When You Have Robots, You Don't Need Photoshop

With all the recent controversy over Rachel Leigh Cook speaking out against the manipulation of images, I was surprised to find this recent video of an extremely realistic robot:

As a former 3D animator, I can tell you that there is an immense amount of science involved in trying to recreate human movement and facial expression. I remember studying how to animate eye saccades to make more realistic facial animation, learning about the structure of facial muscle and how it produces facial expressions, and a few things about the science of facial expression recognition. From that perspective I can really appreciate the work that went into making this robot move and express more realistically while effectively (at least I think so) overcoming the Uncanny Valley problem.

But from the point of view of an image maker, it got me thinking about what kind of media controversies the future might hold. Will models ever have to compete against robots like this? What happens when you have mannequins that can move and walks realistically? How will that affect the commercial industry? How will that affect our perception of attractive body image? Will Elite, Ford and Wilhelmina have robot divisions in the future?

I know it sounds crazy (and incredibly nerdy), but consider how much science and technology already goes into making people look pretty. That's not even getting into things like makeup, surgery, dieting, and all the other ways in which tech and the body come together in front of a camera.

But the robot invasion probably isn't going to happen any time soon. In the meantime, I'll settle for good old fashion computer graphics when it comes to distorting my perception of reality.

Time Traveler Caught on Film

You may have heard of it by now, there's this supposed time traveler in a Charlie Chaplin movie called "The Circus". Belfast filmmaker George Clarke, a collector of Charlie Chaplin memorabilia, made the discovery. In the movie, there seems to be a woman, though most people say it looks like a man, seemingly talking on a cell phone. Take a look at the video and make your own decisions.

I'm hesitant to believe any "time traveler" theories since it's just plain silly, but I attempted to do my best at making a still, trying some enhancing in photoshop, which is nearly impossible. Problem is, it was really old footage, taken from a distance, and the focus was on a statue of a zebra and not the subject so much. So what I have is a blurry blob of a face since the the harsh shadows of the midday sun hide a lot of detail, especially because the subject has a hat on. There is also some motion blur due to the cameras frame rate. Can't say I didn't try.

Digitally enhancing photos is no easy task either. To give you a better idea of the serious attention to detail you need and the sophisticated technical know how, watch the following video. It pretty much sums it up in a nutshell.

POSHGLAM review of Fig & Olive

This month, we went to the meat packing district with Donna Kim of POSHGLAM.com to interview William Sears, manager of NYC's Fig & Olive. In the interview, he talks about a few new delicious items on their menu. Check out the interview below!

Here are some stills of their beautiful restaurant, located on 13th street between 9th Avenue and Washington Street.

Camera Settings: We shot the interview using the 24-105mm zoom at f/8, 1/50 shutter, ISO 1250 using a tripod as a monopod. We also used the 100mm macro prime for some of the food footage. We turned down the ISO for the outdoor shots and again used the 24mm zoom. All of the shots were taken with a tripod converted into a monopod or the tripod completely locked down.

American Apothecary eCommerce Launch Event

This years New York Fashion Week was packed with so many things to do. We covered an event by our friends at American Apothecary on September 15th, 2010. They held a New York Fashion Week E-Commerce Launch Event at HK Lounge in New York City. Guests enjoyed the evenings complementary drink the "Placebo Mojito" courtesy of Given Liqueur, and instant take home photos in front of the Step & Repeat with friends.

Camera Settings: It was extremely dark in the HK Lounge, so without ruining the ambient of the event, we had to pump the ISO to astronomical numbers and open apertures all the way. Luckily, we had primes that open up all the way to f/1.2, and since we were shooting at 24p, the lowest we could go with shutter speed was 1/50. I'd say it came out decent for the given venue lighting. We also used the Tiffen Merlin Steadicam for a few shots and also did a few moves with a fluid head tripod converted to a monopod to get the desired effects.

Photoshop Tutorial: Halloween Digital Manipulation

Just in time for Halloween, the most terrifying photoshop tutorial that isn't all that impossible to do. It comes courtesy of photoshoptutorials.ws site, an excellent photoshop tutorial site.

Here's the link: http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/terrifying-horror-photo-manipulation.html

Check it out if you'd like to learn how to make stunningly horrific images like this:

I'll try and have mine up by Halloween. This tutorial has me inspired for a little compositing.

Rachael Leigh Cook fights Photoshop

Courtesy of Edelman Public Relations

Rachael Leigh Cook, the actress known for her role in the movie "She's All That", has joined Geena Davis in a summit held in D.C. by the Creative Coalition and the Girl Scouts of America to raise awareness about the impact that airbrushed images in the media have on youth. She spoke about her experiences growing up, having her own body image issues..

“I did not grow up getting told about how manipulated the images we see of women and girls out there are, and I think it's an absolute travesty that young women are seeing what the media is feeding them.. It breaks my heart to be part of an industry and part of a machine that really pushes out these images and propagates these really terrible standards that are false.”

Recently, we put up an article of how post production in film has been getting even more advanced and doing some of the things we already do with still photographs, Unreal Future. It seems the problem they're trying to tackle just expanded into areas they're not even aware of. Cook also goes on to say,

via Wikipedia"Nothing that you see is real, even if you look at what looks like a candid photo of someone, anything can be done. It is false advertising and false advertising is a crime so why isn't this a crime? I'm just up in arms about it,” Cook added. “People need to know that there are actual lenses that are put on cameras that make people stretched out. If you saw these actors in person, you wouldn't even recognize them as the people you see on TV. It's just all a complete illusion and maybe it should be viewed as art, the way that art isn't real. The way that a picture of a rose can be beautiful, but it's not a real rose.”

