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Posted on 13/01/06 09:34:51 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7021 Reply  |
Re: Contest 78: Eco footprints
Looks like we've got a new star in the forum. There's so much to talk about in Eggbox's first entry it's hard to know where to begin: apart from the perfect matching of the angles, there's a wealth of detail here that shows tremendous skill. For example: the perfect blending of the windshield and top of the cab into the boot; the integration of the mirrors and exhaust pipes. It's a fantastic job, and one that prompts me to break a standing rule, which is that titles are only awarded for personal improvement over the weeks. I'm going to take the unprecedented step of giving Ted recognition for his first ever Friday Challenge entry: and Ovoid Opportunist seems to fit his moniker. Great work, Ted, it's a pleasure to have you in here. Great detail, again, in G. E. Sutton's detailed entry. We see the boot driving from the wasteland of junk and scorched lava into a packed forest: the addition of Starbucks cups and bluetooth headset add to the fun. This picture really tells a story! On the high res version, though, you can see a white rectangle around the coffee cup where the Magic Wand failed to go right to the edges of the image. Always watch out for things like this! There's a lot going on in daltonx's post, with stuff flying out of holes in the boot and a great footprint in the grass. The stuff on the ground - the broken TV, the pile of rubbish - seem a little too sparse, however. But the riped boot holes are beautifully drawn, and the embossed ECO symbol works a treat. Hmm - wonder if that's an Ecco boot as well? Back to nature for mguyer, with a subtle take on the book issue. It's an interesting problem, though: how do you make two left feet into a matching pair? Although we can see at a glance that the one on the right isn't correct, it's hard to know how to fix it. Perhaps there's a future Friday Challenge in this one! Whaler has clearly put a lot of work into his entry. Bending a boot into that shape isn't easy, but it's been achieved with great style; the reflection of the factory landscape is a great touch. I love the footprint on the ground (although it could have benefited from a little more blending at the back), but there's something rather odd about the one in the trees. Don't really get how that's supposed to work. An excellent idea, though, and above all a really striking image. A very neat solution from Atomicfog, with the boot funneling its junk onto the landscape. When making a Magic Wand selection, there's always the danger of leaving a white fringe around the edge of the cutout: for safety's sake, I always expand the background selection by one pixel before deleting it, to avoid the kind of fringe we can see on the laces. A second entry from Eggbox, again showing great skill and invention: the flying laces really add life to this one, and the fact that he's taken the trouble to rebuild the original laces underneath show how important attention to detail really is. Great toning of the boot, as well, to blend it into the scene. i love chris's entry, with the added window and country elements. Colouring the pages of the magazine gives it a real sense of depth. But apart from the spelling issue (sorry to pick up on that again!) I have to question the masthead typography: apart from the fact that the font is unnecessarily expanded, the bevelling seems to me to be an unnecessarily fussy feature. But it's such a great idea, it works all the same! A beautiful piece of work from Tom, with some great shiny objects floating above the globe. Love the texturing on the boot and the hand, and the shine on the sphere - but I do have an issue with the shadow behind the hand. First, if the hand's made of glass we should be able to see the shadow through it; second, if the hand's made of glass it wouldn't cast a solid shadow; and third, the shadow should wrap around the surface of the globe! All in all, it's perhaps better without the shadow, Tom! A lot of fun in mikewheatie's entry, with some great touches - the grass pushing up in front of the boot/tractor, the fence, the blur on the plane, and I love the extra boots being dropped by parachute. but there are some fundamental problems with the shadows here, from both the cows and the fence: there's no sense of them lying on the ground at this angle. When you're creating shadows from scratch, it can really help to place them at, say, a 45 degree angle, rather than directly behind the object. Move that sun! Just for the record, here's my entry:  |
Posted on 13/01/06 12:25:52 PM |
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chris
Photo Parodist Posts: 138 Reply  |
Re: Contest 78: Eco footprints
Thanks for the comments Steve. glad you liked it. I can see your point, looking back at my image I do think the embossing does detract the viwers attention from the main picture. And I can't think of a magazine that uses such a font (guess for the above reason). Thought the standard was really high this week, some really great images from everyone. Great image Steve, you always manage to promote such clarity in your images. Has it already been published?. |
Posted on 13/01/06 1:24:33 PM |
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Whaler
Visual Viking Posts: 330 Reply  |
Re: Contest 78: Eco footprints
In response to your comments, Steve: Bending the boot was the easy part of my picture, I don't think it took more than five minutes to do that. Besides, fun to do. I fully agree that the footprint in the back didn't come out that well. My intention was to make it look like the foot had created a quarry, or something like that, but I didn't any blending or any other adjustments to make it look good. In hindsight, I might as well have left that out. The picture could even have benefited from that, sometimes you have to leave something to the imagination. _________________ Aah... New things are great!!! |
Posted on 13/01/06 3:14:49 PM |
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Tom
Texture Technologist Posts: 401 Reply  |
Re: Contest 78: Eco footprints
Hi Steve, Thanks for the comments. Sometimes I am a stickler for realistic detail, other times I let surrealistic contradictions happen. I took your comments as a challenge and changed the shadow. It was difficult because I achieved the transparent look with the blending options slider. So the layer would not behave when I tried to load selection and fill. Finally got it with two layers. One solid and one using select color range with a gradient map to desaturate..Then with layer masks, blending. Liked your illustration 
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Posted on 13/01/06 4:21:45 PM |
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Eggbox
Ovoid Opportunist Posts: 797 Reply  |
Re: Contest 78: Eco footprints
Thank you kindly Steve for your comments and the very unexpected title. I'm not sure about 'star', though I was a twinkle in my mother's eye a long long time ago. Ted |
Posted on 13/01/06 4:53:53 PM |
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Lexus
Persistent Pixellator Posts: 623 Reply  |
Re: Contest 78: Eco footprints
Eggbox, your entries have been brilliant! Its great seeing newcomers go so far so quickly! Can't wait to see your next entry! _________________ 3 Radio Visit http://www.3-radio.co.uk and listen! You will love it! |
Posted on 13/01/06 7:36:08 PM |
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Whaler
Visual Viking Posts: 330 Reply |
Re: Contest 78: Eco footprints
Here's my entry again, this time without the footprint in the background  _________________ Aah... New things are great!!! |
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