Fine art and commercial photographers generally produce high quality images, but sometimes the intermediate or final product is lacking in viewer appeal or purpose. Creating as much interest as possible in images is becoming more important when presenting concepts to clients and print options to viewers. Often various objects and figures, when added to a scene, provide an extra dimension, making the base image more interesting and plausible. Objects and figures may be added by a staged production, as a cinematographer operates a set on location, or they may be imaged separately and transferred directly by editing in Photoshop.

Creating composite productions has become common practice in commercial photography for many years, but is not generally practiced in fine art photography. However, while editing it is possible to transfer a specific selection of a base image to a secondary image and then back to the original base image.

This double transfer can enhance the value of the final product. Many times the double transfer is used during the work-up process, to identify one of several options available for use in a specific scene. The second image or multiple secondary images may arise from inventory, or more commonly may be produced specifically for the base image. In this way, the final print becomes a composite production of multiple images, which will have greater value for viewers.