I would like to study a few recommended photographers who are noted for their innovation and abstract approach to montage and superimposition. Can anybody recommend someone?

I would like to read any articles that discuss their techniques and their compositional drivers, ie, the reasons they did what they did.

I find myself drawn to the symbolic and sense of mystery that some of these creations can portray.

Thanks for whatever help anyone can give me.

The only one I know of and am impressed by is John Paul Caponigro, though his montages may not be quite the type you're thinking of (then again, they might). His web site:
http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/gallery/

He uses artificial symmetry to get some very interesting, semi-abstract effects, while some of his images are clearly montages of multiple images (stones floating in the sky, for example).

Lisa

Good start, Lisa, thanks for the help!

Hi Jerry,

Jerry Uelsmann is also a very important photographer to study in regards to collages:

Uelsmann Website

He started doing collages in the darkroom and now continues with digital. I have always found his work inspirational, both because of the imaginative world his images open up and because of his approach to photography as not being the documentation of actual events.

Thanks, Alain, for the link. Jerry's images are very provocative and exactly what I had in mind. Do you know of any others? Can you point me somewhere I can learn how to start to do this in Photoshop?

I am trying to explore and understand other works as you suggest in your essays. Thanks again for your help!

And don't forget Maggie Taylor. She was Jerry Uelsmann's student before becoming his wife. I can imaging their conversation at the dinner table. "Honey, you must try this PS plugin..."

http://www.maggietaylor.com/

Julieanne Kost is my favorite PS Evangelist. I was at her talk once, and was blown away by her rapid fire tutorial on how to arrive at the image on the right in her home page.

http://www.jkost.com/

While her free tutorials at the following site are not montage specific, they are by far the most generous, comprehensive and accurate ones I can find on the Net. After all she's Adobe's official trainer.

http://www.adobeevangelists.com/photoshop/psindex.html

Start with the one on blending modes. BTW, I'm a straight shooter and my work is nothing like theirs. But I'm an admirer.

Thanks, Chris for the feedback. I'll give them all a try!

I can't seem to find the tutorial on "Blending Modes". I was wondering whether the link you were referring to in August Chris, is still there?

Julie

Do a Google search on Jerry Uelsmann. He's been doing surrealistic montages since the 50's. He has several books out of his work, and, even though he still uses film, his work isw sure to stimulate your creativity and imagination.

I'd add John Reuter to that list...

http://www.johnreuter.com/

Mike.

I was referring to the pdf file "Blend Mode Magic" which is still available on the page. There are many other tutorials there that can be useful for abstract editing. JK is very generous in providing these excellent tutorials for free.

Apparently, Uelsmann has not been converted to digital by his wife, yet.

Here's his comment on the traditional and digital darkrooms:

http://shutterbug.com/techniques/pro_techn...mann/index.html

I guess the world of photography is firmly divided between those who do, and those who do not like, exactly the sort of work that Señor U produces.

Rob C