RNC Protest, Union Square

I'm beginning to make a gallery of protest coverage. This was at the RNC, entrance to Union Square. It really was getting a little scary at this point because the police were determined to clear this entrance to the park so that they could make arrests and the demonstrators were on the steps shouting back at them. As I remember it, the police backed off and came in through another entrance and made a few arrests.



Arrest #1

More Packaging Tedium

I know there are at least five photographers out there who might find this post interesting, so this is for you:

The one thing that impressed me about Lulu.com was what the calendars and books were shipped in. Sort of this flat, folding mailer where various corners folded in such a way that the thing was absolutely sturdy, and yet lightweight. Perfect for the 8 x 10 mats. And so, I recycled 'em for a couple of 8 x 10 sized orders.

And then I went hunting them down. What were these mysterious flat cartons? I think I found them (in white - even more classy) - at BrassPack.com under Variable Depth Mailers. I believe these are the same thing, but I'm not sure. The Lulu.com mailers seem to have two extra pieces of cardboard.

I ordered fifty of them. So there you go - I might have gotten something useful from Ms. Lulu.com.

Creating Galleries with iView Media Pro

I finished the last page of this technical article on how to create a Paypal Shopping Cart through iView Media Pro. I'm thinking that the last page is going to be confusing. I don't know. Maybe it is.

Here's the link if you're interested in this sort of thing:

iView Media Pro Web Galleries and Paypal

If you have any ideas about how it can be made clearer (esp. the last page) let me know.

Personal Surveillance

If you have nothing to hide, and would like to volunteer to help your country - this is the latest in advanced personal security. It should be noted that the current beta version is for outdoor use only.

Warning: Do not use this system during lightning storms.

The Making of One Inkjet Print

I don't know if this sort of thing is useful or not - whether I've left out some critical ingrediant - but for what it's worth, I put together a couple of pages about The Making of One Inkjet Print .

How Ansel did this for (how many did he do 25 - 40?) I don't know. It is time consuming to try and show.

I can tell you this - it took longer to write about than to actually do. If you have any suggestions, would be glad to hear 'em. (P.S. I didn't spell-check it because I think it's time for a nap now.)

Man And World

"Man And World"

What is it called when you say one thing equals another thing? There is a literary term for it but I can't remember what it is. Is is the strongest word in the English language?

"She walks in beauty like the night." No, she is the night.

"A rose called by any other name is still a rose."

And finally, the most powerful of all, the contracted equals:

"She's a real fox."

More Offset

Contacted offset printer last night and they are going to overnight me samples of their b&w (4-color offset) printing (cards, brochures, posters, calendars). I think that CMYK is calling me back. Oh God - CMYK. They told me what printer they use but I already forgot. Markus made a great point about getting a RIP / Profiles to emulate the end printer. All I know about CMYK is that to get good blacks you don't just set the K to 100% but need to mix other channels as well. Whatever - I'll figure it out. And what I liked about the site was that they gave good instructions about formatting files for CMYK with templates for photoshop.

iView Media Pro (chapter I)

After working with Mr. Fish on his website using what I thought was a pretty simple method with iView Media Pro - it became obvious that more help was needed.

So here's chapter one on how the web galleries on this site were created. Believe me - I'm not doing this for the sheer fun of it - but because the advertising associated with what may be useful information is the most targeted and because I figured out how to hit the "ALT" button and the "PRINTSCREEN" button at the same time.

What I've discovered is that there are four distinct groups of visitors to the site:

1) Just looking (maybe 70%)
2) Actually looking to buy a print (maybe 5%)
3) Photographers looking for technical information (10%).
4) Yikes - what did I click on to wind up here? Quick, click on anything to get me out of here (15%)

* * *
Added chapter TWO
to the iView Gallery Tutorial.
* * *

Lulu and Part Ways

Ciao Lulu.

I suppose we had our good times, Lulu and I - but I was looking for something more - something more beautiful. Lulu is just not good for fine-art books - or high-quality calendars - and so I guess we'll have to go our separate ways. I will think back fondly on all the time I wasted with her reading through forums for printing specs, and waiting eagerly for proofs. Good-bye Lulu - and I only wish you the best. I hope we can still be friends.

* * *

I am going to have to put the calendar thing on hold for now since there are orders to work on - and it's already getting late in the year and I would like to begin shooting again. I have sent out for samples from a few companies that do 4-color b&w printing - not on demand - but with digital printing presses (Indigo, Heidelberg DI) as suggested by M.

