His secret is that he has no secrets that he's unwilling to share. He's always open about the process of doing these photos, and always shows the initial work side-by-side with the finished picture. In a sense, his works are very educational, as he provides tons of tips and learning material along with his photos. First, he makes a composition of a few roughly cropped images. Then he finely crops it in, and that's where the tricky part usually begins.
The Photoshop wizard then adds fine details, blends in lighting and shadows, and adjusts the color scheme so that the person blends in seamlessly with the whole composition. Afterward, he polishes it up and voila—you have a picture of yourself that you'd never get in mere reality. From magical to hi-tech, to post-apocalyptic, the possibilities look near limitless for Asabin's skills.
Believe it or not, it wasn't always like this. He was as unskilled at photo editing as most of us. He began with Photoshop CS6 at 2007 and never looked back. As of now, that's 13 years of experience. Impressive. What's more, he is completely self-taught, which explains the amount of knowledge the guy has and is willing to share. All in all, the dude's as inspiring as his works. And if you, fellow reader, are struggling at cropping the image, please know that once Max has struggled too just like you.
