Shooting for composites in post processing

Today I am thankful to have power back after a couple days without. I am also thankful that my beach house survived any major damage in South Bethany Delaware! And happy to be back on the blog.
Last weekend I conducted my fall beach workshop as Hurricane Sandy was making her way up the East coast. I had a feeling it was going to be a bad one. It was windy with rough surf and dark grey overcast skies. We got in a pretty sunrise shoot on Saturday AM and continued to shoot all day on Saturday as rain was predicted for Sunday morning. One of the stops I made with the group was near the Addy Sea in Bethany Beach. The dunes were tall, the dune grasses were blowing and the seed pods of the yucca were interesting to me against the blank grey sky. I shot the yuccas with the idea that I might blend images or find textures in my files to blend together in Photoshop using layers and masks. I shot the image of the sky later in the day as the clouds darkend with the idea that it would be good to blend in the sun with the shot of the Yucca plants.
I also thought about adding a texture to the image...the shots below will show you how I saw the final image as I was shooting the raw shots with my D4.

Here are the shots before blending:
Shot 1: Yuccas

Shot 2: Sun with heavy gray clouds

 

Shot 3: Texture from Library of textures: I chose this texture for the color and design which reminded me of sand dunes with abstract fence lines.

 

Composite Image before Snap Art 3:

 

Composite Shot after Snap Art 3 filter:

 

So.....Next time you go out shooting and your subjects seem boring or the light is dull, think about shooting for and using a composite, making several ordinary shots which can be combined to create a whole new image with a unique look! Use your imagination! and keep shooting!