hold•life•still
Not to get too deep on a Friday, but I have a theory that Pinky and the Brain are nothing more than a representation of two parts of the same mind. Combined they would accomplish so much, but Brain never appreciated what Pinky brought to the table so that they would fail each time. A perfect simile for two significant aspects of my own life. If only I could get them to work as a team instead of sabotaging each other. When in doubt, Team Pinky… Narf.
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The pollen washed away and made some art.
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A simple scene.
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Rainy out there.
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The thought was Minion would be hanging out in a puddle since it is raining. It led to some complications, one the Minion floats, so he was not cooperative at all. Then the shots I got were kind of boring, the puddles were dirty, the reflection was not as I liked. I settled, see below. I was going to post one and then I saw the mini Barbie on the shelf, yes I have a mini Barbie on a shelf, no I am not sure why. So, I figured new photo, they that turned into its won challenge, getting the Minion to stand, to be at the same height so they could hold hands, what would the background be, Barbie does not stand at all. So, a few rocks from Iceland, used Gum to stand Barbie, a notepad, a wallet and some change to prop things up and here we are, the Beach Date.
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The things you find in your backyard.
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I spent this beautiful spring morning having my photo taken by one of my personal favorite photographers, Corey Prince. This is not an easy thing to do, we have been trying to schedule this for awhile, even had to cancel due to weather last week. See this is not your normal portrait session, this was 1800 style. He took 3 shots in 2.5 hours, while I documented the process with my camera, 40 shots on my side. Set up the shot, get the focus lined up, then head to the darkroom to sensitize the plate, about 5 minutes later go back to the camera, verify the focus, add the plate, tell the subject not to move, expose the plate by removing the homemade lens cap, we were doing about 7 seconds with the light available. Cap the camera, pull the plate, head back to the darkroom, developer, bath, fixer, all under red light and watch the magic. Put in the drying rack which it will stay for about a day, then it will be scanned, then heated over a flame so the varnish can be added. I should get my final photos later this week.
In between all that, we were geeking out about the equipment and the process. I am trained as a film photographer, actually have taught and had my own dark room. Corey has taken it few steps further into the past and has learned from some of the master of this plate photography process. A great way to spend a morning. And for a person who really does not have many photos of themselves, nor really like having a photo taken, I will cherish these. Dan calls the one where I am looking away my Darwin impression.
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Focus stacking is taking multiple photos, at different focal points, of a subject and combining them to create a greater depth of field. The photo above is one of 250 photos taken for tonight’s photo. Though in this case it might had not be necessary for that many, I wanted to play with the process. So each shot was taken at f3.2, a very shallow depth of field starting with the first black key on the left in focus. Then with the camera on a tripod in a fixed spot, 249 more shots were taken moving the focus point slightly each time. Using a software called HeliconFocus I ‘stacked’ or merged them to one shot, shown below. Why below and not above? Well the plan was for the dailypic to be the 250 stacked shot. It took 7 minutes to take all the photos, another 20 to let them get processed, when it was done, I did not like the photo. To me it is boring, it does not tell me anything. But the one I chose above, number 202 in the series, seems more like me, i love how it leads you right to that key. Below are also a handful of single shots from the 250 to give you a sense of how tight each shot was that made the full image. It is a cool process, I tend to use it with macro toys shots (think the Hot Wheel cars from last week) more than anything, usually only 10-20 shots is all I need.
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I am trying to work some more toys in the dailypic, I get comments from some that there has not been enough. Not sure if it is because my kids are older or laziness, but I will work on it.
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The yard’s first crocus bloomed, yet I still have not put the snowblower away.
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Some Ghostbusters.
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A friend has loaned me their collection of Hot Wheels from 1969. These things are older than me and for the most part, in better condition. The Redlines, Hot Wheels with the red markings on the tires, were die cast cars from 1968-1977. I know I had some of the latter, but nothing this old, and nothing that was kept in such great condition. Check out each one they had below, none of them are edited, this is how they look. I think these would look awesome blown up, some pretty cool art disguised as kids toys.
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