Creation Myths Revisited & Rendered

Nativity Scene of the Holy Family, Attended by los Tres Reyes Godzillas

In the Beginning

The Holy Family is attended by Los Tres Reyes Godzillas, who each have brought unique gifts of takeout, espresso, and a movie.

I shot this in 2001 with a Pentax ME Super, Fuji Reala 100 2G. Over the years I’ve scanned it as a print, then at least twice as a neg. Each time, I’ve seen more and been able to do more with the image.

When I scanned the print, I was captive to the murky print quality. The first time I scanned the neg with a Nikon LS2000, the details were eye-popping by comparison. The most recent neg scan was done with a Nikon LS9000 and the VueScan software [a whole other discussion] at 5400dpi, approx 12×16″.

The Bride Laid Bare

Moving pretty fast here:

• duplicated the original source layer, set the duplicate to multipy. Combined the two layers to build out slightly underexposed shadow areas. Modified with curves. Collected all three layers to new working layer “Collect 1”. Saved source layers in a folder their own, to be left untouched.
• All subsequent changes are written to “Collect 1”. Targeted areas with masks to bump the saturation, color-balancing, and modify inherent color casting
• Finished with an overlay layer, solid color at 5% opacity to unify all the elements. Painted out areas on the mask to modify as needed.
• I captioned it. Marion True helped me out on this one. Promise.
• Then saved it as a web-ready jpeg.

Here’s the map:

Nativity Layer Palette

Have yourself a Merry Li’l Xmas, and I’ll see you in the ’09.