My annual Carnival in Venice photo workshop has given me the opportunity to photograph the most beautiful costumes in classic medieval environments over the course of many years. For creative variety, I now consider using non-Venetian -- but still European -- backgrounds that compliment the exquisite masks and costumes in design, color, and texture. I photographed the extraordinary room you see here in the Kremlin in Moscow, and it was perfect to composite a seated Venice model. Solange Meren is one of my favorite models because she’s endlessly patient with photographers, and her costumes are always sumptuous, highly detailed, and elegant. I had photographed her seated in a Venetian palace using only available light, and using a combination of the quick selection tool and the lasso tool in Photoshop, I made a precise selection of her costume and pasted that into the Kremlin shot. I then used Edit > transform > scale to resize her to fit onto the chair, and then I added a drop shadow for realism. The lighting in the Kremlin room was extremely dim as you can see from the settings: 1/60, f/1.8, and 3200 ISO. I used a Sigma 14mm f/1.8 lens for the interior shot.
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