what program: what program would i use to make photos like this. expecting my first grandbaby and would love to do some pics like this. Thank for your help.

Judy1013

what program would i use to make photos like this. expecting my first grandbaby and would love to do some pics like this. Thank for your help.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Any software offering layers will work, once you get past the initial learning curve. Photoshop and PS Elements are two.

Join us in PP Forum if you need assistance with learning: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html

Have fun with your new grandchild!

(EDIT - MinnieV's comments further on in this thread explain much better about the challenges than does my comment "get past initial learning curve" 😊 You can make rudimentary composites that might be fun for you and your family, but the impact of your example or the link I posted about Jim-Pops requires time and hard work to learn.)

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

For the dragon etc, unless you want to use (purchase?) a 3D rendering program will come in very handy. I use DAZ Studio from Digital Artist Zone which is free along with a small amount of content, however most of the content, 3D posable models is not free.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

RichardTaylor wrote:

For the dragon etc, unless you want to use (purchase?) a 3D rendering program will come in very handy. I use DAZ Studio from Digital Artist Zone which is free along with a small amount of content, however most of the content, 3D posable models is not free.

Jim-Pops has been using some free content from unsplash.com

One of Jim's recent works: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-661762-1.html

He has other sources too; I'll alert him to this thread

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

--Bob

Linda From Maine wrote:

Jim-Pops has been using some free content from unsplash.com

One of Jim's recent works: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-661762-1.html

He has other sources too; I'll alert him to this thread

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Judy1013 wrote:

what program would i use to make photos like this. expecting my first grandbaby and would love to do some pics like this. Thank for your help.

You would need a program like Photoshop or at least Photoshop Elements, a knowledge of layers and masking, and blending, brushwork, textures, and a source for "elements" to include like the background, the sky, the moon and stars, and the dragon.

In addition to Unsplash, Pexels https://www.pexels.com/ is another free source for content like what was used in this composite. There are many paid sources as well, some of which sell kits of similar items that are already extracted and color matched, making the work a bit easier. But the key issue is the ability to use them - extracting the picture of the baby from the original shot, blending it into a background it wasn't shot in (and creating that background in the first place), creating convincing light and shadow, blending the edges to make it look realistic. All this stuff is huge fun, but it does take time, practice and persistence to learn. I love it, but I won't kid you that it's easy.

Judy1013

Linda From Maine wrote:

Any software offering layers will work, once you g... (show quote)

Thank you very much!!!!

Judy1013

Thank you so much!

jcryan Loc: Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

GIMP (Free open source software) will also do this type of post processing.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

There's a photographer who specializes in that kind of baby photography. I'm sure it take some effort.

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

When you do happen to do this kind of photography post work, be sure not to get too caught up in your scene and forget about your subject matter. In the scene shown, although it is nice, the actual subject matter, the baby, is only about 5% of the whole scene. Better to create a scene that complements the scene rather than is all about the image and the baby is a minor addition, which some people tend to do, when creating such scenes.

Judy1013

Thank you very.much for the advice!!!!

GerryER Loc: Virginia USA

Many people use Photo Shop or Light Room, but Affinity-Photo is inexpensive and would accomplish what you want.

Judy1013

Thank you , I'll check.that out!

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

When you do happen to do this kind of photography post work, be sure not to get too caught up in your scene and forget about your subject matter. In the scene shown, although it is nice, the actual subject matter, the baby, is only about 5% of the whole scene. Better to create a scene that complements the scene rather than is all about the image and the baby is a minor addition, which some people tend to do, when creating such scenes.