12/09/2005

Update

This has been a long and tiring few weeks. In the middle of the busy season I was trying to do too many things at once: calendars, books, new scanner, re-scanning and re-working old images, new PS techniques, and of course trying to get prints out.

The calendars and books came to nothing - though I learned a few things. I re-did the Photography Store so that images that are available in smaller sizes appear in the main Photo gallery.

This morning - as I walked to the corner through huge snowflakes - I noticed how beautiful the city looked but had no desire to pick up a camera. I would rather sit at home and work on some older images and finish the book I'm reading (White Man's Grave - which I think is giving me nightmares, but I can't put it down).

I'm planning to spend the next week really re-organizing negatives. There are many good ones sitting around that have never been printed.

Along the way - I sometimes look through some of the digital captures - and there are good images there as well but as soon as I start to work on them - there is almost always some damned thing in it that annoys me and I curse myself that I didn't get it on film.

Maybe some overly smooth highlight - or last night I was working on this shot of two people on an escalator and at the point where their feet touch the elevator grating there is this annoying jagged design that wouldn't have been there with film. I'm not sure what you call that - fringing? Whatever it is the sensor was confused by where the persons foot and the escalator met and it wasn't captured properly. I can fix it - mostly with a bunch of PS techniques - but - there's no reason I should have to.

Other digital shots are perfectly fine. I've been adding grain to them with PhotoKit Sharpner and it's not a bad look. But there are some shots that I can't fix.

3 comments:

Matt Weber said...

A few years ago I would have been out the door at 7am, shooting every tree's snow-laden limbs and now, I'm happy to stay warm at home, eat a hot bowl of oatmeal and watch cartoons with my kid. (old age must be here)

Did you go to the Lennon thing yeaterday?

Dave Beckerman said...

Lennon thing was out of the question. I convinced myself that I had a cold - and was blowing my nose a lot. By the time I woke this morning my cold had disappeared.

Old age or general lethargy - only time will tell. I usually fall into this state after I've been too active for a long time.

Dave Beckerman said...

Yup (re: locking screws!)

I haven't tried it with 35mm negs. I'll try and get to it tomorrow. I've seen reviews - forget where - i-photo? I think they said it was surprisingly close to a film scanner - but I wouldn't believe that until I tried it.

I'll let you know. What size prints do you want to get out of the 35mm negs?