I also see that if I am going to do a high-quality calendar or book, I'm either going to have to get into CMYK in a more serious way, especially as it relates to good black and white printing. For example - one thing I read is that if you want rich black tones - you don't just set the K value to 100% but you also need to mix the ratio of other channels in certain percentages. And as M. mentioned - the best thing is if you can afford to get a proper RIP and profile that mimics the output a particular press / paper combination on your inkjet printer for proofing.

It was an adventure being with Lulu because honestly, I never knew what she'd do next. I have four or five proofs of various items she left behind and you know - they all look slightly different.

Ciao. Maybe we'll meet again someday.

Printing Recommendations, Julie

I think this is the hot topic right now in the forum - and there's new info there about the Lulu experience (are you experienced?). Incidentally - the main saving grace for me through this has been loading the Allman Brothers Band on my iPod. Whipping Post seems to be the appropriate song. I suppose that someday I'll do some shooting again - but don't hold yer breath. I'm basically just printing (good ole 4800), experimenting with ads, and doing the publishing stuff right now. Paul's Lulu book arrived and as I say - it's actually pretty good. Paul's Lulu Book (scroll to the bottom)

I don't know how to link to a specific reply in the forum.

* * *

Hi Dave,

Bill sent me the link to your current blog discussion of the lulusaga, and this would be solely because this is the exact idea I proposed if he would just let me design an unusual calendar for him to use for ... well, getting his work stuck on art director's walls and far more. I wasn't sure I could have high hopes for lulu; seemed too good to be true that the underfunded could still offer it up for others, but I'm so dismayed.

Sorry to ask you this off the blog, and you're welcome to post it if you want/think others would find it of interest, but I'm really stuck on this issue of submission of PDFs. They asked you for PDFs for final printing?? They didn't ask for or let you supply high res CMYK .tif images? More color management there, and all around more reason to have faith....

[Julie for the calendar - all they accept is an RGB JPG. Period For books, the recommend a PDF with embedded RGB files. But I believe they will take CMYK files, but what they'll do to them, I don't know.]


If you're doing a fairly standard size calendar, I have a strong recommendation for a printer, from a group that just send me LOADS of their work. So many pieces they sprung out of the pocket folder like trick snakes out of the peanut butter brittle can. But they're good to have bookmarked, and if you don't already know them, go to the site and request their sample packet.

[Julie, I just requested samples from them. Telling them that what I really wanted was a good b&w calendar.]

EXCEPTIONAL printing. I was overwhelmed. Very good prices, and an unbelievable variety of what they'll print for you. But, overall, the print quality was unexpected. Best of all, they're independent and devoted to artists who are just doing everything they can to get the
truth of the creation to reproduce.

www.jakprints.com

And now I'll have to review their booklet to see what files they allow for this purpose. The hatching -- was it at all moire like, where lulululu didn't adjust this plate or that by a few degrees? Curious.

[It wasn't moire in the way that I'm used to seeing it with digital images where it happens in certain areas where there are fine lines and high contrast. It was just this general cross-hatch pattern. Maybe they just ran out of ink :)]

Hope you've been well, and have a wonderful morning....

Julie
_____________________________________________________________________

"Your work is to discover your work, and then
with all your heart, to give yourself to it."

--Buddha

Lulu Arrives

The first calendar via Lulu arrived. I wasn't expecting anything great but it was worse than expected. The cover, which is on a heavier stock than the inside pages, is okay. Once you get inside there are streaks of magenta ink in various places; usually showing up the most in the lighter areas. Not the type of thing you need to look closely to see. It's almost as if you took a little magenta, mixed it with water and did a bit of watercolor painting in the lighter areas.

There is also a cross-hatching (what I'd call banding on an inkjet, but this one goes in both directions). And of course the maximum black is nowhere near an inkjet print. What else can I say - it basically looks like a badly made calendar by an inexperienced high-school student on a xerox machine.

The next calendar to arrive has sharpening applied - though I can't imagine that will help much. Also - even if it does arrive without streaking - what am I to make of that - some will be streaked and some won't?

I also have one book arriving. That may be better. I don't know. All in all - pretty dismal so far.

* * *
I'm pretty sure this is going to be a waste of money, but I'm going to take one more stab at it, this time doing the "premium" calendar (larger and more of a card stock paper is used, i.e. thicker). And I'm going to take - I think it was Jeff's suggestion and stick the images on my own white template so I can have more control over the layout, put some rule lines around the image and place the caption where I want. This is surely asking for trouble because even if the damned thing does work - the production cost is like $20 for each calendar. Gods above, be kind to me as I am a stubborn guy.