Adventures in Digital Imaging

Experiment with polaroid overlays

2009-06-04T21:07:00.001+08:00

Chinese Gate

2009-05-21T13:08:00.002+08:00

Vientiane, 2008:

Barfly

2009-02-21T20:19:00.001+08:00

Bicycle

2009-02-21T19:48:00.001+08:00

Base station

2009-02-08T11:34:00.002+08:00

"..." a photgraphic exhibition

2009-01-16T20:39:00.005+08:00

And so Buddha has created a space for me at an arts foundation here in KL to exhibit my work.

Here is an excerpt of the pseudo-intellectual bullshit that goes with these kinds of things, written by me...

"…"

After years of creating art and communication for their clients, three advertising people in the form of Stuart Godwin, Sandeep Joseph and George Tan have finally found the time, and indeed inspiration, to indulge their own artistic sensibilities, free from the constraints of corporate pressure.

The exhibition, mysteriously entitled “…”opens on the 5th of February 2009 at the Sutra Foundation, KL, and runs until [I think it's 5 weeks; can't remember at this juncture - the invite that was created does not specify].

What’s in a name?

Three photographers. Three contrasting styles. The three dots that are the title of this exhibition are at one level representative of the three individuals involved in this exhibition. Each a mere dot in a broader artistic landscape.

But at another level the co-creators of this exhibition are trying to get us to think about something else.

The ellipsis is an editorial device taken from literature and here transposed across artistic disciplines as a rhetorical conceit. It’s used to denote the deliberate omission of some part of a greater whole that, while technically required for complete syntactical construction, is not always necessary for understanding of the broader construct at hand.

The omission they speak of is a missing contract of sorts.

Says Stuart Godwin, “in all art, there is a singular contract that develops between the work itself and the viewer. It defines our specific relationship with that piece of work The contract is unique for every person and every piece of the art – my response to one piece will differ from yours, but not be any less valid. You may like a piece, I may not. “

He goes on to explain, “what is important here are not the specifics of the contract. It matters not whether you like one thing and dislike another. Or whether you like something that I don’t. What is important is an acknowledgement of the very existence this contract, and a recognition that it is unique to you at the moment of viewing.”

The three auteurs of this exhibition call this contract a “missing” contract because they believe it can never be fully written. It is never concluded. It will never be fully defined. It is a “dynamic document of the mind,” constantly evolving. It is rewritten with every subsequent viewing of the work in question.

Even the photographers’ own relationship to their work must be seen in degrees of importance. It is possible to enjoy an image immediately without knowing where, why or how it was created. As you come to understand more about the context of the image, your connection with it will change.

What becomes clear is that it is possible for you to enjoy these photographs simply for their own sake, on the one hand, or on the other because you have made the decision to explore the story of the photograph in more depth – to develop the contract further, as it were.

The theme of this exhibition is thus written by the audience. You will define what it means to you.

---000---

It's been with a not undue sense of angst that I have spent the last 2 months (at least) shooting, photoshopping and otherwise creating what you see below. These are my images. All are a minimum of 30" on the longest side.

saigon

2008-09-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

...while I'm in here getting soft, Charlie's out there getting stronger...

HDR

2008-09-14T15:03:00.000+08:00

This is a high dynamic range image - at sundown - from my balcony. I think it ended up being 10 separate exposures.

Kwaka

2008-09-09T10:07:00.000+08:00

My bike. Shot on film and distressed.

Fish head

2008-09-02T20:48:00.003+08:00

I'm thinking of including this image in an exhibition next year. Let me know what you think.

Aged surreal flower photograph

2008-08-11T21:19:00.000+08:00

Many layers, many brushes, many angles.

Antique chair - I think it rocks

2008-08-10T19:06:00.000+08:00

I was running out of photographs to tweak, so I went out on my bike to some old, piss ridden ruins just behind a place called Asian heritage Row in KL. There I saw a chair.

The other part of this story involves the use of brushes in Photoshop; something I know very little about, but am on a mission to find out. What started as an attempt to create some old style borders ended up being the classic Stuart graphic journey.

The streetlight from mars

2008-08-08T20:21:00.000+08:00

????????????

Surfing the experiment

2008-08-07T22:26:00.000+08:00

Some random experiments from the desk of Stuart:

A bit of graphic nonsense

2008-07-12T17:31:00.003+08:00

Information as art. Part 1.

The crane - tweak insane

2008-07-06T16:00:00.003+08:00

Focus is underrated. Certain things want to be sharp, but frankly, the world is just not that interesting when it's sharp. Man has articulated his life in terms of a 4H pencil and pristine drafting paper. Bollocks to that, I say.

So I consulted my friend George (art director to the stars and my current partner in grime) for some advice in creating dirty images. He showed me a few things, which I am now trying out. A couple of glasses of wine and a phone call have produced this.

