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Well, this year is just about over for me: I'm switching off my computer this evening and, with any luck, not turning it on again until next year. It's been a fantastic year for the Forum, with many new members and some extraordinary talent emerging here. Every write-up has been hugely enjoyable for me - it's great to see so many of you improving your techniques, week by week.
So to celebrate New Year's Eve, I've hired this rather grand looking hall. But it's sorely in need of decorations, and we could certainly do with a few people to liven the place up. You've got two weeks for this Challenge, as I won't be looking at my computer at all next week - so go overboard, make it a night to remember.
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This fantastic view of London's Globe Theatre comes courtesy of GKB, who's stitched a couple of images together to make this composite. Thanks, Gordon!
So... the stage is set, the audience is waiting. Can you put on a show that's suitably festive for the holiday season? Some tricky perspective in this one!
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My house was burgled on Sunday - nothing too serious, just lost some easily replaceable technology. But it left me thinking of the old maxim that the best way to hide something is to leave it in plain sight.
So here are four items burglars would be after - a laptop, a digital camera, a brooch and a passport. Your task: devise a scene which includes all these items, but in such a way that they're concealed within the scene while still being fully visible.
Extra points if I can't spot all the items in your entries!
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This week's image was sent in by jwhite, who's taken time off from his usual pursuit of animal photography to capture this museum figure. A reasonable display in a gallery, perhaps, but the horse is just too shiny and plastic, and the rider looks somewhat disengaged... can we bring this one to life? And perhaps give him a convincing setting?
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I went to Paris last weekend from the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras station in London, which has had a multi-million pound overhaul to take the new tracks. One of the features is a huge and rather bizarre statue of two lovers in the main hall.
Well, it's OK if you like Woolworths kitsch, but I think we can do better. So here's another photo of St Pancras, before the statue was installed. It's a slightly tricky angle, being shot from below; and, as you can see, the building work needs finishing off. But can you think of a more appropriate piece of public art for this space?
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I had to do a job this week which involved placing a British journalist into a number of historical photographs. I had colour pictures of him, but all the target photos were in black and white: matching the skin tones turned out to be a tricky job.
So here's your Challenge for this week: recast this Marx Brothers still using contemporary actors.Whether you turn your actors to black and white, or recolour the whole scene, is your choice!
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It was my birthday yesterday, and to my immense joy and delight I was given an iPhone - which I reckon is about the best gift I could possibly receive.
Or is it? Can you people imagine a birthday present that would top it? Regulars will have some idea of my interests by now - which include gadgets, music, woodworking, Photoshop of course, and spending as much time in Paris as possible.
No starting images this week. After the immense difficulty of last week's Challenge, I thought you'd like an easy ride!
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I discovered an abandoned dairy a couple of weekends ago, and took loads of photographs of broken windows and doors - and this completely trashed office.
What I'd like you to do is clean it up. Now, I know it would be easy enough to create new walls in here, but I'd like you, as far as possible, to use what you can salvage from the original room. Can that radiator be repaired? Is there enough wood panel to reconstruct the wall? Can those strip lights be fixed? I'm looking for restoration here, rather than a makeover.
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So, Hallowe'en is nearly upon us - the time when children dress up as witches. What's less well known is that this is also the time when witches dress up as ordinary people. So where can we find a picture of a witch and an ordinary child?
Step forward The Wizard of Oz, of course. Here's what I'd like you to do: turn Dorothy (Judy Garland) into a witch; and help the Wicked Witch of the West, played by the estimable Margaret Hamilton, to remove her make-up.
Don't work on this past midnight! There are spooks about!
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I photographed this plane on a trip to Dusseldorf a couple of weeks ago. I'd like to see it in the air - which means, of course, closing that door, folding the wheels up... and perhaps we could see a pilot through the windscreen? Whether you choose to finish the back end is up to you, of course.
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I photographed this elderly refrigerator for another project this week, and thought we could make some good use of it here.
You have the choice of two Challenges here: take your pick. For the Photoshop fiddler, I'd like to see this unit stocked with anything that we might need to keep chilled. For the dedicated technician, a more tricky task: can you open the other door as well?
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I photographed this cameraman a few years ago - always useful to have someone to place in front of celebs ad politicians. I reckon he'd look better in a TV or film studio, though: do you think you can build me one?
The subject being filmed is up to you, of course.
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This statue in London is in memory of Quintin Hogg, the founder of The Polytechnic (which became The London Polytechnic, then The Polytechnic of Central London, and is now The University of Westminster). It's the kind of pose you wouldn't get away with these days without questions being asked.
