Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

July 2025 - The Landing

Original

Original 2

Original 3

About the Image(s)

Last winter, our Festival of Lights presented an artwork that was created on the river with a pump spraying a jet of water in the air, with laser beams that hit the spray and created an illusion of a luminous cube that was growing in the air (Orig.1). It was the closest thing to the Doctor Who?s Tardis I could think of, and I have tried hard to figure out how I could cut it out of the image for further adventures. Now I used a combination of Luminosity and Hue Masks with Subject Selection in Affinity photo, and added Inner and Outer Glow. The landing site consists of three lighthouse images with the beams in different angles (Orig. 2., 3 and 4) that are layered upon each other in opacities between 47 and 100%, in Normal Blend Mode. I used the Liquify and Mesh Warp Tools to alter the shapes of the ridges, and tried to create an illusion of depth and distance with the opacities- I cloned a layer of fog from the lighter areas to soften the ground. I tried to make shadows to the box on the areas that are not lit by the beams but I am not sure if I got it right. Also, should light on the box be more yellow? The trees and shrubs come from the original images, but are they distracting? - I also made a red version with the Affinity Recolor filter in case the Time Lord chose to descend on Mars, but I think that I may like the blue image better myself. What do you think?

12 comments posted

Matt Conti

This is terrific work, Maria. And a great example of taking an artwork and putting your own take on it. Your cutout came out well. And yes, you could make it a bit more yellow/golden, especially on the bottom, to match the beams.
I can tell you worked on the shadows. Your burning does add a dimensionality to the image that works. You could do the same with them dodging if you wanted to highlight the beams and lit areas a bit more.
The trees and shrubs add to the landscape so I would leave those in. The red version is cool too, but I agree with you that the blue is better.
What a creative image you have created! Posted: 07/03/2025 14:56:09

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you very much, Matt, I'll make the adjustments with the color the light right away! Posted: 07/03/2025 16:48:01

Alan Kaplan

I think Elon Musk would like this in his Space X office. It is definitely other worldly. I'm not familiar with some of the software you used, so I can't really follow your description of what steps did what, but they worked! In addition, the strong diagonal from bottom left to top right tie everything together well, and the beams at top and bottom add to that balance. Nice work. Posted: 07/04/2025 18:42:55

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you, Alan! I am so glad that it works! I spent such a long time twiddling with the background back and forth that I doubt that I'll ever be able to repeat the process exactly - I suspect that the image somehow contributed to the process itself. Also, I was not conscious of the diagonal before you pointed it out. Posted: 07/07/2025 14:03:12

Peggy Nugent

Very cool image, Kirsti! I can practically hear the humming of those beams. I love the mist, and I think the shrubbery works well to ground the units on the left. I like how close to the edge those units are; it gives me a feeling that they moved there to help with the landing. I think you have just the right amount of detail in the buildings.

Personally, I would consider either strengthening the beam from the structure in the top right of the image, or moving that structure a bit closer to the center of the image. Posted: 07/07/2025 16:20:57

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you, Peggy! That is a definite improvement! - I spent a dark lonely night on the lighthouse island trying to press the shutter at the only right moment to catch the beam of the revolving light, and there was time to build many wild scenarios. Posted: 07/07/2025 18:06:09

Peggy Nugent

You certainly spent that time well! Posted: 07/07/2025 21:11:39

Brad Becker

Kirsti, This is such a rich and compelling image. I agree the red image is interesting too but the color range in the blue/purple one pops more. The story is a harder one to take in on a first viewing. It's not really a critique as I am so drawn into reexamining the image to understand it. I agree with your idea of making the color on the box more yellow. If your goal is creating an anomaly, some odd scientific portal generated by the converging lights the white holographic image is fine as is. Posted: 07/12/2025 21:12:47

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you very much, Brad! You made me think again about the story - what if there were a fleet of boxes approaching in orbit? I added copies of the box in varying sizes and opacities, and enlarged the canvas a bit at the top and right edges to make room for them. I moved the lighthouse slightly towards the center as Peggy suggested, and added a slight golden tint on the box in the spotlight. Does this work, or did it get too crowded? Posted: 07/16/2025 07:42:17

Brad Becker

Kirsti, Very cool. I like both versions. This version has a slightly different message. Well done! Posted: 07/16/2025 15:29:17

Maria Mazo

Hi Kirsti,
You are a master at creating these science fiction images! I really like the colours and the beams of light converging on the cube from different directions, it's very effective. You've handled the foreground and background beautifully, creating a realistic scene with just the right balance of light and mystery.

Well done!

Posted: 07/13/2025 19:00:49

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you, Maria for the lovely comment! I am happy about how the background turned out myself, too! - It is such a heady feeling when two elements seem to click together - my night on the lighthouse island seemed to call for an alien approach. Posted: 07/16/2025 08:00:58

PID Digital Dialogue

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