HDR and the OC Auto Show...'nuff said

Love them cars. Enough to start an auto blog. Naming it is the question. "FrazGOES" is used over at metblogs and already has a snazzy logo. I considered "auto meanderings" and decided that wasn't quite right. Suggestions from facebook friends suggested "frazgo-agogo", and "frazgo goes". Ideas from you?

Cars and HDR are a good combo

I like HDR work and cars. It lets you tame the demons of highlight and shadow so you see the whole car and nothing but the car, turn it surreal or who knows what via the simple magic of a PC, and an HDR/tonemapping program.

I still prefer Photomatix as the program of choice for both HDR Generation and tone mapping. In particular the HDR files are much better aligned and easier to work with than those done in Photoshop using the "merge to HDR" function.

The car you see isn't available for sale in the US yet. Give it another 6-8 months and you will see it. It is the 2011 Ford Fiesta slated to fill the sub-compact gap in the Ford line up. It will be a premium small car, IE High content, good quality materials and workmanship. The prototype I drove is near production ready so I think if the driving feel transfers with the great design of this car they will have a hit on their hands. I'll reserve final judgement for when I get my hands on the real deal next year.

How did I come about this chance to photo and blog the car. I've got connections at Ford's Premier Auto Group based in the OC. I contact them and when they have a free car they will let either deliver it or I will pick it up. I get free acess to cars and share my images with them for internal publications only. A win in terms of portfolio building and networking that I hope to parlay into photo for money of automobiles somewhere along the line.

In the interest of integrity I do have to acknowledge that for this shoot the Ford rep did pay for lunch as the shoot went into the lunch hour. (Great conversation, learned a lot about Ford and the direction it is moving).

More from the Atomic Flash series

I'm still working on the series. I love the nonchalant character on the mobile while the others are busy building what would appear to be a wall of some sort.

This was purposefully shot bracketed with HDR generation in mind. The HDR file was generated within Photoshop CS2 and then tone mapped in Photomatix. The color was left as is from the diorama which only adds to the bizarreness of the final image.

Not all images work being Autochromed

This one did. I think getting into the burn area may just yield some interesting images. Maybe.

As close as I've gotten so far with the Autochroming

I like these images, you will need to click them to make them bigger to get full effect of the images. Of course the originals were done on either 4X5 inch or in extremely rare cases 8X10 inch glass plates you do get a good feel for the originals. What I can't duplicate so far is the black outlines around the individual color grains that the originals had, but even without these are fairly close to what the Autochromes did with the subject they were recording.

I've been working on this pretty non-stop the last few days from stock images as it has been so nasty smokey and sooty outside because of the fires. Can't really go out and shoot anything in these conditions.

A lot of the steps taken in getting the image to the final for presentation come from personal taste and knowledge of what an original autochrome looks like. (I've seen them only a few times in exhibitions). The process and steps I have been using to get the results in CS2:

1. Open and duplicate the image file you wish to use. Close the original and work from the copy only to protect the integrity of the original file.
2. Go to adjusments->saturation/hue and reduce saturation by a factor of -25 to -40.
3. Go to Layer->new adjustment layer ->channel mixer->ok dialogue box -> click monochrome in the final dialogue box.
4. In layer box click on background box. Hit CTRL+Alt+J. The new layer dialogue box that comes up label it "noise" and in mode drop down chose "Color".
5. Go to Filter-> noise ->add noise-> check gaussian blur ->chose factor of 20%
6. Go to Filter->blur-> gaussian blur and chose factor of 7 to 10 pixels
7. Go to Filter->pixelate->mossaic-> chose cell size of 7-10.
8. Go to Filter->pixelate->pointillize->chose cell size of 7-10
9. Go to Layers bar, click on channel and go to the blending bar. I typically use "Soft light" or "Pin light" for the blending that produces the most accurate feel of an Autochrome, but others can work well too. Both of these images I used "soft light".

No I hope with this set of instructions I've helped prevent someone from reinventing the wheel. Should I figure out how to outline the individual "grain" cells in black I'll post it here.

Autochrome duplication closer thanks to google

This weekends Art Walk gave me a bit of a surprise. What sold was the few new pieces done ala Autochrome. This energized me to keep digging and hope that I get closer to duplicating the look and feel of them in the digital realm.

I don't know why I didn't check google first for a "recipe" to duplicate the Autochrome in photoshop, but I could have saved myself some time. A quick search yielded a nifty for CS4 version on how I can duplicate the look. You can find the linkHERE. It works pretty well and got me closer to what I wanted than before.

What they did that I hadn't been doing was adding a few layers with noise before adding in the changes to a color layer. In all am very satisfied with the results. It still doesn't give the dark black spots and splotches of the original, but it is overall a very acceptable result. To get maximum effect you can click on the pictures here for larger versions.

I am pleased with the progress. The debate on how I want to proceed still rages in my head. Do I shoot with classic images such as used here that are "timeless" in their nature and look like the subject matter of the originals or should I move forward and shoot what I see now and document it in the look of an Autochrome. Until the smoke and haze of the current fires go away I won't be out shooting so I have time to solve that debate.

One Step closer to the Autochrome look.

I hate to say it, but if they still made the Autochrome plates I'd be first in line to a) buy them and b) buy a large format camera so I could use them. The more I research them the more I fall in love with the impressionistic renditions of the subject they produced. Amazing that even war torn France in WWI yielded stunning images for its day.

So I am torn with how to shoot, I don't want a whole lot of modern references in the images to keep that old timey look and feel. Part of me says run out and shoot the new and give it the same treatment. The debate will range internal for a bit as the next few days are pretty with stuff.

How I got to this image for those of you wanting the technical details.

First I opened a stock image I had from Bodie CA shot a couple of summers ago. I duplicated the image and closed the original. (Never work from an original unless you want to risk accidentally saving a manipulation and losing it forever).

Next create a duplicate layer. Go to adjustments, saturation and reduce the saturation on that layer by about 1/2.

While in that layer you will visit the "Filters" section a few times.

First go to Artistic and chose "paint daubs".

Second go to Artistic and chose "film grain" and chose a medium sized grain.

Third go to "Brush strokes" and chose "Ink Outline" and chose a smallish brush stroke.

Go to blending tool and scroll through options to get to "lighten". Adjust opacity and voila a pretty close rendition of an Autochrome is ready for sharing and printing.

BTW...shameless self promotion. If you don't have anything to do Saturday evening August 29, pop in to see me in Old Town Monrovia for the Monrovia Association of Fine Arts final Art Walk of the summer. Details on LA Metblogs.