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Out with 3D CAD lighting renderings, George Gruel of Oddstick studio has a better solution that can turn day into night. Harnessing the power of Photoshop, George realises the Lighting Designer’s vision, in the eyes of the client—arguably the most important place of all. He shares with us how it’s done.

George GruelTurning day into night

When Janet Lennox Moyer needs to present her ideas to her clients, she calls in George Gruel,

photographer and Photoshop master.

Private residence, Dayton, Ohio Original photo by Janet Lennox MoyerRendering by George Gruel

Like all creatives, central to the Lighting Designer’s success is expressing ideas in a way the client understands. This is where Visualisation Artist George Gruel steps in. Leveraging his understanding of light, George collaborates with Lighting Designers—like his partner Janet Lennox Moyer—and transforms, in Photoshop, a photo of a day time scene, to recreate an alternative reality of the night time space.

...it all starts with an image‘The renderings, or digital paintings,’ says George, ‘begin with a photograph supplied by the architect, designer or client.’ To provide a realistic outcome, he recommends that photographers avoid using tools—such as wide angle lenses, which enhance a site—and concentrate on how a visitor experiences a space. Detailed shots of plants, sculptures and trees deemed the focus or ‘visual destination’ can be supplied, but should be zoomed in from the same point of view as the entire scene.And as for the rendering itself?‘Overcast sky with no hard shadows that have plenty of light,’ says George. ‘Bracketed exposures are preferable, but they are rarely supplied.’George likes to work with images that are at least five megapixel in size, at 300dpi, which are full of detail.‘I have worked with small 72dpi images and they are usable, but the final render suffers because of details and posterisation.’

Tools of the tradeAfter testing a number of specialised lighting programs available for rendering architectural buildings, George has returned to Photoshop time and time again.‘Photoshop is, by far, the best software for my “painting with light” renderings,’ he says. ‘They (other programs) do an acceptable job of rendering hard surfaces, but the rendering of plants look fake and sometimes silly, and definitely unreal.’Of course, having a command of Photoshop certainly helps too. It’s a tool that George has been using for fifteen years—since version one, which, he says, ‘came on one floppy disk’.The self-confessed Mac man insists that Apple’s operating system is the best for

Photoshop. He also uses a Wacom tablet—‘as drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a bar of soap’—to assist in the transformation of light.

Scoping the projectThe rendering process begins with a consultation between George and the Lighting Designer. Here, discussion focuses on the position, style and direction of the desired light and how it fits within the overall composition and balance of the scene. Lighting accents are communicated through arrows, which George and the Designer mark on a layer in Photoshop. ‘Once this has been established, I begin to “paint” with light.’ To keep the image real, George says that the Visualisation Artist must view and study the effects of light on actual objects. ‘Visual accuracy is the key.’ As he renders, George observes the details of the reflections, shadows and colour shifts that are created using various light sources.‘I find that creating shadows as they really would be, is very important.’

Preparing the image for nightBefore recreating the light scene, the image needs to be prepared for night ambience. ‘It’s necessary to remove those shadows created by the sun in the base day time photo,’ says George.A cast, dictated by the light sources is applied to the scene—a yellow cast is used for Halogen and Metal Halide lamps and a blue cast is used for Mercury Vapor.‘To know what lamps are going to be used is paramount for realism.’Once the base image is prepared, it is time to turn day into night. George fills a blank layer with black, and sets it to 92 and 97 percent to create the ‘night time overlay’. This overlay sits above the base image, and is manipulated with masks to reveal sections of the base image to simulate the lighting effects.‘I make a subtle over-all mask for the background light levels, and several individual masks for key objects,’ he says.Typically, the main mask is pre-loaded with grey scale object information from the base image, to provide George with a starting point—which is where channels come in.

What is a channel, and how is it used?‘Alpha channels derived through “Calculations” in Photoshop are usually a good place to start a rendering and the masking process,’ says George. Channels change the contrast relationships between objects, as they express just a single characteristic within an image—like a colour that defines part of the colour space (think red, green or blue)—in shades of grey. This makes it an ideal companion for creating masks. George will select a channel from the base image layer for the basis of the night time overlay’s main mask, depending on the contrast relationships between the objects to be lit and the objects to be shaded.

Controlling the lightBy ‘masking’ the night time overlay with channel information, light has been reintroduced into the scene. George references the lighting designer’s instructions and further shapes the light using his Wacom tablet.‘The large main mask resembles, (when finished) in many cases, an under-painting similar to traditional oil painting techniques,’ says George. Photoshop’s brushes provides him with all the versatility that he needs.‘I often set the overall opacity of the brush that I am using to 50%, thus making it easier to build-up a mask.’

Key lighting and shadingIt is, however, the secondary masks created for key objects that define the scene. George fashions the light using a combination of similar selection techniques.‘My preferred selection method is the Color Range selection tool, under the Selection menu heading. It’s an excellent starting place for isolating plants and leaves. I also use channel mixing quite often too.’At the end of the rendering process, the overall and localised saturation levels are assessed and adjusted according to the how the light is used. George says the projects vary in complexity, with some renderings exceeding 40 layers. ‘What really brings the picture to life are the subtleties in the masking and control layers.’Visit: www.oddstick.com

Private residence, Villanova, Pennsylvaniaoriginal photo by Janet Lennox MoyerRendering by George Gruel

94 DG

Private residence, Atherton, California(top, series)Original photo by Janet Lennox MoyerRendering by George Gruel.The original day photo, the rendering and the finished lighting.

Private residence, Syracuse, New York (above, series) Original photo by Janet Lennox MoyerRendering by George Gruel.Instead of Photoshopping out the vehicles, George left them in, and lit them accordingly to add more realism to the rendering.

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Original daylight imageThis garden setting was photographed on an overcast day to avoid harsh shadows.The image is opened in Adobe Photoshop and the work to turn day into night begins, forecasting how the scene will look with the proposed landscape lighting in place.

Notations guideIn conjunction with Janet Lennox Moyer, George Gruel makes notations on a separate layer in yellow.

A warmer feelThe first step is to warm the scene up to emulate the colour temperature of the night lights.

Private residence, Atherton, California (spread)Original photo by Janet Lennox Moyer. Rendering by George Gruel.

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Night layerThe first step is to create a ‘night layer’ over the background layer. This is solid black with an opacity of between 92% and 97%.Using a layer mask, ‘holes’ are made, allowing specific items to show through.George Gruel uses many layers to modify elements in the setting.

Individual treatmentBecause some of the lights will affect certain objects, single layers are dedicated to individual lights.Here, the Buhdda and the statue in the foreground have been ‘lit’.

Final concept presentationThe finished result gives a very close representation of the planned landscape lighting design. At this stage, it is easy (and relatively inexpensive) to make changes.Once the plan is agreed, the job can proceed with both client and lighting engineers aware of the desired outcome.