The latest of SmugMug's series of feature videos profiles photographer and digital artist Renee Robyn. While recovering from a serious motorcycle accident, she fell in love with an art form that was within her physical capabilities at the time - making digital composite images. She now dedicates her attention to composite imagery full time, bringing 'fact and fiction' together to create rich, ethereal works of art. Hear her story and take a look into the creation of her images in this SmugMug Film.
Learn some of Renee's tips for creating composite images on SmugMug:
I am so glad I didn't see the typical photography purist comments making knee-jerk derisive remarks. Maybe it's because this article and the artist is very clear about exactly what it is she does and embraces the medium of digital compositing fully.
In the past, when featured "photographers" use a lot of digital manipulation, it made the purist feel uncomfortable because the person didn't identify him/herself as a "digital artist," and the real issue is just a matter of semantics?
But where should we draw the line between a "photographer" and a "digital artist"? How much digital editing and creative manipulation is "allowed" before a photo is no longer considered "photography"? That is the main point of contention, isn't it?
Or maybe we should only care if the result is any good. There are plenty of terrible "photography" that's untouched by digital manipulation, and there are plenty of amazing images created by talented digital compositing artists. (And vice versa, of course).
in the video Renee is shown photographing the person (usually in a studio) and photographing outdoors/landscape/industrial...whatever to use as backgrounds for her composite images. evidently she is photographing with her own little hands and eyes the main components of her work.
Yeah, but the past photographers that got scathing comments from the purists also photographed their images too. So why the purists didn't tear Renee apart, but chose to tear apart past featured photographers?
That is why I suggested perhaps the point of contention is semantics, and not so much the technicality of what is done to the photos.
for me it's simply the technicality of work. i'm not much for composites/fantasy images/CGI but if it's done right...or i will say...the better it's done the less i find i dislike it. if the creator of the work, work that may or not be "my cup of tea", has produced impeccable results then that alone heavily impresses me and i can say i like the work.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great results... but what GEAR is she using?! I saw nikon d800, a canon in one scene, lots of heavy lenses and, I think, an Asus notebook. Which one? Which studio strobes. GEAR!!! :)
I've tried doing composites. I found it really really difficult. Just matching light angles between images drove me crazy. Talented girl, impressive results! Hope she wears full body protection when riding.
That's some very good digital work that Ms. Robyn's doing. How she came to it was written in the name. "digital artist Renee Robyn. While recovering from a serious motorcycle accident, she fell in love with an art form that was within her physical capabilities at the time ..."
French: renaître. English: Rebirth, to be born again. French: Renée. English: Born again.
An illustrator who happens to use photographs? The kind of work she does used to be done by people hunched over a drafting table with airbrushes. I'm not so sure that it's not easier that way. I've tried some heavy scale composites - 8-10 images - and it made me crazy. She's very, very talented.
wow!!! i do not usually gush and that's mostly because i've got nothing at all to gush about. i'm very pleasantly surprised to see Renee's work here as one usually thinks only the photogs of "fashion" from Paris, London, New York, and Japan typically occupy these types of position of admiration/fame. Renee however... i've met numerous times and have taken studio portraits's of her when she modeled too (she's so busy behind the camera/computer i don't even know if she models anymore). absolutely one of THE best(sweetest, friendliest, kind...beautiful) persons i've met along the way. it's interesting to peak in her like this now as i remember looking at her very early work. back then it was very clearly evident that she had a great eye and was a good fit to be a photographer.
I like most of it, but not all of it. This kind of stuff won't sit well with the purists of the photography world. And it won't sit well with others who lack the patience to learn how to express themselves artistically through the lens of their own photography.
However, the reality is that every single time you turn on the television you are seeing expertly post-processed imagery. Raw pure reality is not enough. Anyone can point a device and push a button. Your post-processing is the only difference your pictures have from anyone else's.
Ask every forum member to take a photograph one person at a time, alone in a room with a window and an amazing view, and almost all of them will take a photograph through that window at the view. I might snap a photo of the ceiling or some rust or spider web or a light ray entering the room from outside. The view is too obvious. Swimming upstream isn't about being the most spectacular, it's about finding ways to be unique in a crowded world.
the thing that always spoils "it" for me when watching movies or looking at heavily altered/fantasy images is when the work (altered reality/CG) is low quality, poorly executed, and/or simply flawed. young miss Renee has been doing this stuff for many a years now and even when she first started publicly posting her work it was very high quality work. that impressed me.
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