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Head On!

“Procession”

Two weeks ago, I brought you “The Gondola”. In that article, you saw a photo that I named “Procession”. Here it is, again.

In this photo, we see two gondole, one following the other, under arched bridges along a small canal of Venice. If you want to see how that photo was created…because yes, it was completely created from several elements, take a quick look here.

Today, I show you Procession 2, or perhaps more aptly, ‘Head On!”. Again, two gondole floating on a small canal of Venice, but this time they are traveling head on, rather than in a procession, and may collide if the gondoliers are not skilled in their craft.

This photo, like Procession, was the result of manipulation in Photoshop. When the elements of several photos are brought together in one image, it is called a ‘composite’. This composite was the result of planning well before the trip to Venice in 2012. On my shot list was my self-assignment to collect the elements of this photo. So, this was a targeted endeavor, and not some serendipitous or staked-out encounter.

Here’s how it was accomplished.

First, I had to find the right location for Head On!, so as I strolled Venice, I was on the look out for the right setting. The setting shown below caught my eye, and because I didn’t want to get home to find that I may had missed the exact layout that I wanted, I took several photos…film was expensive, but pixels are really cheap!

After reviewing the photo collection, I decided on the third one…shown below.

A bit of cropping gave my envisioned composite a base from which to work.

I didn’t want this scene to unfold during broad daylight, so I started by darkening the image a bit.

Now, I’m going to insert the first element into the composite, the gondola approaching from the right. Also, I thought that the arched watergate in the left of the image needed a bit of enhancement, so I emphasized the light within the building.

With any composite, the smallest details are important to make the photo believable…the sun angle, the color, the size, etc. In this case, the gondola needs a reflection in the water. So, that’s what I’ll do next. Subtle? Yes. But, important for believability. Unless you compare the images a few times, you may not even notice the reflection.

Now it’s time to insert the gondola approaching from the left, along with its own reflection…yes, though hard to see, it’s there.

You will note that the gondole are not as head-on as I could have made them…after all, I’m free to choose how they are aligned within the image. I made the left gondola a bit smaller than the one on the right…thus inferring that it is not in the same plane. So, they are less head on than they could be. After all, I don’t want anyone to get hurt on their romantic gondola ride.

What’s left? I’d like to crop the image to eliminate the excess water at the bottom…it’s just water and not very interesting.

Did you notice that bright, distracting bow hanging from something or other up and to the right of the watergate? That’s got to go…so it will. And, the arched watergate…I’d like to warm it up a bit with a tad more light coming from inside…and maybe give the grill work a bit of polish. Here’s the final image.

I do enjoy digitally adding a painting effect to some of my photos. So, I’ll do that for Head On!

I know, the painting is not all that obvious viewing it from this ‘distance’. Here are some crops of the photo, giving you a better idea of the brush work that I’ve employed. Clicking on the images will give you are larger view.

Back to the final image above the painted one…it’s still not moody enough for me…it’s a bit too bright for the impending drama that I want to create. It’s time to give it a bit more sinister mood.

So now, in the dark of night, and with drama and disaster impending, and after eight years, I give you ‘Head On!’.

DISCLAIMER: No one was injured in the production of this photo.

Glad to get THAT out of the way…darned lawyers.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing behind the digital curtain to see how numerous images can be composited to create a final, fine art photo.

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Transforming a Venetian Glassblower's Door

Index of Articles

We recently visited one of the Venetian glassblowing businesses located on the lagoon’s island of Murano.

I’ll tell you more about that visit to Fornace Estevan Rossetto in a future article.

“How did I do this, you ask? It’s simple…magic”

In the meantime, there was a door to the furnace room that I found to be of interest. At first sight, I wasn’t sure whether I could transform what I was about to capture with my camera into anything of substance artistically. But, as usual, I decided to go ahead and capture the image, to be worked on later upon returning home.

So, just below, you can see the journey from snapshot in the Venetian lagoon, to my artistic interpretation created in the comfort of my home.

Here is a snapshot of the door at issue.

