Flood, Yosemite
11/30/2005
Quote of the Day
Blog Goblins & VueScan
I heard - el Bloggo was down. I told Heath that sometimes my ISP likes to delete files just to make life more interesting. Since you're reading this - it's up again.
* * *
All morning spent with VueScan. Yes. Quite the program. I still think I'm going to end up with the 4990, but maybe it isn't quite the rush I thought it was. One thing for sure, VueScan blows away the Epson scanner driver. And of course - I'm sure that Barrett mentioned it years ago to me but I'm a slooow learner. Or maybe it's that until I hit a brick wall, I don't start listening.
* * *
The only problem I had with VueScan and the 1600 is that when the negative was in the negative holder, the scan was soft. Also - you can't - at least I can't - figure out how to focus the scanner through VueScan since the Focus Title is always grayed out - which I figure means that the scanner itself doesn't support manual focus. What the scanner does have is a switch for setting whether the focus should be at Zero or 2-point something (the latter is for when it's in the negative carrier, i.e. the film is farther away from the scanning table).
Anyway - to make a long story longer - I just took the negative out of the holder and stuck it on the glass - and then the scan through VueScan was considerably sharper. (I'm not using any sharpening settings in VueScan, nor am I decreasing grain appearance etc.) All the sharpening is done post-scan. The other cool thing - is the RAW scan. What a concept. More later...
* * *
Thank you Barrett, Markus -- VueScan did the trick. I'm going to hold on to this 1600. Getting great results now.
* * *
All morning spent with VueScan. Yes. Quite the program. I still think I'm going to end up with the 4990, but maybe it isn't quite the rush I thought it was. One thing for sure, VueScan blows away the Epson scanner driver. And of course - I'm sure that Barrett mentioned it years ago to me but I'm a slooow learner. Or maybe it's that until I hit a brick wall, I don't start listening.
* * *
The only problem I had with VueScan and the 1600 is that when the negative was in the negative holder, the scan was soft. Also - you can't - at least I can't - figure out how to focus the scanner through VueScan since the Focus Title is always grayed out - which I figure means that the scanner itself doesn't support manual focus. What the scanner does have is a switch for setting whether the focus should be at Zero or 2-point something (the latter is for when it's in the negative carrier, i.e. the film is farther away from the scanning table).
Anyway - to make a long story longer - I just took the negative out of the holder and stuck it on the glass - and then the scan through VueScan was considerably sharper. (I'm not using any sharpening settings in VueScan, nor am I decreasing grain appearance etc.) All the sharpening is done post-scan. The other cool thing - is the RAW scan. What a concept. More later...
* * *
Thank you Barrett, Markus -- VueScan did the trick. I'm going to hold on to this 1600. Getting great results now.
11/29/2005
hex AFC3E8
I don't know what happened to me the last month. I became infatuated with this #AFC3E8 pale shade of blue. The whole site is slowly turning blue. What would you call it - China Blue? I also became overly infatuated with the ads to the point where I plastered them up on the sales pages. It didn't really seem to hurt sales but I removed them. They were ruining my own enjoyment of viewing the images.
My bedroom, as I remember it (probably faulty) was this shade of blue when I was a kid. So maybe it's some form of regression. I'm thinking that hex RGB colors might be good for domain names. Please visit #AFC3EB to view Dave's Blue Period.
I might go and get the Epson Scanner tomorrow. I don't usually act this fast with a piece of hardware but more and more of my medium format stuff is being ordered and and the 1600 is not up to the job. Besides, I have about 30 MF shots that I've never been able to do properly with the 1600. I'll let you know if I get it; how it works out; and then if anyone in New York wants to pick up the 1600 - let me know.
Everything has worked out well so far this season. I also have a couple of offers from retailers from various places around the country wanting to know if I'll sell prints wholesale. I have to figure that part out. Definitely cheaper mats (thanks for the mat tip John C.) if I'm going to do that sort of thing. As is it - I'm printing away as fast as I can. That will end in a week I'm sure and I'll be back to shooting. I see things all the time these days as I walk around - but don't want to think about shooting. I mostly think about ordering packaging supplies and drudgery like that lately. Should I get the 200 lb carton or the 150 lb carton.
The weird thing is that I seem to relish the rote work. Maybe it's a Zen thing. I don't know.
There's a passage in the new book by Frank McCourt (Teacher Man) where one of his students tells how he went to learn Karate and the teacher only told him to go and clean the toilets during the first session (which the kid did). Next week, the kid comes back and the Karate teacher tells him to clean the toilets again. Only after several weeks of this did the karate teacher begin to get into Karate technique. Zen, Zen, Zen. The sound of hands folding cartons and slapping tape around same.
P.S. Barrett recommended trying VueScan with the 1600. Wow. Very promising. That's what I call a driver.
