TTV: How to get from A to B

Here is the raw shot taken with my Sony A200 through the viewfinder of a Kodak Duaflex II.

The steps taken in Photoshop CS 6:
1. Straighten.  2. Crop.  3. Sharpen all. 4. Adjust highlights, shadows and levels.  5 Soften background.  6. Partially desaturate background.  7. Partially color background. 8. Save.

The final product, Autumnal Shout.  

I wanted to emphasize the bold color of potted flowers and the slight levels adjustment got me the look I wanted for the plant.  The column needed some highlight adjustment to bring out some detail.  I softened the background and desaurated it to take the color down a bit.  The highlights, especially on the right, were too blue I thought. So, I painted a light brown tone on the almost all of the background. I think it makes the purple shadows in the column stand out a bit better.

This is one I'll likely print and frame to sell.  I included it in my SVA portfolio.

I added quite a few shots to the Garden set on my Flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwlab/sets/72157630067031239/

Photoshop CS6

I downloaded a 30 trial of Photoshop CS6.  So far it's going ok.  Always a bit of a learning curve to overcome.  Time will tell if I purchase or not.  I made an animated gif file let's see if it works in my blog.

Several ways to take 3D photos.

Years ago my wife bought me a Loreo 3D film camera.  It came with a viewer to use with 4x6 prints.  I used it a bit and it's more or less packed away.   I made a pinhole 3D camera for 4x5 sheet film and played with that a bit as well.   In the digital age I've been making 3D shots doing what one photographer calls the "Cha-Cha".  You take two pictures inches apart and process them for viewing side by side.  Here are some examples.

This is a parallel view.  You need a special viewer to see the 3D effect correctly.

The second picture is a crossview.  To see in 3D cross your eyes and merge the two sides.  The bike photo was done with a recently purchased Loreo product that attaches to a film or digital SLR.

This picture was made with my pinhole 3D film camera.  It requires processing and printing the film and then scanning to create a file to share here.

All of the above were made with one exposure.

The shot of the frog sculpture was a "cha cha", made by combining two shots into one image.  The drawback of this method is that you don't get good shots of anything moving.

The Loreo camera.

The Loreo lens.

Summer Daze

Slow computer, headache, tired but I still tried to find some time to be creative.  Just a different angle on a TTV shot.  No special manipulations.  I just rotated it for the horizon.

reclaiming polroid/fuji negatives.

http://youtu.be/ySI8css4Yec?hd=1

Made my first GIF animation in preparation for a GIF file of an SVA member's artwork.

Not much to this but I did figure out how to do it using Gimp.

Nice light today.

So, I went out around 4:00 p.m. and shot some new TTV pics.  Here are the best of the shoot.
I revisited the rack that Lisa found last year.  Still no plants on it.

These are candidates for more manipulation.

Typically, I ventured no further than the park and my yard.  Someday I'll bravely go out into society. lol

All were taken with the Sony Alpha 200 through the Kodak Duaflex II and edited in Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3.

Backwards TTV with Phone camera

This "Through the Viewfinder" picture was taken in reverse, so to speak.  I used my phone to shoot the front lens of the Kodak Duaflex rather than the actual viewfinder.

POINTY HEADED

I traveled to Stevens Point to pick up my daughter on Friday.  We stopped at the brewery to get some root beer and cherry soda.   Here are a few TTV pics.

About a month ago I posted a picture called Sign of Spring.  One month later Spring is Here.  I did a bit og tweaking on the computer.

Last week Friday and on the weekend, Sheboygan Visual Artists held our 5th annual Membership Show.  I had  three photos in the show and all sold.

Forgot my tripod

Luckily, the camera is little.

Tree & House

Tree

House

Park Bench

Park Bench, a photo by bwlab on Flickr.

Through the Viewfinder again

A friend from Sheboygan Visual Artists clued me in on another device to hold the two cameras at the right distance... a cardboard tube.  I tried it out the other day, outdoors in better light than some of my recent attempts, and was pleased with the results.  Here are a few.