We did a 'bringing statues to life' Challenge a year and a half ago, but I think this one offers some different challenges. So here's your task: can you make these people look real?
Not an easy one, I know, so if you find the prospect of tinting all that dark bronze too daunting, you could always consider adding or removing some props instead...
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On my visit to the seaside a few weeks ago, I saw this Punch and Judy booth set up, ready for a show. It was a tricky thing to photograph, into the sun: can you improve the contrast? And what sort of show might be performed on this tiny stage?
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A bit more of a technical challenge this week. Here's a view of a hallway in an office building, with a stairway on the left and a lift (elevator) on the right. Your task is to seal up the stairway to make a blank wall, and to remove the lift/elevator. What you put in its place is up to you - another hallway, perhaps a new staircase. As long as you get the perspective right!
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Off to the Norfolk seaside town of Cromer last weekend, where I snapped this view of an idyllic English town: the bunting, the medieval church, the 18th Century building.
All that's missing is a pub sign hanging from that wrought iron bracket. Can you oblige?
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Another image from my recent French trip. This one was taken in a museum of 19th Century shops (actually, it was much more fascinating than it sounds). The shops were arranged around a central atrium, so in many cases it was possible to get views from almost directly overhead.
What I'd like you to do here is to populate this scene. It doesn't have to be people: bottles, photographed toy figures, Poser elements - even drawn boxes will do fine. The purpose of the exercise is to try to make your placement of people and things match the perspective of the room as closely as possible.
Another tricky one, perhaps!
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A bit of a technical Challenge this week. I took my kids water skiing when we were in France, and I was intrigued by the reflections produced on this river. Conditions: overcasts day, no wind, minimal current. Can you reproduce the water surface? At the end of the week I'll post the original photograph so you can see what it really looked like.
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Here's a bed I photographed a few years ago. I put a couple of pillows under the covers to make it look as if there was a body in there, as I had to place a couple of politicians' heads on the top - but I ran out of pillows, and it didn't quite work. Your task for the week: build up the duvet so it looks like there's someone (or some people) under there, and then stick a head on top. And a bit of a bedroom wouldn’t go amiss...
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When they said "You're going to the sea bed", I didn't know this was what they had in mind!
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Josephine Harvatt went to watch the Tour de France recently, but seems to have missed all the action. Still, we have a great road surface, and plenty of onlookers... what could be just around the corner? A host of bicycles, or something more spectacular?
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"I think we took a wrong turn at Ye Olde Stirrup Cuppe!"
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I watched the first Spiderman movie again last week, and really liked the scene where he first wears his home made Spidey costume - all wrinkled T-shirt and hand drawn logo. Before long, though, he's invested in the full Lycra body suit, complete with raised webbing, in a tear-resistant fabric. Where on earth do these superheroes buy their costumes?
The good thing about snug, body-hugging attire is that there are no folds or wrinkles to wory about, which makes them particularly suitable for computer modelling: recolouring the skin tones is usually enough. So here's a naked superhero I knocked up in Poser: your task is to dress him in the design of your choice. Innovative special powers are always welcome!
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I can't remember where I got this photograph of a bald head from - I needed it for a montage about 10 years ago, and hung onto it. Haven't needed it again since. But it seems to me there are many more potential uses for such a shiny dome: any ideas?
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After katew's intriguing image of the space shuttle landing on the centre court at Wimbledon last week, it made me think: how would it be if the shuttle could actually land on the moon (or any other planet, come to that) rather than just hovering in space? What means would it use? What would the planet look like? I think lighting (and imagination) are going to be the key to this one.
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Ted Eggs has been to Wimbledon this week, as his excellent panoramas have shown. He was wondering what other use could be made of this arena and this crowd, and I'm also intrigued by the idea. Here's your audience: put on a show!
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I thought Steve Hill's entry to last week's Friday Challenge raised an interesting question: how do we turn a photograph into a cartoon? His approach went a long way towards a solution, but I'm not sure it quite got there. I suspect that the only way of doing it might be to redraw the features on a new layer.
So that's your challenge for this week: take any well-known face, and turn it into a drawn cartoon. Could be as faithful to the original as you like, or you could go the Simpsons route, complete with yellow skin and overbite... this one's entirely up to you. I think this is a technique we all need to master.
Do be sure to include the original face in your post!
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Not sure how much impact this has had on the world stage, but we in Britain have got a new Prime Minister this week. Gordon Brown may be fiscally adept, as his ten years in charge of the Treasury has shown, but somehow I feel he lacks that sparkle needed to give him voter appeal. Can you make this dour Scot more voter-friendly? If you don't want to use the image below, there's a good selection of free-to-use images here.
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