Thank you for being patient through the long, and important, chapter “Heads and Bodies” in How to Cheat in Photoshop, 6th ed. by Steve Caplin. Now for what you’ve all been waiting for – more Friday Challenges!! So, let’s get to it…
Oslo Lighthouse
For Challenge 508 Caplin posted the following image and instructions:
I spent three days in Oslo, Norway, this week…on a stroll around the harbour…I chanced upon this rather splendid miniature lighthouse, perched on the quayside next to the boats. Any chance of moving it to a location where it might be of some practical use? And can you get it to work?
Most people submitted lighthouses on a rocky coast. However, having spent 5 years living in New England, where nautical motifs are very popular in residences, I had a different idea. Here is my submission…
…and Caplin’s critique
I like the idea of srawland‘s image, using the lighthouse as a domestic light. It’s surrounded by other nautically-themed interior design elements, making it blend in cleverly. The shadows of the table and chairs work really well, particularly the outstanding shadow of the glass table top. But should it be casting a shadow of itself on the wall behind? Surely not! And the shadow of the left chair does need to be pointing towards the light source.
I still get a thrill when I read Caplin calling the shadow for the glass table top “outstanding.” I used the grey brush technique I discussed way back in the “fruit fly” picture for Natural Selection. On a cultural note, native New Englanders call their living rooms “parlors.” So, I wasn’t lapsing into British English with the word, but I did with the spelling. I have noticed that spending time on the How to Cheat in Photoshop forum definitely has made my language usage more interesting.
Creative Female Builder
For his 510th Friday Challenge, Caplin posted:
I recently spotted this builder’s van, owned by KimCan – a self-proclaimed “creative female builder.” I realise I might be opening the forum to a gender war here, but can anyone suggest what such a builder might look like? And what might she build?
There were several very funny construction-themed entries for this Challenge. I ran my original idea past my sister, she felt it sounded sexist. So, I took a different tack. On the KimCan website I found an actual image of the builder. As an avid reader of The Atlantic, I used it as inspiration and created a magazine called The Pacific from what started out as a grey rectangle: 
In case it’s difficult to read on your screen, here is what the intro (or standfirst, as they call it in the UK), says:
When unemployed middle-aged administrative assistant Kim Carson decided to follow her passion in 2009, little did the mother of four cats know that blogging about her new remodeling business would inspire women worldwide to leave their dead-end jobs and follow their dreams.
And, of course, here is Caplin’s critique:
I like the way srawland has built her montage into a magazine spread, compete with standfirst and headline. What is the builder holding, though? I can’t think of any tool you’d hold like that other than a sledgehammer! Oh, and small point: on the headline, don’t capitalise every word, only the first one.
Caplin’s comment about the headline perhaps belies a difference between British and American magazine headlines. Or maybe it’s that Caplin has spent so much time working for newspapers that he just doesn’t get around to reading magazines. In any case, as every Atlantic reader knows, my headline capitalization is definitely correct.
Next: Friday Challenge – Distortion Mirror