THESE DAYS, PEOPLE BECOME INCREASINGLY EXCITED BY FANTASY OBJECTS THAT LOOK MORE REAL THAN THE REAL THING. CONFUSED?
Last June, many people saw the massive billboard for the Siam Discovery Center of Dinosaurs displayed near Siam Center. There was also another signage, the one that turned the Pratunam intersection into a space shuttle base before hundreds of eyes. Deep down, we all know they’re fake, but it is still mildly bewildering how something can seem so real… so real that we’re momentarily convinced that it is.
The images for Siam Discovery Center were produced by NA NAGARA and orchestrated by Fahdel Na Nagara, it’s a photo and graphics studio combined and it works magic – it makes difficult tasks easy and turns plain images into interesting ones. Due to the rapid advance of digital technology in Thailand, creativity among the advertising crowds has been unleashed from the shackles of reality.
Here’s how NA NAGARA performed a miracle in Siam Square: they used Adobe Photoshop software on a Macintosh (which is widely available on the market) and then studied the angle and lights of the Siam Center building to learn how they could match the stock photos provided by the creative director of advertising. They took photos of the building according to the above specifications and retouched them in Adobe Photoshop. It’s not a quick process, but it is an effective one.
A solid background in photography is an important attribute leading to NA NAGARA’s success in creating virtual digital images. With the help of Adobe Photoshop, they built up imaginations from simple reality to look even more real than reality itself. Rest assured, should the normalcy of day-to-day existence get you down, bigger, better and brighter things are on the way; soon you’ll be tripping on the light fantastic without even knowing it.
This article was originally published in art4d August, 1995