“Let’s
leave the aches and pains to the artists and just have some fun around here”
Top: Palms, Santa Monica beach 2006 (canvas layer blend)
Unconventional and creative photography
ideas and inspiration for everyone out there interested in more than just pressing the shutter button of their camera
I am not an artist. Copyright Š 2008 by Nitsa. Ideas suggestions and techniques discussed in this book are free to use but no part of this book may reproduced in any form or means except by a reviewer who can quote some text in review. This book is published in conjunction with Still Alive Experimental and Creative Photography web-blog BLOG.NONPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Copyediting: Ryan Malone (www.focalcore.com) Photo editorial advice: George Kleiman Photos, images, Text, methods, layout and design: Nitsa special thanks (and lots of love) to Amit, Sivan and Noa Email: books@nonphography.com Special thanks and lots of love to Amit, Sivan and Noa.
Cover design: Nitsa Published by Lulu.com 2008
CONTENTS Chapter one: The cameras we use.............. 9 Polaroid................................ 10 Holga................................... 18 Other toy cameras....................... 24 Holgaroid............................... 26 Classic cameras......................... 28 o Chapter two: Film and scanning techniques.... 31 Cross processing........................ 32 Tungsten film........................... 34 Time Zero film.......................... 35 Multiple exposures...................... 36 Expired and damaged film................ 37 Extreme and creative scanning........... 38 The negative as a frame................. 40 o Chapter three: Computer techniques........... 43 Canvas background layer................. 44 Aging a color photo..................... 46 Textured layer blend.................... 48 Positive/negative composite............. 50 Digital cross processing................ 51 o Chapter four: Hands on....................... 53 Ink jet transfer........................ 55 Xerox transfer.......................... 56 Image transfer.......................... 59 Hand coloring and painting photos....... 64 Modified negative....................... 66 Distressed prints....................... 68 Mixed media collage..................... 70 o Chapter five: Image gallery.................. 75 o Final thoughts............................... 114 o
Introduction Hello there_ Before we settle down here and get comfortable with each -- other, I would like to make it clear that I am not a p h o t o g r a p h e r, an artist, or some sort of a designer. I’m not even sure what one must do in order to earn and deserve these titles, but I know that, whatever it is, it couldn’t matter or change what I do anything. I have put this book together in order to show you that you don’t need to spend months or even years in a school of the arts in order to be able to make an artistic presentation of your creative work.
everything I will share with you in this book is simple and easy to do, is available for everyone, require any special gifts, skills, or extra-ordinary talents.
and does not
Multiple exposures
Multiple scenes joined together in one frame/ Venice Beach Nov. 2006 If multiple exposures are desired, they can be easily created with most toy cameras as well as classic cameras. All it takes is to simply “forget” to advance to the next frame after making the first exposure. Although most cameras in the toy and classic category can be used for making multiple exposures, a few cameras have some kind of a lock feature which prevents from a second picture to be taken before advancing the film and therefore multiple exposures cannot be taken with this type of camera. Some of the newer cameras have a “multiple exposures” mode and are capable of taking up to 9 exposures (!) per frame. When shooting more than 3 exposures per frame, it’s a good idea to set your camera to underexpose your subject to prevent extreme over-exposure. There are a few ways to make multiple exposures: photographing random and different scenes, photographing the same scene while moving the camera around, or keeping the camera steady while the subject is moving or changing. Whatever way you choose, you will get an interesting final image made of multiple layers of outlines, colors, and depth.
Expired and damaged film The obvious benefit of using recently expired film is in its low cost, which is often only half the price of fresh film. If the film is recently expired, there’s not going to be a noticeable difference in the final image. However, shooting a long-expired film can result in fading and deterioration appearance of the image. Good! In order to further exaggerate this attractive feature, I recommended deliberately damaging the film by keeping it in the sun, in the heat of your car, forgetting it in your camera, etc. And because the result of this method is very random, this whole experiment can be a lot of fun, as the study of the unpredictable usually is.
Camera: Nikon N75
Film: Fuji s-200 (expired)
Place: La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles
Aging a Color photo
Aging a color photo is obviously more challenging than making a black and white or a sepia tone image look old – difficult, but not impossible. Now on to the details: The first step is to unvibrant (is this a word?) the image so it doesn’t look too vivid. You can do this during scanning or in your image editor by reducing the highlights, saturation, and contrast…or you can just go for one of your unsuccessful washed-out photos (which may be more successful than you thought!). The next step is to create an aged looking paper, which I did by using the leftovers of my morning coffee. Really! All you need to do is crumble a paper (I used watercolor paper), soak it in coffee, and let it dry in the sun. Now the same watercolor paper looks like it has seen many years of hardship. Then all you need to do is scan the stained paper, open your favorite photo editor and blend it on another layer with your color image. And just like before, you will need to play around with the transparency settings until you like what you see.
