Photo illustration begins with a promising photograph and ends with an intensely edited image. I began this image with a model and two candles for lighting and ended hours later with what I feel is a finished piece. I call this image ‘Gypsy Queen’. Photoshop is the program used for compositing and editing. At what point does a photograph become an illustration? I think when you usually edit a photograph it takes a few minutes up to an hour depending on the project and when you spend hours or even days (like this project) then the photograph becomes something more.
Another photo in my series taken with candle light. One candle camera left positioned low as a key light. Second candle camera right positioned higher to cast shadow against the wall. The candle light really messed with the white point setting so I manually moved it to 2200k which took it from a red cast to a normal cast, ISO 125, aperture f18, and shutter speed 95 seconds. Oddly enough the slight flickering of the candles had little effect on the lighting.