My bedroom, as I remember it (probably faulty) was this shade of blue when I was a kid. So maybe it's some form of regression. I'm thinking that hex RGB colors might be good for domain names. Please visit #AFC3EB to view Dave's Blue Period.
I might go and get the Epson Scanner tomorrow. I don't usually act this fast with a piece of hardware but more and more of my medium format stuff is being ordered and and the 1600 is not up to the job. Besides, I have about 30 MF shots that I've never been able to do properly with the 1600. I'll let you know if I get it; how it works out; and then if anyone in New York wants to pick up the 1600 - let me know.
Everything has worked out well so far this season. I also have a couple of offers from retailers from various places around the country wanting to know if I'll sell prints wholesale. I have to figure that part out. Definitely cheaper mats (thanks for the mat tip John C.) if I'm going to do that sort of thing. As is it - I'm printing away as fast as I can. That will end in a week I'm sure and I'll be back to shooting. I see things all the time these days as I walk around - but don't want to think about shooting. I mostly think about ordering packaging supplies and drudgery like that lately. Should I get the 200 lb carton or the 150 lb carton.
The weird thing is that I seem to relish the rote work. Maybe it's a Zen thing. I don't know.
There's a passage in the new book by Frank McCourt (Teacher Man) where one of his students tells how he went to learn Karate and the teacher only told him to go and clean the toilets during the first session (which the kid did). Next week, the kid comes back and the Karate teacher tells him to clean the toilets again. Only after several weeks of this did the karate teacher begin to get into Karate technique. Zen, Zen, Zen. The sound of hands folding cartons and slapping tape around same.
P.S. Barrett recommended trying VueScan with the 1600. Wow. Very promising. That's what I call a driver.
Epson Scanner
Was this the scanner you guys were talking about a while back:
Epson Perfection 4990 Photo, 4800x9600 dpi
I need to get something better than the Epson 1600 I'm using now for scanning medium format negatives. I see it listed at B&H for $409. I've never been happy with the d-max of the 1600 for negatives. I'm too pooped to go back through the blog and look for what you said but I remember things like: it's almost as good / as good / as a drum scan. Things along those lines.
For $100 more you get:
"With an included professional software suite including LaserSoft Imaging SilverFast Ai, the Epson Perfection 4990 Pro provides a total digital imaging system right out of the box. It also offers expansive color management with an IT8 target to consistently color match photos. And, it incorporates leading-edge image acquisition software for maximum scanning control, plus high-speed connectivity options."
Do I need any of this extra stuff?
Epson Perfection 4990 Photo, 4800x9600 dpi
I need to get something better than the Epson 1600 I'm using now for scanning medium format negatives. I see it listed at B&H for $409. I've never been happy with the d-max of the 1600 for negatives. I'm too pooped to go back through the blog and look for what you said but I remember things like: it's almost as good / as good / as a drum scan. Things along those lines.
For $100 more you get:
"With an included professional software suite including LaserSoft Imaging SilverFast Ai, the Epson Perfection 4990 Pro provides a total digital imaging system right out of the box. It also offers expansive color management with an IT8 target to consistently color match photos. And, it incorporates leading-edge image acquisition software for maximum scanning control, plus high-speed connectivity options."
Do I need any of this extra stuff?
Hey Dave
what happened to that print you had of the guy walking through the gate in the snow by the river. i wanted to purchase it but can't find it anywhere. j.b.
That's my bad. When I began to redesign the site, a bunch of old prints got lost in the shuffle. Here you go:
The Road Ahead
That's my bad. When I began to redesign the site, a bunch of old prints got lost in the shuffle. Here you go:
The Road Ahead
11/28/2005
Yosemite after Rain
Yosemite after Rain
If you've ever gone on a vacation with someone who isn't a photographer - and is impatient to boot - you sort of know what it was like. I kept wanting to stop to shoot stuff and my friend who had just left a programming job was depressed and wanted to explore the edges of cliffs. It was a tense time all around. I was afraid that only one of us was going to come back from this trip.
This was shot while I was alone. Mamiya 6. I had borrowed wading boots and was in the muck waiting for the tripod to settle down.
Content Ads
Someone should write an article about how content-driven ads effect what you write about.
I'll give you an example. I was going to write an article about how I used to use a JOBO rotary tank on top of a Besseler (sp?) motor; sort of a hybrid thing to do rotary processing. Rotary processing is actually a great thing if you want to do a lot of film processing, because besides a certain amount of automation - you use very little chemicals since the tank lies on its' side and rotates the film through the chemicals. In other words the whole tank doesn't need to be filled up. I tried it on the cheap. Instead of buying the whole JOBO rig, I bought the rotary tank with their reels and put it on top of a motor made by Besseler that turned the tank.
