Post your "Evolution" here (no poll zone)

sherstone · August 31, 2007

I'm taking off for the weekend so I thought I would post a sneak peek at the inner workings and the how behind my entry for LPS 11, "Metal Strategy"

I had this planned out pretty much a few days after Shay announced the themes a week before the Semi Final was done, but felt it necessary to concentrate on the Semi and wait until it was over before starting to shoot.

The parts are mostly antique steam and rail way equipment that are on display around my town that used to be a coal mining town in the early 1900's. The day that I chose to shoot was a cloudy overcast day giving quite even light and minimal highlights. This was something I was worried would get in the way of my intended usage.

I used my hand as a template and after 40 or so layers I was finally done.
Up until this point most of my LPS entries have had very little work done to them to arrive at a finished product, but I have been yearning to have some fun and this was the perfect theme for it.

now without further blather...

The Evolution of Metal Strategy, (Metal is a play on Mental)

Higher resolution image Here

Good Luck everyone, some really cool looking entries this round.

davev · August 31, 2007

I have to say that you put much more work/thought into this than I did.

I had a couple of ideas early on, but really didn't have a way to make the shots.
The first idea was to have a showdown between me and one of those little walking robots that has the guns in their chest and spins around. But I don't have the dirt road or the robot to make this shot.

Second idea was to do the Westworld poster of the cowboy robot with half his face missing. Once again, I couldn't come up with the "stuff" for under the face.

So I turned to real world stuff.
The Carousel I think was a good Idea, I just didn't do a very good job getting the shot.

The car shots just happen to taken during the challenge, and really, I liked the "Kennedy Car" the best. The history that happened in that vehicle is amazing.

On to the train/fog lights shot that's entered.
We had a couple of foggy mornings here, so I took an hour off one morning to go to this rail yard that I have been to before. It just so happened that the train was running, and getting ready to move some boxcars around. I took this at ISO 800 to make it more grainy in the fog.

Greensquared · September 1, 2007

Very cool looking image. I was wondering how in the heck you did it, so thanks for sharing!

I have to admit that I prefer your excellent, more pure photography, but I appreciate your wanting to try something different and fun. It must get boring producing so many simply gorgeous photos!

sherstone · September 1, 2007

davev wrote:

I had a couple of ideas early on, but really didn't have a way to make the shots.
The first idea was to have a showdown between me and one of those little walking robots that has the guns in their chest and spins around. But I don't have the dirt road or the robot to make this shot.

Second idea was to do the Westworld poster of the cowboy robot with half his face missing. Once again, I couldn't come up with the "stuff" for under the face.

Sounds like I'm not the only one with fantastical ideas that call for a set crew and several actors

sherstone · September 1, 2007

Greensquared wrote:

It must get boring producing so many simply gorgeous photos!

he he -- yea it is a real chore...
thank you for the very nice compliment.

indiegirl · September 1, 2007

Holy Macaroni that's amazing.

scottV · September 1, 2007

indeed, i am not a fan of the obviously faked photos in a photo contest..this one is most excellent though, I thought you had some crazy chess-playing robot in your garage.

dlscott56 · September 1, 2007

Very cool. I thought it was a toy robot arm or something.

Art Scott · September 1, 2007

Fantastic

bow

I actually thought it was one of those erector type sets that kids build stuff put of (robaots, cars, cranes etc etc) out of.....I now remember seing something like this done with a human face and treebark to make a likeness of the GREENMAN in CAMERA ARTS along time ago.....fantastically done

thumb

Nikolai · September 2, 2007

Very creative!
I didn't realize it was such a complicated composite! Very nice job!

BistiArt · September 2, 2007

Robo Train

sherstone wrote:

LPS 11, "Metal Strategy"
Good Luck everyone, some really cool looking entries this round.

I like both the imagination this image shows and the sort of detail one can apply to create a 'simple' image using Photoshop. Your planning paid off for me.

I thought of Robo Cop when I first saw it. Then, when you showed me its innards...

Well Done!

richtersl · September 2, 2007

:wow

Felicia · September 2, 2007

Thanks so much for showing us how you made the photo! You've inspired me to be stretched beyond my own meager understanding of PS. Awesome!

