Lately, we’ve been showing you a lot of photography from other members, so now it’s time to show you some breathtaking composite work by Brian Rodgers Jr. Brian is an award winning commercial photographer & digital artist based in Mishawaka, Indiana and this is his creation, “Underwater Basement.”
Can you tell us a little bit about “Underwater Basement”?
This image was a conceptual composite image that I created from multiple stock images. As a commercial photographer & digital artist, I would have preferred to photograph all of the individual components to create this image, but sometimes deadlines and client budgets don’t always support that. This is a real world example of utilizing your retouching and compositing skills to execute a conceptual image for a client under a tight deadline and budget.
This image was used on a double sided post card mailer. The concept was to create a flooded basement to help sell a water leak detection system. The headline was “Be Alarmed Of Rising Water.”
What gear or software did you use to create this image?
Adobe Lightroom & Adobe Photoshop, Wacom tablet
How long have you been a KelbyOne member and what made you decide to become a member?
I’ve been a KelbyOne member long before it was renamed KelbyOne. I’ve been a member for about 9 years now; since the days of NAPP & Kelby Training. In 2007, I had finished college & earned a degree in Visual Communications/Graphic Design. During my time in college, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I enjoyed creating imagery more than I did designing things, and at that point it didn’t make financial sense to change majors. So I pursued a career in photography all on my own.
Scott Kelby’s 7 Point System for Photoshop came out around the time I graduated college. I happened to stumble upon it in a local Barnes & Noble store while browsing in the software books section. Jill, my girlfriend at the time (now wife) bought it for me as a Christmas present. I literally went through page by page, and completed every tutorial from start to finish in that book. That book was a turning point in my life. I felt like that one book taught me more about Photoshop than anything I had learned in high school or college. From there on I discovered NAPP, Photoshop User Magazine, & Kelby Training. I worked many years in retail before working my way into a commercial photography studio as a retoucher & assistant, then a small advertising agency as their in house photographer before transitioning and starting my company Digital Art That Rocks just over 3 years ago now.
Talk about dedicated! Brian’s put it a lot of time and effort to learn his trade. Looks like it paid off!
To see more of Brian’s work, visit his website, Digital Art That Rocks. And don’t forget to connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+.