I look at is now and think that if the original image had had more detail in it, the entire shot would have bee more interesting, however, the intent is correct. And what I lack in skill I make up in enthusiasm.

Please rate the image using the Q&A button in the widget. I am really interested to know what your thoughts are on this one.

And now for the process.

I had an image of a crane (actually I have many - I just chose this one at random). It was a little boring to begin with; too big, bad crop.

What I wanted was a tighter crop + a bit of distressing. And I wanted a border such as might be seen in old fashioned photographs - like an old glass plate (or something).

I drew an outline with the pen tool in order to create a path, which I later converted to a selection (you can see the the dotted lines if you look carefully - this one is actually from the secondary border; I couldn't figure out how to save 2 paths). Then I filled in the selected area with black.

Then I created a new layer - blurred, and masked out where I didn't want the blurriness to show through.

But the colour still wasn't right. So I created an overlay (new layer - lower opacity).

I took the opacity down to 72%, if anyone is interested.

I also played with a layer mask + did some fine tuning of the various shapes and colours + created a secondary path.

This is what happens when I'm left unsupervised

2008-07-06T12:07:00.003+08:00

I found an old graphic image of a lizard somewhere in an old external drive. It looked like this.

I decided to mess with it a little.

This one just kicks ass. Period.

2008-06-17T21:20:00.003+08:00

Again, I have to thank George for pointing out that I should tweak the sky to add depth. And multiply the aerials onto the clouds instead of the other way around. Oh, and the clouds are HDR. That's High Dynamic Range to you and me Several different exposures all blended together.

Let it not be said that I don't respond to constructive criticism

2008-06-17T00:53:00.008+08:00

George (my partner in crime, and reluctant critic) has suggested that the pillars shot was too dark.

He may be right.

Thus I offer here, for your consideration, a lightened view of the aforementioned shot. Also, again for the purposes of the greater good, I include the original RAW file (available for your experimentation upon request).

Retweak.

The RAW file.

Mysterious corridor

2008-06-15T18:39:00.003+08:00

I took this shot in a place called Kuching, which is on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo. Kuching itself is not all that quaint, unfortunately. But there is still some architecture near the old square where the colonials used to march about in their khakis.

Exposed: artists wanted competition. I have enetered - wish me luck

2008-06-08T17:33:00.004+08:00

Well, I have finally done it. I've entered a real competition. It's called Exposed; it's in New York; and I've sent in the Rainbow, the bougainvillea, the Pod, the fish n blood one - all as official entries; and then the Chinese Barber as a personal shot. If you've been following my progress you'll know the ones I'm speaking of. If not, they're on this blog.

It was actually quite difficult to find 4 shots that I thought were worthy.

I don't suppose for one minute that I will win. However, the conveners have promised to give proper critique of the work. I will keep you posted.

You can vote for my work at http://www.artistswanted.org/godders

Malacca and back: A biking journey through Malaysia.

2008-05-04T12:08:00.002+08:00

Malacca is a port town approximately halfway between Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and a place called nowhere. Its origins are not precisely known. I thought it was originally Portuguese but a little digging will quickly reveal that the name is variously attributed to a species of tree under which its founder had rested before declaring it a good spot to settle, or the Tamil word mallakka, meaning "upside down."

Further investigation will reveal that there is no consistent spelling of the name, either. Road signs on the great North-South highway here in Malaysia differ from the map books, and indeed the guide books, referring to it as Malacca, Melaka and even Malaka.

I have subsequently been informed that what I perceived to be inconsistencies in spelling are in fact differences in language.
Malacca is apparently the english spelling, while Melaka is the current Bahasa Malaysia spelling thereof (Bahasa is the Malay word for “language”). The third one, Malaka, I’m told might be the old Malay way of writing the name.

That being said, the old quarter in which I boarded (China Town to the locals), is one big photo-op. Ancient graveyards nestle side by side with shop-houses, mechanics' garages and run down Chinese architecture. You'll want to go slow in order to take it all in, and the best way to get around is to catch a ride with one of the many rickshaws that ply their trade through the narrow streets.

The food, too, is well worth the trip. The cuisine is Nyonya/Baba, which I believe is a culture that arose out of the intermarriage between Malay aboriginals and Chinese settlers back in the day. It's a little bit like the Matrix - you have to experience it to understand, but I can say that it's a little bit tart, a little bit sweet, a little bit chilli, a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.. I had stewed sweet and sour fish – a dish called “ikan assam;” ikan being the generic word for fish and assam meaning sour, or vinegary. The whole affair is liberally dosed with chilli for good measure.

Ingredients such as Tamarind past, belacan (fermented prawn paste mixed with soy sauce – pronounced blachang – a bit like the Dutch word for chutney), green mangoes, starfruit, ginger and turmeric are also liberally applied. The effect on the tongue is complex, and a complicated and lengthy thing to achieve, many dishes needing to stew or cook for many hours.

