evolv, licensed from SongFreedom

Since I didn’t shoot this underwater (I have yet to master the underwater self-portrait), it didn’t quite matter where I shot it so I opted for my usual blank wall outside. The natural light emulated the natural conditions in the world of the image, and the coloring was neutral enough that I could blend with it.

There are always many layers to think about with a composite like this. The most important one right away is making sure the focal points match as well as the lighting. Both of those things can be shifted slightly, which I did do in this edit, but for the most part they matched. Another consideration is color and making sure everything looks like it was in the same world.

The main tools I used in this edit were the background eraser tool, replace color, and toggling of blending modes. This video is about 2 hours of editing sped up to a couple of minutes, with roughly another 45 minutes that I cut out totally. All in all, it was about a 3 hour edit. I hope you enjoy!

“Let It Go”
Self-portrait
March 2017

Is there a part of my process you would like to see featured in a video? Just let me know!

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If you want to learn some of these techniques in person, plus a whole lot more, take a look at my upcoming events!