Artistic Photography Tweaking

There is often a lot of debate as to whether photography is or is not art. So what happens when you have a photographer, who is also an artist with a background in painting and illustration? We find out in this video where Jeremy Cowart explains how he created a beautiful and ethereal image of musician Imogen Heap:

Jeremy, who is in his first year as a pro photographer was so inspired by Imogen Heap’s music that he fired off an email to her. She agreed to take part in a quick photoshoot in Jeremy’s studio.

Jeremy used a very simple lighting set up consisting of just one soft-box, above and behind the photographer. One of Imogen’s poses struck a cord with the artist/photographer and the seeds of an idea came into his mind. Initially he removes her from the background and adds new layers behind her. This consisted of a landscape and a dramatic sky and clouds

adapting photography

The next stage, highlights the artist in Jeremy. He reshoots the layered image direct from his computer display, through a variety of different textures such as glass and then combines these images with the original layered image. He continuously adds layers, noise and dust until he arrives at an image he is happy with.

imogen heap photo

The end result is a striking, ethereal image that leans more towards painting than photography yet is derived from several photographic images.

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