| Photograph Information |
Photographer's Comments |
Challenge: Photograph Becomes a Painting (Expert Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Date: May 16, 2013
Date Uploaded: May 16, 2013
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[May. 20th, 2013 07:40:36 AM]
Defining what a painting is from the tools of the trade is easy: pencils, canvas, oil, gouache, etc. However, from a result point of view, it can be much trickier, given all the various styles that exist. I believe that all the visual arts are very close in the end. For example, before cameras, painters were requested to do portraits, or they are also commonly using their skill to capture the beauty of the world around them, just like a photographer. Some painters can even create photorealistic images, so those 2 techniques can produce similar results.
I understand that the most obvious possibility to "force" the viewer of an image to think "painting" at first glance, is to show brush strokes and canvas texture. There are many ways of doing so, the easiest ones being various plugins or Photoshop filters. While this was a perfectly valid option to enter this challenge, I am am personally not fond of such approach. I don't think you can just take any photo, apply a processing routine, and obtain a "painting".
So, what other differences can we find between a painting and a photo? In my opinion, it is a matter of details. A painter starts from a blank canvas, and creates everything by himself, to the very last detail in the background. As a contrary, the photographer embeds more randomness in his picture (even the carefully crafted ones) because he cannot control everything (birds in the sky, precise model's expression, wind in the hair, position of the clouds, etc). So I crafted my entry with that in mind: a full control of the whole scene, to the last detail, as a painter would do. Of course, I understand why this approach got me some low votes, but I don't really mind: this is my vision of the topic, and I would feel like cheating myself if I had submitted something else just to get a better score.
On a fun note, I find it quite ironical that usually, composites get attacked after almost each Expert Editing challenge (in the forums or in comments usually) explaining how anything but photos they are, and/or how Expert Editing should be banished from DPC. This time, I am smiling at the comments I got saying that my entry looks too much like a photo ;)
Regarding the picture itself, death is obviously a topic we will all have to deal with, sooner or later. As such, I suppose everyone thinks about it from time to time. In this study, I wanted to express the feelings of the deceased person's lover, depicting his own world collapsing, as she is departing for her last journey.
Some fun facts about the photos:
- My wife and I posed for the couple. I wanted the shroud to make nice folds on her body, so I put it in the water. It was quite cold, and the shooting session was punctuated by interesting shouts and laughs!
- My wife is also posing for the menacing presence, incoming from the background. In a way, she embodies her own death in that image.
- The dead faces in the rifts are made of a plastic skull wrapped in duct tape, to make them look a bit like dried corpses rather than normal skulls.
- If you look carefully in the upper left corner, you will spot a pair of scissors. My wife wanted them to be included there, as a reference to the Parcae. In ancient Roman religion and myth, the Parcae were the female personifications of destiny, often called the Fates in English. They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal and immortal from birth to death (which occurred when they cut the thread with their scissors).
I am quite happy of this picture, I believe my technical skills are improving with time. It is still a common description of death in a theatrical way though, I need to work more my creative side. It is sometimes hard to be inspired in a couple of days then start to shoot for it: DPC is a real brain-sport! |
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05/25/2013 02:55:45 PM |
| awesome!! you're really an artist! |
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05/25/2013 01:10:52 AM |
| Congratulations on TT, Christophe. Wonderful painting. I love the symbolic touches and the light and tones are beautiful. It's always so interesting to read your notes, too. |
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05/24/2013 06:16:26 PM |
| a very well thought out - detailed piece of work. the words "dance with death" immediately came to mind when i saw this. kudos |
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05/24/2013 01:08:37 PM |
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
[...]you aren't old and fat since we see so much of your handsomeness [...] |
Trust me, it is a matter of angle and light ;-) Thanks Lydia! |
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05/24/2013 12:42:53 PM |
I'm so thankful that you aren't old and fat (like me) since we see so much of your handsomeness in your images. LOL!
This is lovely, Christophe. |
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05/24/2013 11:34:55 AM |
| The lighting is my favorite part! |
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05/24/2013 11:34:48 AM |
| congrats christophe on the wonderful work here.... (while i think you usually have no limits to your photographic creativity in the expert ruleset) |
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05/24/2013 10:35:11 AM |
| Wonderful write-up, Christophe. It's always fascinating to follow your thought process in making one of your works. Congratulations on top-ten with your "too photographic" piece of art, LOL. |
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05/24/2013 02:38:45 AM |
It is far more difficult commenting during voting than it is commenting post roll-over when hindsight and other comments make ones response an exact science. However it is also personally more rewarding and memorable, educational. I too battled with the desire to add a painterly processes, to which so many images were subjected to; canvas texture or PS filters for example. I however opted out as I preferred to show the photo-realistic ends painters go in their art. The exact opposite of what was implied in the challenges description.
