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Posted on 21/12/18 09:36:17 AM
Steve Caplin
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Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Near the gamekeeper's room from last week's Challenge is the magnificent kitchen seen here. At this time of year, though, I'd expect rather more activity in this empty space.

Too many cooks?

High res is here.

If you feel the kitchen needs a heat source, you could add the range (actually on the opposite side of the room) which you'll find here.



End of term note: Christmas is nearly upon us, which means I'll be out of action for the festive period. I'm going away for a few days in early January, so see you back here in three weeks on 11th January.

Have a splendid Christmas and New Year, and many thanks for all the magnificent work you've done this year. It has been a great pleasure.

Posted on 21/12/18 10:44:13 AM
josephine harvatt
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Posts: 2593

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Merry Xmas Steve! Hope Gatwick has sorted itself out by the New Year (Gordon was that you?!!!!)

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Posted on 21/12/18 12:08:39 PM
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4901

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Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Steve Caplin wrote:
Too many cooks?


Not sure why this tiny corner should do it but, together with 'too many cooks', I am suddenly put in mind of the Great Kitchen of Gormenghast Castle in Mervin Peake's wonderful 'Titus' trilogy.

We've got three weeks for this. Time for some 'grey scrubbers' perhaps ..........?

And have a good Christmas everybody. See you in the new year.


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Posted on 21/12/18 12:22:10 PM
Jota120
Ingenious Inventor
Posts: 2615

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Have a great Christmas Steve and all. Enjoy the break.

Posted on 21/12/18 1:02:54 PM
GKB
Magical Montagist
Posts: 3703

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
josephine harvatt wrote:
Merry Xmas Steve! Hope Gatwick has sorted itself out by the New Year (Gordon was that you?!!!!)


I couldn't possibly comment☃️ 🎅

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Posted on 21/12/18 5:20:21 PM
lwc
Hole in One
Posts: 2615

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
One "too many" cooks... sorry, but I felt somewhat in a 'quick & silly' mood this morning.






Posted on 22/12/18 6:52:16 PM
Frank
Eager Beaver
Posts: 1563

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year folks - Happy photoshopping all !!!





Posted on 23/12/18 1:37:44 PM
josephine harvatt
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Posts: 2593

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
GKB wrote:
josephine harvatt wrote:
Merry Xmas Steve! Hope Gatwick has sorted itself out by the New Year (Gordon was that you?!!!!)


I couldn't possibly comment☃️ 🎅





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Posted on 23/12/18 1:38:14 PM
josephine harvatt
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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Merry Christmas everyone!

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Posted on 25/12/18 10:05:10 PM
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Frank. Very natural and believable lighting consistently applied to everything. Nicely done. Chapeau!

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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 26/12/18 08:30:34 AM
Nick Curtain
Model Master
Posts: 1768

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Good job Frank. The bits added all blend very well. I'd be proud of that.
Nick


Posted on 26/12/18 10:03:09 AM
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4901

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
I am going to be rather verbose here. Probably to make up for the fact that I didn't pull off what I wanted. As I said earlier I wanted to produce the cavernous kitchen of Gormenghast castle from Mervin Peake's "Titus" trilogy. This proved impossible in practical terms as when I started to extend the image it became quickly apparent that Steve's been tippling on the wide angle again. The edges of the image quickly became so distorted and extreme that it looked ridiculous. As you can see, even the modest extension of the scene I have done here is already starting to distort quite severely in the top and left.

However what I was able to keep from my original intentions was the 'Grey Scrubbers'. Here's how Mervyn Peake first introduces us to them:

"The walls of the vast room were the personal concern of a company of eighteen men known as the "Grey Scrubbers." It had been their privilege on reaching adolescence to discover that, being the sons of their fathers, their careers had been arranged for them and that stretching ahead of them lay their identical lives consisting of an unimaginative if praiseworthy duty. This was to restore, each morning, to the great grey floor and the lofty walls of the kitchen a stainless complexion. On every day of the year from three hours before daybreak until about eleven o'clock the Grey Scrubbers fulfilled their hereditary calling. Coarse as these men appeared, they were an integral part of the Great Kitchen."

For those of you who may wonder where I found all these different but identical figures I photographed about sixty of them myself some years ago for another project entirely (Steve will recognise them immediately). All I had to do here was re-colour them grey and find places to fit them that made some sense.

