Finally making a bit of progress again! Here are the two versions I've got for the Annie Oakley background. Critiques? They were shot across the street from one another in Oroville, California. The mountains in the top frame were taken from 90° to the right.

In my mind, Annie Oakley will be somewhere on the right third of the frame with playing cards either cut in half by her bullets or Aces with a bullet hole in the center will be suspended/falling in the foreground of the frame. Ideas?

Where I'm At

Above is my progression on this photo. #1 is where it all comes from. I had to remove a bunch of stuff from the frame: field workers, light poles, a car far in the distance etc.  #2 is the background after processing. I wanted the background to look similar to a full moon night with some storm clouds. #3 and #4 are the files I built Mr. Johnson from and #5-10 are the pieces of the ring of fire. I dug a trench in the sand, filled it with kindling and then doused with gasoline. I then walked around the ring with the can of gas and shot individual bursts of flame that I could composite together.  #11-13 are the final ring of fire and two different versions I'm stuck on.  

I think this is the version of Robert Johnson I like the best, but I do want to add the haze of smoke around him, maybe bring up the brightness just a bit. He's also going to get moved to the left a bit and then I'll add the devil figure once I've photographed it.

Here is my mock up of what I think this will look like. I don't want a fully embodied devil, but Just a hint. Like how Predator looks when he is invisible. Shimmery with a hint of body details.










I have finished the background plate for Annie Oakley. I need to take a few decks of cards out to the shooting range and blow some holes through them(seems easier than building a fake gunshot hole through cards). Then hopefully next week I can shoot Annie Oakley, as played by Lisa Kislingbury-Anderson.