Mocking Bird l Vancouver Film Photographer » article

Artful Blogging on Film

Amanda — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, I’ve already talked about being published in Artful Blogging, but I wanted to share some pictures I took of my article in the magazine. I didn’t actually have a copy of my own when I shared the news, so it’s pretty awesome to actually have it in my hands.

There are some gorgeous other blogs in this season’s issue and I am honoured to be amongst them. Check out these creative blogs.

Simply Hue

Two and Six

A Creative Mint

Christine Mason Miller

Emma Lamb

An Artful Life

I am thrilled to have been published in a magazine and loved working with Jennifer and Christen.

How To Use a Polaroid Camera Part ii

Amanda — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:00:11 +0000

Last week I shared my Polaroid camera/film round up with you and talked about auto 600 cameras and Polaroid SLR type cameras. I promised a run down of Spectra and Pack film cameras also, so here it is!

{Spectra}

Image by Ms Teso

Polaroid Spectra cameras are a close second to the SX70 in my book. I have the Polaroid Spectra System which is a fantastic camera. Spectra film is a different shape to the typical 600 but it’s also part of the integral film family. It’s more rectangular in shape and therefore produces a wider view in your shots.

I also own the more modern Spectra 1200FF which takes OK photos but the colours aren’t great and they looked washed out a lot of the time.

I really love the creamy colours you can achieve with a Spectra camera. Of course, it’s an automatic focus camera also, so you can decide if that’s what you are after. They are easy to use, don’t take much work at all, however the film is not as easy to find as 600. You will not have to alter the camera in any way if you can find the film.

Spectra/1200 film is what you will need but it’s getting pretty scarce and can be expensive. I have one pack in my camera right now and that’s all I have. I definitely recommend getting a Polaroid Spectra System or Polaroid Spectra Pro/Minolta Instant Pro but as suggested, it’s tough to find film.

Image by Phamalamb

{Pack Film}

Pack film cameras are old and can be tricky to use. I would suggest that you try these out after using integral films first.

I am still learning how to use mine properly (the Polaroid Automatic 340 Land Camera you see above). The great thing about these cameras is that film is still being made by Fuji and readily available. These cameras are a little different in that once you take the photo, you need to do a little work with timing and precision of when the film is pulled from the camera. You basically have to yank the film out yourself over it spitting the film out like in regular Polaroid cameras.

Once that is done correctly and the appropriate time has been taken for the photo to develop, you will need to peel off the backing layer of the photo. Your Polaroid will have developed and you don’t watch the photo appear before your eyes like with other cameras. This process of waiting, timing and peeling back can be tricky. Depending on the film too, it takes some playing around to get the timing right for the exposure you want.

There are chemicals involved and you have to be careful to not get it on your skin. You will have a lot of junk to get rid of after you take the picture, so make sure you have a little plastic bag or something to store your rubbish in, if you are out and about.

Using these cameras is a lot of fun but it does take patience and some playing around to see how they best focus. My land camera has a focusing screen which is separate from the viewfinder and for ages I didn’t realise why my shots weren’t in focus. It wasn’t until I discovered the focusing screen that my pictures actually had some sharp focus!

It pays to read the manual, kids.

Image by clumsy bird

Check out some colour peel apart groups here.

All the info you’ll need on these cameras : Moominstuff

As I have shown you in most of the previous links, one of the best places to find film is on ebay. You just have to make sure you choose carefully. Check the expiration dates (unless of course you want the expired look, it can sometimes be more arty looking and give you some crazy colours) as it will be cheaper if it’s 5 years old but most film is getting very close to being expired this year now anyway.

I hope you have enjoyed this little Polaroid run down.

If you are in the market, do your research. I wouldn’t just jump in, look around online and in the flickr forums. There is a wealth of knowledge out there! Feel free to ask me any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can.