Here's the evolution of Superwoman

This the original shot straight from the camera

Then I created a layer mask to select just the woman and the pole

It took me quite a while to figure out what I would put in the background. I didn't have time to go shoot at a bar or setup a better backdrop. So, I went out in my back yard at night and shot some city lights. Then I blurred the shot with a motion blur filter and got this

I then got so inspired that I went back out in the daytime and shot some sky with clouds. But scaled back to my original concept. Here's the shot that didn't make it into LPS

Tessa HD · September 2, 2007

yes - impressive! i too thought it was 'real'! i've got nothing to share - it was just a shop light, a monopod, my husband's awesome hands and his "GM " car.

edit: i had actually cropped my photo just before the contest's closing and i want to share why. after '3' weeks of contemplating man or machine, this was my only other favorite photo...

though there were a lot of things i liked about this one, my brother in law made an excellent observation in my other photo...this one...

he noticed the curves playing against each other, in particular, the one in the upper right playing against the larger one on the left, and even the vertical curve of a wire/hose in between. he too is an artist, and suggested cropping off the left and bottom distractions - and what a difference it made (at least we thought). after this crop i felt this photo became stronger than the baseball one due to the more artistic lines.

Tentacion · September 3, 2007

Hmmm My Evolution......

Well, it was a "bad" week, sort of, for me with the "Male" species

, so I didn't really know how I would interpret the "Man" theme in my mind...but I will say that the title "Dumb Bell" is quite appropriate, and what at this moment in time (for now anyways), is a major reflection of "Man" in my mind...."All Brawn and No Brain"

..lmao

(Don't kill me guys, no male bashing here..:D )

Good Luck To All, I wish you the BEST!!
Donna

Gary Glass · September 3, 2007

OK, I'll play... I dreamed the shot up while driving or something. I had learned along the way that the idea is generally to shoot one theme or the other, but the interplay of the two themes was already knocking about in my head, and I couldn't get it out. I wanted to do something to illustrate how we are defined by machines, how the conceptual categories of "machine" and "man" are in so many ways inseparable, and yet in so many ways incompatible. Perhaps this particularly resonates with me because of what I do for a living, computer programming. So that chain of thought led to the notion of taking a simple face-on portrait and carving it up in a very mechanical way. And since computers are such a part of our lives now, naturally a binary treatment was suggested: black & white, square, 2^4 square blocks differing only in tone. Getting the right shot was the hardest part of it. Originally I planned to shoot it against a simple white background, but then I noticed the square white tiles in the shower and thought that would work even better thematically. I wanted an unflattering look, as frank as a Rembrandt self-portrait. I set the light up low. It took a lot of trial and error to get the right angle, exposure, diffusion, etc., -- especially since I couldn't look through the viewfinder! -- combined with the right pose and mood. Here's the raw (you can see a piece of the umbrella in the lower right corner):

After that it was just a matter of cropping, converting to B&W (blue contrast gave my face an especially blotchy look), creating 16 layers and 16 masks, and setting the opacity of each. I also did a little retouching to darken some of the face and the background tiles. In the original conception, I wanted to make the squares cross the face at significant points (especially the pupils), but when I actually did it the 16 squares just didn't work out to provide a well-framed composition. Then I also realized that I hadn't held my head exactly square in the frame, and if I rotated my head in post, then the lines on the tiles wouldn't be square to the frame. I could lose the tiles, or do a composite, etc., but finally I decided that the "problem" was better than the intention anyway, because thematically it says that the real person is not square, that the measure of a man is never the man himself. (Maybe my photography is too cerebral?)

Anyway I wound up with my entry:

LPS cohorts advised me to reconsider using the theme in the photo title, but the title so perfectly captures what I was after that I didn't want to let it go.

dlscott56 · September 3, 2007

Mine was pretty easy. Here's the original truck shot. It's just an awesome paint job in bright sunlight nearly direclty overhead. I took quite a few shots to get my exposure the way I wanted it.

After that I took sky from this shot taken the same day at the Woodward Dream Cruise.

The rest was lots of pp to get the sky and it's reflections off the chrome, some spots in the paint, and a different part of the sky shot reflected in the rear window.

dlscott56 · September 3, 2007

Felicia wrote:

Here's the evolution of Superwoman

I like your entry but this one is pretty cool.

dlscott56 · September 3, 2007

Tentacion wrote:

Hmmm My Evolution......

