Pioneer Log Homes has contracted me to create the backgrounds and landscaping for their log home rendering. The images I create will go on their website to show perspective buyers what their designs look like in situ. The contract is a lot of fun because it is a blend of technical and creative which I love.
An example of a design they gave me: 
This is what I did with it:
Here is the photo I used for the background:
Cutting and pasting images sounds easy, but this process is a lot more time consuming than you might think. It involves cutting around branches and leaves pixel by pixel:
As well as creating the background, I put objects in the foreground so the house looks like it is part of the landscape, such as the trees I added on the left. I colour corrected them to match the overall hues of the picture. I then add human touches like flowerbeds to make it more homey and reflections in the windows to show the sky and surrounding landscape.
Finally I add texture to the ends of the logs to make them more realistic. On the left is the before picture. In the middle is a version I use if the house is farther away and the one on the right is what I do if the house is closer up and I need more detail:
My renderings will be uploaded to their new website which they are launching in September. They will add more as they are completed.