How I Create Dreamy, Film Like Digital Photos Part 2

Amanda — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:18:53 +0000

So you know how I shoot the photographs, now onto the post processing or the ‘photoshopping’. This is a topic I am asked about all the time and the truth of it is that no two photographs are processed the same way. There is no one formula that I use. Also note that I am no photoshop expert and there are many things that I am still learning about it’s capabilities.

I do share these ideas on a condition however. Yes, there is always a catch! I would like to see some of you try this out on your own photographs as I would love to see your results.

The first thing I recommend to you is to buy the book, The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers. Scott Kelby is a master of photoshop and I have learned a lot about using it through his books. I also have this one which is more about the photography. Apart from reading books, I am self taught when it comes to using post processing software. It takes a lot of playing around and using different tools to see what they can do.

I am going to show you a simple way to edit photos. This is not very in depth to start you off, so don’t get too scared.

Here is the original photo.

The first thing I always do when I open up my photos is to sharpen. If you are shooting with a DSLR you will need to sharpen your photos. Another great source of information about using photoshop is Ken Rockwell’s site. He gives some great tips on sharpening. I use the ‘smart sharpen’ tool in PS as I find it is quite subtle but does the job.

Smart sharpened

After I sharpen, I will use the levels and curves tools to adjust my shot. As I said, playing around with these tools to find the look you want is how I suggest you do it. I cannot give you a stock standard set of values and co-ordinates because each photograph is different.

Altered with Levels and Curves

Quite often I find that the saturation levels in digital photographs are much higher than I like them to be, so I will play with the Saturation of individual colour channels. I quite often will bring down the yellows and reds or pump them up, depending on the look I’m going for. The kind of film I like (e.g. Kodak Portra 160NC and 400NC) has low saturated colours and therefore this is the look I go for in digital shots. Muted tones and colours are key but need to be subtle. You don’t want to drown your pictures of all colour, because colour is what makes them beautiful! I also play with the Colour Balance. I may move the slider towards the blue and away from the yellow to get a more film like tone to my pictures.

Slight changes made with Saturation

The colour balance changes are very subtle

One little trick I do like to use is Fill Layer. This can give your photo an overall colour wash, so to speak.

Image-> New Fill Layer-> Solid Colour->Mode->Soft Light->Opacity ->40-60% (depending on what look you want)->pick a colour!

With a pink fill colour

With a yellow fill colour

Now, your other options are to use fabulous actions by some very clever people. I adore the actions of people like Leah, Wynona and Cindy and Lauren (the fabulous Seth has some on their site too). Check out the Cinnamon Rose action group on flickr.

Here are some samples of what happens when I run their actions over the top.

Leah’s Honey action

Cindy and Lauren’s Tourmaline action

Cindy and Lauren’s Daydream action

Usually I don’t use the action exactly as it is, I may change the opacity or saturation on it. I may also go back after I’ve run the action and play with the levels or curves again. Actions make it very easy for you to get an instant look you are after and they can all be bought for reasonable prices. I have just purchased Cindy and Lauren’s latest *Ish actions and I love them.

Remember that film is very different to digital and the one thing I think that sets film apart from digital is the texture and I’m talking about the texture within the photo. Film simply still looks different to digital. It’s a bit more raw and honest. I still prefer the look of film, which is why I often try to emulate it in my digital photographs.

Adding ‘texture’ with “grain” and “vignetting” in PS also helps.

Obviously this post could go on forever, but these are just a few examples of things I do to get that soft, dreamy look in my photos. I hope it has been of some use to you. Please give some of these ideas a go and if you do, I would love to see the results. Please comment with a link to your photos! I would love to share some of them here in a later post.

p.s. Vicki, I haven’t forgotten you! Vicky asked how I get the blurred background in my pictures. That I could write a whole other post on, and I think I will, but for now, simply it’s all about lenses and depth of field. If you have a compact cam, set your camera on ‘macro’-the flower setting and then point your camera up close at something like a flower. Focus on the flower and your background should become blurred. However, I will write another post in more detail on that later.