Forgotten Gems
One of the mistakes I often make, is going on an outing and shooting a ton of pics, then forgetting about them. This painfully obvious, when you look at the 100′s of raw files on my computer that have yet to be converted into a usable format. These older files (often years in the vault) have on occasion become very useful.
I needed an image for an upcoming show and without the time to shoot something new, I decided to explore my archives. Not the best at organizing my work, I stumbled across a folder of images taken 2 years previous. These pics were taken at a local heritage farm called “Bygone Days”. They were shot with my then #1 camera, a Nikon D70 and the 18-70mm kit lens and as usual were shot in color.
I needed a monochrome image for the show and since I was short on time I used a very interesting piece of software from “Alien Skin” called “Exposure” http://www.alienskin.com/ . This software is not a simple bw converter, but a very sophisticated film simulator. The program allows you to choose from a wide range of bw and color films, and gives you a variety of additional options.
After running quickly through the folder, I chose several images for a bw treatment. The “Exposure” software allowed for quick conversion and comparison. I also converted some of the images to IR . The IR conversions in “Exposure” are particularly useful, because shooting IR is fraught with peril. IR film is extremely hard to handle, and true digital IR requires conversion of your camera.
You can decide for yourself if you like the IR treatment. It tends to be quite grainy (with “Exposure” you can do the conversion without the grain) and gives an other worldly effect. The software gives you numerous choices and controls to fine tune the finished product.
For the show I ended up choosing the first image in this series ….. the “Abandoned Truck”. I liked the way the IR treatment brought out the texture of the rusted out metal, and I used a tight crop to enhance the strong lines of the composition. The image was framed and matted in white.
It is always fun to take pictures. Don’t forget to take the time to review your shots and file them in a logical manner. You never know when they may come in handy.
I needed an image for an upcoming show and without the time to shoot something new, I decided to explore my archives. Not the best at organizing my work, I stumbled across a folder of images taken 2 years previous. These pics were taken at a local heritage farm called “Bygone Days”. They were shot with my then #1 camera, a Nikon D70 and the 18-70mm kit lens and as usual were shot in color.
I needed a monochrome image for the show and since I was short on time I used a very interesting piece of software from “Alien Skin” called “Exposure” http://www.alienskin.com/ . This software is not a simple bw converter, but a very sophisticated film simulator. The program allows you to choose from a wide range of bw and color films, and gives you a variety of additional options.
After running quickly through the folder, I chose several images for a bw treatment. The “Exposure” software allowed for quick conversion and comparison. I also converted some of the images to IR . The IR conversions in “Exposure” are particularly useful, because shooting IR is fraught with peril. IR film is extremely hard to handle, and true digital IR requires conversion of your camera.
You can decide for yourself if you like the IR treatment. It tends to be quite grainy (with “Exposure” you can do the conversion without the grain) and gives an other worldly effect. The software gives you numerous choices and controls to fine tune the finished product.
For the show I ended up choosing the first image in this series ….. the “Abandoned Truck”. I liked the way the IR treatment brought out the texture of the rusted out metal, and I used a tight crop to enhance the strong lines of the composition. The image was framed and matted in white.
It is always fun to take pictures. Don’t forget to take the time to review your shots and file them in a logical manner. You never know when they may come in handy.
