Ass 1 - printing

Well, I have finally decided on the final 10 photographs for the assignment, they have all been converted to b&w and fully edited. Unfortunately, just in time for printing, I have run out of black ink. I have decided to print them at home on my beautiful Pictorico Pro Hi-Gloss white film, but now a few days will need to be added to get the ink  delivered from Amazon. Perhaps it is a bit risky to print them at home, but I do want to give it a chance, hopefully I will be able to print them without any major shift in colour. I usually struggle with green, but a test image printed just now came back more towards the magenta, but this could be down to the lack of the black ink. Anyway I shall give it a go, but if I cannot produce anything satisfactory, I will look into getting the prints done in a lab (although this can be also a very hit and miss!). Here is an interesting technique of fixing a monochrome tint in Photoshop found on http://www.northlight-images.co.uk, I shall give it a go next week.

Fixing a monochrome tint when printing B/W in colour
An approximate fix in Photoshop can be made with a test print, a grey card and a photo of the print.

Photograph your test print and the grey card in even light of the type you want to view the print in.

Process the raw file taking great care to set the white balance from the grey card

Add a curves adjustment layer to the image

Add a 'Vibrance' adjustment layer to the image (you can use hue/saturation, but the vibrance controls are smoother)

Turn up the vibrance/saturation until the tint is clearly visible in your print. If you have set grey balance correctly, the grey card will still look grey - if not, go back to your raw file and try again.

Go to the curves adjustment layer, select the grey point eye-dropper and click on a mid grey part of your test image in the photo.

The test image should now look neutral and the grey card will take on a tint - you may need to click elsewhere on the image to get the best overall correction.

Polaroid Land Camera

I thought it is about time to get myself a Polaroid camera. Christmas will be a great opportunity to have it gifted (rather than having to spend my own dosh!). I am therefore looking for the best model for my needs and so far 450 or 250 land camera with peel away film seem to fit the box. Fujifilm FP-100C will be the film of my choice, especially as there can be some exciting negative reclamation done to it. Below is the link to the instructional video and more info on cameras can be found in here http://www.instantoptions.com/.

Shop here: http://www.polamad.com/polaroidshop-land.html, http://landcameras.com/ ... and a helpful discussion here https://www.flickr.com/groups/landcamera/discuss/72157630388662864/

Assignment 1 - first select

I have managed to cut down the set to 27 images, attached below. Completely unedited, straight from the camera, so please excuse the roughness of the selection.

Exercise - Discontinuities

I posted four personal photographs on Flickr and invited OCA community to comment and provide the pictures with some sort of caption. Surprisingly, I received more than I requested and my editing of the photographs seem to have 'upset' one of the commentators. Some pics were called staged and over processed, but I shall not use this feedback in here, as it is completely irrelevant. Still, I much appreciate the critique, I do enjoy receiving some negative points, as I believe they can assist in self-improvement.

First photograph is from my very humble birthday celebrations earlier this year. This was just over a month after my heart surgery and therefore I decided to stay at home with family and a few friends. The picture was actually taken just before I blew out the candles.
The comments I received were as follows: 'Thanks for giving me such a wonderful day'; 'Adoration'; 'What a lovely surprise! You shouldn't have ...'; 'Family , 3 generations'; 'I don't really want to touch it'.

Second photograph was taken in my neighbour's garden. Paul, although based in town, has a large sized back garden where he keeps a small holding and grows vegetables. The pictured here goat was a new addition to his animal family and at only few weeks old Paul insisted that my partner lifts up the young animal for a cuddle. Comments from the Flickr community: 'Everyone needs someone to love.'; 'Who needs a dog as a pet when they can have a goat?'; 'In your face.'; 'Hold me close and don't let me go.'; 'A rather unusual friendship !'; 'Was it something I said?'

Third photograph shows my Mum running towards the sea. My Mother adores the sea and not often has the opportunity to be near the seaside, being mainly based in Bialystok, Poland and with the nearest sea being around 300 km away. On the other hand, my dog, that has been brought up surrounded by the sea, is not its biggest fan. The comments received were as follows: 'I'm not going there'; 'Hesitation'; 'Research has shown that dogs are often more cautious than people in approaching new experience.'; 'You think I'm going in there? No chance!'; 'That water is cold!'; 'She must be mad going into that cold water , I am not getting my paws wet.'; 'She must be mad going into that cold water , I am not getting my paws wet.'

And lastly, photograph number four, which was taken during a family Christening. Here, my nice is being told to get back inside and therefore temporary surrender her balloon. The comments received:
'Just a bit longer please'; 'Take it.', 'You said it would be my turn next!'; ''Don't want to give it back!'; 'Do we really have to go now?'; 'Quite a determined look on her face -- don't spoil my fun.'; 'Please Mom—just a little longer'.

In conclusion, I can see that more obvious scenes, like pictures number 3 and 4 were much easier to read to the unknown viewer. Whereas photographs number 1 and 2 perhaps a little less. I think it is very important to be well informed about the photographer and even photographs where possible in order to supply with the correct critique.

AAWS Jumble Sale - Assignment 1

Well, today was a very exhausting day! I photographed the Alderney Animal Welfare Society Jumble Sale for my first assignment. I am not yet sure how exactly I will cut the set down from well over 200 usable photographs to 10, but I shall think hard before I make any decisions. I was originally considering to portray the journey of my cake from my house all the way to it being eaten, but it seems like such a waste of great photographs from the day. I think the simplicity in the approach will be the best possible option for this assignment. I shall reduce the set tomorrow and work it from then towards the final selection.

Just a quick update to say that I will be back shortly. I am suffering with the most dreadful flu and trying to deal with a very busy job at the moment. I will be photographing for my first assignment on Saturday and should hopefully catch up on all the remaining exercises over weekend.

Gorgeous chillies in my kitchen.