Your eloquence in describing your thoughts and processes of this particular work in such a way as to scoff at the reverse engineering of a composite to become a photo painting is ingenious. I found those traditional elements of paint in your entry, yet it wasn't ALL like that and that is what confused me.
Interestingly voters were more swayed toward/by oil, canvas and knives and it affected those images that were not splashes and strokes on anything but paper. Yours less than mine :/
Message edited by author 2013-05-24 02:40:22. |
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Comments Made During the Challenge  |
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05/23/2013 10:53:14 PM |
| Wonderful graphic art, as usual. Looking forward to reading your story. |
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05/23/2013 10:02:01 PM |
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05/23/2013 09:59:48 PM |
| A masterpiece like always... You're amazing at what you do! |
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05/23/2013 11:59:13 AM |
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05/23/2013 11:13:13 AM |
This had an immediate strong emotional impact on me--pity, and love. I didn't click it open again for several days, but the emotion stayed with me.
Here is a Flying Pig HM for subtle Chiaroscuro with a camera & a contemporary Pieta that is worth looking at many times.
Check out The Flying Pig thread for more. |
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05/23/2013 08:57:48 AM |
| I always look for your work in these style of challenges and you don't disappoint. Wonderfully rich and exploratory work. |
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05/22/2013 10:22:37 PM |
| I'll bet you're getting some flak for this not being "painting-esque" enough, etc. It's an awesome picture either way! (voted earlier) |
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05/20/2013 03:37:40 PM |
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05/20/2013 12:01:31 PM |
| Classy stuff,gotta be in the top three. |
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05/20/2013 10:58:27 AM |
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05/20/2013 09:50:34 AM |
| A wonderfully mastered scene, as always. But to me, I'm seeing more deviant art and less paint in this. |
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05/20/2013 06:33:03 AM |
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05/19/2013 02:16:04 PM |
| I really hope to read the story about this one Christophe :) |
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05/19/2013 06:55:04 AM |
Al the details you add in your work sometimes creeps me out. Even without a title the spirit is clear through the dead people waiting in the abyss, Death approaching from the back, the burning buildings...
All this in nearly one week; you're a top artist Christophe. |
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05/18/2013 05:07:14 PM |
Art. Who can debate it. Good excellent lighting there can be no doubt. Disturbing. Thought provoking. We all know the quality of your editing skills. Yet for the life of me I cannot understand the image.Perhaps you are depicting a Romeo and Juliet type tragedy yet in her upside-down-ness she "appears" to be smiling. Your face also does not appear pained in the slightest despite the Grim Reaper destiny awaiting you, perhaps because you are enjoying the last journey together before your time together runs out. High marks will be coming your way, yet I'm concerned they are not due the challenges "Painting" theme. The background scene does indeed appear painted, yet the foreground "subjects" are very crisp and photographic. Not to say that painters don't paint reality, crisp, clear and almost photo-like, but the two mixed appears odd (to me). Without reference to your thought processes and your occasional attempts at mimicking a "real life" artist's work this is my spin on it. Doesn't one just hate critics and 2nd guessers? 7. |
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05/18/2013 04:50:41 PM |
How odd, Christophe! I don't think you met the challenge topic.
it still looks like a beautiful photograph... not a painting.
I'm so befuddled.
I'll have to come back and vote later.
ETA: Ok... I'm still weirded out thinking you have entered a DNMC. Since that's so not like you, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, "Christophe is so knowledgable about so many things... I wonder if 'The Last Journey' is a famous painting and I just don't know about it... He's recreated it. I'll check in the morning... *snooze*"
Well, I googled and found a movie by that title, but not a painting. There was a link to this image on DeviantArt...
Still wondering... Please PM me if I'm missing something. :D |
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05/18/2013 11:20:30 AM |
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05/17/2013 02:27:53 PM |
| Christophe! This is fantastic! :-) |
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05/17/2013 10:40:07 AM |
| You are soooo Weird! Have no idea how you come up with all this... but I LOVE YOU FOR IT!!! |
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05/17/2013 03:49:52 AM |
| This is a great shot and composing as usual, but it shouts "photograph", not "Painting" or "drawing" |
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05/17/2013 01:31:50 AM |
| WOW!! But why such a gloomy choice? Incredible setup, the onlooking skulls and the skeleton hand are very effective. It seems that there is a little bit too much light on the couple. Regardless, very powerful. |
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05/17/2013 01:03:44 AM |
| Stunning and quite brilliant Christopher. But not so much like a painting though it's more like photo realistic photo art. |
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