Well, it was a "bad" week, sort of, for me with the "Male" species , so I didn't really know how I would interpret the "Man" theme in my mind...but I will say that the title "Dumb Bell" is quite appropriate, and what at this moment in time (for now anyways), is a major reflection of "Man" in my mind...."All Brawn and No Brain" ..lmao

(Don't kill me guys, no male bashing here..:D )

Good Luck To All, I wish you the BEST!!
Donna

Sorry about your bad week Donna, but your entry's in my personal top 10. As far as "All Brawn and No Brain" goes ... well I'm in BIG trouble since, in my case, there's no "Brawn"!

Good luck to you.

Strikeslip · September 3, 2007

Pursuit of Happiness
I didn't do much fancy Photoshopping, but here's a collage of the story. I used the bottom-left shot, square-cropped to the flaming hoop. I was crouched right next to the photographer for the Toronto Star newspaper, whos shot ran in the paper the next day (I was told), though I didn't see it. But I think I had the better angle.

Llywellyn · September 3, 2007

I'm pretty positive most folks here can look at my EXIF and instantly know how I got my shot, so I'll share more of the story in how I got there.

It began two weeks ago in my photography class (I have mentioned hundreds of times how much of a noob I am, right?) where I've been learning what all the doodads and whatzits on my camera actually do. Our assignment was to play with shutter speeds to achieve long exposure, stop action, and pan stop shots. I remembered this awesome LPS qualifier from an earlier round and the cool tutorial the photographer put up so generously here. I wanted to try painting with light on my own, so I mimicked the tutorial to a T for class.

In class our instructor discussed a photographer, Gjon Mili, who would use long exposures to take interesting portraits of Pablo Picasso painting with light. The photographer would lock up the mirror to capture Picasso drawing with a little pen light in a dark room then fling open the door at the last minute to capture Picasso's face behind the light drawing.

I came home wondering what it would be like to actually paint the face itself with light. I turned off all the lights in my computer room and grabbed an LED flashlight, set the timer on my camera, then ran in front of the lens and held the flashlight over my head. I used the same technique in the tutorial of holding the light still for about one second before moving it around to paint the rest of my face.

My original concept was much more minimalist. I wanted just a shaft of light really highlighting one side of the face:

As cool (and incredibly spooky) as this looked on my camera's LCD, I felt once I got it onto the computer that there wasn't enough context. I was afraid people would never figure out it was a face they were looking at.

I decided to overcompensate and take a longer exposure during the next round:

I actually didn't like this shot when I saw it on my LCD. I thought I had gone too far and given too much context. So I scaled all my settings back a bit and took a ton more minimalist shots as originally envisioned. But once I got the "overcompensated" shot onto my computer, I was immediately affected. This whole process was a bit spooky to do all alone at night--more so when I would run to the camera to check out the shot in the LCD. I could almost believe I had captured a ghost on film, it was too freaky. Seeing the longer exposure result on screen, I felt even more haunted and a bit frightened of the picture. None of the other shots got this evisceral response from me, so I decided this was it!

From there, I PS'd out the trail of the flashlight and some of the more distracting highlights. This was about 20 layers, tons of dodging and burning on a 50% neutral gray layer, and excessive use of the clone tool. The LED flashlight naturally gave the exposure that bluish/purplish color, which I liked and kept--warming it up only very slightly--until I was equally happy with and haunted by it:

After that I had a long struggle about the title. I wanted to highlight what I saw as the main difference between man and machine--having a soul--but I didn't want to ram it down people's throats. I was originally going to call it just "Possession," as a play on the word's dual meaning in this context (having something and being "possessed" by a spirit, a la Poltergeist). Then I figured that would be too subtle and tacked the "Soul" on to make my point a bit more obvious and to play more heavily on "possession's" other meaning.

Whew! Sorry for the long post.

This shot was just a very unique process and experience for me.

Felicia · September 3, 2007

Llywellyn wrote:

After that I had a long struggle about the title. I wanted to highlight what I saw as the main difference between man and machine--having a soul--but I didn't want to ram it down people's throats. I was originally going to call it just "Possession," as a play on the word's dual meaning in this context (having something and being "possessed" by a spirit, a la Poltergeist). Then I figured that would be too subtle and tacked the "Soul" on to make my point a bit more obvious and to play more heavily on "possession's" other meaning.

