Keeping the Faith is one of my newer photo manipulation projects and a chance to show off some refinement to my techniques. In some ways its is similar to my much earlier work “Cloud Chaser”.

Inspiration- Keeping the Faith was inspired in combination by both my own work Cloud Chaser, and just the amazing series of work that I’ve seen and showcased in the online community. Seeing all that amazing work drove me to want to create something more, something visually stunning, as a result Ive been creating more work and trying to take my art to a higher level. I would encourage other artist to gather inspiration from the work of people they admire since its something that has been working very well for me.

The actual choice in model was fairly easy since she had a similar pose to the model I used in Cloud Chaser. I also really liked the coloring of her outfit and the way those colors played off each other, I tried to emulate that in the effects that I used in the image since they blended very well together. As to the title of this image I’m trying to reattach myself to the belief that the impossible can be achieved by sheer will.

Effects- I used a combination of effects many of you have  probably seen me resort to before, although more effectively this time. I used dynamic lighting, disintegration, and smoke effects in this image. I also wanted to use high contrast colors to really make the image pop.

In this image I used streaks of light, light particles and energy spheres to create a surreal, fun and expressive image. As for the disintegration effect, I wanted to make the model a part of the ether in a visually interesting way.

Typography- For the typography in this piece I used a font called “MOD”. I decided to make the font transparent using the multiply blend mode. I felt the type and the color streak helped visually balance the image and the white space in it.

Retouching- The retouch work on this image was very involved and I actually used several techniques from Rob Shields, to make the give the model more depth and a sharp detailed look. I believe it worked out very well. I believe that this is an image that will set the tone for the level of work I’ll be putting out going into the year 2010.