By the way, if you are not a coffee drinker and prefer tea, no worries; you can do the same process using tea instead of coffee. I’m sure there are many other ways to distress a paper such as burning, ink stains, etc., so you can chose whatever works best for you. As a final touch, you can darken the edges of the photo by using the darken or burn tool in your photo editor.
Penn station, New York --2004
Textured layer blend The fastest (and easiest) way of adding an interesting quality to a picture is to open your photo editor and insert an additional layer of texture. This method is very much similar to the previous two methods, except instead of a canvas painting or a stained paper, you place one or more textured layers on top of your original photo in order to achieve this unique effect.
Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia 2007 The textured layer can be made on the computer, as many of the existing graphics software offer tools for making such textures and backgrounds. However, I find it incomparably effortless to simply scan homemade textures, such as painted watercolors, or use found materials such as textured papers. Often, people prefer to
use found textures they capture as a photograph to use as a background texture for their image. Whatever textures you chose for your art work, blend the textures in your photo editor on different layers so that your photo will act as the background layer. Play around with the transparency and blend mode settings to let the textures show through your photos.
Mount Vernon, Virginia When blending the textures with your photo, you can insert as many layers as you wish – don’t limit yourself to one type of texture and can combine these surfaces together for a unique edge. The reason this technique is so effective is because people are often drawn to texture, especially when it is unexpectedly found in a two dimensional image.
postive/negative composite These interesting colors are the result of placing a positive over the negative of the same image and combining them together in a photo editor. You can try this method with a black and white photo (top image) which usually results in a cast of silver-like tone over the photo.
Or try using a color photo for an exceptional appearance (bottom image). This method usually increase the green tone of the color
Capitol Building. Washington DC 2007
picture.
Battery Park, NYC
digital cross-processing Cross processing appearance usually means high contrast, blown-out highlights, lots of grain and an overall green color cast. In order to capture the mood of a cross processed image chose any photo you like, open it in your photo editor and begin by increasing contrast, saturation and grain. Though every photo editor is different and offers special variety of adjustments, most of these photo editors are most likely to offer you such tools to work with your images. Finish up your digital cross processed image by enhancing the greens of the image (usually under adjust color balance).
Camera: Holga
Film: Kodak Portra 800ASA Place: West Hollywood
Hopefully you’re now ready (and excited) to get your hands dirty. As you’ll find out here, photography does not have to be limited to the camera or the darkroom. One of the best things about the methods in this chapter is the opportunity to have a direct contact with the artwork. And again, just like everything else in this book, no exceptional talent or skill is required, although a bit of enthusiasm is definitely a must.
Camera: Holga
Film: Fuji Pro400H
Technique: inkjet transfer
Hollywood
2006 - -
inkjet transfer
Printer or inkjet transfer is a very simple process. To start with, print your image onto any kind of plastic sheet; I used a standard sheet protector. Once the printing is done, and since this kind of a medium will not absorb the ink, the ink will remain wet. All you need to do now is transfer the image onto any type of photographic paper by pressing the print face down into your paper of choice. Now, a few words of wisdom (the product of my endless tries): 1) It is recommended, especially if you have text in the photo, to print a mirror image of your photo – otherwise the final transfer will appear to be backwards. 2) If the sheet protector does not go smoothly through your printer, try inserting a piece of standard printer paper in the sheet protector before printing, and then try again. 3) The ink works well on most surfaces I tried, but it does not transfer well to a canvas surface. 4) You can set your printer to any of the paper/media type options available for your printer, but keep in mind that unless you wish to have the ink-smudge effect, the “plain paper” option will work quite well (not to mention it will help you economize the use of precious ink). 5) Using inkjet transparency film for image transfer won’t work since this type of media absorbs the ink rather quickly. Besides, sheet protectors are much cheaper.
Distressed prints Distressed prints, what are they good for? Clearly, altered images can be a unique addition to various projects, such as collages, altered art, or journals. And since this whole process is of such a free form, you can torment your photo print any way you wish. Only one thing to keep in mind before you get your tools ready is that most distressing techniques won’t work as well with homemade inkjet prints, and for best results you should use a photographic print that was printed in a photo lab or a high-end printing service. You can begin distressing your photographic print by scratching lines onto the prints using an artist knife. Next, use sandpaper to get rid of the gloss appearance, bring out the color beneath the top layer of the print, and give it a truly distressed appearance.
If you feel adventurous and are brave enough, try spattering or even rubbing household bleach onto your print. Using a cotton ball or a sponge, you can pat the bleach in purposely to some areas of your print, or you might prefer to randomly squirt it on at random. Another thing you can do with bleach is to get a bleach pen and use it to write or draw on your print. If you can’t find a bleach pen, use a skewer or a tooth pick, dip it in the bleach, and use as a pen.
The Empire State Building. NYC 2001 Note that the bleach, which starts yellow, will quickly turn into white. If you like the yellowish appearance you will need to wash off the bleach in water just a few seconds after applying it to the print. In addition you can randomly add acrylic paints and, at last, sand the print again in order to bland the paints into the print. This process works well with color, sepia ,or black and white prints.