So, to run this blog, I’ve always got to be watching out for bondage imagery to feed the insatiable blogging machine. Today, I stumbled over what looks like an old “production still” (in scare quotes because these promo photos often don’t have much in common with scenes in the actual movie they are advertising) for a blaxploitation-ish looking movie called Black Socks. The still features blondes chained in a dungeon, that’s an instant blog post. But today, I thought I’d run through my “blog production” process for you and show you more steps than I usually do.
It starts when I find this image, doesn’t matter where. Today, as it happens, the source was a random image blog, one that I’m not going to link because (1) everything on there they borrowed from somewhere else without link credit and (2) they don’t have any outgoing links of any kind so (3) fuck ’em, they don’t play nice. Here’s the image as I found it, gray and grainy (click for full size):
This image I would normally not show you in its original form. Uncropped, it’s too small (at the 320 pixel size I like to use) and gray. Sure, I can link the original pic as I found it, the way I’m doing today, but my server stats say I’m wasting my time; most folks never click.
Nope, what I normally do is crop and clean and brighten and sharpen the best bondage detail, thusly:
There you go, blonde wenches in chains, that’s what you came for, my work here is done.
Sadly, I’m not a photoshop wizard; difficult originals like this one, there’s a limit to what I can do, and a limit on how much time I’m going to spend. What you see is what you get.
Today, however, the process became — more involved. I was halfway through the standard quick process when a previously unnoticed detail caught my eye. Hey, what’s that down in the dark corner I’m about to crop away?
What it appears to be is an absolutely marvelous stocks/pillory item, with holes for head, hands, and legs, perhaps not all to be used at the same time. To me it looks like it came straight out of some sort of trendy 1960s Scandanavian home furnishings design contest:
Check it out, it’s sculpted, it’s modular, it’s stackable, it’s unstackable, the holes are shaped to fit smoothly around captive limbs, and it’s doubtless made of Norwegian wood or a “high quality” wood-grained plastic imitation. Somebody put a lot of creativity and contemporary design sensibility into their dungeon props for this movie; either that, or they just borrowed what was in the director’s personal playroom. Either way, I want one!
