Mocco

December ’05 Installment: Pixies

Beware! Pixies were spotted flying around somewhere in Sweden! Pixies are nasty little green fairies that like to dance in the shadows of stones.

About "Pixies"

While green is among my favourite colors, I find the dark hue hard to work with. Forcing myself to do so anyway was the primary drive for "Pixies". This was a success in the sense that this is probably the first installment where all 5 parts of the whole are in the same hue—usually I drift on to other colours.

The photos are from Sweden, and while not online, there are a few other pictures in my photo gallery that are from the same place/period.

The light streaks were made by waving a flash light in front of a tripod mounted camera with prolonged exposure. These streaks are actually from early 2004 as well. I guess you could call this a left-over mashup. But hey, don't we all love that?

P.S. Pixies concept generously donated by Chris.

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December ’05 Installment: Pixies

23 responses to “December ’05 Installment: Pixies”

  1. Be sure not to let the pixies hear you speak ill of them. Nasty tempers.

    I remember once back in ’63 I ran into a pack of them. It was awful. At first you’re thinking, “aw, look at the cute little pixies.” Then, they turn on you. Sure, pint-sized they may be but they’re like bees. I saw a swarm of them pick a grown man from the earth and toss him 50 feet into an oak. It was just awful, limbs twisted this way and that. Count yourself lucky you escaped the encounter unscathed.

  3. While running away from the scene, I saw them steal a cow and torture it to make it run faster.

    Interesting that the link you provide only talk about horses:

    They like to steal horses and torture them to get them to run faster

    Anyway, very cool pictures. It still sucks to view them at 1024 × 768, but the concept is clear enough to show through clearly. Nice job.

  4. Fantastic work, my favorite installment so far! I was glad to see that this was mostly clever photography rather than photoshop work. I especially like the faint touches of red, yellow and purple that balance the color and tone in these shots.

  5. My favourite installment too… very cool work. 1280x.. powerbook doesn’t really show it but, but still a cool installment.

    And that background loop too.. Cicadas? Did you record it?

  6. Now I’ve had a chance to view it on my big work screen, and I must admit, they are even more amazing like that. I think my favorites are #1 and #4 although it’s much harder to call with this one than any of the previous installments.

    Are you gonna put up a how-to on making pixie trails?

  7. Thank you all. This is much more than I expected.

    It still sucks to view them at 1024 ? 768, but the concept is clear enough to show through clearly.

    Well, the thing is for ages I’ve been wanting to build in a feature to the installment presentational layer that allows me to scale the contents to fit. That is, 100% width / height. It should be a no-brainer since Flash has a great built in jpeg scaler with smoothing. It would fit the contents to any screen.

    But goddamnit it’s not that easy because it’s iframes, anchorframes and a buckload of javascript.

    In any case, all images since Stagecraft have been drawn high-res, ~2560×1800. (They’re already scaled — right – click and zoom). So scaling to fit should be a breeze.

    And that background loop too.. Cicadas? Did you record it?

    Well, no. I have a tiny library of sound ambience, and used this.

    Are you gonna put up a how-to on making pixie trails?

    Well, I am going to now since you asked. I’ll reveal a secret: It’s a Photoshop brush and a layer effect (i.e. easy).

  8. Are you gonna put up a how-to on making pixie trails?

    I’ll second that.. that would be most cool!

    I?ll reveal a secret: It?s a Photoshop brush and a layer effect (i.e. easy).

    I knew it! And there’s me thinking you were a talented designer! Heh! Just kiddin’. Awesome work as always.

  9. I knew it! And there?s me thinking you were a talented designer! Heh! Just kiddin?. Awesome work as always.

    No but seriusly, they’re all cheap tricks.

    I’m thinking of writing an “anatomy of an image” article, showcasing step by step the layout of an image.

    What image would you guys want?

    Ooh, and wallpapers!

  11. You’ve really conjured up a magical atmosphere!

    Not too sure on the rough green overlay though,

    but the light effects are great 🙂

    What image would you guys want?

    I’m partial to four…

  17. I know I know. But it?s only christmas 2 months a year.

    Hahahahahaahaha…*wipes away a tear of laughter*

    Beautiful joke, and, by the way, I concur on the sillyness that is the christmas runup.

  18. This is probably my favorite installment in recent memory! I love the way the images “burn fade-in,” making the glow seem to shimmer and seem more alive.

    Great stuff. And yeah, it’s magical.

  19. Thanks a lot. The “burn-fade-in” is a sweet new Flash 8 contrast setting, and actually there is a very slow shimmering additive glow on selected parts of the light.

  21. Hey Gareth,

    The effect is actually not as much an effect as it is a photoshop composite work. I plan to explain it in thorough detail in an article later on, but the “trick” is to create the light using a mounted camera with prolonged exposure, and waving a flash light in front of it.