Fortnightly Challenge - Jan 10 thru Jan 21 - Topic: Mechanical

[JohnMC]

Fortnightly Challenge - Jan 10 thru Jan 21

Challenge topic: Mechanical

The challenge will run from right now until : 11:59PM Jan 21

Important Note: Starting with this challenge, we are begin to incorporate a photoshopping component into our challenges. You may still continue to edit your photographs however you like and receive C&C on them. However, as an OPT-IN option, you may simply note on your post that others may make addition edits and post those images as well. The original photographer still retains the rights to all derivative works. If you make a derivative work of someones photograph please post a simple how-to to go with it, so we all can learn from the post. If you have any questions on this new addition, please ask.

Rules:
1. Photos should be your own work.
2. Produced within the challenge period if possible.
3. All positive feedback and criticism is encouraged and welcome if you posted or not.
4. There is no real limit to the number of photos you may enter.

Challenge topics:
1. Suggestions for the bi-weekly's challenge are made in a single thread which will be set up the week before.

Lets have fun!!!

 

[Designer Dale]

Hi. I took one of Mikeschmeee's incense photos from his Flickr account and created this desktop with his permission. The layout was quite simple. I created a blank document four times the size of the photo and dumped four copies into it. I flipped and rotated them to make a kaleidoscope kind of thing.

The colors come from blank copies of the large background with different blends applied to them. The blending mode on each layer for the graphic was set to Luminosity.

Here is the original and the screen shot of my Layers Pallet. You may not copy this without permission from both Mikeschmeee and me.

My thanks to Mike for letting me air out my creative side.

Dale

 

[Designer Dale]

Mechanical

Excuse the previous. I wanted to show it off. It's chemical, this is mechanical. Edit if you want.

Dale

 

[Phrasikleia]

^^^ Really interesting sculpture (??). Wherever did you find that?

I wouldn't change anything in Photoshop, unless perhaps you could recover some more detail in the wall at the right. Would need the raw file for that, though.

 

[Designer Dale]

^^^ Really interesting sculpture (??). Wherever did you find that?

I wouldn't change anything in Photoshop, unless perhaps you could recover some more detail in the wall at the right. Would need the raw file for that, though.

Thanks. Puyallup Washington is a small town known mostly as home to the Washington State Fair each fall. They have been developing the core of downtown to attract shoppers and build it up as a commercial center with an old time feel. One thing that they have done is to support public art, and this is a good example. It has been there for years, just set off in a notch between a few stores. Great concept. There are many brass sculptures around town and a very nice park and library.

Dale

 

[Chappers]

Dale - this is why I was keen on this concept of editing and PS'ing peoples work and you have proved it was a good idea and how good you are.

Love the photo - I feel we are going to benefit from your work being on here for this challenge.

 

[Designer Dale]

Dale - this is why I was keen on this concept of editing and PS'ing peoples work and you have proved it was a good idea and how good you are.

Love the photo - I feel we are going to benefit from your work being on here for this challenge.

Thanks, Chappers

Even though the desktop is off topic (chemical, not mechanical), it goes to show how all the forums and photographers of MR flow together. The photo is Mikschmeee's. I saw a version of it in POTD and clicked his Flickr sig to see the original. He gave me permission and here we are in the Challenge. It's in the Desktop thread, too. I love this place.

Dale

 

[enVisionGTR]

My contribution

 

[zildjansg]

my share:

SKEMECHTAL

 

[Chappers]

Thanks, Chappers

Even though the desktop is off topic (chemical, not mechanical), it goes to show how all the forums and photographers of MR flow together. The photo is Mikschmeee's. I saw a version of it in POTD and clicked his Flickr sig to see the original. He gave me permission and here we are in the Challenge. It's in the Desktop thread, too. I love this place.

Dale

I'm a biologist but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_mechanism you can drag in a bit of science as far as I'm concerned

 

[Maxxamillian]

Have been wanting to experiment with smoke, which I did specifically for this thread. The smoke pics are stock photos purchased from iStockphoto.com. Licensing agreements prevent me from posting them to this site The photo names are:

iStock_000003521756XLarge.jpg
iStock_000002940347XLarge.jpg

Original picture (bottom) can be used for this thread. Yes, I know, it is a terrible picture, which makes it a great candidate for stuff like this

 

[Chappers]

Have been wanting to experiment with smoke, which I did specifically for this thread. The smoke pics are stock photos purchased from iStockphoto.com. Licensing agreements prevent me from posting them to this site The photo names are:

iStock_000003521756XLarge.jpg
iStock_000002940347XLarge.jpg

Original picture (bottom) can be used for this thread. Yes, I know, it is a terrible picture, which makes it a great candidate for stuff like this

Could we see the altered image without the smoke? As a curiosity towards the development of your work.
Simon

 

[deep diver]

What are the three stuck keys? BTW: You can't answer if you've seen this image before.

 

[designguy79]

Here is my attempt -- this was fun!

(click for bigger version on Flickr)



Feel free to create your own version, I would love to see other interpretations.

How I created mine...

* Add vignetting to corners with Distort -> Lens Correction
* Duplicated the layer
* Use the "Poster Edges" filter on the top layer only
* Added some noise
* Selected the "Linear Light" blending method for the layer with the filter
* Merged the layers together
* Created a black background layer, shrunk the image layer down to create the black edge
* Duplicated the layer again
* Did a pretty heavy Gaussian blur on to layer
* Added some more noise on top layer
* Create a layer mask and painted a gradient sphere to "unblur" the section I wanted to draw attention to

Thanks for looking! Comments, critiques and your own version would be cool.

