The Era of the Digital Collage
Cyan and Scott Banister of Zivity
Well, here is the result of the first digital capture and assembly collage done by your’s truly for a client. I used to do these ALL the time in the film world on editorial shoots just for kicks. They were a great investment: you got a totally different look, you could shoot with fast color neg, you could shoot wide open, you could have the angle of view of a fisheye without using one, and then you had the extreme pleasure of assembling it. There was just something about touching the prints (or cut up contact sheets) and moving them around until you were pleased. after a bit, I learned a few rules that almost guaranteed a reasonable result. But friends, I am here to report that I have gone over to the digital side. Almost a year ago, I got an assignment from a client to actually shoot a collage! My old website had a whole section devoted to them. Well, I figured that I would try it digitally. And other than my missing shooting them square with my favorite MF camera, I have seen the light. I am one of those people who is still pretty sure I could do most of my work on film and be fine. I know film pretty well, and a bunch of my work does not need much post. Especially the editorial portraits. But as far as collages go, I am blown away at the flexibility and quality of digital collages. Wow. I will not elaborate here, because most of my massive readership could not care less about why it is better, but it is. Trust me. It is not necessarily EASIER, but it is surely more powerful, and if you follow a few rules, I reckon the success rate is significantly higher than in the film days. Anyone who wants my rules, drop me a line. I will save you a bit of grief.
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