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Well, Christmas is upon us, and it's time for a seasonal Challenge. I toyed with several ideas for this year's festive offering, before Ted Eggs posted his link to a rather spectacular animated illuminations house. It's a beautiful piece of work - and I assume it's all 100% real.
So your Challenge is to take the rather dull image of a house, below, and add festive lighting to it. Ideally, this should be animated so the lights flash on and off. (If you're not sure how to do animations in Photoshop, I know of a good Reader Forum where you can get top quality advice.) Any other seasonal extras are entirely up to you.
Note: My computer will be turned off on Christmas Eve and it won't go back on again this year. So this will be a two-week Challenge: the write-up, and the first Challenge of the New Year, will appear on Friday 2nd January.
Happy Christmas/Channukah/Winterval/Saturnalia/Non-Denominational Seasonal Celebration, everyone!
Finished work: click here for animation ...
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I went to London's Natural History Museum last weekend, and once again was awestruck by the fantastic Waterhouse interior of this magnificent building.
There were several animatronic models in the dinosaur exhibit, and I was particularly taken by the size and position of the hands on this one, held in front of it in a remarkably human way. It could be holding a shopping basket, or grasping a tiny Fay Wray, or leaning over a windowsill, or... well, it's up to you. After the trials of last week's technical Challenge, I'm giving you pretty much a free rein on this one.
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I was intrigued by Jota120's entry to last week's Friday Challenge, which shows Poirot reflected in the mirror - with a view over his shoulder in front. It made me think: could we achieve this effect with just the one image? Is it possible to adapt a view of the shoulder from the front so it looked as if it was taken from the back?
An interesting Challenge, I think. You'll probably want to change the head - at least, I'm sure Neal will. Or, of course, use a body of your choice. This one's just a suggestion.
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I was cycling through the City of London last week when I came across Charterhouse Square, which contains not just the 12th Century Charterhouse (the square itself is the site of a plague pit, which is why it can't be built on) but this rather splendid 1930s apartment block.
Fans of the TV show Poirot will recognise it as the Belgian detective's headquarters, known in the series as Whitehaven Mansions.
Of course, for the series they added a load of extras in 1930s costume, as well as vintage cars... and what sort of dastardly deeds could be going on behind all these windows? Time to get the little grey cells working.
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I had to get a tyre/tire repaired recently, and was struck by the complexity of some of the machines in the workshop. Here, for instance, is a machine that takes them off the wheels of the car. Seems to me this machine could be put to a far more interesting use...
Finished work: (time machine)
click here
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Normally I try not to make too many personal appearances in the Friday Challenge - after all, I've learnt from experience that it can be a dangerous place to let one's images loose. But I couldn't let this one just slip by. It's my 50th birthday tomorrow, and I was wondering if any forum members had some advice for how I should adapt my ways in my dotage. Or can I expect a second childhood?
No starting image this week. I don't want to make it too easy for you!
Finished work: (click for bigger picture)
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By the time this week's Challenge is over, the United States will have elected a new president. And, if the polls are anything to go by, Sarah Palin will be once more consigned to Alaskan oblivion.
Or will she? What else could the budding vice president turn her hand to? Can you think of a suitable use for a used Palin?
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I drove through a patch of unexplored countryside recently, and came across this intriguing signpost. Who occupies Occupation Road? What on earth happens in Barton in the Beans?
You have pretty much a free rein on this one - whatever it inspires you to do. Replace all the text, if you like, and let your imaginations run wild.
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I had a commission last week from an Italian news magazine, to do a cover about how the head of the United Nations is showing very little international presence.
What they wanted was for me to portray him at his desk, on the phone, but as an empty suit - so the man inside was missing.
This turned out to be a tricky job indeed. I ended up combining the two body parts shown here (so I could patch the missing hand areas) and of course added a suitable desk, chair and background. Would you like to have a go at this one? I'll show you mine if you show me yours!
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Snapped this at my local rail station yesterday. Looking at the recessed rails, it struck me how it would make a good canal. Of course, if we converted this line from trains to boats, we'd need to make quite a lot of other changes too...