The motor drive had a button on the front so that it would go first one way, than reverse itself. That broke the first day. But the basic concept worked pretty well, though you had to keep an eye on the tank that it didn't wobble off onto the floor. The other problem is that chemicals tended to leak out of the top, and sometimes get into the motor.
So one day, while the tank with six reels is spinning - the motor burns out. Dead. Not such a terrible thing if it was in the hypo stage - but it was still halfway through the developer stage.
What to do. Think fast.
Did the only thing I could think of: take it off the motor base and begin rolling it across the apartment floor (which at that time had a rug) trying to approximate the rotation speed of the motor. Bad for the rug. Well, that's what I was going to write my article about but then I'm thinking:
Is JOBO even in existence anymore? Does Besseler even make that motor drive? Do people still do rotary processing? This is like writing a story from the dark ages. Who's going to buy advertising for this?
So I hop on the web and try and find out what JOBO is up to. Like every other film-based firm, they are called JOBO DIGITAL now or something like that and their official distributor in the U.S. is so-and-so. I went to several official distributor sites they mentioned and either the processors were out-of-stock or a search of the site doesn't even mention the rotary systems.
So - I figure, this is stupid to waste my time writing about some system that isn't going to generate ad revenue. And this was conscious. I wonder - as I said before - what the effect of content-driven ads is on writers?
You can see it in action if you look at successful sites based on content-driven ad revenue. What do they write about? The latest and greatest digital products. They try to scoop their competition with the first review. And digital is perfect for this since new products are hatched quicker than you can write about them. New "content." New ad revenue. They feed well on each other.
I can't compete there. My pc is nearly five years old. My camera was made in 1965 or something. In a year or so they'll have a replacement for just about everything that I'm using.
But there is something pernicious about it; though no more so than the relationship that has always existed between advertising and magazine writing. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I always felt that when I was reading reviews in Popular Photography. Very rare they'd say, now here's a product by a major manufacturer that buys tons of advertising space in our magazine and what they've just turned out is a POS.
Oh, about that article about the effect of content-driven ads on writing - maybe I just wrote it.
I'll give you an example. I was going to write an article about how I used to use a JOBO rotary tank on top of a Besseler (sp?) motor; sort of a hybrid thing to do rotary processing. Rotary processing is actually a great thing if you want to do a lot of film processing, because besides a certain amount of automation - you use very little chemicals since the tank lies on its' side and rotates the film through the chemicals. In other words the whole tank doesn't need to be filled up. I tried it on the cheap. Instead of buying the whole JOBO rig, I bought the rotary tank with their reels and put it on top of a motor made by Besseler that turned the tank.
The motor drive had a button on the front so that it would go first one way, than reverse itself. That broke the first day. But the basic concept worked pretty well, though you had to keep an eye on the tank that it didn't wobble off onto the floor. The other problem is that chemicals tended to leak out of the top, and sometimes get into the motor.
So one day, while the tank with six reels is spinning - the motor burns out. Dead. Not such a terrible thing if it was in the hypo stage - but it was still halfway through the developer stage.
What to do. Think fast.
Did the only thing I could think of: take it off the motor base and begin rolling it across the apartment floor (which at that time had a rug) trying to approximate the rotation speed of the motor. Bad for the rug. Well, that's what I was going to write my article about but then I'm thinking:
Is JOBO even in existence anymore? Does Besseler even make that motor drive? Do people still do rotary processing? This is like writing a story from the dark ages. Who's going to buy advertising for this?
So I hop on the web and try and find out what JOBO is up to. Like every other film-based firm, they are called JOBO DIGITAL now or something like that and their official distributor in the U.S. is so-and-so. I went to several official distributor sites they mentioned and either the processors were out-of-stock or a search of the site doesn't even mention the rotary systems.
So - I figure, this is stupid to waste my time writing about some system that isn't going to generate ad revenue. And this was conscious. I wonder - as I said before - what the effect of content-driven ads is on writers?
You can see it in action if you look at successful sites based on content-driven ad revenue. What do they write about? The latest and greatest digital products. They try to scoop their competition with the first review. And digital is perfect for this since new products are hatched quicker than you can write about them. New "content." New ad revenue. They feed well on each other.
I can't compete there. My pc is nearly five years old. My camera was made in 1965 or something. In a year or so they'll have a replacement for just about everything that I'm using.
But there is something pernicious about it; though no more so than the relationship that has always existed between advertising and magazine writing. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I always felt that when I was reading reviews in Popular Photography. Very rare they'd say, now here's a product by a major manufacturer that buys tons of advertising space in our magazine and what they've just turned out is a POS.
Oh, about that article about the effect of content-driven ads on writing - maybe I just wrote it.
11/27/2005
New Print
Funny how a new print makes it into the world. A couple of years ago I was doing my pilgrimage to the Bronx and figured I'd take in the 2nd most popular tourist attraction: Bronx Botanical Gardens even though flowers don't move me in the least.
