So, you’re asking about that ‘Long. Live. A$AP.’ album cover, huh? The black and white one, with the flag. Yeah, I tried my hand at getting something like that look. Thought it’d be a piece of cake. Snap a pic, desaturate, boom. Wrong. So, so wrong. It’s never that simple, is it? Just like thinking that one programming language is gonna solve all your problems. Ends up being a mix of everything, a real headache sometimes.
My Brilliant Idea (At First)
I got this itch one weekend. Saw the cover again somewhere and thought, “I can do that. Or something close.” I had my old digital camera, nothin’ fancy. And I remembered I had this flag tucked away in the attic. Not even an American flag, mind you. It was one of those generic decorative ones with some stars and stripes, probably from a Fourth of July party years ago. But hey, spirit of the thing, right? I figured it was more about the mood and the drape.
First step, find a spot. My garage seemed like a good candidate – messy enough to have some character, or so I thought. I cleared a bit of space, hung the flag up on a nail. Easy peasy. Then I stood there, trying to get the pose right. Let me tell you, trying to look cool and mysterious while you’re also trying not to trip over a lawnmower is a skill in itself. My wife poked her head in, asked if I was okay. Said I looked like I was trying to summon a ghost. Great start.
The Lighting Nightmare
Then came the lighting. Oh boy, the lighting. This is where things really started to go sideways. I figured, “It’s black and white, how hard can it be?” Famous last words. I tried the overhead garage light. Too flat. Looked like a security camera still. Then I grabbed a desk lamp. Pointed it from the side. Got these super harsh shadows, made me look like a villain from an old movie. Not the A$AP Rocky vibe at all.
I remembered seeing some YouTube videos, guys talking about “soft light” and “diffusion.” Diffusion? Sounded complicated. I ain’t got fancy softboxes. So, I improvised. Grabbed a white bedsheet, tried to hang it over the lamp. Nearly set the thing on fire. Definitely not recommended. Then I tried bouncing the lamp light off a white piece of cardboard. Better, a bit. But still not quite there. It’s like when you’re trying to fix a bug in some old code, and every fix just creates two new ones. You just keep poking at it.
Wrestling with a Flag and a Timer
Getting the flag to drape “just so” was another adventure. It either looked like a crumpled mess or like I was wearing a really bad superhero cape. And since I was doing this solo, it was me, the camera on a shaky tripod, and the self-timer. Run into place, try to look moody, click, check the photo, sigh, repeat. I must have done that dance fifty times. My cat just sat there watching me, probably thinking I’d finally lost it.
It’s funny, you see these polished images and think it’s effortless. But there’s always so much fiddling behind the scenes. Like those bands who look so cool on stage, but you know they spent hours arguing about the setlist in a cramped van.
Into the Digital Darkroom
Eventually, I got a few shots that weren’t completely terrible. Then it was time for the computer. Fired up GIMP – yeah, I use GIMP, gets the job done for what I need. First thing, hit that desaturate button. Okay, it’s black and white. But it looked… boring. Flat. Lifeless. The original cover has this real punch to it, you know? High contrast, deep blacks, bright whites, but still with detail.
So I started playing with the levels and curves. Pushed the contrast. Too much. Looked like a bad photocopy. Pulled it back. Still not right. I spent, and I’m not kidding, a good hour just sliding those little triangles back and forth. Then I tried to dodge and burn a bit, make some parts darker, some lighter. It’s a real art, that. And I’m more of a paint-by-numbers guy when it comes to this stuff.
You start to realize that “simple” black and white is anything but. It’s about seeing the light and shadow even before you click the shutter, and then knowing how to bring that out. I clearly didn’t know enough.
The Grand Result? Well…
So, after all that, did I end up with a perfect recreation of the ‘Long. Live. A$AP.’ cover? Not even close. Mine looked more like “Long. Suffer. Amateur.” But you know what? It was fun. In a frustrating, hair-pulling kind of way.
I learned a ton about how much lighting actually matters, even for something that seems straightforward. I learned that draping fabric artfully is harder than it looks. And I definitely learned that good black and white photography is a skill I don’t quite have yet. But I got a bit better at using the editing tools, and I got a story out of it.
It’s like that time I tried to build my own bookshelf from scratch instead of just buying one. Ended up wobbly and took me a week, but man, I learned how to use a saw without losing a finger. Sometimes the process, the fumbling around, that’s where the real gold is. You don’t always get the album cover, but you might get a decent story for your blog, right?
