Composite strategy

Here is another composite made during my Carnival in Venice workshop. My strategy for most composites is to use a compelling subject, such as this costumed model, and an interesting or compelling environment.  There are hundreds of balconies, windows, and doors in Venice that beg for some kind of artistic addition, and that's what I did here.  Riding in a gondola on one of the canals or moving in the public water taxi on the Grand Canal, you pass dozens of great photographic environments that are perfect for this kind of thing.  The key is to match the lighting.  If the facade of the architecture is in the shade, then the model has to be photographed in the shade as well.  The second part of the equation is to know how to precisely select the model as well as the place into which the model will be placed with the pen tool. If you don't do that well, the composite will not be believable.