Hyper Realism

 The task for the hyper realism assignment was a challenge to say the least.

We were taught a myriad of skills and techniques in compositing to create an interesting composition.

Early on I knew I wanted to create a unique, intriguing composition. Light. That was the key. Given the era we live in super human cinematic features are all the rage in the public conscious. Thus I chose to formulate a work revolving around the block buster, Avengers Endgame.

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on some high quality collectors' toys that bore a great resemblance to the film's props.

The challenge however came from the lights. I wanted to photograph the Iron Man gauntlet in the lower light of sunset. Thus I needed to find a way to encapsulate the light of all twelve infinity stones.

 I took each of the gauntlets, the Iron Man and Thanos, into my garage and photographed them in the dark. I took multiple shots until I found the right exposure.

In the end of that process I focused on four shots. One of the lights in focus and one of the lights out of focus for each respective gauntlet.

Now with the lights of the stones captured for later usage I would focus on a setting for my composition.

The quandary of finding a site to shoot at was extremely difficult. I had to take into consideration my theme. What message I was trying to convey was the key to picking a suitable site.

I settled on a location that felt warm when photographed. As well as natural.

 I eventually came across this location. It felt like a place a warrior would stumble up to after a long battle to drift off to the next life. The essence of what I felt to be the human experience. The tree was large and worn by the passing of time. The overgrowth would simply reinforce the dominance of nature over man and man's return to nature.

It had warm tones and felt peaceful. This would be the site for my shoot.

First I stuck a post into the ground after finding a good position for the gauntlet. I put a towel into the gauntlet to stabilize it as the post was to thin to keep the gauntlet completely upright.

After taking a image of the setting without the gauntlet I would take the image to the right. This was to ensure the lighting of the scene would be captured on the gauntlet.

The towel I would later mask out.

 My associate was kind enough to aid in the next part of the composition. Getting a relatively similar lighting for the Thanos gauntlet. I had a third associate put up a red yoga mat to separate the gauntlet from the background as I would not be placing the gauntlet in this setting.

I later decided the darker, colder tones of the gauntlet would add to the theme as cold and inhuman. Thus I would wait until night to get a photograph of the night sky.

I spent a great deal of time trying to capture the night sky to the best of my ability. There was no good location around for doing so. I made do with what I could.

Utilizing a long exposure time and shutting off as many outdoor lights as I could. I eventually settled with this shot as I was aware that I could adjust the hue, tones, and curves to fit my purposes.



Lastly I used a gradient over a masking layer to bring the darkened night sky to the right of the tree trunk. Doing the best I could to blend the foliage of the night sky into the tree trunk of the day scene.

In the end I believe I achieved the juxtaposition of warm and cold tones to reflect good and evil. Humanity and cold calculation. Each light was masked and composited over each corresponding stone. Making a stunning composition.