affinity photo Ephemeral Line Prototype

[AffinityJules]

How the hell did I come up with a title like that, and why?

Well, the initials are E.L.P, and this just happens to be the same initials as the British prog-rock band E.L.P = Emerson Lake and Palmer.

On the 7th December, 1973, E.L.P released "Brain Salad Surgery," and H.R. Giger (of "Alien" fame) designed and created the artwork for the album cover. I was always drawn in a strange way to H.R. Giger's work, it attracted me and repulsed me at the same time. If you're not familiar with the cover art just punch in the title in your search engine.

Anyway, my inspiration for my latest foray into compositing comes from that album cover design. I never intended to directly copy it - that would be pointless but, the inspiration came directly from it. I tried to leave out all the icky and disturbing elements that Giger included in most of his artwork, but I think a few have crept in. 😜

[Ldina]

@AffinityJules I like it...very cool. I'm curious about the origin of the face/skull, what you started with, how you modified it, etc...if you don't mind my asking. Giger's work s definitely interesting and some of it is a bit edgy. I've always been an ELP fan, especially Greg Lake (and loved King Crimson). Nice work! 👍

[AffinityJules]

7 hours ago, Ldina said:

@AffinityJules I like it...very cool. I'm curious about the origin of the face/skull, what you started with, how you modified it, etc...

Greg Lake and King Crimson are held very high in my esteem. I always loved listening to Greg Lake with just him and his acoustic guitar.

Anyway, I have since deleted (as I always do) all photos I used in this composite, but I will endeavour to explain it the best I can. The picture of the woman was originally black & white and cropped as you see it so I had a 3/4 high face to work with. The skull was full scape, but as the woman's was cropped so was the skull. I had a brain wave to include a domed scalp with a joining fixture to the actual face itself - this worked rather well so I kept it.

The face and skull were both masked - as you might expect, and then it was a matter of blending the wanted parts in, and blending the unwanted parts out until an aesthetically pleasing balance was achieved. I used the Channel Mixer across the entire image (all layers) set to target greys to keep the tones in check which also helped with the blending process. I also added some light and shadow to the parts that needed it to help seat the face and skull together. Then it was a matter of finding a good opacity level as far as the skull was concerned, this turned out to be 78%. I also used another Channel Mixer adjustment on top of the layer stack but this time I set it to target colour, namely blue to set an icky looking yellow with a dash of green for the finished image. And in addition, I used a stone texture just underneath the Channel Mixer -set to Overlay with a lowish opacity to give the image a touch of grain and visual mystery. And for one final adjustment I sent the finished image to the Tone Mapping Persona to add a bit more texture and detail. I don't understand the Tone Mapping Persona that well but what ever it does. . .I like it.

My target, or idea, was to suggest to the viewer that the flesh on the face was being created - in real time as it were - and my image is a snapshot of the process involved in creating a Gigeresque Bio Mechanoid.

I hope this explains it well enough, I don't usually dabble in technical explanations, I'm just an 'on the fly' compositor who doesn't dwell that much on technical detail or knowhow - I just press the buttons when I know what they do. 🤪

[Ldina]

Thanks for the explanation. Nice effect and well done.

[AffinityJules]

22 hours ago, Ldina said:

Thanks for the explanation. Nice effect and well done.

I just remembered that I do have the original files on the master composite - what a cement head that I forgot that.

Anyhoo. . . the woman had some hair that has been removed and I duplicated her neckline and flipped it horizontally.

The skull has been cropped, too, which was then size matched to the woman's head.

The main backdrop was a disused factory which had a ton of graffiti on the pillars - these I removed by inpainting.

These are the 3 main photographic elements, the rest was done by using shapes and grading them with light and shadow etc.

I used a lightning brush for the electric effects around the head, and I used procedural texture on separate files to create the lined walls just to cover up ghastly points in the backdrop picture.

It took me about a week to finish (I don't work continuously on my images) I take many steps back to give myself time to think about things.

In total there are 57 layers which make up the finished composite.

[SolidSnake2003]

Excellent job, @AffinityJules

[Ldina]

2 hours ago, AffinityJules said:

I just remembered that I do have the original files on the master composite

Thanks for sharing the original source images and your explanation. Again, nicely done!!

p.s. love your signature quote...and I agree. 🥴