Those of us who have tried mixing a bunch of photos together know that the process isn’t quite as easy as it might look. Blending different elements to form a single convincing image requires a very diverse skill set. Composition, color theory, the need for a solid concept and the technical know how to blend the elements together often come in to play in one piece.
The following 10 artists and studio’s definitely know what they’re doing though. So enjoy the work and be inspired.
This is an archived article from before Designfeedr’s re-launch, it was not created by the current team and the layout might be a bit iffy.
01. Emeric Trahand | Emeric’s site
02. Allesandro Bavari | Allesandro’s site
03. Quentin Shih | Quentin’s site
04. David Waters | David’s site
05. Partners Portugal
06. Lauri Ahonen | Lauri’s site
07. Sullivan & Lane | Sullivan & Lane site
08. Heiko Klug | Heiko Klug
09. Dave Hill | Dave’s site
10. Anthony Harmon | Anthony’s site
11. Impossible is nothing campaign
12. Usefull recourses
If the above has gotten your creative juices flowing but you don’t know where to start when it comes to photo manipulating the following links will help you out.
Making good cut-outs and extractions
Refine edge
Defringing hair on Computer Arts
Interresting making offs from Eagis Strife and some usefull tips
Eagis Strife tips and tricks
Making of Venus
Making of Hidden Place
Random usefull tutorials
Vivid color effects on Computer Arts
Blur effects on Computer Arts
Bottle as lens on Computer Arts
A bunch of tuts on Psdtuts
Koze Says:
This is simply amazing, I only knew of Takeshi’s amazing moodboards, but your spoilt for super choice here :).
May 28th '08Fubiz Says:
Beautiful selection!
May 28th '08dzineblog Says:
Great Collection
May 29th '08Suhail Says:
Superb !!
June 1st '08SARAH Says:
This is simply amazing. I was very interested in to include this awesome post in Best of web in May 2008 for my blog but unfortunely this site was in moving process for new host. But anyway the post is great.
June 1st '08Lawrence Anderson Says:
Wow, what a great selection. Very inspirational. Thanks to Smashing Magazine for getting the word out to me.
June 1st '08Nytryk Says:
You Smashed :O
June 2nd '08Youri Says:
We smashed? Is that good or bad?
June 2nd '08Dy Says:
great! you smash us!
June 3rd '08it means greats! :D
mrff Says:
Thanks . So great!!!
June 3rd '08try-try-try Says:
I’m not quite shure about the “impossible is nothing” campaign. Not sure if it has the right message…
Does it sound odd, if I think it seems a bit fascistic? Isn’t that wrong in an ad for Olympic Games in a country like China?
June 3rd '08snehal Says:
hey….
June 4th '08i am not able to get great effects in photos but now u have given very good resources.
not still confident to do that. please help me.
great!!! thanks
Ankit Sabharwal Says:
Awesome work…
June 4th '08luke Says:
great coletczzzion.
June 4th '08Kamlesh Khatri Says:
I am really impressed….
June 5th '08Miggs Says:
Awesome – very creative .
June 5th '08Trav Says:
Reminds me somewhat of David Lachapelle, especially the more sexual themes
June 5th '08Ryan Says:
Those are great, thank you that taking the time to compile a great selection of photo manipulation work
June 5th '08Graciliano Says:
great images! the quality of the images is surprising!
June 6th '08Jose Says:
Wuau ! Good Work… Congratulations
June 8th '08RMK Says:
Nice choice.
June 9th '08iBLO Says:
what an expert technique. and the adidas campaign is the best for me
June 12th '08ims Says:
perfect …
June 12th '08thank u very much ..
defecto1024 Says:
very nice selection, great pictures ;)
June 13th '08Siom Says:
Such beautiful pictures
June 16th '08Chris Lind Says:
Why isn’t Taylor James here? http://www.taylorjames.com/cgi-retouching/index.html
Check out their retouch case studies, mind blowing.
June 19th '08Youri Says:
@Chris Lind : Wow Taylor James is good indeed…sick stuff. He’ll be on part 2, no doubt. Thanks for the link Chris.
June 19th '08Mars Says:
Completely awesome manipulations !
mOsk should be here as well: http://www.mosk.pl/2d_graphics.php -> Just fantastic :o
June 20th '08dom Says:
other illustrators great work here :
June 20th '08http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/08/21/creativity-spark-from-masters-of-graphic-design/
Jesse Baldwin Says:
Hello,
This is a shot in the dark, but I found this site because I am looking for someone to composite two characters in a short film i am directing into one photograph.
IT’s a mother and her child, and I have a handful of high-res pictures of both of them at the appropriate age. I just have to combine them into a “snapshot”-looking photo of the two of them together.
Can anyone recommend someone to me? What I need is FAR LESS INTRICATE than the beautiful samples here.
Many thanks
Jesse
June 26th '08Jurgen Says:
That is a great collection! Beautiful photo manipulation!
July 8th '08jemjungle Says:
Reading between the lines here?Pearls!
August 4th '08Tech Blog Says:
Really Great and Inspiring. Powerful collection of inspirational photos.
August 8th '08mikko Says:
stumbled here…
and shiiit.. awesome awesome pictures…
*thumbs up* I like it!
August 12th '08Raven Says:
These just re- enforce the painfull fact that our sense of reality IS BEING VERY VERY ALTERED!!!.. and that the coming generations.. are up for GREAT CHALENGES!!
Never the less… the BRAIN always RULES over the HEART I guess!!
Nice WORK!! to all involved!!
August 14th '08mariana Says:
it´s great!
September 11th '08Simon Says:
Great work. Very creative :) (Stumbled)
September 16th '08caitlin Says:
these are some of the best pics i have seen.. well most of them… but dont be offended i really like them ALOT …. :)
September 16th '08ClickandseeTV Says:
WOW!!!
I am amazed!!! This are really stunning examples of digital art!
LOVED IT!
September 18th '08jel Says:
hmmm its so great! but i like most the david waters…
September 29th '08Elly Says:
Wow … brilliant work…brilliant minds
November 8th '08A question.. does anyone know were I can find information or maybe (hopefully) a tutorial on how to obtain the effect on the girl in photo 5 ( Sullivan & Lane) Ive tried a few things and tried to search for info, but Im not even sure what this effect on a photo is called.
Would SO much appreciate ANY help
nick Says:
its awesome man…great work
November 15th '08digitalpharaoh Says:
Good finds. :)
November 22nd '08JNASHDESIGN Says:
This is a great list. All these artists are outstanding but I must say, notably absent are Nik Ainley, Peter Jaworowski and Mike Orduna.
December 22nd '08devilem Says:
unbealieveble artwork here. great collection. i loved it!
March 31st '09Mihailo Says:
Wonderfull! Great pick!
April 1st '09aravind Says:
kewl!
May 19th '09But you should have linked to the original sources or artists’ websites.. Really curious to know the brains behind these marvelous works..
aravind Says:
Oops, I’m taking that back.. I did not notice the links..
May 19th '09Thanks..
PelFusion Says:
really really inspiring…keep the good work up
May 28th '09Avery Says:
I want to learn how to make such beautiful images.
July 8th '09