Whew! Sorry for the long post. This shot was just a very unique process and experience for me.

I really like this shot because of the haunted feeling I get, too! Thanks for posting the "behind the scenes."

HoofClix · September 3, 2007

Though from the moment I read the theme of LPS11 I knew what my image subject would be, I had mainly one goal in this round, to work on purifying my background, as this was a criticism in my SF2 entry that, when I saw it on a really nice monitor, I was embarrased at what I saw.

BUT, before I get into that, let me welcome Gary Glass to the LPS, as without his criticism in the "Whalloping Place," many of you wouldn't know a thing today.. Cheers to you for taking the challenge, Gary...

So, let me announce that this old man with bifocals got some new glasses about two weeks ago, and some "computer glasses" to boot, so now I can actually see what I'm posting..

So I've been working on the technique of freezing my main subject to the focal plane while allowing for specifically intended blur in slow-speed shots. Trying not to use panning all the time. For LPS11 I put the camera on the tripod, fixed the bicycle in the frame by propping the seat on the tailgate of my truck, then putting the front wheel on a stand, having my daughter sit in the bike and run the pedal. The rear wheel is not touching the road. I still had to use the timer because the tripod isn't as stable as it should be. I did use VR on my 70-200 Nikon lens... Waited till after dark, lit from the side and into the woods so I'd have as much black to work with in the background.. Still, when I got the image into the computer, there was a lot of "unblack." As my daughter was busy with studying, my wife forbade any reshoot.... so on to PS-CS3... Even after cloning in a whole lotta black, I still took the lightest part of the backgound and used the eyedroper to set it as a black point, and set the chainstay as white. That helped a lot. Even then I saw some little sparkes that I had to clone out... I'm not happy that I had to use such a high ISO, hence the noise in the shoe and chainring, and that the fixed parts aren't as sharp as I might have envisioned (sure there will be some criticism, unofficial and official on this), but this image is an achievement for me!

Original-uncorrected-uncropped:
Direct%20Drive%20Original.jpg

As entered:
Take's%20Two.jpg

(A note about glasses... I have had issues here for a while. I am very afraid of the "surgery" to fix my eyes as my income depends on my sight. When I shoot a show I look through the viewfinder with the top part of my progressive lenses, but just use my raw eyes to look at the view screen. I figure that if I have the surgery I'll still need reading glasses to see the back of the camera, which just won't do.. now I have a new prescription of progressives and a separate set, single correction, just for seeing the computer screen... What a difference it makes.. I highly suggest it for others visually impaired.. I also discovered in my vision test that I'm a bit soft seeing green and yellow, which means.... I can't see sepia very well. I just see it as a flat contrast bw conversion. That explains why I've never known what GG was talking about in critique when he says "lose the sepia..." A hint if I'm ever a judge......)

Gary Glass · September 3, 2007

BUT, before I get into that, let me welcome Gary Glass to the LPS, as without his criticism in the "Whalloping Place," many of you wouldn't know a thing today.. Cheers to you for taking the challenge, Gary...

I'm honored.

p.s. Nice shot. But lose the sepia.

Travis · September 3, 2007

Okay, I'll share...
I must admit that as far as evolution goes, mine wasn't nearly as involved - at least not on the technical side. The decision process was a little more difficult. I originally planned on either a train or a tractor but after driving all over south Hampton Roads last weekend, I was unable to locate either. LMAO So I ended up with a backhoe and a bulldozer which I nixed when I decided to make a change of direction and follow the "man" side of the theme.

So this past Saturday morning I get up at 4:30 to claim a prime spot at the Rock-N-Roll half marathon. Only problem was the race was on Sunday. Who holds a big event on a Sunday morning??? To salvage the morning, I decided to shoot some photos of the Pavilion. Low and behold, there are some beautiful green lifts out front and the resulting image is contender for the "machine" theme (Image 5 below).

Saturday night I make a quick scan of the current entries and realize that there are just too many great images of machines. I decide to stick with current plan of capturing some of the wheelchair competitors in the marathon.

