Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

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Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby surenj on Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:59 am

I was keen to get your opinions on this image. I want to see how believable it is, given that I had to post-process it a little :P and deliberately shoot it with that in mind.

I haven't posted how I have done this just yet, but will give interested punters the chance to reverse engineer etc.

I think this will give a nice little break from all this talk about filum and other ridiculous entities.... :twisted: Also this would give some prelude to the post-processing workshop that Matt is going to organise.

Comments welcomed as some would say, good, bad, fugly etc. Thanks for looking.

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Last edited by surenj on Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby rangie on Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:37 am

I think it's kind of cool... looks a little fake, but no worse than what I have seen in a lot of blockbuster movies. Well Done. I would be happy to be able to produce that PP
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby Wink on Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:33 pm

I don't think "believable" is a word you will ever use with images like this. Nor should you have to though. There's nothing wrong with knowing that an image is a composite. Take Tanya Rochat for example, all of the parts of her composites are real, but you'd never think the finished image was ever real. That doesn't detract from the fact they're great images.

This looks like a screen grab from a game and that's not a bad thing. Well done!
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby Reschsmooth on Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:13 pm

I think the image and the work done to get to that point are great. Is it believable? No. The reasons I say that are:

1. DOF doesn't appear consistent.
2. The reflection of the explosion on the front right of the helicopter doesn't make sense.
3. The explosions don't look real enough.

Like I said, this is to answer the question of believability, not about the quality of the image produced, which is top notch.
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby Matt. K on Sat Apr 07, 2012 4:28 pm

Cooool! It looks a little too clean....try placing some dry ice in the background, (or blow in some smoke), to add to the deception. Could make a big difference.
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby biggerry on Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:02 pm

nice concept suren, whilst I know reality is not what you are chasing, a few things come to mind, firstly the CH-47 is too clean, needs texture and some feathering/fog to blend it in more, the the aspect is what on earth is exploding? the helicopter has not hit yet :rotfl2: a apache attack helio might have been a better choice... :wink:

The building on teh right is probably the best bit, it gives some depth to the image and leads teh viewer, i think more of this would help.

This looks like the cover of a video game and hats off to you for that. :up:
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby biggerry on Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:14 pm

FYI

check this youtube video of a CH-47 ground resonance test, a oldie but a good one.. there is something satisfyign about seeing a good aviation machine being ripped apart by physics..

http://youtu.be/D2tHA7KmRME
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby surenj on Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:37 pm

Thanks for all your opinions. I have tried to take into account as much as possible what I thought was reasonable and make some changes....

biggerry wrote:there is something satisfyign about seeing a good aviation machine being ripped apart by physics..

:mrgreen:
biggerry wrote: needs texture and some feathering/fog to blend it in more


biggerry wrote: the the aspect is what on earth is exploding? the helicopter has not hit yet

I assumed that this was a last minute rescue mission before they made that place blow with air cover..... :wink:

biggerry wrote:a apache attack helio might have been a better choice...

I haven't bought one yet.... Most of them have the back part bare to save weight so looks naked. Might do a different version when I get one though. Does anyone have an Apache I could borrow for a few days?

biggerry wrote:This looks like the cover of a video game and hats off to you for that.

Ta!

Matt. K wrote: It looks a little too clean....try placing some dry ice in the background

Done; In the dark room rather than real stuff as the physical living conditions don't necessarily permit such shanighans....Wish it did.


Reschsmooth wrote:1. DOF doesn't appear consistent.

Fair call. Tried to correct this although I don't think I can fully correct now...

Reschsmooth wrote:The reflection of the explosion on the front right of the helicopter doesn't make sense.

Sort of corrected...

Reschsmooth wrote:The explosions don't look real enough.

Noted. Too much trouble to correct now as I shot that copter and explosions at the same time to avoid too much masking.

Wink wrote:This looks like a screen grab from a game and that's not a bad thing. Well done!

Ta!

rangie wrote: looks a little fake

Maybe compare the revision....
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby surenj on Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:45 pm

Remake 1
Image

Remake 2
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Re: Explosive Chinook

Postby Wink on Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:56 pm

Remake #1 is a huge improvement. The chopper is much more realistic.
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Re: Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby surenj on Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:07 am

Thanks Adam for the followup.


For your infotainment....
http://youtu.be/gSjsGx8a1T0
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Re: Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby zafra52 on Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:52 am

Your skills have improved dramatically, surenj.
Are you looking for a job in special effects?
Good work!
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Re: Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby aim54x on Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:42 pm

Great work...that video that Gerry posted was a nice distraction as well!
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Re: Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby CraigVTR on Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:37 am

You have put in some time and skill, really well done. Loved both videos.
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Re: Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby biggerry on Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:43 pm

reworks look heaps better Suren, the video is also neat, thats about 20 billion more layers than I have every used ;)

This is a prime example where the final refinements are the key ones.
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Re: Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby surenj on Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:45 pm

Thanks for the followup feedback.

biggerry wrote:20 billion more layers than I have every used

:mrgreen: For the record, I think it was very useful that I used a mostly non destructive technique as the suggestions on reflections etc were easy as clicking once to remove it. You can see me doing it in the video as per Patrick's suggestions. I think there is one more reflection that I forgot to dial down.

The final file is more than 500Megs so became a PSB file. :wink: Its because of the smart layers and filters I assume.

I have some ideas for the next version...

Finally, this is the BTS lighting diargram. There is a LED desk lamp doing a bit of continuous lighting from the camera right (for the spinning rotors - while I held it down - this thing is violent when activated). The speedlite is doing a reflected number to bring out the camera left side generally without hotspots. As you can see, the explosions were already on my LCD monitor as the backdrop, saving me from doing masks to put it in later.

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Explosive Chinook [now with BTS video]

Postby Wink on Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:34 am

Airwolf theme FTW!
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