Editions by Frederick is a pioneer and leader in the field of incorporating photography with computer assisted digital painting techniques. The first in Canada to introduce this medium through a competition with the Professional Photographers of Canada Association in 1990, Frederick has won recognition and awards in this field ever since.
The creation of digital painting images may be accomplished in one of three primary ways:
- Combining a photograph with a photo-realistic 3D environment (Frederick was the first to coin the term "CyberSet"). These environments are created using 3D rendering software and are distinguished by their near photographic quality. Depending on the complexity of the environment, the time required to design and render the initial scene can take from a day to several weeks. The final results are comparable to any of the great master painters.
- The computer is also a great tool for painting directly into a computer file using a variety of different brushes, sprays and shape creation tools. This process mimics the techniques used in traditional oil and watercolour paintings. Like traditional painting, computer painting requires the same level of skill, plus the knowledge of programs such as Painter, Photoshop and others. Environments created with this digital painting technique has the look and feel of traditional paintings. For final images that have more of a traditional painting feel, this is the technique of preference. Amazing results can be had by outputting the final image onto museum quality canvas.
- Another technique is to take an existing photograph and, using a combination of filters and the digital painting techniques mentioned above, to use the photo as a starting point for "painting over" in order to transform the photograph into what would appear to be a more traditionally executed painting. Many people mistake the final result as a "real" painting, especially when it is output onto canvas or museum quality watercolour paper.
Of course, depending on what the final desired result may be, any combination of the above techniques may be used to create the final effect. The choices made is determined primarily by Frederick as he is an expert in understanding this media and applying these techniques to best effect.
A common misconception about our digital painting work is that it is nothing more that a "green screen" or chroma-key effect. This technique is most commonly seen during your local weather broadcast where the weather announcer stands in front of a blue or green screen and the weather map is composited in the background. This technique may be fine for your local weather but certainly not for fine art photography.
Chroma-key results in a very "cut and paste" look to the image and details such as wispy hair or semi-transparent clothing does not reproduce well. It is also common to see a fringe of colour or "light spill" around the edges of the subject from the reflections or colour cast imparted from the coloured backdrop.
If you look at the images in this portfolio, you will notice that the lighting, perspective and shadows of the subject exactly match that of the environment. Much care is taken to create a composite that incudes the subject within the scene, not simply pasting the subject over it. Great care is taken at the photography stage to match the lighting and perspective of the target scene and the extraction of the subject from the studio background is a time consuming and painstaking procedure that results in retaining all tiny details and merging the subject with the environment in such a way as to create the illusion that the subject is within the scene. Even reflections and shadows are added where they would occur if the subject was actually in the scene.
Another common misconception is that our clients are restricted to the environments or scenes that we display in our portfolio. Nothing could be further from the truth! We can create any custom environment or scene for you. In fact, many of the environments you see here were created on a commission basis for our clients. Whatever you can dream, whatever you can imagine, we can make your dreams come to life.
Nobody does digital masterpieces as well as Editions by Frederick!
