Working on a project for this week. I've got two versions of this. Version #1 is a more faithful adaptation of the original, but the lighting is wrong.

FDNY globe #1 is here (http://adamslan.shyper.com/graphics/fdnyglobe.png)

Version #2 is lit correctly, but looks "funny" if you're familiar with the orginal.

FDNY globe #2 is here (http://adamslan.shyper.com/graphics/fdnyglobe_2.png)

What say you? And can you think of anything I can do to improve it?

Thanks.

Mark

I'm not familiar with the original, but #1 looks "better" to me so far as the composition of the figures goes (and I got both of them up and Alt+Tabbed between them without looking at which was which until I'd decided, so as not to be swayed by your comments).

The wood and brass plaque both look "fake", though -- the wood probably needs more of a curve to it (those lines can't all be straight from a perspective consideration) and ... umm ... probably something else needs doing to them although I don't do this kind of work myself so I'm not sure what. If I were doing this I'd be inclined to photograph a suitable "real" base from the right angle and lighting and incorporate that in, but I'm sure there are ways to do it from scratch.

Mark...

What first caught my attention is the bottom of the globe. It does not seem to meet the top of the base.


...Kent

Okay, I agree that the base looks fake. I changed the highlight and shadow and very gently warped it so that it looks a little more cylindrical. I couldn't do much becuase bigger changes caused what woodgrain that is there to get "muddy".

I changed the top of the base to more closely approximate the real thing and added a shadow since it occurs to me that a globe like that would probably cast a shadow.

Unless somebody has a tip, this is about the best I can do. I don't have a real object to look at, so I'm just making it up as I go along. This realistic wood seems pretty tough as I can't find a tutorial on the Web that yields anything better.

And I can't beleive I'm the only one bothered by the lighting! :knockedou

Mark,

I went ahead and downloaded your image and opened it in Photoshop. I worked on your base for just a couple of minutes, I hope you don't mind. It is hard for me to get an opinion on these things sometimes without really playing with them.

The first thing I noticed was that the base had a plastic look, I desaturated it a little, added a deeper shadow and changed the color of the highlight side a little. Then I added a new empty layer and filled it with the visible image (ctrl-alt-shift-E). Desaturated this new layer, added a little noise and changed to soft light mode to gently increase contrast in the lighting and incorporate the noise to tie it together.

The lighting ... Yes it is a challenge;
-According to the highlight on the globe the light that lights the globe is comming from above.
-The figures are lit from high above the right side.
-The base of the globe is lit from the lower left
-The flag is lit from the upper left

Your call on what to do, but as it is now the only thing that I think can stand to look different lighting wise is the figures in the globe - they aren't real people, they are art work and such can be a symbol without really being to bothered by it - if they were made from a photo inserted in the globe (which is what they currently look like because of the difference in the detail of the figures and the rest of the objects) then the lighting could be different in the photo than the rest of the scene.

Having said all that, making things from scratch is not something I am good at, but it is something I want to get better at it. This is quite a good start.

Hope I helped some,
Roger

Thanks Roger, that does look better. I think the base still looks less like wood than some other material, but maybe this is not a bad thing. I also like the dramatic quality conveyed by the darker lighting.

The more I look at it the less I think the lighting matters -- the image itself and the figures are small. After two days, the most striking thing about this whole "virtual momento" is the kitchey-ness of the whole thing.

At any rate, I appreciate your input. The base looks much better.

Thanks.

Mark

Mark,

You are right, with a collection of symbols like this - any answer is a good answer. Stir and season to taste ;)

Roger

Made the decision that wood was probably not the best way to go. Changed it to marble, then to black granite. Discovered that, unlike wood, the shadow is pretty easy but the highlights are tricky.

Better?

Mark

P.S. 9:00 p.m. MDT. I think I may have it. How does this look?

Love the marble, it looks good and it goes with the colors.

I was thinking, maybe throw a reflection of the figures off of the back inside of the globe.

Mmm, cunning. I like that in a critic.

I think this one's ready to go. Thanks for the help and suggestions. Sep. 11 is coming.

Mark

I like it!

Completely unable to leave it alone, I have finally gotten the color, grain, etc. to come out in this wood. It looks better still, but I've looked at it so much I just don't know any more.

I've posted them all to the gallery and will be moving on once I take my medication. :-)

Server doesn't like that fact that this image has grown to more than 100K so here's a link.

marine_globe.png (http://adamslan.shyper.com/graphics/marine_globe.png)

Mark

Darn that looks good!