Playing with inverted images
By José Fàbrega Agea
23 February 2008
When a I find scenes unusally black or unusally white I post-process them inverted. Surely you'll find lots of times this kind of images.
That way you play with people and create new worlds.
Steps you have to follow for it:
1.Catch this kind of images. You have to choose a grey day or a cloudy day, or an indoor place. Choose the half morning time or late afternoon.
Pay attention at all you can see. Like a hunter walk and walk searchin this different way of look at.
2. Choose a focal between 50-85 mm (with a factor 1/1,5 for digital that means from 33 mm to 53 mm of focal distance in your optical lens)
3.Choose an aperture priority mode from f11 to f16 (if possible) and adapt the speed for it)
4.Use a tripod if necessary. Use a distance shoot wire if necessary.
2. Invert them. You can use the traditional way in darkroom with analogical phtography or with minimal photoshoping in digital photography: Simply you make an adjusting image/invert.
3.Of course you can adjust levels with histogram or curves.
3.Make a low-contrast copy. Low contrast is essential for not increase the strength of white tones. An excess of white tones less credibilitiy to a real image. Specially if you have lot of mirrored shinings.
4. Reframe if necessary. When you make an inverted image all is changed in the mind of people taht look at. Help to a real effect selecting best framing for it.
5. Balance the strength on different scale of grey. This step is not obligged to if you want a minimal photoshoping. But if you want arrive to the final path in a artistic option you can do it balancing the colour before desaturating the image for making the inverted Black and white photography.
There are infinite possibilities starting by this process. The main idea is always playing with perceptions; to offer an alternative way of look at pictures. Search for a new paths. Lot of timespeople say that fine arts all is invented . This ugly sensation of a "deja vu".
I think that the great idea of this postprocessing section on JPG is exactly that: open new paths for creativity.
I hope that this technique were pleasant for you. Enjoy it!
Finish
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