The answer to “Life, the Universe, and Everything “

I woke on Wednesday last and remembered I have a birthday this Tuesday. You can’t forget your birthday. It’s impossible, because subconsciously we wait for 365 and a quarter day to get stuff for free.

At this age we no longer believe we’re getting free stuff from RCA, Reader’s Digest or Father Christmas. Yes, we still fill in the forms, go to the presentations and kick ourselves when we forget to read the fine print. Secretly however, we put ourselves through pain and torture, so that our birthdays can be all the more special, as we grow older.

This year I decided to take the day off and contemplate the meaning of life. My life.

Instead of finding the answer, I came to the conclusion that I get more rest at work. Especially on a birthday. Phone calls came from my Gran all the way down the family tree and back up to my mother, who forgot that she phoned at 6, and wished me happy birthday again. My Gran turned 87 this year, and after wishing me happy birtday, told me she's dying tomorrow. I told her I'll pray for her, as I do every year and we said our goodbeys.

The dogs knew I was in, so made me aware of every person who passed in the street. There was no rest.

So I decided to put the meaning of my life on the back burner for now, perhaps for revisiting at 43, and popped 300 into the Dvd player.
I especially love the colours in this movie. The subtle sepia tones and pastel colours mix well with the ample doses of blood, and the testosterone-filled dialogue is also quite pleasing. The stop-motion -action scenes are drawn out long enough for the eyes to focus, before slapping your senses with a brutal finality that had my palms sweating. You might think the analysis a tad over-the top, but I immersed myself completely in the film, and apart from the occasional walk to replenish my glass, enjoyed it from start to finish, without interruption.

And then B arrived back from a funeral, left briefly to fetch the midgets, and my day was over.

Hopefully I’ll have the answer for you next year, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

People

A collection of favourite photos I found on the net.
In some way or another they appeal to me.

The Chi-Sepia Effect - aka Dragan

Only the order in which the steps are done is important. The values of each step re: opacity, saturation, hues, sizes etc are near-as-dammit estimations, and your own ‘eye’ should guide you to what you feel is appropriate.
Open a photo in Photoshop. A headshot with some shadow is good to start with. Fit on screen and enlarge once.

I hope you are using Windows, as I do not know the Apple Mac shortcuts.

Step 1. Pour yourself a Whiskey and relax

Step 2.Duplicate layer – Ctrl J
Image-Adjustments-Invert
Go to Layer Window and select Overlay Blend
Adjust Opacity down until you’re satisfied with the result. I found 50-60% opacity to my liking.

Layer – Flatten Layer

The next two steps are critical to the final result and you should really apply a steady hand. They are also the steps that take the most time, so be patient and thorough for the best end-result.

Step 3. Duplicate layer
Select Burn tool in your tool window. (The hand) We’re going to enhance the shadowed areas, like wrinkles and such. The size of your brush depends on the width of the shadow-line. The range should be midtones, and exposure about 13 to 15%.
Using your mouse, brush over the shadowed areas. You will see the result after one or two runs over the same area, and this should give you an idea as to how far you want to ‘push’. If clothing is visible, do the creases as well. The more of the shadowed areas you do the better the final result. If you’ve overdone the Burn, adjust the opacity until you’re satisfied with the ‘look’.

Flatten Layer

Step 4. Duplicate layer – Again
Select Dodge tool from the Tool window. (The lollipop) Now we’re going to enhance the Highlighted areas. Like shiny parts on the forehead, nose and ears, and places where natural or studio lights catch the face. Again touch on the lighted areas of clothing as well. Use Opacity to get the desired level.

Flatten Layer

Step 5. Duplicate Layer
Image-Adjustments-Hue/Saturation or Ctrl U.
Select Colorize
My choice – Hue-35 Saturation 32
Select Softlight Blend in layer window
Adjust Opacity till satisfied
Select contrast and adjust until satisfied.

Flatten Layer

Step 6. Duplicate Layer
Image-Adjustments-Variations
My choice – More Yellow and Darker. Your choice here remains largely your own, but we are leaning towards the Dragan effect, and I’d use the same selections.

Select Hue blend - Adjust opacity if necessary.

Flatten Layer

Step 7. Duplicate Layer
Layer-New Fill Layer – Solid Colour
Make sure your foreground colour is set to Black
Click OK

Bring Opacity down to about 60%
Select Brush from tool window.
My choice – Mode – Colour, Brush 60%, Flow 100%

This is called ‘painting with light’ Use mouse as a brush and brush over the light areas. Let your eye guide you, and if you mess up, just redo.

Flatten Layer

Step 8. Almost there!
Duplicate Layer
Filter-Blur-Gaussian Blur
Set Radius to +-45%. Select Opacity and bring down to about 35%.

Select the Eraser in Tool window. Mode – Brush, Opacity - +-50%, Flow – 60%+. Brush on the detailed areas or areas you want to accentuate.

Flatten Layer

Image-Adjustments-Levels
Set levels until you are satisfied.

Step 9. Pour another Whiskey and sit back. You’re either very satisfied with yourself, or need to play over the steps a few more times, until you are happy.
Please publish your first sample, no matter how bad. Each photo is different no matter how well you follow the steps, and that's what I feel makes the Dragan effect so, well.. effective!

This is the one I did while putting the steps to paper. I took the photo in Kimberley a few weeks ago. It was terrible and the light was quite bad, but through Dragan I managed to save a little of the atmosphere.

Chi's Dragan Attempt - The Chi-sepian effect

The Dragan effect is a method of photo manipulation using filters, blends and layers in Photoshop. I’m not sure exactly where the style originated, but Photographer Andrzej Dragan took Sepia toning to a higher level, made it unique and attached his name to it.

I remember my dad coming back from the photographic club, and experimenting for weeks in his little darkroom adjoining the garage. He had photos of similar effect, and the hues and tones in his photographs looked almost animated, which, together with the pastel colours gave his photos lots of ‘character’. I imagine it as the first time I saw the Dragan effect without putting a name to it.

Since going digital and ‘discovering’ Photoshop, a night doesn’t pass where I do not try and personalise an effect of some sort. But, with the initial idea originating from another artist or photographer, it can never be true, and so I continue hoping to replicate what I saw in my father’s darkroom many, many years ago. The images are right here in my mind, but I cannot seem to bring forth the character of those photographs onto my ‘canvas’.

Anyhow, eet kreef asked me to post the steps needed to create the Dragan effect. My attempts are by no means truly Dragan, and certainly much is lost in my interpretation of the steps. I will therefore not insult Andrzej by calling it Dragan, but only Chi’s interpretation of the Dragan effect.

The steps are long and require a lot of patience on your part. Also, please understand that you may not get the desired look immediately, and perhaps not even after many tries. It is necessary that you tweak the steps here and there, depending on the photo that you use. Furthermore, try and stay with the same photo until you feel you have mastered the ‘art’ to some degree.

It is possible to manipulate any photo, but I felt ‘soft light’ photos with varying degrees of light (highlights) and dark (midtones & shadows) work the best. Bright daylight photos are not suitable, nor are very dark photos with very little white areas, for contrast.
I will put the steps together in as easy a workable way as possible and post it tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a sample of what Andrzej did.