Compositors don’t just use software, they train their eyes. Here’s why seeing is half your success.

At Alpha Chromatica Education (ACE), Suelen’s journey was about more than learning Nuke or understanding workflows. She had already mastered photography, where she composed images, balanced light, and told visual stories. But compositing? That was an entirely different challenge.

Photography taught her how light interacts with objects, but compositing demanded precision on another level. She wasn’t just capturing reality anymore; she was creating an illusion that felt real. Raw renders often looked off, elements didn’t blend seamlessly, and scenes lacked depth. Suelen had one job: figure out why.

Her most fascinating discovery? Depth Anything, an AI tool that generates depth maps from flat images. Photography captured depth naturally, but VFX often required creating depth from nothing. Using this tool, she experimented with relighting, depth-of-field effects, and atmospheric adjustments. Suddenly, layering images wasn’t enough, she was sculpturing depth, crafting shots that felt alive.

But tools alone don’t make an artist. Suelen realized compositing wasn’t about blindly following steps but about trusting her instincts. That was her hardest lesson. There’s no formula for “Does this shot feel real?” At first, she leaned on instructions and feedback. Over time, she trained her eye, stepping back, assessing her work with fresh perspective, and learning what “right” looked like.

Her turning point came during her first music video project with Andrew Zeller (co-founder of Alpha Chromatica & her comp Instructor). Custom gizmos, unique workflows, and creative problem-solving opened her eyes further. Nuke wasn’t just software anymore, it became her playground for building solutions. Mistakes became lessons. Challenges became opportunities. Every shot sharpened her judgment until she stopped waiting for validation and started thinking like an artist.

Compositors don’t just press buttons, they see. They train their eyes, trust their instincts, and transform raw elements from “off” and “flat”...to magic.

𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗩𝗙𝗫, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆.
These photographs were taken before she ever touched Nuke, before the node graphs, the relighting, the roto masks. But the instinct was already there. Her eye for composition, contrast, and depth was guiding her long before she knew the technical terms. What changed later was the language. What stayed the same was the vision.