Hiroshi Sugimoto
Sugimoto Copy
My OriginalI assigned my Advanced Digital Photo class a "copycat" assignment this week. Before walking into the next class, I thought I better try it out myself. I found its an excellent exercise in analyzing the parts of a photograph. You have no choice but to examine the smallest details of what comprises the photograph which I believe transforms how you look at the image from then on. When I first shot my original image above (back in 2007) I wasn't trying to mimic Sugimoto per se, it was for a project I was working on at the time about Cuban exiles. But when contemplating what tools I was going to go over in Lightroom or Photoshop for this assignment, I decided to use that image and try to transform it in Photoshop into a Sugimoto. The Sugimoto image above I got off the web somewhere, so a good chance the color is off in it but the point was to mimic something, anything really, so I just tried to match it as close as I could. I definitely see plenty of flaws in my copy (color and vignetting primarly), but I went pretty fast (hopefully a lot faster than the amount of time I wish for my students to put into their work). Though for the amount of time I did put into it, I like it and I definitely learned some new techniques along the way. I would absolutely suggest trying out this exercise with anything technical that you do. It breaks you of your normal workflow and forces you to learn again.
