Happy Holidays from my Christmas Crew

Everybody wanted to be in a group shot. I thought why not.

Happy Holidays to you and yours...

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Caution Christmas Tech Stuff:

So tonight we started with a mirror locked shot of our tree. Closing the lens to f22 helped to give the star effect of the lights.

The rest that follows are layers in screen mode with underling black masks.

First I shot the little guys all in a row on some black velvet. After adjusting the levels I added the layer on top of the tree using the screen mode. This makes the black background go away but also makes the little guys transparent. The artistic way to fix this is add a blank layer underneath the little guys and hand paint soft black behind them so they are no longer transparent. The hand painting gives it an interestingly soft touch over a hard knockout.

This same procedure was done to the second row. And finally I added myself through the regular means.

Doing it this way may seem like a lot of hand work but it gives a feel that is not as harsh and is very enjoyable to do. Hope you like it...