One of my favorite Christmas pictures is this composite with my great Pyrenees puppy, Princey, when he was eight weeks old (he is now 155 pounds). My wife put him in the blue bag and had to hold him in place, and I used Speedotron studio strobes to take the picture against a black background. Then, my wife decorated several boxes with wrapping paper, and I photographed each one separately. Using Photoshop, I assembled the elements. I digitally placed the boxes around the blue bag, and finally I added a picture of my neighbor's Christmas tree. To retain the fine detail in Princey's hair, I used Topaz Remask 4. This software only works well when there is strong contrast between the subject and the background, which is why I used a black background. Princey's snow-white hair was easy for Topaz to define because there is no great contrast than white against black.
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