 

[Designer Dale]

Please delete. Inadvertent consecutive post.

 

[Designer Dale]

Maxx Bike

OK. Here is part one of my attempt at Maxx's bike. Color Correction

I used Adjustment Layers, the round icon at the bottom of the Layers Pallet for each of my adjustments. This is that thing I call "Nondestructive Editing" If you don't like the result you can throw the Adjustment out. If you want to change it, double-click the Layer icon and there it is. Cool.

Levels: Pulled the white point in to brighten the image.
Color Balance: Increased the red and yellow to snap up the color in the bike.
Brightness and Contrast: Increased the contrast.
Selective Color: Took the cyan and black down just a bit.

If you have several layers, you can put them in a folder. Select them all and pick New Group from Layers from the Layer Options fly-out.

I had no idea how to describe the process, so don't feel like I'm talking down or whatever.

]

Dale

 

[Maxxamillian]

Continued working on the bike pic (love / hate relationship going on here)

Chappers--I could get rid of the smoke simply by deactivating the folder that contains all of the smoke stuff for the picture. I would, however, still need to go through final PP steps again for color, etc...

 

[Designer Dale]

Continued working on the bike pic (love / hate relationship going on here)

Chappers--I could get rid of the smoke simply by deactivating the folder that contains all of the smoke stuff for the picture. I would, however, still need to go through final PP steps again for color, etc...

Maxx, did you process this through the NIK suite before taking it to PhotoShop? I know I'm working with the jpg and you had the RAW file, but you have sharpness that I can't begin to match. I'm always looking for an edge.

Dale

 

[Chappers]

Maxx - I'm enjoying watching this develop - I won't be passing any comment on what I like or don't like - as it is so interesting to watch the process.

 

[Designer Dale]

Maxx Bike II

Here we go...
Now I need to darken the background without darkening the bike. To do this I had to remove the bike from the background. I used the Pen Tool to make a selection around the bike. I saved this as a Clipping Path, which I will use later. Maybe. With the Path converted to a selection, I hit Command-J, which put a copy of the bike up on a layer of it's own. Now I can adjust Levels and Brightness for the background and not worry how crappy the bike looks. When I'm satisfied I turn the clipped out bike layer back on and bam. New bike.

Don't mind the black and white layers in my screenshot. I use them to look at the edges of my clipping. This is a work in progress.

Dale

 

[pdxflint]

Interesting PP work going on here... although I'm a teeny bit confused as to what the main gist of the thread is. Is the idea to post something that others can work on to create their own idea of the shot, or to improve it? Or is the idea to post for critique, and to critique in return? I guess if I hang around awhile I'll better understand how I can contribute in a positive way...

I'll make a comment on Maxximillian's smoke/bike shot. I think the post processing of the background to enhance the blur to imply speed seems just a bit too artificial, and contrasts in character too much with the style of the smoke on the rear wheel. It's almost as if to me the smoke signifies a bike being launched from a start, or a slower speed, thus the burning rubber and curling smoke would fit. But if the impression is of flying speed, the smoke would just be blasted past as quickly as the streaked background, and we would hardly see it, at least not curling around like that. Somehow, it just doesn't match to my eye, and something seems off at a glance - although the image is very striking. I really like the light and color and the feeling of the shot...

Here's an older shot I did with black/white film and printed on plain old Illford RC variable contrast paper. It was while exploring an old, shuttered log mill on the Willamette River in West Linn, Oregon.

 

[pdxflint]

What are the three stuck keys? BTW: You can't answer if you've seen this image before.

Would they be A, C, and M?

 

[Maxxamillian]

Maxx, did you process this through the NIK suite before taking it to PhotoShop? I know I'm working with the jpg and you had the RAW file, but you have sharpness that I can't begin to match. I'm always looking for an edge.

Dale

Nik, OnOne, and PS4 were used to compose the image. The general flow went like this:

OnOne: Use MaskPro to get the bike out of the picture
PS4: Stitch background together to fill the space where the bike was & blur
PS4: Use Channels to isolate smoke
PS4: Compose smoke layers / compose smoke layer with bike and background layer (more channel work, artistic blurs (mostly gaussian), liquefy, distort, and a ton of experimentation)
Nik: Color Efex 3, Viveza 2, Define 2 to get the smoke layer, background, and bike to shuck and jive with each other.
onOne: Photo Tools 2 for minor tweaks

I spent most of my life an artist using classic methods with traditional tools. I find the ability to use a camera and computer as brushes a more satisfying experience than any of the other creative outlets I've enjoyed in the past. For some, stuff like this is arduous. Me? Love it.

 

[Maxxamillian]

Maxx - I'm enjoying watching this develop - I won't be passing any comment on what I like or don't like - as it is so interesting to watch the process.

You know I've been a fan of your work for some time. I would welcome the feedback should you ever feel so inclined

 

[Maxxamillian]

Here we go...
Now I need to darken the background without darkening the bike. To do this I had to remove the bike from the background. I used the Pen Tool to make a selection around the bike. I saved this as a Clipping Path, which I will use later. Maybe. With the Path converted to a selection, I hit Command-J, which put a copy of the bike up on a layer of it's own. Now I can adjust Levels and Brightness for the background and not worry how crappy the bike looks. When I'm satisfied I turn the clipped out bike layer back on and bam. New bike.

Don't mind the black and white layers in my screenshot. I use them to look at the edges of my clipping. This is a work in progress.

Dale

I like where this is going! Using B&W to watch clipping? I'm going to have to try that...