As you can see, in the present state of the photo, there is a lot of distraction…and I noticed this at the time when I took the photo. But, I saw something in the muted colors and textures that I liked. That drove me to go ahead and take a photo of this dismal scene.

Notice the tub on the right. Notice the chain. Notice the gas lines and other piping. Notice the light fixture. I felt that I could deal with these things…see if I was right.

My first task is the removal of items mentioned above. So that’s what I did, but with the exception of the gas piping, which I felt was an essential part of a glass furnace operation. Right below is the photo version without these distractions. How did I do this, you ask? It’s simple…magic. This includes potions, incantations, eye of newt, eye of the needle, warts, boils (I have no idea where I’m going with this!), the occult…and of course, just a small dose of Photoshop.

Now that it’s cleaned up a bit, it is time to work on the color and contrast and such. Here we are now…

We’re really close now. But, I’m not satisfied with the still-dull colors and lighting. So, here is my final version.

So, was I right? Was there a hidden gem lurking there somewhere? You be the judge.

That’s it for today’s transformation. I’ll be working on some other things for you over the next few weeks, so stay tuned! And please, stay safe!

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Transforming a Sunken Door

Original snap shot of The Sunken Door

I'd have to say that the construction of the door in this article was probably a bit ill advised. It seems that there would be a water issue because of the below-ground-level entrance.

I was not able to detect any sort of rain-water diversion for this door - the stone work of the pavement is not even raised a bit..

“You can imagine water flowing into this ‘door well’ as the streets of Venice begin to flood. ”

Additionally, there is this thing in Venice called 'aqua alta', which literally means high water. Aqua alta occurs when the tide and wind are aligned in such a way as to push water into the Venetian lagoon in excess of what it can handle - this causes flooding in the town of Venice. This flooding can be as much as a few inches (normal) to around three feet (abnormal). 

You can imagine water flowing into this 'door well' as the streets of Venice begin to flood. Fortunately, not much life occurs on the first floor in Venice...the second floor is where most of the traditional living begins, while the first floor is relegated to storage and such.

To transform the snapshot of this door, I began as I always do for Venice photos by removing extraneous conduits, pipes, etc. that are ubiquitous to Venice. Though these items do create a bit of an eyesore, the nice people who live there do need their electricity, gas and water. And, it is a bit of a chore to get these needed utilities into the old stone buildings. But hey, it's my job to remove these modern intrusions in my efforts to create a Venice of a by-gone era when these modern conveniences didn't exist.

Extraneous elements removed

This second photo shows that I have now removed these items from around the entrance, and I have also gotten rid of the mail slot and modern keyholes and such on the doors.

As the original snapshot was a bit 'flat' - i.e. lacking in contrast, saturation, and such - I worked a bit on those elements to get to this next point.

Finally, my assessment was that the door itself was still a bit on the boring side, and was being overshadowed by the surrounding area in terms of color and texture. Wouldn't you agree? 

You will note that the area at the top of the door in the previous photo has red tones, and the bottom of the door has some cyan, or aqua, tones. It's subtle, but it's there. So, I brightened that door and increased the saturation of those illusive tones to achieve my final product - as you can see below.

 

As this entrance has most likely been a couple of centuries, I suppose we shouldn't worry too much about the owner's water issues.

 

[As a bit of diversion back to two weeks ago, a couple of you wrote to let me know that the doors in 'Securing Your Haven' still had a bit more clandestine mystery. You noted in the original photo that there was still another lock hidden behind that long-vertical-squiggly bar, and you were right! And again, that lock is not accessible unless that long-vertical-squiggly bar is itself unlocked and moved aside -- the plot's as thick as day-old oatmeal! Thanks for the heads up!]

 

Ciao for now,

Steve

 

 

 

 

Transforming l’Uomo della Pizza

“The l’uomo della pizza (pizza man) was standing out front contemplating…who knows what? Which adds just a bit of mystery to the photo, don’t you think?”

I’d have to say that Rome by night is a good bit more enjoyable than Rome by day. The summer heat, traffic and general hub-bub of the day are gone.

