After the Camera: Digital Transformations for Conceptual Nude & Portrait Photography by Rouse Thom

Author:Rouse, Thom [Rouse, Thom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-6820-3006-6
Publisher: Amherst Media
Published: 2016-02-22T05:00:00+00:00

Image as captured

Texture from a William Turner painting

Catherine , finished image

Here’s a confession: the texture for this image was taken from a very small section of a painting by William Turner. I occasionally use textures from my favorite (and public domain) artists. They are usually discrete and unidentifiable, but in this case, Mr. Turner’s texture works so well I had to leave it at full opacity and confess.

32 Economic Recovery

T he shift from studio to location photography, combined with the transition from traditional to digital capture, changed almost everything about my work. I am not suggesting that everyone should abandon their studios, but for me, the combination of the uncertainties and challenges of location shooting combined with the vast new opportunities of digital postproduction changed everything.

Images of the model, whose name is Timeless Nikki, were captured in the less-than-optimal conditions of a hotel room. I was at a convention near her home in Seattle and she joined me for the session. I’d brought wardrobe and lights with me and we photographed a number of concepts in a very short time. Shown here is Nikki balancing precariously on a coffee table, blindfolded with a pink ribbon. Nikki had seen my work and trusted that I had a concept, but it could not have been clear to her at the time.

All of the other images were assembled in Photoshop after the session. Tribune Tower in the background was taken while on a commercial assignment on the 40th floor of an adjacent building. The tightrope was assembled from dollar bills, the candelabra was from personal stock, a moon was composed that includes both the model’s face and the eye of Providence from the dollar bill. In the full-size print the viewer can also see two nefarious figures with a torch at the far end of the tightrope and in many of the building windows are seen many different poses of Nikki.

The postproduction may appear extensive, but the actual techniques are simple. The buildings were manipulated with the Liquify filter, textures were applied in various blending modes, and selections were made of each of the many subjects and objects throughout the images. The image was time consuming, but not overly complicated.

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