Feel up to the challenge?
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I came across this rather forlorn vacant shop in an unloved corner of a shopping arcade. The perfect place, perhaps, to start selling - what? Can you suggest a business that would fit in here?
It's a perspective puzzle this week, of course. Can you read the vanishing points out of this scene, and build an interior to match?
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I spotted this water tower when I was in France in the summer. A lot of these things - in England, at least - are being converted into homes these days. Although this isn't a particularly pretty example of the genre, I'm sure it could make an excellent dwelling with the right sort of care and attention.
Anyone fancy a spot of architectural remodelling?
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Ah, the romance of sea travel... the dream of an exotic cruise... brought to a crashing end by the reality of the cross-channel ferry. Surely there's something that can be done to add some sparkle and romance to this uninspiring scene?
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As you'd expect, I took a load of photos during my recent trip to France, and we'll see a few of them cropping up here during the weeks to come.
I was particularly intrigued by this ruined house, which reminded me of the sort of ruins you see in old war films and games like Call of Duty. Of course, I photographed this scene on a bright, calm day. What would it look like in the heat of battle?
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This one does not exactly follow the brief, as I am not happy creating war pictures.
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As you read this, I'm driving around the west coast of France - ably assisted, of course, by my trusty GPS unit. Of course, these devices do sometimes go wrong and lead people astray.
But just how wrong can they go? Here's the machine: the setting is entirely up to you.
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I went to a small town fair a few weeks ago - a rather dismal event in
a damp field. Of course, this sort of thing always looks a lot better
at night, when the lights have a chance to ring out.
Think we can perk up this somewhat lacklustre affair?
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We were having lunch in the country last weekend when these magnificent beasts appeared on the other side of the river. I was so taken with them, I just had to photograph them.
Carol, my partner, couldn't understand what I wanted photographs of cows for. Come to think of it, I'm not sure myself. Surely there's some purpose these beautiful animals can be put to?
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Seeing Patrick33's entry in last week's Challenge made me remember something I came across recently - a version of Escher's famous staircase drawing, made entirely out of Lego. It's an astounding piece of work, that must have taken tremendous care and patience.
It all would have been much easier in Photoshop, of course. Or would it? Just how difficult would it be to recreate this sort of perspective illusion? The tricky part is making the finished article look plausible.
No starting image this week - so Google away!
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I'm indebted to Josephine Harvatt for this week's image - it's a scene she photographed at the Psycho Buildings exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery. The woman taking her son for a boating trip could do with a better environment, Josephine thinks - and I have to agree with her. Could we come up with a more appealing location than a London rooftop?
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When I was in Derby museum recently, I spent some time in a room devoted to the Victorian painter Joseph Wright of Derby. For those who don't know him, his most notable work is the fantastic Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump, which is a masterpiece of light and shade.
The room in the museum was full of his portraits - which are, I'm sad to say, mediocre. This one was painted fully 20 years after the Air Pump picture that made his name, yet the subject chose not to allow Wright to do the style he did best, and instead to paint a standard, uninspired work.
But what if Wright had been given his head on this one? How might this below average portrait have looked with some dramatic lighting? Anyone feel like reaching for the oil paints?
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Another train image from the Derby museum this week. Here's a model railway that's in the process of being built. According to the curator, the houses are first mocked up in cardboard for size and shape, then these are sent to model makers to have them recreated as perfect miniatures.
Can we help the modelmakers finish this job? Anything else we can do to make the scene more realistic?
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(a bit basic due to lack of time!)
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I spent a day wandering around the museums in the charming Central England town of Derby last weekend, from which I gleaned a number of potential Friday Challenge subjects that will be appearing over the next few weeks.
First up is this model train I photographed in the industrial museum, which is situated in the world's first factory. It reminded me of the old Agatha Christie story, 4.50 from Paddington, in which a woman sees what she imagines to be a murder through the window of a passing train.
So what intriguing goings-on might we catch through these windows? And can we take the train out of the museum and place it in a more convincing location?
Finished work: (click to view larger - compression kills!)
