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After my attempt at creating glass coasters based upon Precambrian stromatolites, I continued with my academic research. I was planning on using some digital reconstructions in my final dissertation, but planned on creating them later on in the process. In terms of digital reconstruction, I had had some experience with using Adobe photo-shop to create compilations of fungi (below).
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| An early digital compilation of coral, club and spindle fungi. |
This encouraged me to attempt a digital reconstruction using a variety of photographs. Below I will detail some of the process.
An important note here, is that while the final piece is composed of up to 20 images, the layers are not added one by one. Instead layers are constantly being edited in the creation of the piece. Hence, when the basal image is introduced, it can go numerous (30+) changes throughout the process.
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Above: a photograph of Newborough Warren, looking towards Snowdonia, overlain by layers of colours in varying transparency.
Above: a photograph of stromatolites has been added on top of the basal landscape. Any modern associations have been removed such as thrift (sea pinks). Xanthoria lichen, among others, however, is harder to remove. So the colour palette was shifted to turn the orange lichen to a green - more in keeping with their origin as algae. Additionally, the horizon has been altered in three places. Snowdonia is recognisable - it is a classic view. This view wouldn't have existed in the Precambrian, hence I changed it in places.
Snowdonia, is notably glaciated. This differs to many reconstructions of early Earth. Many early paintings showed the Precambrian stromatolites surrounded by classic cone shaped volcanoes. I opted out of this, to a glaciated landscape - to not only a more familiar landscape, but in my opinion a more accurate one. The stromatolites that the piece is based on, grew after a period of intense glaciation- known as the Snowball (or Slushball depending on your interpretation) Earth.
Above: the finished piece. The stromatolites overlain by a photograph of the sea taken on Ardnave on Islay. There was a difficult balance between having the water's transparency too high and not seeing the focus (the stromatolites) and being too weak, and looking un-natural.
Overall, for a first attempt, I was pleased with the result. Even the stromatolite layer was made up of 8 or 9 layers. While being more complex it allowed more freedom when it comes to composition and accuracy to what was seen in the field doing research.
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