My uncle Joe spent year after year at these gardens - returning with millions of flower slides which he'd then project for us in long boring sessions filled with Latin names. You know, sometimes photographers get caught up with one subject and just beat it to death. (Sorry Joe).
I've done it myself with benches. Can't pass a bench without wanting to take its' picture. I don't know why. Benches, trees, things made out of wood. Poor benches, out there in the elements all day. Splintering. Weathering. Getting darker with age. Gleaming when soaked. I'll have to get that part of my psyche analyzed someday.
So there I am in the botanical gardens - just as bored as if I were at Uncle Joes - and it starts to rain and I wander around with tripod and G2 - and find this wooden railing. So now I like this. I carefully setup the shot so that there's this trail leading off into the mist, and you are right above the railing (difficult tripod shot was it).
The Botanical Garden Trail picture is found on the site (somehow) by a design firm in Utah. Big hunt for the neg. And I mean big hunt. Took me longer to find that negative than to take or process same.
Then I don't hear from them for something like 4 months. Turns out that they would like it after all. So I finally print it and - the thing springs to life again.
You can see it here, but I don't think it would be interesting to you based on the web shot. But the print - it has that feeling of being etched in the paper - if you know what I mean. It must have been the 21mm lens which was really good with that G2.
Without the push from the folks in Utah (I bet they know their wooden railings out there) - the neg. would have just gone the way of all negs. - whatever that is.
My uncle Joe spent year after year at these gardens - returning with millions of flower slides which he'd then project for us in long boring sessions filled with Latin names. You know, sometimes photographers get caught up with one subject and just beat it to death. (Sorry Joe).
I've done it myself with benches. Can't pass a bench without wanting to take its' picture. I don't know why. Benches, trees, things made out of wood. Poor benches, out there in the elements all day. Splintering. Weathering. Getting darker with age. Gleaming when soaked. I'll have to get that part of my psyche analyzed someday.
So there I am in the botanical gardens - just as bored as if I were at Uncle Joes - and it starts to rain and I wander around with tripod and G2 - and find this wooden railing. So now I like this. I carefully setup the shot so that there's this trail leading off into the mist, and you are right above the railing (difficult tripod shot was it).
The Botanical Garden Trail picture is found on the site (somehow) by a design firm in Utah. Big hunt for the neg. And I mean big hunt. Took me longer to find that negative than to take or process same.
Then I don't hear from them for something like 4 months. Turns out that they would like it after all. So I finally print it and - the thing springs to life again.
You can see it here, but I don't think it would be interesting to you based on the web shot. But the print - it has that feeling of being etched in the paper - if you know what I mean. It must have been the 21mm lens which was really good with that G2.
Without the push from the folks in Utah (I bet they know their wooden railings out there) - the neg. would have just gone the way of all negs. - whatever that is.
Weborial: Developing Film
Okay - one more. Feel free to let me know if I've made any major blunders or if you want more info. Oh, that's right. Faster film. Didn't do that. I will.
Developing B&W Film
Developing B&W Film
11/26/2005
Weborials
Every time I read through one of these articles I've written in the last few weeks some glaring mistake jumps up and bites me. No editor. A general problem on the web. Someone should start an editorial society for weborialists. I know there's no word like that, but after going through a thesaurus for synonyms for article, weborial was the best I could come up with.
Here are some of those synonyms for article:
beat, blurb, column, commentary, composition, discourse, editorial, essay, exposition, feature, item, paper, piece, scoop, spread, story, theme, think piece, treatise, write-up
- Hey mac, I cover the Photo beat for the Daily Gotham. Whaddya do?
- I write weborials for the Gotham Blogger.
- Huh?
- Yeah. I'm a weborialist. One of the first ones. You should try it.
- Yeah? Well what the hell is a weborialist?
- You write articles, reviews, opinions - but you work on the web so they call it weborials. It's great 'cause no one checks your spelling or anything.
- You're kiddin' me.
- Nope.
- Weborialist, huh? Maybe I'll give it a try.
- Definitely. The competing word right now is itorial - but it's hard to say.
Here are some of those synonyms for article:
beat, blurb, column, commentary, composition, discourse, editorial, essay, exposition, feature, item, paper, piece, scoop, spread, story, theme, think piece, treatise, write-up
- Hey mac, I cover the Photo beat for the Daily Gotham. Whaddya do?
- I write weborials for the Gotham Blogger.
- Huh?
- Yeah. I'm a weborialist. One of the first ones. You should try it.
- Yeah? Well what the hell is a weborialist?
- You write articles, reviews, opinions - but you work on the web so they call it weborials. It's great 'cause no one checks your spelling or anything.
- You're kiddin' me.
- Nope.
- Weborialist, huh? Maybe I'll give it a try.
- Definitely. The competing word right now is itorial - but it's hard to say.
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