Office, space, mess

Posted by Rhys (Darlington, United Kingdom) on 10 January 2008 in Lifestyle & Culture and Portfolio.

Another 'My Space' shot. This is my 'Office', as you can see its a mess. On the wall are a few paintings that I have on the go, the rest of the 'junk' is either paperwork/admin, art materials, photography materials or just stuff that should have found its way into the bin by now. I really like producing these photo collages, in fact they are a bit addictive.

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Comments (10)

aLv|N from Melbourne, Australia

how do you to these? mind teaching me?

10 Jan 2008 10:47am

Nante Santamaria from Quezon City, Philippines

yeah, could you refer us to a source on how to do this? very interesting! :)

10 Jan 2008 11:47am

@Nante Santamaria: Hi, well it’s not as complex as you might think. I'll try and describe you through the stages, here goes:

1. Stand still in one spot.
2. I have my camera (in this case a Canon 5D) set to Aperture Priority mode at f4 (due to the dark room). But to be honest if it was set on 'p' mode it wouldn't be much different. I also set the focal length of the lens to 50mm and do not alter it at all throughout the shooting. I shoot RAW, but then again jpeg would suffice.
3. The aim is to make a 'jigsaw' image of you’re chosen subject (still life, landscape etc...) so, the next step is to take as many photos of the subject as possible. You must ensure that you include everything and that shots overlap each other. Go mad and takes LOTS of shots.
4. Download the shots into a new folder. I now covert my RAW files into a separate file of jpegs. I now open up ONE image in Photoshop, set up a new action and start recording. First, I correct the colour balance if needed, (this image did need it as it was shot under horrid lighting), then change the size of the image to 400px wide (Pshop will set the height) and leave the resolution at 240dpi. Sharpen a little. Save and Close the image and stop recording the action.
5. Batch process the rest of the folder of jpeg images using the new action that you have just created.
6. Create a blank new canvas in Pshop, this one was about 2000px wide and high with the resolution set at 240dpi (the same as the images).
7. Now the fun begins. Open up one image at a time and drag onto your new canvas. To begin with you will have to do a rough guess as to where the first photo needs to be on the canvas.
8. Open up the next and place where appropriate. Use the ‘Move Tool’ to keep dragging the photos about (make sure that ‘auto select’ is ticked as this will automatically select the layer that the photo is on, otherwise it gets tricky).
9. Keep going!! It’s just like doing a jigsaw. Photos will have to overlap and you will need to change the stacking order of some of the layers to get this right. Your image will slowly build up and take shape. You may have to expand the canvas size as you go along if necessary.
10. Remember- this is not a perfect technique and I reckon that part of its appeal is in its ‘rough ‘n ready’ appearance.
11. Finally, crop the Canvas if there is too much surplus white space.
12. I usually save one copy with all the layers intact as a .psd file and also flatten the layers and save another as a .jpeg (for web uploading).
13. I think that’s it. There is a lot of room for manoeuvre and I think the essential trick is to be experimental.
14. Does all that make sense? Let me know if not!

Rhys.