The term photomontage is a juxtaposed word that is made up of two others that have different etymological origins:
-Photo derives from photography, which emanates from Greek since it is the result of the sum of two lexical components of that language: the noun “photo”, which means “light”, and the term “graphy”, which can be translated as “quality”. to write.”
-Montage, on the other hand, we can establish that it derives from the French verb “monter”, which is synonymous with “assemble”, and from the suffix “-aje”, which is used to indicate “set”.
The concept of photomontage is formed from two terms: photo ( photography ) and montage . The notion refers to a composition that is developed using different images.
A photomontage can be done for various purposes. In many cases, the technique is applied to obtain an image that could not be achieved naturally . Through a photomontage it is possible to show a human being flying or a fire that occurs underwater, for example.
These compositions can have an artistic, humorous, advertising or other type of meaning. Generally, the author of the photomontage assumes that the viewer knows that his work is a photomontage (given that human beings do not fly and that fire does not light in water, if we return to our previous examples). However, you can also explain or clarify it.
However, on some occasions it is intended to deceive viewers , trying to pass off the photomontage as a real (natural) photograph. This is a practice that usually appears in journalism , when the media act unethically and seek to generate impact through photomontages, without clarifying that said photos record an intervention or alteration.
A magazine, in this framework, can make a photomontage to simulate a soccer player hugging a model . This is how it publishes the “evidence” of the supposed romance on its cover.
When carrying out a photomontage, it is necessary to follow a series of tips that will allow you to achieve the best possible result:
-The first and most fundamental thing is to remove the background from the photographs in question that are going to be used in order to create a suitable one.
-To make this photomontage look as natural as possible, it is essential to make good use of two elements such as brightness and contrast.
-You have to pay close attention to the perspective so that all the elements and people that appear in the photomontage have the same perspective.
-To the extent possible, the noise in the photographs used must be eliminated because it is the way to achieve a quality photomontage.
-It goes without saying that you also have to take great care of the proportions and you have to avoid that they are not appropriate to reality or to those that really exist among the objects and people that appear.
It is important to highlight that making photomontages was simplified with the development of computing. Today there are numerous programs ( software ) that allow you to modify photos digitally in a few steps.