After spending 4 hours shooting on Sunday morning, I get home to find that I'm torn again. Image 1 is of the pro runners neck and neck at the finish line. 13 miles in 1 hr 2 minutes and they are almost stepping on each other. The look back while hanging in the air is priceless but I was zommed in a little too tight and it appears that he is running out of the frame. I don't know if it would make difference to the judges but if I was them, I would count against it.

Image 2 I loved because it was really dynamic and had the stride for stride symmetry between the runners. The full image, though, had a white house that was blown out in the background that would have to be cloned so I 86'd it.

The final decision came down between images 3 and 4. It was 9:00 pm and both images had what I was looking for. The synchronous combination of man and machine becoming one, the emotion of the focus and determination in competition, and vibrancy of the images themselves. After agonizing over it, I finally decided upon #3. I spent the rest of the evening wondering if I made the right decision, fighting the temptation to change it at the last minute and go with the machine theme.

The bottom line is that it doesn't really matter how the photo fairs in the competition - I pushed myself to create images that I probably never would have thought to do previously - ones that I am really proud of - and I guess that is really the point.

Then again, I should have entered this one.....

rofl

Can you believe he ran 13 miles in this get up? And I thought the 3 Elvis Impersonators had it rough.

eoren1 · September 3, 2007

My Journey
This was the first LPS where I decided to story board (got the idea after watching SF2 from the sidelines). Thought of a few ideas of man's place in a machine filled world. It helps that DC has a fairly futuristic looking Metro system.
First plan was a shot of myself in shirt and tie either facing the camera or my back to it waiting for the subway train. Figured a 1 second exposure would freeze me and the train while passers-by came and went. That was all well and good but I hit a bit of a hitch in that the DC metro will not allow tripods....
I then tried shots of escalators as my work is just off the longest escalator in the states (I think) at Wheaton Plaza. Same one from that Mel Brooks movie where they ride the escalator to heaven. Problem is there is terrible light there. Tried to handhold on a moving escalator AND try to capture motion - needless to say, those all went straight to the trash.
I had gotten extension tubes during this period and was playing with macro for the first time. Took my son to one of his favorite playgrounds and noticed that one well-worn truck had the 'glass' broken out of it. Took a few shots of it alone and then managed to get my son to try to grab the wheel. Came up with a few shots but a quick post here sent me back to the original idea.

Had a bit of time on Sunday (while the boy and my wife napped) and headed to the nearest Metro station again. This time I had the camera on a concrete bench in the middle and captured a few people in various states of boarding. After 5 trains, figured I had as best an opportunity as I could.

Walked out and noticed the escalator (a much shorter one) and realized it was technically outside of the station. Set up the tripod (just out of closed circuit camera reach to be on the safe side) and tried a few shots. A father and son walked by and I captured what ended up being my entry. Also got a lone guy and two girls going by each other and liked that as well.

Definately another set of photos that I never would have taken had it not been for this contest. Another thanks to Shay and the LPS as well as everyone on this board for the help and the push in the (hopefully) right direction.
E

ps - sorry - these posts do lend themselves to being long-winded

Felicia · September 3, 2007

Travis wrote:

Then again, I should have entered this one..... rofl

Can you believe he ran 13 miles in this get up? And I thought the 3 Elvis Impersonators had it rough.

The judges would probably have docked some points because you weren't completely "on-theme." SpongeBob is, afterall, a sponge...

Tentacion · September 3, 2007

Travis, love them all....but #1 is FABULOUS !! I love the whole feel of the "sprint" long legs, the looking back to see who is behind, the anxiety in his face...What a SHOT...then I love #2, can you say Neck In Neck...I love #3 also..

What can I say.....FABULOUS AWESOME SHOTS, I am SO JEALOUS...Why can't Florida ever have anything like this....

Tentacion · September 3, 2007

Felicia wrote:

The judges would probably have docked some points because you weren't completely "on-theme." SpongeBob is, afterall, a sponge...

But you have to admit the sponge has nice legs...lol

Felicia · September 3, 2007

Tentacion wrote:

Why can't Florida ever have anything like this....

It's too hot!

Travis · September 3, 2007

Tentacion wrote:

But you have to admit the sponge has nice legs...lol

... You don't have Sponge Bob in FL? Hmmmmmmm. For a nominal fee, I may be able to make some arrangements.

Thanks for the comp on the photos. I ended up having a lot of fun with them this weekend.

Post your "Evolution" here (no poll zone)

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