B-17 Then and Now - Part 3

With the B-17 reconstructed I turned my attention to battle damage, adding additional B-17s and finally bombs.

I experimented with many brush setting in Photoshop to paint smoke and create fire for the stricken engine. I also used the blur filter and smudge tool.

I figured out a way to make the flak smoke (I don’t remember the process but it was  with much trial and error) and peppered the sky with as much flak as I thought looked believable.

The Internet once again was my source for the wing damage on the right wing tip. I found a photo from World War II of real wing damage on a B-24 and used it for my B-17 damage.

As mentions previously I photographed a scale model of the B-17 in various angles. I added nose art to each plane in Photoshop as well as numbers on the tail. The nose art was lifted from photos of real bombers. On the right B-17 I added some tail damage and each plane  had to have it's props blurred. I also added a blur  filter to each.

Nose art, tail number and prop blur added to model photo. Tail damage was added later.

For some time I was not going to worry about bombs because I had no clue how I was going to do it but eventually I experimented with some free 3D rendering programs and found a 3D bomb someone made that fit the bill.

Model with bombs and tail damage layered on the final version.

Bombs added to main B-17

Close up of another B-17 model

Close up of the final B-17 model

All the elements of the "then" version was then assembled, re-sized, positioned, various filters and adjustments applied and everything tweaked.

All that was left was to marry it to the "now" version.

Final compilation 

The full resolution version can be seen HERE. (There is tool on the page to view full resolution sections)

Note: 

While preparing for this blog series I noticed some things that I did not see when I first worked on this. For one thing the "then" compilation lacked uniformed grain. For example the bombs, which were computer generated, looked too smooth compared to photographic elements. To rectify this I added a 50% gray layer on top of everything, set the blending mode to overlay, applied an Add Noise filter and a Gaussian Blur filter. I think it helped. 

Also as you may be able to see in the close up of the main B-17, the ball turret looked a bit tool sharp so I added some more blur to it. In addition there was some masking that needed cleaning up.

If you look at the current version on the page linked above you will also noticed that I made the stenciled lettering look more like it was actually stenciled. 

With something this complex it's a good idea to go back over it after some time has past so you can see it with fresh eyes.

This was my most ambitions Photoshop project and was quite a learning experience. If you have an idea that will require this kind of work and you aren't too sure how you are going to pull it off, just dive in, you'll figure it out as you go.

B-17 Then and Now - Part 2

After accepting my own challenge to turn an image of a parked B-17 bomber with a crowd of people in front of her into the same plane flying a combat mission, the most challenging thing I faced was how to reconstruct the bottom of the plane.

The first thing I did, however, was to select a different sky from pictures that I had already taken.

This sky was chosen because it had dark clouds as well as blue sky to account for sunlight hitting the plane and the light is coming from the same direction as in the original image

 

I then cut the plane out and layered it on top of the sky. I separated three of the engine props, applied a radial blur and layered theme back in place. The forth prop was left in a stopped position. I wanted to show some battle damage and this engine was going to be a casualty.

Cut out plane layered over the sky. 3 props blurred and rotated slightly (right wing tip readied for damage)

To reconstruct the bomb bay doors, the rear section, and the landing gear in the up position, I bought a plastic scale model. After a assembling the model I photographed it in various positions including some close ups as approximating the same view point of the original.  

Typical model setup for photographing

This was used for the bomb bay doors and landing gear

 These photos were also used later for the B-17s in the background.

Bomb bay doors, landing gear and rear horizontal stabilizers in place

The detail of the ball turret on the model was not satisfactory because of the small scale so I search the Internet and found a fairly high resolution photo that someone had taken at some air show somewhere. It was taken from the correct view point. It was not copy righted so it became my ball turret.

Ball turret in place

Part 3 will deal with the battle damage.

B-17 Then and Now - Part 1

This blog is to document the creation of my work entitled “B-17 Then And Now”.

It all started with my attending an air show at Niagara Fall, New York in 2007. A B-17 that that was used in the filming of the 1990 movie “Memphis Belle” was on display. Knowing that my Photoshop CS5 had the capability of stitching multiple images into a panorama, I took 5 overlapping shots of the bomber with many people milling about in front of her.

 

After stitching them together in and cleaning it up a bit Photoshop, I thought I was pretty much done with the image. The somehow I got the idea to do a then and now composition, with the plane at the air show on the bottom and the same plane on a combat mission above.

The first real challenge I faced was to reconstruct the bottom of the B-17 that was obstructed by all those people standing if front of her.

That will be the subject of part 2. 

Calvary Cemetery 1971 - My Summer Job

1970 was the year I graduated from high school and the year I started attending Virginia Commonwealth University art school. My passion was photography but at that time, believe it or not, photography courses were not offered by the art department. Photography was just starting to be recognized as a legitimate art discipline.

In my freshman year I took many different courses, painting, sculpture, art history and the like. At the start my sophomore year I had to decide on a major. I picked sculpture so I could use photography. That sounds crazy but there was a guy that majored in sculpture and was a film maker so I figured it should work for me.

As it turned out I left college half way through my second year but that’s another story. This blog post is about the summer job I took in 1971 before returning to what turned out to be my final semester at VCU.

The job was cutting grass at Calvary Cemetery located in Norfolk, Virginia.

Here is a brief history from Calvary’s web page:

Calvary Cemetery was established as a burial ground for Norfolk's African American citizens on January 9, 1877. Calvary spans more than 68 acres of green space in a pastoral setting. For nearly a century, most of Norfolk's African American citizens were interred at Calvary as there were not other burial options available to African Americans in Norfolk until the mid-1970s.

I am not African American (from this point on I’ll use “black” because in 1971 you were black or you were white). I’m as white as you can get. Try to imagine a white 19 year old long haired kid working with an all black crew in a cemetery just for blacks in the south in the early 1970s.

You might imagine that there was tension and distrust but actually there was none of that. Those guys were friendly and accepting of me and I was never treated badly by anyone who worked there. It was a great experience for me, a young white boy, to work with these men of color.

One day I decided to take my camera to work. I took pictures every chance I got (usually when we were on break). The guys joked that I must be a spy for the city because the only time I took pictures was when we weren't actually working.

I can no longer remember these guy's names but I'm glad I took my camera that day.

Click on the link below to see more photographs I took that day at Calvary Cemetery.
More photos