Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

As Don said I thought the shadows gave it away. But if you've looked, hmmmm. I will patiently await Mr. Hill's answer.

donolea Loc: Nashville, TN

Nah, I still think it's the people, the shadows give it away. How does a woman cast a shadow that two people -- seemingly only a couple of feet apart do not?! Things that make ya go, Hmmmmmmmmm?

jim hill Loc: Springfield, IL

I think Billy wins the title. These are the two photographs I composited into one. There were some problems with doing this but I was able to work through them with only the tools available in Serif and without use of layers. Maybe layers would have made the task easier but I am the dumbest of creatures when it comes to tech stuff - I mean donkey dumb.

Original photographs beforre compositing

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Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

I am eagerly awaiting the delivery truck with my no doubt enormous prize.

And Jim all I can say is considering the restrictions of Serif compared to Photoshop its quite amazing. Makes me wonder what you could achieve with PS.

donolea Loc: Nashville, TN

No offense, but I've never heard of Serif. I see those puffy clouds, they played havoc with the shadows. That's something to notice when compositing ... make sure your shadows and/or your light sources match. Can you create custom shadows with Serif?

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

Don I would like to thank you for the time and effort you put into this post. Many people would not have gone the extra mile you do this tutorial. I will have to take this info and see how I can translate this in Elements.

donolea Loc: Nashville, TN

Thanks NJFrank, I hope Elements can help you out .

Pixelpixie88 Loc: Northern Minnesota

Thanks Don for this tutorial. There are so many helpful things in it...I will bookmark and use this!
I don't do this very often and when I do, I don't have a lot of experience so, this will help. This photo I did from Disney World, is three different photos. Using layer masks and brushes. It always time consuming because I never really know what I'm doing and have to read online tutorials. So, thanks again!
Marsha

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jim hill Loc: Springfield, IL

You got me. I don't understand what you mean by your reference to the puffy clouds. I have no idea.

Further, I don't know what you mean by custom shadows. I did not create any shadows for this. All I did was to join two photographs together and align the mismatches at the joint - of which there were quite a few and it took quite awhile using my cloning tool and my resizing capabilities.

Serif is my program of choice. I have used it ever since the x4 version and I have grown comfortable with it as it can do what I want it to do. I don't work with layers although Serif has that capability also.

I am a printer of no mean talent having been Wynn Bullocks printer the final three years of his life. I was, at one time, considered for the job as assistant to Ansel as darkroom man but he and I both agreed that it would have been too much for me with little reward. I was a family man and a teacher and wasn't ready to give that up. I worked for Wynn on weekends only. Friday night to Sunday evenings.

When digital came along I bought a camera and began this journey which is as different from darkroom work as day is from night. At first it was hated but had to stick to it as COPD had precluded me from any more breathing of fumes in a legitimate darkroom. I had also developed an allergic reaction to metol. Part of my technique precluded the use of gloves in solutions.

At this age it is important that things be as simple as possible. Serif provides the simplicity that is required as it is extremely user friendly. It will serve until the end of days.

Sorry to carry on but when someone poses question and/or mentions techniques with which familiarity is not present then an explanation is owed.

Shadows - they are created clumsily out of nothing.