It’s as if the setting sun acts as a catalyst to transform the streets, piazze and campi of each neighborhood into something that is far more charming, more romantic, and of course, more temperate.

It was during a late evening stroll to the Trevi Fountain that we came across this scene at a neighborhood pizzeria.

The l’uomo della pizza (pizza man) was standing out front contemplating…who knows what? Which adds just a bit of mystery to the photo, don’t you think?

Upon spying him standing there, I quickly dropped to one knee to take this photo, as I visualized him being the dominate object of the image, and the lower camera angle seems to make him a bit larger than life. 

Because I was kneeling down, with the camera aimed slightly up, there was a good bit of distortion as the vertical lines of the buildings converged. So here is the image after I eliminated the vertical distortion. 

You can see that a bit of the photo has been lost due to the correction, but as I was shooting wide angle, there was plenty with which to work.

I am now ready to do a bit of cropping and adjustment to color balance and lighting.

In the version above, you will note that the interior of the pizzeria is well lit, while our pizza man is in shadow – as are the tables and patrons. After a bit of work, we can see below that the building exterior, table, patrons and the pizza man have been illuminated, while the interior has been darkened a bit. 

Additionally, I really liked the texture of the paving stones and the shadows that our pizza man was casting, so I emphasized those aspects, too.

Finally, a bit of cropping to get right down into the subject of the photo resulted in the version you see just above.

That was a good bit of cropping of the original image wasn’t it? Yet, there is still a lot of detail in the photo. My camera gives me the ability to do significant cropping without a lot of loss of resolution. The Nikon D800 is a 36mp camera – this camera has a huge sensor, whereas the vast majority of other cameras are in the 10-12mp range. That gives me a lot of room to isolate objects in the image.

For my final version, I found the two patrons on the right and the Hostaria store to be distracting. I was able to crop out the store, but the two patrons had to be removed through magic – even Harry Potter would be jealous.

In cropping, it was important to the composition that our pizza man is off-center a bit to the left. Since he was looking to our right, we need to give him some room to gaze.

So, here is the final photo, which can be found on my website in the Rome gallery.

I like the feel of this late evening shot -- colorful cloths on the street-side tables, two patrons studying the menu to select just the right ingredients for their pizza, and our l’oumo della pizza contemplating…what?...use your imagination.

If you would like to speculate upon that which he contemplates, use the comment box, below.

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Stumbling-Block Holocaust Memorials

Though today’s article will probably be my shortest, it is perhaps the greatest of significance.

“These stumbling blocks are a type of monument created by German artist Gunter Demnig beginning in 1992 to commemorate victims of Nazi oppression.”

I was overwhelmed by the stolperstein (stumbling block) plaques that we found embedded in some of the cobblestone streets of Rome.

These plaques were placed outside the former residences of Jews who were taken away to concentration camps by the Germans. Yes, the Jews of Italy suffered the same fate as others in Europe.

This original snapshot shows two such plaques.

In this transformed version, you are able to read the inscriptions. 

Here is what these two plaques say:

“Here lived Angelo Tagliacozzo. Born 1916. Arrested August 8, 1944. Deported to Auschwitz. Died February 20, 1945 at Dachau”
“Here lived Angelo Limentani. Born 1920. Arrested May 8, 1944. Deported to Auschwitz. Murdered”

These stumbling blocks are a type of monument created by German artist Gunter Demnig beginning in 1992 to commemorate victims of Nazi oppression. Stolpersteins are small, cobblestone-sized memorials for individual victims of Nazism. They commemorate individuals who were taken by the Nazis to prisons, euthanasia facilities, sterilization clinics, concentration camps, and extermination camps.

Why the term ‘stumbling block’? Before the Holocaust, it used to be the custom in Germany for non-Jews to say, on stumbling over a protruding stone, "There must be a Jew buried here." There’s an historical irony here that’s hard for me to get my head around.

Do you know that there are people who to this day deny the existence of the holocaust?

May God bless those who suffered the Nazi’s atrocities.

 

Ciao for now,

Steve

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