Creating a cover using photos from stock site.

The book From Here to There has had three covers-- so far (I liked them all) and that is only since I had it published. Another one came even before that where I just didn't like the look of that hero.

The woman needed to be attractive, have a sense of innocence but also stubbornness and determination. She had chopped off her hair once she moved onto her uncle's ranch.

The hero needed to be handsome, a very successful man, but a city guy who has come to the ranch to prove his ability to do whatever he needs. He had to look strong-- the kind of man who could succeed in a boardroom or a western ranch.

The ranch was set out of Livingston, Montana, in a fictional valley which led into the Absaroka Mountains. It was rather isolated as well as a beautiful place for those who love the ranch life.

I knew I had the background photo already but found an even better one in going through my Montana photos from 2008. While it wasn't quite where the ranch was set, this is a make-believe story; so it could have been. It was important that there be a road because after all this is from here to there.

I was not going to digitally paint any of this-- so it would be all photos. The right background mattered a lot as this is a story not just about people but of a land.

Then came finding the woman, Helene. That was a little harder since she couldn't be overly made up, had to look natural. A lot of the women in those stock photos are wearing dark lipstick. She could have by the timing of the story but it wasn't her style. Then I saw her with a wondering expression; and other than needing to give her a hair cut, she was perfect.

I went looking for a possible guy to play Phillip and got lucky as this guy could be more in the distance, leaving Phillip's face more unseen but you get the idea of his type.

Both people photos are from Can Stock and copyrighted, but I have the right to use them not only on the book cover (up to 500,000 copies) but also on a website. I can crop and use them as required. It's the advantage of using stock photos.

Once I had an idea of how I would lay everything together, I cut down the background, set it into the proper dimensions for a Kindle book. I put in the man first, rebuilt the barbed wire fence as I liked the symbolic nature of that fence as there is one between this couple but it's an emotional barrier. 

Once I had them together, the couple, the road, the mountains, I ran into a problem as the diverse colors made it difficult to put up a title and author name. For the first time on a book, but it'll not be the last, I used a border. It made it look more like a book and this was especially good since an old journal plays an important part in the story.

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From Here to There