When placing a giant subject within an environment in order for the illusion to be believable they must feel like they are physically 'grounded' and 'connecting' / 'contacting' with the world around them. There are many pieces of a work that make this illusion work well, such as matching perspectives between sources, overlapping environment, lighting effects like casting shadows or having matching lighting between sources, and giving the subject's presence consequence with special effects.
We'll focus on those aspects some day but the one I'm going to focus on in this post is the actual placement of the model within the space its self, as the placement of the model within your composition and within the context of the background photo can be pivotal in your subject feeling like they are hovering in the air or standing firmly on the ground. In order for your piece to be successful your viewer needs to know where in space every part of the subject is, otherwise they can't relate to it.
This is because you need to watch out for your subject's physical contact points within the world around them. These are any places where your subject is physically interacting with the world. The more connected the subject appears to be to the world, the better the illusion. A real good grounded connection with the environment can give real weight and presence to your subject which drastically enhances the feeling you get from the size difference you are portraying, often making a subject feel larger than they actually are or making it feel more visceral or authentic.
Your contact points are the very foundation of the success of a photo collage as it one of the core aspects of a piece that convince your viewer that your giant person is actually there. If the contact points are off, everything else will feel off. If not done with care you could end up with a 500 foot giant that feels like they weigh 20 lbs instead of 200,000 tons and that will completely ruin any immersion you already had in the piece. So make sure you are taking care in looking after these.
And I mean every physical contact point with the world. Feet on the ground, a hand on a rooftop, a slightly crunched car under a playfully extended tongue, their head cleaving through the clouds. Each point needs attention to really bring your illusion to the next level.
However you should put at least most of your focus on your main contact points, these are the parts of the body that your subject is putting the majority of their weight on and where the subject's biggest interaction with the environment at large is occurring. Make these feel solid and everything else will be much easier to pull off.
A secondary contact point would be a point of the subject's body that is not interacting with the world at large (or at least the consequence of that contact is minimal) but rather with a specific object disconnected with the world at large. This can be an intentional contact on part of the subject or it could be a result of their existence at all like a car that couldn't stop in time and crashes into their shoe or a person with enough courage to climb onto their shoe.
You don't need to get fancy with the concept to be successful, in fact when possible the simplest methods are the better methods in most cases. A simple perspective and lighting match with some decent environmental overlapping and maybe a smidge of shadow painting can do wonders. Just take a look at this collage from @DocopSized:
Look carefully at her main contact points, in this case it is both of her feet here on the ground. The area surrounding your contact point is the most important, as the viewer has to be able to see the point of the connection in order to feel one. So lets take a look at what's going on around her feet. Notice how there is a decent amount of the environment overlapping the subject around the point of contact but not enough to hide most of it. This helps place the subject within space by showing us how far away she is from the camera and in relation to other objects, this is also one of your most powerful and simplest tools. Hiding too much of the subject's body near your contact points can 'break' the point of contact (meaning there isn't an appearance or feeling of a physical connection) but too little can diminish that grounded feeling we're looking for because the piece may lack a sense of depth.
This is also why if it's hard to really get a sense of where things are in space in the background photo it might not be a good choice for a photo collage because it will be even harder to make the viewer believe a giant person is also physically in that space. Go for photos where you can very easily tell where things are in space to make your job a lot easier.
Take a look at some of these examples and see if you work out why the subjects feel as grounded as they do!
By following these simple ideas you can very easily push your work to the next level! I'll continue talking about some ways you can make life easier on your self, as well as some other kinds of contact points you may need to consider, as well as cover the situations where there might not be any contact points at all in a later post.
That's all the time I have for this post, so in summary:
- In order for your piece to be successful your viewer needs to know where in space every part of the subject is, otherwise they can't relate to it and your subject will not appear to fit in with the surrounding world.
- Physical Contact Points are any places where your subject is physically interacting with the world.
- Identify your Main Contact Points and focus on making these solid, these are the parts of the body that your subject is putting the majority of their weight on and where the subject's biggest interaction with the environment at large is occurring.
- Identify your Secondary Contact Points only after your main points are solid, these are parts of the subject's body that are not interacting with the world at large (or at least the consequence of that contact is minimal in comparison to your main contact point) but rather with a specific object disconnected from the world at large. (A person, a car, a piece of a building.)
- Your contact points are as foundational as high proximity lighting and perspective matches to the success of your photo collage.
- The area surrounding your contact point is the most important, as the viewer has to be able to see most of the point of the connection in order to feel one.
- Have parts of the environment overlap the subject near your contact points to heighten sense of depth and give better clarity to where and how your subject sits in space.
- One of your main goals with every collage you make should be making your subject feel grounded and present within space, where you can easily read where in space they are as well as have a feeling of their massive weight and mass as a giant being.
