I’ve been working at the Art Institute of Chicago in the Imaging Department as a Post-Production Technician for the last few months, on a temporary basis. The project I’ve been focused on is retouching photographs for an upcoming publication, released in conjunction with an exhibition: Journeys from Xanadu: Asian Jewelry and Ritual Objects from the Barbara and David Kipper Collection.
A new approach for the department is being undertaken with these images, in which the object is masked from the background. A new, standardized background with set RGB values is created, as are new, uniform shadows. The goal with this post-production work is to create as cohesive a visual effect as possible in the images. For some objects, this was a fairly straight-forward process. But many items in this collection had intricate beadwork, fabric, and metalwork, which made the masking process a challenge.
The catalog will be released and the exhibit opens in June, and I’m excited to see the final products of this work.
Masking examples
New backgrounds, new shadows