After a particularly heady lunch of all of the above, we did another circuit, and saw a man burning “hell money” (see image).

It's a Chinese tradition to burn money (not real money) and other items to be used by dead relatives once they have “crossed over.” One can actually purchase incredibly detailed and accurate cardboard representations of cars, the latest cell phones, clothes, TVs, PlayStations and any number of items that might be useful to those who have gone before us.

A very interesting place indeed. On the whole, it's well worth the trip. If you ever find yourself in the neighbourhood.

They stalk the landscape

2008-04-24T11:34:00.002+08:00

No one would have believed that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligence other than our own. Yet across the gulf of space jealous intellects regarded this earth with envious eyes... (with big ups and even bigger apologies to my main man HG Wells).

Brain unfiltered

2008-04-20T08:27:00.003+08:00

One of my favourite shooting topics is abstract stuff. The camera sees things that I don't. Or perhaps my subconscious sees things that my conscious doesn't. Whatever; I'm no Rothko, but I do like a bit of abstract expressionism every now and then. The camera allows me to reach inside my brain and pluck stuff out unfiltered. No noise, no voices, no clutter, no preconceived notions of good or bad.

Shot on film. Macro screw-on filters. Low res scan.

Spot the mistake

2008-04-19T10:35:00.002+08:00

I think my digital imaging kung fu must be getting stronger. I was going through some old stuff that I did about a year ago and I found this. There's a lot of power in the image, I think. But there is also a serious flaw in my technique. I know it's there, so feel free to point it out if you spot it. I'm not going to correct it now, since there is also a certain honesty in showing the mistakes.

Street

2008-04-17T10:03:00.003+08:00

More from Hong Kong. I love the colours of the neon.
This image has had the usual round of tweakage: layers, Orton effect, masking here and there, and of course, cropping.
Oh, and this is a wide format shot, so lets see how the Buzzfuse widget handles this strange format.

Above

2008-04-15T18:21:00.002+08:00

Heaven on a stick,
Nirvana by the dose.
Enlightenment is where you care to look;
So look real close.

Buildings, boiling clouds and fung shui

2008-04-14T09:45:00.003+08:00

Here's a view from the balcony of my 10th floor shoe-box. The weather can be quite interesting in KL. On another note, most of the buildings have pointy roofs here; something to do with fung shui, I'm told.

Some tweaking - mostly saturation levels. I think there may have been some masking involved, if I recall correctly.

All the leaves are green

2008-04-10T10:31:00.002+08:00

Ok. So here's the last in a series of meaningless plant photographs for a while (or not, as may turn out to be the case when I go through my archive). I was struck by the interesting shape that the bamboo made at its joint. To be honest, the original shot was not as interesting as I thought it might be; so I removed most of what was there. This is the result.

And then I thought I may as well make this little triptych.

Creeping leaf

2008-04-08T11:14:00.003+08:00

This is a money plant that I shot quite a while ago. You may notice a trend developing, since this is the third image of a leaf or leaves.

For this post I decided to try out the Buzzfuse image widget. Let's see how this works itself out. You can click it to see a larger version.

Chinese Barber

2008-04-04T21:05:00.003+08:00

Here's another one from my trip to Hong Kong. A lot of tweakage has taken place - as you will no doubt be able to appreciate. Levels, saturation, vibrance, shadows, exposure, and of course, masks and layers. I really like this one.

The Chinese words say "barber shop," not surpisingly, and "no hidden / extra charges."

Coffee shop chillin'

2008-04-03T17:07:00.002+08:00

So I was sitting in a Chinese coffee shop one night(coffee shop = eating place; coffee, strangely, has nothing to do with it) having the usual fried rice and the not so usual deep-fried frog (like a very small chicken with very little meat on it) when I shot this.

FM10. Black and white film, ASA 400, scanned to TIFF and then tweaked. When I scan film the first thing I find I always have to do is change the levels in order to spread the image information out over the entire 256 levels of the histogram. After that I simply move all the knobs and sliders randomly, and press all the buttons a few times until something appears. Not really; there is a more or less scientific approach to this - I like high contrast stuff. At the very least, you can see how most of Malaysia dines.

Delicious Monster at 400 ASA

2008-04-01T16:56:00.002+08:00

The thing about fast black and white film is that the silver nitrate crystals float in the emulsion like big fat chunks of light sensitive flotsam. Grain, to you and me. A wonderful thing.

Shot on film. ASA 400. Black and white.

The leaf was tweaked slightly: gamma corrected to enhance contrast and a blurred layer placed underneath and multiplied to create the slightly luminescent look that I am so enamored of at present. You really need a colour corrected screen to see this one at its best.

