Ryker created this profound Tableau in a hospital room in the insane asylum of Channel Islands, a place not accessible by SLURL teleport link. "However," she tells me, "it is well worth the effort in finding. It is a magnificent build." After the break, she explains the process for making this complex and powerful image.
Created for a Flickr SL group challenge to capture a powerful moment, Ryker Beck chose the instant before unexpected death for her theme. "The woman in the photo is notably pregnant," she explains, "and in a hospital, preparing to give birth. What she doesn't see is the moment preparing to happen… death arriving to take her baby. It is a photo meant to evoke fear, sadness, and disbelief in the viewer."
Portraying the mother, Ryker is actually the only avatar in the image, one element in a much more complicated image:
"This photo is actually a compilation of five different pictures," she says. "The first picture is the background, the room itself. The second, the photo of myself (the avatar) laying down, which was taken on a green screen. The third, a stock photo of the blanket laying over top the avatar in the bed (originally, this photo was in full color – it was modified to be black, and then edited in Photoshop to fit the contour of a 'pregnant body' laying on the bed.) The fourth is the grim reaper and the baby carriage, which is also a stock photo (the photo was shot on a white background, which was cut out). The fifth is the photo of the teddy bear on the upper right table of the photo, which was added for ambiance."
She blended these elements together, "[T]hen added shadows and highlights in appropriate locations (under the body in the bed, under the bed itself, behind the grim reaper, between the baby carriage wheels, etc.) Once the shadows were in place, I then added a depth effect by blurring certain areas of the photo to give the illusion of a focus point (if you'll notice, the dresser on the left is blurred, as is the teddy bear and table in the background). Once that was finished, I added a few more shadows to the corners of the photo to focus attention more towards the center, onto the subject matter. The final touches are the crack in the back wall and the hair on the avatar's head, which were both painted in."
See more of Ryker's work here. And read on for details to submit your own New World Tableau.
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Submitting to New World Tableau:
New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.
- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place
here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail ([email protected]) me the link. Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the
Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.)
-
Moderately Photoshopped
images are OK, just mention if this is the case, and what effects were
added. (On rare occasions when the post-production adds a special
element, heavily Photoshopped images are also appropriate.)
-
If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I have permission to run
it, either as the owner, or because it's been appropriately CC
licensed. The original creator retains all their rights to it, in any
case.
Update, 4:25pm: Bumped for being cool.
/me feels Rosemarie's baby breath over his neck.
Great picture Ryker!
Posted by: Negko deVinna | Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 12:36 AM