Breaking Down The Wrestler Composite

Being a Dallas Portrait Photographer, my goal is to capture the imagination through photography, and this Photo Composite of my twin boys is exactly what I’m talking about.

Today, I’m breaking down my Composite called “The Wrestler”.

When I speak with a client about creating a “Photillustration” for their walls or ad campaign, I tell them “Anythings Possible, and the only limitation is your own imagination.”

How “The Wrestler” came to be…

Imagining The Wrestler Composite

Being the father of twin boys who are as different as night and day, I see a beautiful dynamic only a parent can see.

They’re best of friends and worst of enemies.

On any given day, if you were to ask either of my boys if they like their brother, they would give a defining “NO”, yet when they don’t know I’m looking, they act like best friends.

Before and After of “The Wrestler”

This Composite represents the relationship I see between my twin boys, and how they can go from laughing together, to doing a double flip drop elbow on each other.

Exaggerating Reality

Most photographers create portraits to capture reality, giving you a recorded likeness of yourself so you can look back years later and think, “Wow, I looked younger back then!”

Capturing the imagination is really exaggerating reality.

Starting with reality, I sit with my clients through a Creative Session where we develop a concept based on the characters who will be involved in the Composite, and their personalities.

Once the concept has been decided, this is where we let the imagination go and like kids, we get to exaggerate reality.

Remember being a kid, and everything was bigger than life?

Breaking Down the Wrestler

The Photo Composite of “The Wrestler” was created using 15 separate images, and took me around 8 hours of computer work to complete.

Here’s a breakdown by the numbers…

#1 The Room: I first photographed an HDR series of the room to use as the base photo for this Composite.

#2 Luka on Bed: With a light set up by the window, I then photographed Luka sitting on the bed pretending he was being attacked.

#3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Flying Niko: Niko was photographed in my garage and using five separate images was pieced together to look like he was flying.

#8 The Cat: The cat was photographed half way through editing the image because I felt that area needed something more.

#9 The Neighborhood: The window looks out to the side of another house, so I used a stock image of a neighborhood instead.

#10 The Sling Shot: I hung the sling shot up to play off the sling shot poster from another Composite I did called “Sling Shot”.

#11 Sling Shot Poster: This is a Composite I did months earlier of the boys called “Sling Shot”.

#12 Wrestling Video Game: I added the wrestling scene on the TV screen to look like they were playing a video game.

#13: The TV: Using the TV from the original bedroom shot, I manipulated its size and shape to give it a more exaggerated look.

#14 Superman Poster: Using the Superman Poster from the original bedroom shot, I moved it up on the wall, which proved to be one of the most difficult parts of this entire Composite.

#15 Wrestling Action Figure: The Action Figure was photographed and added half way through the editing of this Composite because I felt the space looked too empty.

Let Your Imagination Go

The reason I post these Case Studies of my Compositing work is to help spark your imagination of what’s possible.

The only limitation is your imagination.

Now, I would love to work with you, so let your imagination go and CONTACT ME to schedule a Creative Session.