PETRONAS Towers

2008-03-30T21:02:00.003+08:00

The Towers. Walking back to my office from a meeting one typical Malaysian evening I took this shot, using my IXUS. The quality ain't that good - full of noise, etc. But that's compact digital cameras for you.

Metal star in Malacca

2008-03-25T17:52:00.002+08:00

This was a relatively simple masking exercise. I wanted a lot of contrast and detail in the star itself, without losing too much of the background. I brightened the entire shot quite dramatically and then painted back in the background and some of the facets of the points of the star that had blown out too much. Of course, the ubiquitous vignette is there, too.

Here's the mask, for curiosity's sake.

A Streetcar Named Samsung vs. The Orton Effect

2008-03-23T09:34:00.002+08:00

In my own kind of limited way, I'm always looking for interesting DI processes with which to tweak my photographs. I cam across an old film technique which was invented by a chap called Michael Orton (the Orton Effect). His trick was to sandwich 2 film slides together and expose as one. The result is a dreamy, super-luminous quality.

This is an Orton experiment in the digital realm.

The image you see below was shot in Hong Kong - you'll no doubt recognise the trolley car. I subjected it to some quite fierce tweakage - for me, anyway.

Here's the original RAW image. Quite flat - the light quality in Hong Kong ain't great; lots of haze, plus the fact that this was shot sometime in the mid afternoon when the sun is at its most boring. And it's a RAW image, so all the image info is still there, waiting to be tweaked, pulled, overexposed, moved up and down, and whatever else we want to do to it.

I then blew everything out, vignetted the edges in white and added shadows to bring back the colour of the bus.

And now for the Orton tweak.

To do this, I created 2 versions of the same image. Both overexposed, since sandwiching them together will cause the resulting image to darken. One sharp, the other out of focus (or simply blurred, as is the case here).

The final piece of the puzzle is to simply merge the 2 images using the multiply function in the layers palette of Photoshop. Voila.

Bar - code

2008-03-21T12:41:00.002+08:00

This one was shot on colour film using a Nikon FM10, with macro filters. There's a lot of fall off at the edges - due to the macro filters themselves being cheap and nasty and not corrected; in order to get perfect images, one has to turn to what is known as aspherical lenses (meaning that the lens itself has been ground to different thicknesses in order to refract light at different speeds and angles). I'm not after perfection, so this is actually quite interesting to me.

The film was then scanned - again badly - and I tweaked the tint values to create the slightly blue cast.

Indiscriminate use of the Liquefy command

2008-03-20T10:08:00.000+08:00

What does this button do?

So I was messing around with a shot that I had taken of a money plant. It is important to mention that I was using my "Lensbaby" (a tilt and shift type, selective focus lens - see lensbabies.com), hence the strange depth of field and out of focus bits - but I quite like them.

The original image (left hand side)was actually shot on an extremely bright background. In order to bring colour back into the leaves, I used the flash (otherwise they would simply have appeared as black blobs)- you can see that the stalks are still quite dark, while the leaves themselves have some interesting detail in them. I then tweaked the levels to make sure there was no superfluous info in the shot - the white accounts for so much of the information in the shot that my histogram looked like a small skateboard ramp pushed to one side of the graph. Once I had done that, I then pumped up the shadows (blacks in CS3). Voila, quite amusing.

Then I destroyed it - quite literally, using something called "Liquefy." Drink it in.

Shadowland

2008-03-19T11:39:00.000+08:00

On a dark and stormy...hang on...it's just a rainy afternoon from the safety of my balcony. No special tweaks.

The lizard in the condo

2008-03-18T09:49:00.000+08:00

Again with the macro stuff. This lizard was actually only about 3cm long; I had to chase him around my apartment with my camera - complete with extension tubes.

Since it was night time, all I had to work with was the feeble illumination coming from the ceiling lights.

What's also tricky is that the extension tubes do not have electronic connectors in them, thus no link to the body of the camera, and no IR focusing. So getting anything sharp, especially with a depth of field of about 1cm is really just a matter of luck. I cannot remember how many shots I took in order to get one that was worth working on.

I then worked inside the colour channels of the photograph, pumped the brightness and desaturated. I also used doge and burn to put some detail back here and there.

Look closely for the spiderweb between the little bugger's toes. Sweeeeeeet.

Zippo : Macro

2008-03-15T12:36:00.000+08:00

I have a particular penchant for macro photography. Macro is defined as anything from 1:1 (i.e., the image appears on the film / sensor at anything from actual size and bigger). This shot was taken using a Canon 350D, with a 200mm lens and extension tubes.

I adjusted the input levels, as well as the shadows and lightness balance in order to bring the rich colours back into the image.

It came from outer space

2007-04-16T21:57:00.000+08:00

Hmmm...the plants were calling again.

I have uploaded a relatively large PNG file this time. In some ways it's an experiment in loading times etc. Check out the questionnaire. I'm sure Buzzfuse will interested in the answers, too.