Now imagine this image ten feet wide.
Damen — Most Photoshop junkies have seen and heard about this image done by Photoshop guru, author and computer artist Bert Monroy. In native 100-percent to-size the image is 10 feet wide. I talked to bert about this image (he’s actually a neighbor of mine) and he told me that it took a solid 11 months to do it and he did no other art during that period. It was impossible to work on the whole image at once due to loading issues. Even when finished he had to see a full sized print-out to correct what he called minor errors. This image will be on display at Photoshop World this Sept. 7-9 in the Canon booth. There may be two copies of the image at the show in fact. I have personally seen Bert’s half size print-out. It’s astonishing.
An interesting sidelight is the fact that Bert’s website was getting around 200-400 visitors a day. When world got out about this image it jumped to 4,000,000 pageviews a day. It’s still hovering around 400,000 pages a day. Nice.
One curiosity is the fact that almost everyone who Bert knows has some connection to this station. I, for example, took a photo of this exact station a couple of years ago and won a blue ribbon at the country fair. It was the sation I used as a kid in Chicago.
Factoids from his site about the picture:
This is my latest and most ambitious digital painting of a Chicago scene unveiled at Photoshop World in Miami on March 22, 2006.
It is a panorama of the Damen Station on the Blue Line of the Chicago Transit Authority.
Adobe Illustrator was used for generating the majority of the basic shapes as well as all the buildings in the Chicago skyline.
The rest was created in Photoshop.
• The image size is 40 inches by 120 inches.
• The flattened file weighs in at 1.7 Gigabytes.
• It took eleven months (close to 2,000 hours) to create.
• The painting is comprised of close to fifty individual Photoshop files.
• Taking a cumulative total of all the files, the overall image contains over 15,000 layers.
• Over 500 alpha channels were used for various effects.
• Over 250,000 paths make up the multitude of shapes throughout the scene.
Unlisted is the fact that he may never again do a panorama this size. We’ll see.
I wander over to see Bert every so often and he obviously has a ton of Photoshop tips. One that has always fascinated me I’ve attached here. It’s Bert’s methodology for turning a full color image into a perfect black and white image. He does not recommend the quickie way. Good stuff. A valuable tip.
1st. the guy has mad skills. 😉
2nd. a request for a Bert Monroy Photoshop video podcast on the TWit Network. Nothing fancy just short P.S. tips DailyGizWiz style only weekly
Didn’t he have a regular spot on the Screen Savers?
If you’re into photography and get a chance to see large-scale displays, check it out. Neat stuff.
Well, not to throw any water on what he’s done because he’s really good, but his tutorial about turning an image to B&W isn’t bad…but please note that it’s not the only way to do this and also not always the best way.
Channel mixer is another way of doing things because you can also play around with how the tones will come out…similar to how a filter would work over the lens when shooting real black and white.
Spend any time in Photoshop and you’ll learn there are many ways to do the exact same thing and some ways are better than others. His tip here is vastly better than just hitting the “grayscale” mode and hoping for the best.
I should also point out that the beta for Lightroom does a great job at B&W giving you lots of control. It’s a little slow due to it being a beta and not fully optimized though, so be warned if you download it.
Bert is going to do some specials for the Twit network.
As for the multiple ways of making B&W, yes there are plenty. I thought this one was rather unique. Plus I could never recall exactly how it goes. Now I can refer to the vid. 🙂
Well, I have to say this guy is incredibly talented – that image is beautiful. Whilst maybe not the best way, his b&w transformation tips get way better results than anything I have ever tried – I’m keeping my eyes out for more stuff by this guy. Thanks for tipping us off JC!
That B&W technique he uses is certainly unique. I saw it done a while ago but I was like John and forgot all about it. I mainly use the channel-mixer on a layer when in Photoshop. But as I said, here lately I’ve been doing all my B&W stuff right inside of Lightroom. Actually, everything gets done in Lightroom at the moment with Photoshop just there to run Noise Ninja (if it’s needed) and then final Smart Sharpening and final output (either print or jpeg for web). If they can put in better noise control and sharpening tools in Lightroom, 90% of all my photography needs could be met there. Will have to have a better interface to my Epson 4800…but that will come in time as again, it’s still beta software.
Sorry, I appreciate the skill and commend the guy for his commitment, but why would you spend 11 months doing an image of a train station? There is no heart in the image, no soul. Guess I’m just a cynical critic. Sorry if I offend.