Having taken the base images and then prepared the batch process for Generation Loss, the results were very interesting.  I started with jpg losses on the colour image from Richmond Hill (Base Image 1).  Below I have shown both the Generation Loss in time-lapse and in a slide show of the individual images:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Evaluation – Generation Loss Test
I am pleased with the incremental degeneration from the batch script and can see these images moving well over time.  Time lapse works much better to present these ideas, however, my tests have shown that jpg file format degenerates into grey, while webp moves into pink and blue colours.  To keep these time-lapse and images coherent, the jpg Generation Loss will be conducted on the B&W image (from the first base image), while webp Generation loss will be conducted on the colour images of Wheat in the Wind and Richmond Hill.  Aesthetically, the selection of the image and the impact of degeneration needs to be considered.

Generation Loss – The Process
Before I could look at Generation Loss, I had to decide how to achieve this practically.  In the case of of the Instagram reposting, this was one file type (jpg), how would other file types respond to Generation Loss and would this have an aesthetic bearing on the images.  Each step in the Generation Loss project would need to cover, at least initially:

1. Rotate the image 90 degrees save the image
2. Repeat step 1, thousands of times
3. Every 100 times, save a copy of the image
4. Conduct the same Generation Loss process for differing file types

As I examined how this task was going to play out practically, it dawned on me I would not be able to complete this manually.  My research had thrown up some interesting automated image manipulation ideas (http://snorpey.github.io/experiments/).  Georg Fischer creates his own degeneration and prompts viewers to manipulate images directly.  His ‘Glitch Experiments’ were really interesting, as he is to some degree looking for an aesthetic quality from degeneration and deconstruction and providing the viewer with the ability to control the effects of glitches upon the image of Lincoln (https://fishnation.de/):

So I set to work creating my own batch script (most of the batch scripts for Generation Loss I found which were publicly available, failed to work when I looked at them):

The code I have listed out below (Generation Loss Coding – Batch Script), for others to reuse as a shell script.  It can be copied pasted into notepad directly and saved with an ‘.sh’ extension.  It is written for Linux and would recommend anyone interested in repeating the Generation Loss process, installing the user friendly linux operating system ‘Linux Mint’ (https://www.linuxmint.com) and downloading and installing the free software programmes ‘ffmpeg’ and ‘Handbrake’ to batch process Generation Loss.

Generation Timing and File Formats
In testing, the jpg format degrades to a complete grey in around 4200 iterations, however, other formats which degrade much more quickly provided more interesting results with blues and pinks stylising the images.  Webp format in particular provided lovely degradation images in 1000 iterations and fully degrading at 1200 iterations.  In looking at the results of the scripts, I then amended it to create a time-lapse showing degradation over time (included in the coding below).  I followed this by compressing the video sizes using ‘Handbrake’, as the 20 second videos were initially >380MB.  I found a frame rate of 2 (2 frames per second), yielded best results, as this visualises the degradation rates of different formats well (much longer for colour jpg at 4200 iterations, B&W jpg at 3100 iterations and shorter for webp, 1200 iterations).

Generation Loss – Test conclusions
The iterative process of running code to generate >4200 iterations and create time-lapse video took 40 minutes on a modern i7 laptop per base test image.  The generation loss in jpg formats move to a complete grey mass over time, while other formats have more interesting colour shift and patterning such as webp.  I wanted a strong aesthetic quality to the images and decided my Generation Loss project would therefore focus on only two file formats jpg (4200 iterations) and webp (1200 iterations).

Generation Loss Coding – Batch Script – Copy below and save with ‘.sh’ extension via notepad
#Generation loss step, rotating image 90 degrees, saving and reopening for a total of 4200 times. Each 100 times saving a copy of the generation loss.
#If using webp format, change the line without the comment(#) to match the one with and edit the iteration to 1000

#If using webp format change the below to read {0..1200} as generation loss occurs more rapidly
for i in {0..4200}; do

#ffmpeg -i GenerationLoss_step$i.webp -vf transpose=2 GenerationLoss_step$(($i+1)).webp
ffmpeg -i GenerationLoss_step$i.jpg -vf transpose=2 GenerationLoss_step$(($i+1)).jpg

#change below from rm GenerationLoss_step$i.jpg to rm GenerationLoss_step$i.webp for webp format
if [ $(($i%100)) -ne 0 ]; then
rm GenerationLoss_step$i.jpg
fi

echo -n “.”

