i-m-a-g-i-n-efx-august
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In depth Photobashing<br />
You improve…<br />
… at whatever you spend<br />
time doing – running,<br />
maths, art. This wasn’t<br />
obvious to me at the<br />
outset. For instance,<br />
lots of my work involved<br />
Photoshop, and to a<br />
lesser degree oil paint.<br />
As a result, I became<br />
a Photoshop wizard<br />
over the years and my<br />
traditional oil paint skills<br />
evolved s-l-o-w-l-y. If I<br />
want to be a great oil<br />
painter, I’m going to<br />
need to do a lot more oil<br />
painting. Be proactive.<br />
Constructing the context<br />
5<br />
Background ideas gel in my mind, where they<br />
are enigmatic yet flawless. I composite, warp and scale<br />
imagery to realise them, but the flaws often control<br />
the development and steer the image in completely<br />
unanticipated directions. I really don’t know what<br />
I want until I see it. This one is elusive, and there were<br />
points where I thought it wasn’t going to work, but<br />
experience begets persistence.<br />
Checking in with the client<br />
6<br />
When it can excite rather than freak out my client,<br />
I share. Too early can be disastrous, so often I’m putting a<br />
very developed image forward initially. The danger is that<br />
I spend too much time on a rejected draft, but I find the<br />
risk is minimised if developed sufficiently, so I go on. But<br />
most importantly, I need the image developed enough for<br />
me to know I want to complete it. I rarely show multiple<br />
ideas, because I want to choose the best direction myself.<br />
Developing the figure<br />
7<br />
Once the background concept is decided, I develop<br />
the figure within that context. I selectively replace, warp,<br />
shape and scale. I try to light consistently within and<br />
across shoots, in order to ease mixing and matching parts.<br />
I tweak placement and silhouette relative to background<br />
elements, then modify the value and colour contrast of<br />
figure against ground, seeking optimum “pop.”<br />
August 2017<br />
81