Stock Photo of a
Wrecking Ball produced with quality images and Adobe
Photoshop tools.
Perception Is More
Important Than Reality
Out with old, in
with the new! That is the concept behind my concept stock photo
"Wrecking Ball". But perhaps more importantly, the image is a good
illustration of the fact that the "imagined" image can be more powerful
than the literal one. In stock photography I certainly believe it is
true that “perception” is more important than “reality”! I believe the
viewer is more comfortable and more accepting of an image that fits
their mental picture…and let’s face it…so many times reality just does
not live up to what we picture in our heads. Also, when a viewer sees
an image and it matches their perception of something they can quickly,
in their thinking, move onto the message…rather than using their
subconscious process to fit the reality into their pre-conceived
notions. At any rate, in my experience, catering to preconceptions
seems to work well in conceptual stock photography.
Difference between
Perception and Reality
When I first decided
to do this image I went to a demolition site in San Francisco and shot a
few images. It was, however, immediately apparent that the reality
didn't match my mental picture. What I had pictured in my mind as a
wrecking ball was a steel ball on the end of a chain…smashing through
brick and concrete as it swing laterally from the end of a crane. In
reality, it is a tear-shaped concrete device on the end of a cable
usually being "dropped" onto a building…at least that is what I was
witnessing as I set about shooting that demolition scene. My “imagined
image” was far more graphic and powerful than the real one. I decided
to go with the perception rather than the reality.
Finding the Parts
As I was walking
back to my studio pondering how to create my image it occurred to me
that a manhole cover might do as a wrecking ball. Since I had my
cameras with me I photographed one about a block from my studio. I also
photographed the sidewalk including a portion that was cracked. Once
back at the studio I set up an old rusty chain that had been gathering
dust for some time in my prop room and shot that. I scrounged up a
brick and shot several angles of that too. In my stock photo files I
found some pictures of a simulated computer explosion I had photographed
years before for a magazine cover. Shots I had taken of a freeway
demolition (after the 1989 quake) provided the background. In short time
I had all the parts I would need to create my new photographic reality.
Creating the Image
To create the image
I started with the wrecking ball. I used the "spherize" filter in
Photoshop on the manhole cover, a cover that had been worn smooth by
years of traffic. The filter, at 100% turned the flat manhole cover into
a steel globe. I added a specular highlight by creating a new
adjustment layer (Brightness and Contrast) and maxing out the
brightness…then using the accompanying layer mask to isolate the layer
effect to just one small hotspot. I repeated the process, this time
darkening the adjustment layer and painting it around the bottom edges
to provide an even greater illusion of roundness. I used the pen-tool
to create a clipping path around the outside of the ball…turned the path
into a selection (with a one-pixel feather) and then inverting the
selection before deleting… leaving only my new very “dimensional”
“wrecking” ball.
I created another
clipping path to separate the chain from its background. After copying
and pasting the chain into the image with the ball, I used Free
Transform to size and position it…then used the warp filter for adding some
curve to the chain…and the motion blur filter to add just a touch of
movement.
The pen tool and
clipping path again did the job for selecting the sidewalk, which, after
pasting in, I turned into a crumbling wall by the use of layer masks
“painting” the sidewalk in and out as needed . The layer masks also
worked well to “paint in” the exploding computer shots to look like dust
and flying debris. Finally, the same technique was used to add the
bricks. To integrate the whole image I used an adjustment Hue and
Saturation control in an adjustment layer to give the image a
sepia-toned look. That is how a manhole cover and a sidewalk become a
much more powerful graphic than the real thing....
Success!
Though done many
years ago, the image is a timeless one. By creating images that match
our “perceptions” rather than “reality” we can create stock images that
have both more impact (OK…pun intended), and provide a longer revenue
stream. The best of both worlds! |
