When Composites Don't Play Nice! With Sandra Dann

Sandra Dann is back, and this one is about the bit nobody puts in the tutorials!

Anyone who builds composites knows the feeling. The selection that should have taken a minute doesn’t work. The edges look wrong. The perspective is slightly off and you cannot say why. The colours refuse to sit together, or two elements simply will not look as though they belong in the same picture.

Sandra has been working in Photoshop since 2012, and over that time she has built up a collection of what she calls her workarounds: practical little tricks, problem-solving habits and the occasional slightly unconventional route around a problem. This session is her sharing them.

About the talk

The tools have changed enormously since 2012. One thing has not: knowing the tools is not always enough. You also need to be able to look at an image that is not working, work out why, and find another way round.

Sandra will go through the problems she runs into in her own creative work and what she actually does about them. Difficult edges. Checking composition. Matching elements so they belong together. Working with colour and light. And a few old-school techniques that have earned their place in her workflow and stayed there.

This is not a formula for the perfect composite. It is about creative problem solving: understanding what is not working, knowing what to look for, and building your own set of workarounds for the times when Photoshop, the image, or your own idea refuses to cooperate.

Expect a practical, relaxed evening, real examples, and a fair few of those why did I never think of that moments.

What we will look at

• Dealing with difficult edges

• Checking composition, and spotting what is off

• Matching elements so they look like they belong

• Working with colour and light across a composite

• Old-school techniques that still earn their place

• How to work out why something is not working

Bring us your problem

Here is the part I am most looking forward to! This evening is shaped around what you are stuck on.

When you book, you will be sent a link to tell us about it. A composite that will not come together, an edge you cannot get right, something that looks wrong and you cannot work out why. A short description is plenty.

She will not be able to work through every one of them live, but she will build the session around what arrives. It means the evening comes from the things this community is actually struggling with rather than the things we assumed you would be.

Who this is for

Anyone who makes composites, or wants to. You do not need to be a Photoshop expert and you do not need to work the way Sandra works. If you have ever abandoned an image because one part of it would not behave, this evening is for you.

About Sandra

Sandra Dann is a digital artist and educator, and an Adobe Community Expert. Through SandraD Imagery she teaches Photoshop, digital art and creative storytelling, blending photography with imagination, colour and texture. Her style is relaxed and down to earth, and she cares as much about building your confidence as your technique.

See more of Sandra's work: sandradimagery.com · YouTube @SandraDImagery · Facebook @SandraDImagery

From Mark

Sandra ran her Creative Eye series with us in August and the thing people kept mentioning afterwards was not a technique. It was watching her work . She changes her mind out loud, tries something, decides it was a bad idea, and says so. Whack it in became the phrase of the night.

This session is built entirely out of that. It is an evening of someone showing you what they do when it goes wrong, which is far more useful than watching it go right. She also joins us from Australia, which means her alarm goes off in the middle of the night to be here, and she still turns up cheerful!!

Three ways to book

£6, the evening itself.

The live session, and the recording to watch for a month afterwards.

£12, and a written guide to keep.

Everything above, plus Sandra’s guide to the evening.

It is the session written down so you can work from it. Her steps in the order she did them, the settings she used, and pictures of what was on screen at the time. Every step tells you where it sits in the recording, so you can go straight to that minute and watch her do it.

It is built to sit open beside Photoshop. Anything unfamiliar is explained, there is a page for when something will not behave and the last page is the whole method on one sheet. Made directly from the recording using screenshots and AI tools, checked by me and by Sandra. Everything in it comes from the evening itself, nothing from anywhere else. These are outstanding.

You'll receive this two to three days after the evening. £6 to pre-order, £8 afterwards. Yours to keep and print and it does not expire.

£18, and a full year to watch.

Everything above, with the recording kept for twelve months instead of one.

Composites are the sort of thing you come back to. You hit a difficult edge in February and want to see how Sandra handled hers, and a month will be long gone. The recording is streamed rather than downloaded, but it is there whenever you need it!