life without the APA # 1-4 ~ in my nightmares
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 09:55AM 
Forever Wild Development Corp ~ in my nightmares - somewhere in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Villa Motel ~ in my nightmares - somewhere in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
A Kodak Moment ~ in my nightmares - somewhere in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Free parking ~ in my nightmares - somewhere in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenLate last night, 1:37AM to be precise, I crashed into bed. I crashed because I could barely see straight after spending the entire day - OK, OK, OK ... the wife will point out that I took a break to watch Gunsmoke - creating 3 more life without the APA pictures for the upcoming IMPACT Our Changing Environment exhibit (June 24th-July 14th, Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts / Blue Mt. Lake, NY - you're all invited). Even though the subtitle for the life without the APA picture is in my nightmares, I was able to sleep without a single nightmare because I had put the challenge of creating these pictures to bed (that is, until the next time, which may be today).
The challenge involved in creating these pictures is daunting and tedious. Daunting, because finding the right pictures from my picture inventory to mix and match is, in itself, a long and tiresome endeavor. Not only do the various POV perspectives of each picture have to be in close alignment, but so too does the quality of light - especially the direction of the light.
Once likely candidates are identified and assembled, the real tedious work of cutting and pasting begins. And, don't let anyone fool you, as many so-called "easy" selection tools as PS has - Magic Wand, Magnetic Lasso, Color Range, and the like - there is lots and lots and lots of handwork involved in making selections. Lots and lots and lots of 100% pixel level handwork that, I swear, will make you blind and/or brain dead.
Inasmuch as the life without the APA pictures are each assembled with elements from up to 7-8 different pictures*, the selection and blending of various elements is time consuming and very mentally tiring. Needless to state, the assembled pictures' visual success or failure - and hence their ultimate success or failure - is, in large part, dependent upon the assembly process. If the blending of elements looks in any way like it was done by a kindergarten kid with dull blunt-nosed scissors, the entire effect and affect is lost.
The challenge of successful blending of the elements is compounded by the fact that, as close as the elements might be in tone, color, and perspective, it is rare that a good amount of tone/color/perspective adjustments does not need to be applied to various elements. Some examples: the street scene in A Kodak Moment was nowhere near as warm as the Adirondack scene;
the Villa Office sign and the between the buildings debris in Villa Motel and the Woodlands sign in Forever Wild Development Corprequired a lot of perspective adjustment;
the skies in all the pictures are dramatically "enhanced" - tone/contrast/color, etc.
All in all, it is not an exact science and it requires of great deal of what the US Army calls "field expediency" - throw away the rulebook and make it up as you go along and as the situation requires.
BTW, just in case you can not read the "The Woodlands" sign in the Forever Wild Development Corp picture (it's a jpeg for the web), it states quite clearly and, apparently, with out a single hint of oxymoronic irony, "THE FOREVER WILD DEVELOPMENT CORP". FYI, I'm not making this up - it was a real sign, now gone (the FWDC part, not the entire sign).
*as an example, Forever Wild Development Corp: 1) the bridge (NYC), 2) the Adirondack scene (near Lake Placid), 3) hot dog guy and sign (Wilmington, NY), 4) the erratics (boulders) and excavator (Jay, NY), 5) the Woodlands sign (Jay, NY), 6) construction cones and barrel (Rochester, NY), 7) the tombstone (Au Sable Forks, NY).
Reader Comments (4)
This is really quite a project. I guess I really did not understand what you planned to do when described in the earlier post. Compositing images like this is unexpected from you. I think I see a bit of Rochester NY in the images (I live in a suburb of Rochester so I know the area). This is obviously not Ku... it is something else entirely.
Which brings me to something else you have me thinking about... that is the concept of building a series or gallery of pictures. That is something I have never done (unless you consider travel photos a series). You appear to be working on several series of pictures simultaneously. This really extends the story telling possibilities, but is so much more difficult (I think) than a one-off photo.
Anyway, the Photoshop work is impressive and very convincing. I would love to see the prints.
John
Good images (composites) and impressive PS skills, but have you thought about taking up painting? ;-)
I'm not up to speed with the APA project brief, but does the intended audience for the show know they are looking at composites? And whether they do or don't, how does that affect your approach?
Mark
Where's the 'reality'
I like it. Let's discuss over a round of golf soon.