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Another light painting still-life: Wild Things!
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Apr 7, 2021 09:18:18   #
Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI
 
With apologies to Maurice Sendak, author of the award-winning children' book Where The Wild Things Are.
Weird Decorations #2: Wild Things! by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

In this scene, the impression that the characters from the book have been very very bad is entirely intentional.
The figures used in this picture are plastic statues which I'd forgotten that I had since they were hidden in a box in the basement from many years ago. They are propped up on a table in the living room, and about 30 long exposure photographs were taken in the dark with different parts of the scene illuminated with a small flashlight. Most of the pictures were then imported into Gimp, as layers, and bits of them were blended together with the help of layer masks. That is the basics of this kind of light painting. The method is actually not very difficult, although this one took longer because of the number of pictures taken, and there were additional steps in post-processing which made this more fussy than usual.

If you zoom in closely on the picture, you will see that there are lots of details that cannot be seen otherwise. It is easily the most intricate picture I've done.

Here are various items which may or may not be of interest.
1. If you zoom in, you will see lots of fur and feather textures. These were done in Gimp with various filter effects. They are not "real" since the statues did not have that much detail.
2. Except for the boy, the eyes of the other characters are the eyes of various animals that were added later. For example, the first creature has eyes from an owl. The eyes of "Goat boy" in the rear came from a dog.
3. The boys' torch is actually a Lego piece, and the enlarged receptacle at the end is a Lego-man head.
4. The fire in the torch is from a picture.
5. The background is from various pictures of forest fires, blurred to various degrees and blended together.
6. In case you were wondering the ground is an old bath towel.

Thanks for looking!

Reply
Apr 7, 2021 09:32:24   #
Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida
 
I love everything about this creation. The way they are posed, the lighting and those glowing eyes! Nice work.

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Apr 7, 2021 09:35:30   #
47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range
 
Thanks for the opportunity to look! How many layers are involved here? Each character, the ground, and background? A really enjoyable work!

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Apr 7, 2021 09:37:40   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
Excellent!

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Apr 7, 2021 09:45:00   #
StanMac Loc: Tennessee
 
Beautifully done and imaginative composite! This image showcases your image processing skills spectacularly.

Stan

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Apr 7, 2021 09:49:09   #
Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI
 
Thank you!
47greyfox: I don't recall the # of layers, but there were many. High 20's at some point. I am really not that skilled about layer masking. All I know to do, really, is make a white (solid) layer mask of the top layer, so that the layer below is hidden. Then I apply a black or grey brush to it to make pixels in the mask transparent or translucent, revealing pixels in the layer directly beneath. When I'm done with that I merge the two layers into one, and repeat. Someone who really knows about layers will know that is a trivial use of layer masks. But its pretty much all I know to do right now.

I am thinking of developing a post somewhere in UHH to show some things about how light painting is done, as its surprisingly simple, really, and the results are surprising. I don't feel much skill is involved. But I don't know where to best put that post. Suggestions?

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Apr 7, 2021 09:50:13   #
47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range
 
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
Thank you!
47greyfox: I don't recall the # of layers, but there were many. High 20's at some point. I am really not that skilled about layer masking. All I know to do, really, is make a white (solid) layer mask of the top layer, so that the layer below is hidden. Then I apply a black or grey brush to it to make pixels in the mask transparent or translucent, revealing pixels in the layer directly beneath. When I'm done with that I merge the two layers into one, and repeat. Someone who really knows about layers will know that is a trivial use of layer masks. But its pretty much all I know to do right now.
Thank you! br 47greyfox: I don't recall the # of l... (show quote)


Totally amazing and a treat to explore.

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Apr 7, 2021 09:53:43   #
Quixdraw Loc: x
 
Great fun and excellent! Reminds me of the many times I had to read that book to my now adult children with proper voices & sound effects!

Reply
Apr 7, 2021 09:53:44   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
With apologies to Maurice Sendak, author of the award-winning children' book Where The Wild Things Are.
Weird Decorations #2: Wild Things! by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

In this scene, the impression that the characters from the book have been very very bad is entirely intentional.
The figures used in this picture are plastic statues which I'd forgotten that I had since they were hidden in a box in the basement from many years ago. They are propped up on a table in the living room, and about 30 long exposure photographs were taken in the dark with different parts of the scene illuminated with a small flashlight. Most of the pictures were then imported into Gimp, as layers, and bits of them were blended together with the help of layer masks. That is the basics of this kind of light painting. The method is actually not very difficult, although this one took longer because of the number of pictures taken, and there were additional steps in post-processing which made this more fussy than usual.

If you zoom in closely on the picture, you will see that there are lots of details that cannot be seen otherwise. It is easily the most intricate picture I've done.

