1. Having been involved in the graphics industry in New York city since 1983, I have been retouching for the past fourteen
years. For two years I was privileged to work with the artist, Nancy Richardson in Sag Harbor, NY. Ms. Richardson
photographed high resolution digital images of NY city blocks from an elevated position over a period of time. My role
was to compile three thousand images into a cohesive landscape. This challenging work eliminated the extreme “fish eye”
distortion produced by photographing up and down and sweeping left and right, as well as pulling each of the images,
shot at different times of day, in different light conditions, into the same color space.
I have extensive experience retouching images for commercial advertising agencies. Confidentiality agreements prohibit
me from reproducing the work here. Some of the clients include O&M, IBM, DC Comics, Abercrobie & Fitch, Elizabeth
Arden, Macy’s.
Mary Hovey
RTM Corp.
PO Box 212, New Suffolk, NY 11956
631 885 1743
maryhovey2012@gmail.com
These are photographs of the show installation at the Federal Court in Brooklyn, NY.
The finished art work were resized and placed in perspective to improve the installation photograph.
Harsh glares from the spot lights were softened and color was neutralized and brightened.
The three center images are a panorama. The right edge of the preceding image is repeated on the left edge of the
next. The photographer was standing on a 17th floor balcony panning up and down, right to left, recording thousands
of digital files. Her objective was to stitch these together using only the sharpest portions of the image so that every
inch of the surface would be in the same sharp focus. The files became huge, over 10GB which required me to split
them into pieces recombining the flattened sections into a master file for printing. I invented many techniques to deal
with the physical demands of the files and the complex vision of the artist.
These are examples of the original digital shots used in the art work.
The original photographs.
2. c Nancy Richardson, 2008
112”W x 83”H
URBAN LANDSCAPE SITE I
112”W x 83”H
URBAN LANDSCAPE SITE I
5. 104”W x 97.5”H
URBAN LANDSCAPE SITE IV
This compilation was not photographed at night.
I used elements from the daylight version, employing
proprietary techniques to achieve this result.
6. 107”W x 70”H
URBAN LANDSCAPE SITE V
Some of the digital images were bathed in this twilight glow. Most of the data
was not. I couldn’t find sky files that would not repeat those used elsewhere in
the show, so I finally photographed the sky over Peconic Bay as I was taking
the ferry to Sag Harbor to work.
8. This is not the final version of this image.
At a later time, I addressed some remaining problems with this file.
In the final, the pebbles are a uniform color and the right edge is
grounded, not floating as it is here.
83.5”W x 65.5”H
URBAN LANDSCAPE SITE VII
9. This is an overexposed photograph.
Several different exposures were compsited to achieve a richer result.
Some other ideas.....
The artist had considered marketing the prints as wall paper.
I incorporated two of the images into a room to visualize the idea.
10. The intent is to improve the skin without destroying the texture. For this model, I softened the
collar bone and reduced the veins in her hands.
I used the same technique to show a different fabric choice for this grey couch.
These product lids were created in Illustrator. The spoon is a 3-D image created with vectors, not a photograph.
This configuration allows for the entire file to be scalable up to 20,000%. I wanted the client to have the option of reproducing the logo on a banner to hang from a New York building or wrapping around the moon.
I was testing a displacement map technique on this Rodin reproduction,
encouraging a pattern to wrap around a form.
original
11. Book Covers
This was an idea presented to me as
a two dimensional sketch with this
paraphrased explanation.
A child is born entirely free and
open. The process of living, working,
promotions, leads him away from his
origins to less creative place.