Awareness is probably the best thing that can be done for the youth seeing these images, it really can't be made illegal like false advertising. While cosmetic companies, fashion magazines and workout videos benefit from these images causing a low self image in people,it's the people who ultimately decide if they'll allow the images they see change their own perception of themselves. Children are not only ones susceptible to being deceived by an altered photo. Anyone without an untrained eye could easily miss a professional retouchers handiwork.

It still comes down to the individual and if they will to allow themselves to be manipulated into changing how they perceive themselves. Awareness is important, but it's about all that can be done. Airbrushing techniques are just going to get more and more advanced and it shows no sign of stopping. It's only a bad thing if you allow it to be, because beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. After all, it's just in the name of art, right?

Product Photography: Jo Handbags

Here a few photos from a recent product shoot we had for Jo Handbags. We covered their current line for the season. You can find their products at a number of different boutiques in the country. It was an interesting shoot that involved a lot more creativity than the photos themselves give away. You can tell by the behind the scenes photo, it wasn't very simple and straight forward.

Camera settings: We took everything with a wide open aperture f/8-13. We put use to the 100mm macro and used a max sync speed of 1/160th. We took the larger mannequin photo with the 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

Joanna Jojo Levesque Shoot

Last month, we posted that Shukmei of WeRoqq PR managed to get us a nice write up on Just Jared Jr. website of our bracelet photo shoot for She's The First with Interscope recording artist, Joanna "Jojo" Levesque. The shoot started with us taking product photography of the She's The First bracelets designed by Asha Patel. We then took photos with Jojo wearing the bracelets. The shoot was fun and laid back since Jojo is very easy going and a pleasure to be around. Our team for that day was also amazingly efficient. We ended with a PSA in which Jojo spoke about why she supports She's The First. We got it in only three takes, giving us time to have a little fun and take a few group shots to end the shoot. If you would like to support She's the First and wear one of these bracelets, you can get one from She's The First gifts.

From left to right: Jeff Chastain (hair), Franklyn Bonfante (CI), Tammy Tibbetts (STF), Reinaldo Irizarry (stylist), Jojo, Chris Vongsawat (CI), Cynthia Hellen (STF), Ivy Ermert (MUA)

Camera Settings: Product was taken with a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens; Jojo's photos, the PSA video and group shots were taken with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens. The video was recorded at 24fps at 1/50 shutter.

Atomic Tom in the Subway

Since recently completing our first music video, I've been looking at ways people having been getting viral buzz from their music videos. A cool music video you may or may not have seen was taken in the NYC subway on what seems to be an iPhone. The band Atomic Tom, had their equipment recently stolen. But because of their desire to jam and their ability to improvise, they actually made something worth watching. Production values aside, their concept for the video was actually the coolest part. I'm familiar with some of the apps they used to perform the piece so it's nice to see that they can be used for actual improvisational performances.

Headshots: Scott Gofta

Unreal Future

Here are two videos demonstrating some new incredible post-production software that really takes video doctoring to a whole new level.

MovieReshape is a post-production system being developed in Germany that seems to use adjustable 3D models as a basis for deforming a 2D moving image allowing for the readjustment of body shape in post.

Diminished reality, as opposed to augmented reality, refers to effects that remove objects from the view in real-time video. This video demonstrates such an effect, which also happens to have been developed in Germany, by Jan Herling and Wolfgang Broll of the Ilmenau University of Technology's Department of Virtual Worlds / Digital Games (link in German).

While there's nothing new about computer generated visual effects, looking at these two techniques makes me wonder what amount of unreality we will be willing to expect and accept in future media. I imagine that most people already assume, and rightly so, that every commercial image they see is retouched in some way beyond mere adjustments to color, contrast, and brightness.

Am I just going to assume in ten years that all the bodies I see in big budget movies have been reshaped? Will I expect most videos I watch to have been doctored so that elements have been removed?

I was pretty surprised seeing the anti-aging effects in X-Men: The Last Stand. Check out these images from fxguide.com showing a before and after shot of how they made Patrick Stewart look 25 years younger in post-production:

If you've seen the movie, the effect is very convincing. But this is an extreme example. I wonder where this effect has been used more discreetly to hide age?

Lastly, as someone who shoots video, I wonder when this sort of manipulation becomes a standard part of my workflow. I already retouch headshots and commercial images. If anti-aging, body reshaping, and diminished reality techniques ever become easily accessible in your standard off the shelf editing software, how will that effect how I work? What will be expected from me as a professional image maker?

How unreal will my images need to be?

Headshots: Kelsea Brennan

Headshots: Michael Cotton

We took this one just messing around doing Zoolander faces.  I thought it was pretty funny!  

Headshots: Ted Lewis

Taking Photos Without Looking

Check out this video of photo enthusiast Joe Wigfall talking about how he shoots street photography without bringing the camera to his eye! He brings up a lot of good points about some of the advantages to doings so.

I sometimes used a similar approach when I was in Afghanistan, and even today with some of the event coverage I do. I find that sometimes you HAVE to shoot this way if people are particularly aware of you and your presence changes the way they behave. Of course it's harder to do this indoors when it's darker and you need to open up your aperture, which makes your depth of field narrower and the focus much critical, and if you're shooting with a flash--well, good luck.

But try it out! Let me know if you get any interesting results!