Hope you all had a great Christmas!



BTW. If you like Tolkien, Bradbury, and similar writers, and haven't read these astonishing books you should! Written, I think, in the nineteen thirties, they are very dark but beautifully written and Peake (who I believe later became of diminished sanity) conjures up wonderful bizarre imagery and personalities which challenge the imagination. To the best of my knowledge they are still available in paperback.


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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 26/12/18 2:54:11 PM
Frank
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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Thank you David and Nick.
David, I find your entry quite astounding - well done in my opinion.

Posted on 26/12/18 9:31:33 PM
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4901

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Thank you Frank. I got a bit carried away but it was FUN!

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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 27/12/18 08:11:04 AM
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner
Posts: 2792

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Frank and David: excellent entries!

Frank Completely believable resizing of the characters, with really good lighting. Well done Frank, I think this is one of your very best.

David Only I am allowed to extend rooms like this. Joking aside, thats an impressive scene you have created there David, which you should be proud of.


Posted on 27/12/18 3:19:38 PM
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4901

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Hi Michael.

Thank you. Coming from you that is praise indeed. Yes this kind of thing is very much your forté.

Despite my penchant for moaning at Steve for excessive wide angle use, I really can't do that here. He has clearly used the lens appropriate to his needs in a confined space. Although it looks a bit wide'ish in his original photo it is really quite mild and inoffensive.

So I have to confess that it took me completely by surprise when I extended it outwards from its vanishing points and found myself in a quite ludicrous wide angle perspective! I really hadn't anticipated it at all!

The image below shows the perspective analysis which was my starting point for constructing the imaginary part of the building. It is derived entirely from the existing vanishing points in the original photo. The full extent of the distortions is really apparent when you look at the Left and Back walls which appear to the eye to be more or less parallel. But which, if you look at them relative to the square tiles, can be seen to be in fact perpendicular to one another. Geometrically they will intersect somewhere behind the camera. Subjectively that makes no sense at all.

Interesting the surprises that lie hidden for us sometimes.





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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 28/12/18 01:31:30 AM
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner
Posts: 2792

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
David, I often bump into perspective paradoxes with Steve's wide angle photos and with a new FC one of the very first things I just HAVE to do is to correct the anomalies. I noticed with this one that all the verticals were vertical (usually they lean at ridiculous angles), so I thought "Steve has straightened this". Then I noticed that the main table was at a slightly odd angle. I mean, it's not parallel with the RH wall, so my first job was to straighten it up a bit. This left holes in the floor, so I recreated it. Well, it was too dark anyway and unable to show any clear shadows. Those ugly water pipes with a slight bend in the far RH corner, which fittd so well into your conception (the pipes, not the bend), are supposed to head in a perfectly straight line towards their vanishing point. I know, I checked. In my Vorstellung they just had to go, so the wall had to be rebuilt. The window was bent and needed cleaning up. Oh, let's get rid of all the other clutter as well and have a fresh start. Here is the story so far:





Posted on 28/12/18 07:04:46 AM
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 4901

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Aha! You spotted the skewed table too! I assumed it was parallel to the wall and used the junction of wall and ceiling and the near side of the table to plot one of the vanishing points. I quickly discovered that this was coming out inconsistent with those plotted from the dresser. Once this was corrected it became apparent that the table was skewed. The pipes too very slightly. I don't mind inconsistencies of that sort - it's life. But they do teach us not to rely too much on assumptions.

I have a feeling that I fell into a trap of my own making and that attempting to extend a picture beyond it's edges to the extent I wanted is foolish and is always going to be trouble unless the picture of origin is taken on quite a long lens.

You do seem to have an ability to clean up and re-construct that leaves all of us quite astounded at times!

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The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it .......

Posted on 28/12/18 09:36:08 AM
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner
Posts: 2792

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
Kind words about clean-ups and reconstructions. I was a computer repair man for many years, so it's probably in the blood by now.
You didn't fall into any traps. What you did was really good work which created a surprising and interesting graphic.


Posted on 01/01/19 02:25:08 AM
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner
Posts: 2792

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Re: Challenge 737: Return to Ickworth
It is now 2019. I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year. And for peace on earth. And for me to win the lottery.

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