Prime Directive Anachronism

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For this assignment (Adobe Gen Pro Digital Imaging, Mar 2015, Week 2, assignment 2 of 2), we were to create an anachronism, defined as “attributing something to a period to which it does not belong. For example, a Roman centurion wearing a digital watch or a caveman watching TV.”

I first brainstormed a bit with my folks, as my mother is especially creative. We thought it would be fun to have a fancy modern restaurant with Captain Kirk and a cave dweller at table while a Tyrannosaurus Rex served as waiter. However, when I searched for legally usable Star Trek media, there were primarily only black-and-white publicity photos. On searching for cave-related media, I found the background that I use in this project, and the rest of the project fell into place: The colors and context in this background image are well suited to black-and-white photos, and there are several cave dwellers to work with.

I first wanted to place the Enterprise where it is at, against a star field (actual NASA public domain photo). I left it as color because it looks awesome, and it gives the painter on the left an air of high artistic intelligence. Moreover, there is a bright galaxy that is perfectly positioned to have the painter appear to be painting it and thus further enhance that artistic air.

I then wanted photos of Kirk and Spock; Kirk because he is the very symbol of Star Trek, and Spock both because he is Kirk’s comrade and because I wanted to honor Nimoy’s life in this year of his passing. After trying out various cutouts, I decided to balance the elliptical Enterprise on the left with an elliptical Kirk on the right and then make it look as though the cave dwellers somehow got a photo of Spock and made up a frame of wood to hang it on their wall. I was fortunate to find usable photos of both the frame and the nail, and an Ellipse with a Rock Wall-pattern stroke gave me the thick hanging cord.

I used numerous layer cutouts from the background in order to sandwich the elements in perspective. The Enterprise is behind the first painter’s arm and knife; the framed photo of Spock is behind him and in front of the painting of Kirk; the painting of Kirk is behind the two dwellers on the right, but it is also behind the fire. (I had to use two separate cutouts for the fire and its “spread” in order to make it appear to shine and glow on Kirk’s painting.) These cutouts were not easy, since the background-image color demarcation lines are not sharp.

I then wanted a couple of Star Trek artifacts. As with the people images, legally usable artifacts media was nearly impossible to find. There was only one legally usable phaser image, but it was not in the style I wanted. I settled for a pair of communicators, the old style laying on the floor and the newer style pinned to the “shirt” of the dweller on the left. That worked for me, since it would not have been a good idea to leave these dwellers a powerful weapon such as a phaser.

I applied numerous and subtle effects to the elements to make them blend better. For example, Kirk got a Smudge Stick from the Filter Gallery to make his painting less refined. (I also considered the Texture Filter “Craquelure,” which made it look as though he was painted on rocks (which would have been accurate), but even at the minimal settings it made a mess of Kirk’s face, so I stuck with the Smudge Stick.) I also gave Kirk a Color Overlay to better match the cave wall color, and an Inner Glow helped to further smooth the edges of the ellipse.

Spock got a different Color Overlay; the communicator on the shirt got a reduced Saturation; and nearly every element got some feathering so that nothing had sharp lines, to blend better stylistically with the non-sharp background image.

Finally, I added the humor. The dweller on the left was the perfect choice for it.

I learned very many things about Photoshop in this project, including Filters, Speech Bubble Shapes, how to round corners (although I dropped that technique), and how to knock out a background using the Magic Eraser. (I had to use that on the picture frame, both inside and out. I first had to apply white rectangles to accurately “slice” the edges, like using a paper cutter, and then I could Magic Erase it all.)