Moving pixels to the right or left

I saw this:

 

"If you enlarge a digital image just by calculating the pixels up, you get a

very ugly structure. If you enlarge and shift the pixels to the right or the

left, it?s cut into four, nine, or sixteen parts."

 

How is that achieved? Can it be done in photoshop? Any info appreciated. Thanks.

I see it as a mechanized method of so-called crystalline impressionism.<p> First, <a href="http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/06/art/thomas-ruff">steal some porno images from the internet</a> (link to the quoted article).<p>

Then, upsize the images an even amount (200/300/400%) using no interpolation (I don't have PS in front of me, so I'm not sure what it's called on the menu). Copy that layer 4, 9, or 16 times, depending on whether you've enlarged it 200%, 300%, or 400%. Shift each layer up, down, left, or right so no layers line up exactly. Play with the layers combine modes until it looks artsy. Finally, collapse the whole stack - sorry, I mean flatten the image - and find a gicleé printer.

Rand I would never steal anything but still I'm greatly disappointed you didn't direct me to some pornography sites, I'm rather a monk myself .... even so I could have rewarded you with a big wet kiss. Also having no luck at all with your suggested method of moving pixels ... could you make it clearer perhaps?

The first method, which nobody uses, is called "nearest neighbor interpolation". Much more common are bilinear and bicubic interpolation, which Photoshop does by default. You do not have to do anything.

Emre ........ thanks. It's moving the pixels sideways that I'm not getting any good results from.

Ok, <a href=http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425214245/424658918/thomas-ruff-nudes-fn06-legs.html>here's what he's talking about</a>.<p>

Start with an overcompressed jpeg ripped off from the internet - how about some Girl Scouts? Kinky enough? I got mine from the EPA at epa.gov, so there should be no problem using it for an educational purpose.<p>If you just resize (resample) the image a few hundred percent it can have a rather blocky look to it.

oops, forgot the image:<div></div>

So, now, we copy the background layer 8 times, then set each layer to 12.5% opacity. Using the Move tool, shift each layer 1,2,3,...8 pixels to the left or right. Actually I cheated and moved them all to the left some random number of pixels.

 

Flatten the image, do the final crop, and we're done. Notice how the pixels are smeared out instead of blocky. Actually, you can do the same thing with a motion blur filter.<div></div>

I think it gets more interesting when you flip a few layers and play with the combine modes of the layers. This started out as a b/w image (also from a government site) of a natural-gas rig.<div></div>

Rand, thanks so much for making the time and effort to make this highly detailed, kinky, and great demo. It's really very good of you and I'm grateful to you. Clearly you're really photoshop savvy. I must get a book on it. Any recommendations?

 

And thanks to your help I'm now able to do it. I think what really made a difference was reducing the layers opacity. Moving the layers like this is I think an interesting technique with possibilities.

 

While looking at images from William Eggleston I recently came across Thomas Ruff. I like some of his images. His take on pornography is rather ambiguous but then maybe that's how it is, a good reflection of his thoughts on the subject.

 

Your image of a gasrig is very interesting. To me it looks like a religious symbol or an artifact from the film, "Alien". Very good.

 

Again many thanks for your time and effort.

 

Best wishes, Al.