Sign of Spring

Dipped In Blue

More TTV

I thought I'd show my ttv tools. Ttv stands for through the viewfinder.   I was able to purchase a Kodak Duaflex for just $5.00 from Lloyd's in Manitowoc.  I've used it for all of the ttv shots I've made except the figure model in one of my previous posts.  My taking camera is my Sony Alpha 200.  I built a crude contraption to hold it at the right distance from the Duaflex.  This gives me the ability to hold the camera still in low light situations and get a good exposure without the blur of a handheld shot. It also blocks light from hitting the viewfinder causing glare.  It's been fun to play with.

The viewfinder image is flipped horizontally, so there is some editing to do on the computer.  This photo show the lunch I had on March 26th 2012.  I did some blurring of the background and cleaned up the foreground.  As mentioned in the other ttv post, you get the dust and dirt from the old camera.  When I blurred the background to separate the plant on the window sill from my sandwich, I softened the dust too.  It didn't look right with the dirty foreground so I cleaned it up.  The editing program used was Photoshop.

Combinations

I just thought that I might try a pinhole Polaroid emulsion transfer of a TTV shot.

TTV photography

TTV stands for Through The Viewfinder.  A picture is taken through the optics of another camera.  I used my Sony digital to shoot the viewfinder of an old twin lens camera.  Usually the attempt is to get the old photo look by leaving the dirt on the glass and mirror.  I took my old camera apart and cleaned it.  It will get dirty again soon enough.  I just bought it yesterday so I have yet to make a contraption to hold my taking camera at the right distance. This will help make the shooting easier by aiding focusing and exposure.

Kite Photography Success

Today, with the help of my daughter Mary and my sister-in-law Erika, I got my camera up.  I didn't take very many photos and these are the two best.  Not wanting to take too many risks my first time out, I kept the camera over the field at Grant Elementary School.
The kite is a Powersled 24, the camera a Canon G3 shooting with the intervalometer.

That's Erika getting into position to catch the camera as I bring it back down.

An old chair and three music stands.
I can't decide if I'm done with this image.

"Reflections of an Infrared Apple and Orange"

Not much to say about this one.  I took the color out of the fruit but left it in the plate and counter top.  The orange was orange and the apple was red and green.  The counter top is white the light was daylight coming in a window.  It's called "Reflections of an Infrared Apple and Orange" because the adjustment to change the fruit was done using Corel's infrared photo effect.

Cheap phone camera pics

I bought a new phone for 1 cent last week. It has a camera.  I Corel'ed this pic.

POSTCARDS

Ilford makes photo paper that is a postcard.  I'm giving away one free postcard with my original black and white  photography gracing the picture side to the next ten people who join up and "follow" my blog.  There is a spot to do that just to the right of this text.  After you join, send me an email with the address you would like me to mail your postcard to. My email is bwlab@yahoo.com.  I promise to not mail you any other junk via USPS or email.  I will chose the photo from my archives.

What fun!

My girls

Thinking about my lovely daughters.  Lisa brought these old photos home from work and I scanned them.  These were taken at Camp Y-Koda when we were the caretakers there.  We guess this 1994.

More digital

I've used Photoshop and other programs to alter scans of my film based photography and my digital images. If you and I take the same image and merely click the "watercolor" option in Photoshop we will get the same image.  So, in my opinion, working an image beyond that is necessary if one is to call it "art."   " Is it "cheating" to take an image and enhance it by one or two clicks of the mouse?  Does a plein air painter cheat by finishing his or her work from a reference photo after the light has faded?

Here is another before and after comparison.  The original image is a Polaroid.  The film was outdated and that gave it the off colored look. (There is a whole group on Flickr dedicated to off color shots.  http://www.flickr.com/groups/polaroid_blue/ ) I have posted this photo there.  

BLUE HEARTS

The after is a combination of three layers done with Corel's software.  I'm loving the "hot wax" effect.

BLEEDING HEARTS

Been away too long.

I was going to do my taxes today but I did this instead.  Before.

And after.  Hot wax and rough edge as well as density control via Corel's PaintshopPhotoPro 3X.

Now I'll cook dinner and then do taxes.