ClicksyPicsWiggle animations and anything old timey!

1900-1920 - The Samaritans of Nablus (Shechhem). Baby Samaritan.

Find out how these are created here.  View the original image here.  Get page updates on Facebook here.

1900-1920 - The Samaritans of Nablus (Shechhem). Samaritan smoking the narghileh.

I know what you’re thinking…  but he’s probably smoking tobacco.  For a long period in many areas in Europe they were quite a status symbol, and it was common to be photographed with the narghileh (aka hookah).  They would often mix the tobacco with sweets like honey, and sometimes used a bit of rose oil or other liquids to alter the flavor.

It’s important for me in this work to remain respectful.  So many pictures I’ve imagined these people doing some pretty goofy things, but on most, I won’t do it.  I wouldn’t want to see one of my passed on relatives being made to do something silly (even if it would make this website way more popular).  Sometimes the photo is taken in a humorous way, and with those I will be more liberal, because that was the intent when the photo was taken.

I think I’m finally getting the hang of adding more animation within these images.  It was hard to grasp… here you have two frames, left and right.  Within those two frames you may have several areas with movement.  For each movement, it’s done once for the left frame, and then again moved for the right frame - or the animated area would lack wiggle and look wrong.  This way I am able to add more movement outside of the main focal point of the image.  Above, the focal points are his face and the hookah, those are the two places on the image that are most in focus through the wiggle.  This is because they are about the same distance from the camera, and it’s lined up at the points of interest.  But the hand on his lap has a very pronounced wiggle.  I haven’t tried movement that drastic yet, but eventually the right image will come along.

Some of you may be wondering why I use so many photos from the middle east.  This is because there are so many good quality images, dry plate, available from the Library of Congress from that region.  The above image was taken in the American settlement in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was a place that many wanted to see, so it not only educated, but it sold a lot of stereo cards.  Likewise, Egypt, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, all of these places have a huge selection.  But the dry plates, many in the collection are of exceptional quality.  With these I can spend less time restoring the images and more time animating.

Find out how these are created here.  View the original image here.  Get page updates on Facebook here.

1900-1920 - Bethlehem and surroundings. Well of David .

*Just wanted to note the new ratings system at the bottom of these posts.  You don’t have to register to rate or comment, just click away…*

I finally got it down to two repeating background frames.  This stereo was in excellent condition, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.  They tend to get large faded and darkened areas, which I have to mask out in order to eliminate the flashy effect it creates.  With this one I had maybe 10-12 level adjustment layers, that’s about 1/4 of what I usually have.  This image is a total of 8 frames, I lost count of how many layers after I hit 70.  It took about 6 hours total to create.

There was a lot of great detail lost when I shrunk this image down.  There is a cross at the top of the well (colored in bright blue), as well as writing down the side.  View the original image here.

Find out how these are created here.  Get page updates on Facebook here.

1900-1920 - Around the Dead Sea. Man floating with book and umbrella in hands.

I learned a lot creating this image.  Getting water right has been a challenge.  I used two different techniques on the water.  The bottom area is a repeating pattern, the top is just a bit of semi-transparent movement in 3 areas.  Besides the wiggle and water, there are three animated elements in this image, can you find them?

Find out how these are created here.  View the original image here.  Get page updates on Facebook here.

1900-1920 - Egyptian views; The pyramids of Gizeh. Photographer near top of Great Pyramid.

There’s no extra movement on this one,  just the stereo card colorized.

Find out how these are created here.  View the original image here.  Get page updates on Facebook here.

Another with a more slight wiggle.  I’m finding I need more transitions between the two frames to create more realism in the animation - at least until I get the hang of adding extra movement.  This one is primarily edited for movement in the sails.   Another that I’m not totally happy with, but I’ve been staring at it way too long, and declare it… good enough.

View the original stereo card here.  Find out how these are created here.

View the original at the LOC website here.