In various forums on the web, I keep getting asked how the Evolution Series of Fine Art Composites is made, so I’m going to share this simple glimpse behind the curtain.

Each image in the Evolution Series begins life as a studio photograph made on a seamless paper background (usually neutral gray, white or black). I ask the model to pose in ways that seem unnatural or contorted, because our objective is to create a final image that is very non-human in form.

After the shoot, each image is processed the way I would normally process any other set, and then I choose specific images with which to get creative.  It’s at that point that the magic (or as I like to call it, the painstaking digital work) begins. The model is clipped and masked – isolated from the background, and then each detail is added to the image digitally. Some portions are created from thin air and some portions are texture images that I have made and collected over the years.

When I’m finished, the composite image reveals a new specimen in the Evolution Series. Here’s a glimpse behind the curtain – a fade of the original shot into the finished shot.

And here is the finished image in large format.