Here are various items which may or may not be of interest.
1. If you zoom in, you will see lots of fur and feather textures. These were done in Gimp with various filter effects. They are not "real" since the statues did not have that much detail.
2. Except for the boy, the eyes of the other characters are the eyes of various animals that were added later. For example, the first creature has eyes from an owl. The eyes of "Goat boy" in the rear came from a dog.
3. The boys' torch is actually a Lego piece, and the enlarged receptacle at the end is a Lego-man head.
4. The fire in the torch is from a picture.
5. The background is from various pictures of forest fires, blurred to various degrees and blended together.
6. In case you were wondering the ground is an old bath towel.

Thanks for looking!
With apologies to Maurice Sendak, author of the aw... (show quote)


Very nice and interesting. I know the book as does probably everyone. Your creation is much more than light painting. I have done that with one long exposure in a dark room with a pen light. You a layered composite. A great piece of work there!

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Apr 7, 2021 10:05:12   #
Soul Dr. Loc: Beautiful Shenandoah Valley
 
Very well thought out and executed. I really like your creative thinking to come up with this image.
Nicely done Mark.

will

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Apr 7, 2021 10:40:28   #
John Lawrence
 
Excellent. Caught my attention and held it.

Reply
 
 
Apr 7, 2021 11:08:41   #
kpmac Loc: Ragley, La
 
Lots of very creative work on your part. An outstanding result.

Reply
Apr 7, 2021 11:42:57   #
L-Fox
 
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
With apologies to Maurice Sendak, author of the award-winning children' book Where The Wild Things Are.
Weird Decorations #2: Wild Things! by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

In this scene, the impression that the characters from the book have been very very bad is entirely intentional.
The figures used in this picture are plastic statues which I'd forgotten that I had since they were hidden in a box in the basement from many years ago. They are propped up on a table in the living room, and about 30 long exposure photographs were taken in the dark with different parts of the scene illuminated with a small flashlight. Most of the pictures were then imported into Gimp, as layers, and bits of them were blended together with the help of layer masks. That is the basics of this kind of light painting. The method is actually not very difficult, although this one took longer because of the number of pictures taken, and there were additional steps in post-processing which made this more fussy than usual.

If you zoom in closely on the picture, you will see that there are lots of details that cannot be seen otherwise. It is easily the most intricate picture I've done.

Here are various items which may or may not be of interest.
1. If you zoom in, you will see lots of fur and feather textures. These were done in Gimp with various filter effects. They are not "real" since the statues did not have that much detail.
2. Except for the boy, the eyes of the other characters are the eyes of various animals that were added later. For example, the first creature has eyes from an owl. The eyes of "Goat boy" in the rear came from a dog.
3. The boys' torch is actually a Lego piece, and the enlarged receptacle at the end is a Lego-man head.
4. The fire in the torch is from a picture.
5. The background is from various pictures of forest fires, blurred to various degrees and blended together.
6. In case you were wondering the ground is an old bath towel.

Thanks for looking!
With apologies to Maurice Sendak, author of the aw... (show quote)


Excellent unreality...

Reply
Apr 7, 2021 12:02:04   #
NMGal Loc: NE NM
 
So many details to see.

Reply
Apr 7, 2021 13:30:37   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
Mark Sturtevant wrote:
With apologies to Maurice Sendak, author of the award-winning children' book Where The Wild Things Are.
Weird Decorations #2: Wild Things! by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

In this scene, the impression that the characters from the book have been very very bad is entirely intentional.
The figures used in this picture are plastic statues which I'd forgotten that I had since they were hidden in a box in the basement from many years ago. They are propped up on a table in the living room, and about 30 long exposure photographs were taken in the dark with different parts of the scene illuminated with a small flashlight. Most of the pictures were then imported into Gimp, as layers, and bits of them were blended together with the help of layer masks. That is the basics of this kind of light painting. The method is actually not very difficult, although this one took longer because of the number of pictures taken, and there were additional steps in post-processing which made this more fussy than usual.

If you zoom in closely on the picture, you will see that there are lots of details that cannot be seen otherwise. It is easily the most intricate picture I've done.

Here are various items which may or may not be of interest.
1. If you zoom in, you will see lots of fur and feather textures. These were done in Gimp with various filter effects. They are not "real" since the statues did not have that much detail.
2. Except for the boy, the eyes of the other characters are the eyes of various animals that were added later. For example, the first creature has eyes from an owl. The eyes of "Goat boy" in the rear came from a dog.
3. The boys' torch is actually a Lego piece, and the enlarged receptacle at the end is a Lego-man head.
4. The fire in the torch is from a picture.
5. The background is from various pictures of forest fires, blurred to various degrees and blended together.
6. In case you were wondering the ground is an old bath towel.

Thanks for looking!
With apologies to Maurice Sendak, author of the aw... (show quote)



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