#Renaming all the files to remove trailing zeros

#change below from for f in *.jpg; do rename -v ‘s/00//’ *.jpg; done to for f in *.webp; do rename -v ‘s/00//’ *.webp; done for webp format
for f in *.jpg; do rename -v ‘s/00//’ *.jpg; done

#Resize the images for video creation, the images need to be scaled to an even number of pixels both width and height

for i in {0..42}; do
#change below for webp to ffmpeg -i GenerationLoss_step$i.webp -vf scale=4970:3540 GenerationLoss_step$(($i)).webp
ffmpeg -i GenerationLoss_step$i.jpg -vf scale=4970:3540 GenerationLoss_step$i.jpg -y

echo -n “.”

#Create a timelapse video showing a frame rate of 2 per second (-r parameter) including the -pix parameter to ensure all OSx devices can play it

#change below for webp to ffmpeg -r 2 -f image2 -i GenerationLoss_step%d.webp -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p GenLossVideowebp.mp4
ffmpeg -r 2 -f image2 -i GenerationLoss_step%d.jpg -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p GenLossVideo.mp4

#Resize all original images for web publishing (this can be removed if not needed)

for i in {0..42}; do
#change below for webp to ffmpeg -i GenerationLoss_step$i.webp -vf scale=1200:800 GenerationLoss_step$(($i)).webp
ffmpeg -i GenerationLoss_step$i.jpg -vf scale=1200:800 GenerationLoss_step$i.jpg -y

echo -n “.”

#Finally prefix (change ‘COLOURHILL’ to some other name) all images to ensure they can be diferentiated from subesquent generation loss runs for other images

ls | xargs -I {} mv {} COLOURHILLGENLOSS_{}

done

Criteria: 1, 2, 3 & 4

In preparation for the Generation Loss, I wanted to take great care in producing a solid foundation from which to work.  Having steered away from Landscape photography in the digital medium, the opportunity to utilise tone blending in one of my base images seemed appropriate given the title of the project.  Given the degeneration ideas in this project, I wanted to keep the subject of the images organic and natural, as I felt this would lend itself well to the morphing during the degeneration process.

Base Image 1 – Richmond Hill
The key idea in degenerating an image, was to take a well recognised scene which was beautiful in its own right and follow the degeneration process.  William Turner painted some classic and well known images over looking the Richmond Hill and the bridge.  Moving away from split level filters, I wanted to experiment with using neutral density filters and long exposure in this particular shot.  I would then make use of tone mapping and blending to combine three different exposure times, given the exposure gap between the land and sky can be at least 1.5 stops, usually more.

The below three images were taken at ISO 100, f11, 2 Neutral Density Filters (10 stop and 6 stop), and polariser with a 35mm lens.  The exposure times were 7.5, 8 and 8.5 minutes respectively:

7.5 Minutes:

8.0 Minutes:

8.5 Minutes:

Having moved away from analogue photography just prior to the start of the course, this process really worried me.  Any tonal processing I have seen in landscape photography has left me feeling post production has been so overdone.  I bit the bullet, used Photomatix and started tone blending the images.

Base Image 1 – Richmond Hill Tone Blended

I still feel there is a cosmetic feel to the image, however, I am pleased with the results as this process is new to me.  As I would be exploring degeneration in B&W, started using silver fox pro to create the second image:

The B&W image for me is more striking than in colour and prefer the tonal contrast.

Base Image 2 – Wheat in the Wind
The third image was really inspired by my desire to have an image in which the colour palette was less divers than Richmond Hill.  The grasses in our local park turn a beautiful shade which I was interested to see how this might transform through degeneration.

I ended up shooting over thirty shots so I could use something which had not been touched at all by any manipulation methods.

Conclusions – Base Image 1, 2 & 3
Overall, I am pleased with the effort I have put into the three base images for the project.  They have an organic feel, while the tone blending of the image taken from Richmond Hill has pushed me to explore this production method much more.

Criteria 1, 2, 3 & 4