Two redheads

One of my all time favorite images is this portrait of two redheads. The interesting thing about this picture is that I photographed the puppy -- a standard poodle -- on the miniature sofa a year before I met the little girl. When I met 5-year old Ellecie, I had her pose for me on the same sofa as if she were sleeping. Her head lay on a pillow at an angle that approximated how she would be positioned if the puppy had been there. Then, in Photoshop I used only the clone tool on various opacities to combine the two pictures. To be honest, I didn't think I could make this look as real as it does because hair is so difficult to work with. I surprised myself, though, and this is the result. I used one medium sized softbox for the illumination, and my settings for both images were 1/180, f/22, and 400 ISO. I purchased the little sofa in Indonesia for $50 specifically to photograph puppies.