Friday, January 18, 2019

Photoshop Filter Project

Assignment

Duplicate your colorized pinhole image 25-30 times on a 8.5x11" Photoshop document.
Manipulate each small image with a different "Filter" effect.
Center on the page.
Save as a jpeg file and post to your blog.
Add the caption: Photoshop Filter Project.

Photoshop Filter Project

Assignment

Scan either your Pinhole Self Portrait or Pinhole Close-up. Using the same technique we used on our digital restoration, add color to your image. Post it to your blog.

Here is one of my pinhole images. Another art teacher had a bag of old toy baby parts which I used as my subject. Creepy!

Colorized Pinhole Photo

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Three kinds of Balance

Photography is no different than other fine art in that it uses the same elements and principles of design. Only the medium changes, you still need to work within the "rules" of art.

When you created your "Found Object" Photogram, you considered how your image is balanced. Is your design symmetrical, asymmetrical or radially balanced?

Show me you understand each type of balance by shooting an image that shows each type. Post to your blog. Add information about the location or subject. These are examples I photographed during the last summer.

Symmetrical Balance, Mr. Ricci's 47 Chrysler Town Car
Mahopac High School, Summer 2016

Asymmetrical Balance - Sunflowers being raised to make oil,
Lagrange, New York

Radial Balance - Window at World of Wings Museum,

Teaneck, New Jersey

Digital Photo Restoration

How it's done!

The early photographs taken during the American Civil War were often made on glass plates. This image of General Sheridan was borrowed from the American Memory Collection for my students to practice with. Photoshop has a host of tools that allow the photographer to rejuvenate old or damaged images.

The Healing Brush Tool is extremely useful for correcting small imperfections like wrinkles or acne.

The Clone Stamp Tool allows for the creation of "patches" where whole sections of the photograph are missing.

Un-restored Image of General Sheridan

Restored Image

Sepia

Sepia

You may remember the horrible smell that chemical sepia toning created in our room. Photoshop allows you to accomplish the same task in a few seconds.

How to do it:

Duplicate your restored image and name it Sepia.
Image/Adjustments/Hue/Saturation
Click on the "Colorize" button and use the following settings. That's it!

Sheridan in Color

Colorizing

Before the invention of color photography, the only way to get a color photograph was by hand tinting. This artistic process had the photographer paint with transparent oil color paint over the photograph. The resulting images had a soft but pleasing look. (Nothing like today's vibrant color.)

Colorizing with Photoshop is easy in concept. You use the paintbrush tool (with a low opacity) to cover areas in color. The application of color in a realistic manner requires some skill and patience. Large areas can be selected and filled globally using Edit/Fill.

Vignette

Vignetting is the reduction of an images brightness or saturation at it's edge. Sometimes vignetting is the result of poor optics (toy cameras). Often it is used to draw attention to the main subject. (As in a portrait).

How to do it:

Selection Tools

Make an elliptical selection with the Elliptical Marquee Tool.
Inverse the selection.
Select/Modify/Feather. 15 (or more) pixels.
Fill the selection with white.

Vignette

Developing your First Roll of Film

Preparing Chemicals - The Chemistry should be at about 68 degrees.

I pour the chemistry into pitchers and place them in front of each labeled bottle. This ensures you don't accidentally use the wrong solution.

Film Developer - Mix ILFOSOL 3concentrate at 1 to 9. You will need at least 30 oz. of developer, or 3 oz. of concentrate to 27oz. of water. Mix with paddle. This is a one shot developer and is disposed of after use.

Stop Bath – Premixed by teacher. Check the color. Yellow is Ok. A violet color means the stop bath is exhausted.

Film Fixer – Premixed by teacher. Place one drop of Fix-a-sure into the fixer. If a white cloud develops and remains the fixer is exhausted.

Photo-flo – Mix 40 oz. of water with one cap full of Photo-flo.

Go over the Processing Steps before beginning!

Developer
Stop Bath/Wash
Fixer
Wash
Photo-flo
Drying

Developing

Fill the tank with developer, then start the timer. Bang the tank against the edge of the sink a few times to dislodge any air bubbles (this is especially important if you're using a large tank). Agitate the tank for 10 seconds every minute by rocking the tank back and forth, or if you're using a plastic tank, by spinning the "stir stick".

Develop for 8:00 minutes.

When the development time is finished, pour the developer into the large tank for separate disposal.

Stop Bath

Pour stop bath into the tank. Agitate constantly for about 10 seconds.Let sit for 25 more seconds. Return the stop bath to the bottle.

Fixer

Pour Fixer into the tank, and set the timer for 5 minutes. Agitate the tank 10 seconds every minute. Whe the fix time is finished, return the fixer to the bottle.

Wash

Remove the lid of the tank, and place the reel into the film washer. Wash for 5 minutes. Make sure the water is reaching the top and then empting. (Sometimes it sticks and you must knock the side of the washer.

Photo-flo

Place reel in the photo-flo. Agitate for 20 seconds.

Drying Film

Hang the film to dry. Clips are under the sink. Use a weighted clip at the bottom of the roll. Normally, a roll of film will take about three hours to air dry completely.

Important: always handle wet film by its edges only! Fingerprints and dust on the film during drying are very difficult if not impossible to remove later.

Remember, Dust is the Enemy!