Image update 3! Please look :) (on second page)

[Frumius]

Hmmm. just a thought, what if the person is kneeling face to us, looking down, face not totally visable. The person sees a reflection that maybe looks like them - but it is a reflection? another person? the same person? Maybe the figure is reaching out with their hand, to see if the reflection follows or not...

Hmm, hmm...This is an intriguing idea. I'd have to put the figure somewhere on the upper half of the portal/well/pool so the face would be partially or more toward us and its reflection somewhat visible. Maybe at like 1 or 2 o'clock on the rim, I'm thinking.

could the figure sorta be being sucked inside? (See the opening scene of Jumanji for the kind of thing I mean).

This was an idea I was considering, too, but my figure sorta went to this stone texture and I didn't feel it would get sucked/dissolved into the pool in that state as opposed to if the figure were more flesh-like.

I love that you all have given such great feedback, thanks a bunch. I do consider the ideas, I imagine them in the scene; what they would look like, how it would work, where to put them, and how it would contribute to the image's meaning for both me and other viewers. Of course it'll mean different things to different people no matter what, but I have some influence over how others will react in a general sense through the elements that I ultimately put into it; i.e. a dark mood vs light, comic vs serious. Even the title will influence what people will feel. "Plumbing the Depths" probably connotes different thoughts from a title like "Memories."

I think we all agree this one is dark. I usually like to just let my images mean whatever they mean to individual viewers, but of course they are expressions from within me. How could they not be? Most of the time I am really just trying to make somethig far out. Well, I always want it to be far out, but usually I'm not actively making a statement or expressing something. This one, though, is about loneliness and longing. Without the figure that message is lost, I think.

I think what this figure is doing goes well with my meaning, and perhaps the figure you thought of, too, TS. It would mean I'd have to get off my lazy butt and take more pictures and fuss with them to get them to work (turn them to stone like the other one) so...inertia to overcome on that one. That figure in there is me, did I mention that earlier? Future figures prolly would be too.

[vinylrake]

If you want a viewer to not see it as darkly, mb you could call it something like "My Heart Will Go On".


<ducking>

[Frumius]

Image update!

What I've changed is the sky (added clouds), the rim around the well (made it thicker), created the fetal figure and placed it (both figures are me--metaphorically, and as the model), lightened it overall, and....what else...oh, took out the majority of the bird droppings! They weren't bothering me--except when I shot that reaching pose, when one large splat was right under my nose!--but several commented that they were distractions in the image.

The second, fetal, figure is there to stay, but I'm not totally sure about the sky; comments are welcome on that. Comments are welcome on anything.

I wish I had some cracks or something to go in the emptier area in the upper left of the cement; it's the area that seems to have the least happening in it, but maybe that's ok. I could work something into the surface of the cement; I've thought of roots, a distorted hand's fingers, cracks, a symbol...all would be worked into the cement's surface, not sitting there as objects (no distorted hand sitting there next to the figures, f'rinstance). Anyone know a good web resource for symbolism? I'm thinking of possibly embedding a symbol or two in the cement, if I could find some that had meaning for me. Or doing nothing could be right for that area. Sometimes it's hard to tell when I'm finished.

I had a 12x18 made today of the image as it is below. I like it a lot as a 12x18. I might have to let this steep for a few days, because when it's sitting here before me as this printed image I'm feeling pretty happy about it. It could be very close to done...


Be Unbroken (a new title)

--

Here's a little technical info, plus a tip that might help other Photoshop users. The less tech-minded people don't need to read any further. The image is pretty huge at 5760x3558 pixels (that's 20.5 Megapixels), 16-bit per channel color, and 70 or so layers at last count (each figure alone is 10+ layers); it adds up to 604 MB at the moment. This could easily be printed as a 200ppi 30" print at its native resolution (no interpolation).

My Dual 2.0 Ghz G5 with 3 GB of RAM chokes when I work on this image. Even a small paint brush stroke takes several seconds to register. I believe that is because it has to keep track of sooooo many little things on sooo many layers, and must check to see how my action might have interacted with each part of every layer and then provide me with the composite view. That causes the delay.

My workaround is to flatten portions of the image onto a separate layer and duplicate that layer in a new document. I then import the elements I want to work on from my 70-layer image to that new document, work on them there--there's no delay when there aren't so many layers, even though the 70-layered original is also open--then bring them back into the 70-layer one when I've finished. That way I avoid the delay I experience when working directly within that huge file.

I'm sure the delay I get on the 70-layer version would also be greatly minimized if I reduced the color depth to 8-bits per channel, but I have really come to appreciate the flexibility one has doing color and tonal corrections in 16-bit (and I recommend shooting in RAW!) And my workaround lets me continue working in 16-bit. I convert to 8-bit to print it, after all color-correcting.

If you made it through all that you should really treat yourself to something special!

[The Elfoid_TFS]

I love it

[vinylrake]

70+ 16bit layers at 5760x3558? You a crazy man. Wow, my trusty old G3 starts going into hibernation at somewhere over 20 or so 2048x2048 layers.

Guess we both need one of those new 4x as fast new Intel Macs. ;)

Image looks good. I didn't need to know that the naked people are *you* but other than that the info is interesting to know.

You ever think of making myth maps? With your mad 1337 PS skeelz you could make some nice color maps I bet - though indexing all your hard work and hours of painstaking layer mixing down to 240 colors might make you insane.

[Frumius]

Thanks, guys. About the millions of layers and pixels, vr, not every layer is full of pixels, but the whole composite view is that large.

In order to show the level of detail that's in the image, here are details of the two figures. The reaching figure has been reduced to 75% of its regular size because this crop was 1228 pixels across at full size, which can be a pain to view in a browser window. Of course lots of JPEG compression takes its toll, but these represent pretty well what you'd see if you were to zoom in to 100% and move around the image.



I shot this one on location (out where I photographed the cement). There was no hole there, of course.



This figure I shot at home after I decided I wanted another figure doing something in the image. JP, is this the thing you were thinking was a skull? I hope you still like it!

[vinylrake]

Probably intentional (?) but I just noticed that your copyright notice in the large.complete picture makes the edge of the 'hole' look a lot like a 35mm camera lens edge.

[Two Saks]

Frum, I like the idea of putting some suble symbol/distortion in the upper left cement area, something that ties in the backdrop with the foreground. Maybe a narled tree, which looks dead save for one little branch hanging on with a few leaves? (totally rambling here...lol)

I actually like the single figure more than having two. If you have more than the solo-cement-fetal-frum (SCFF), maybe there should be more than two? Some in the background perhaps?

[Frumius]

Well, reckon this image is pretty much wrapped up. I sure appreciate all the great dialogue you guys have given over this! It's really fun to share this stuff.

I put the image on my site, along with some of the detail shots and original photos that went into it. If you want to take a look, it's here: http://mindscapefx.com/Gallery_Pages/Di ... roken.html

[sillek]

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