Digital Camera World » retro photography

Cyanotype Process: digital photography using traditional techniques

jmeyer — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:32:30 +0000

Living in an age of sophisticated digital camera technology it’s easy to forget the extraordinary origins of the photographic process. In this tutorial we’re going to combine elements of digital photography with one of the medium’s oldest techniques, the Cyanotype process. We’ll capture an image using a DSLR and then make a cyanotype print in the beautiful hues of Prussian blue.

The cyanotype process was discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1842 and popularised as a photographic method by the British scientist Anna Atkins, who used it to make photograms of her botanical specimens.

Since then the technique has also been adopted by engineers and architects, who used the process to make duplicates of their large drawings – hence the term ‘blue print’.

After taking a photograph of a flower, we’ll show you how to turn the image into a digital negative in Photoshop. We’ll then explain how to make a cyanotype mixture using raw chemicals, which we’ll use to coat fine art paper.

Next, we’ll expose it to ultraviolet (UV) light – this causes a complex chemical reaction in the iron salts of the mixture, which creates  a rich blue dye (also known as Prussian blue). The final result will be a striking image on the paper.

Once you’ve made your cyanotype mixture you can store it in brown bottles for future use, giving you plenty of opportunities to experiment with the technique.

Try making photogram silhouettes from pressed flowers and leaves, or playing with different exposure times to create unique and striking prints.

The cyanotype process is an amazing technique that captures the magic of the photographic method  in its entirety – and it’s not nearly as complicated as it sounds. So let’s get started…

PAGE 1: What is a cyanotype?
PAGE 2: What you’ll need for your cyanotype kit
PAGE 3: The cyanotype process step-by-step
PAGE 4: How to make your cyanotype print

Pinhole photography: how to take the perfect digital pinhole photo

jmeyer — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:30:38 +0000

Pinhole photography has been around forever, and the dawn of the digital age has given this lo-fi photography artform new life with the ability to convert your DSLR cameras into digital pinhole cameras.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use your digital pinhole camera to take the perfect pinhole photo. From the best camera settings to the optimum pinhole size, everything you need to know to take the perfect pinhole photo is laid out below.

How to shoot perfect digital pinhole photography

Camera settings
On a pinhole there’s no aperture to adjust, and it’s highly likely that your camera meter won’t give you anything approaching an approximately correct reading, so set your camera to Manual, ISO100, and Daylight White Balance. On a bright sunny day try 1 sec, at pre-dawn, try 30 sec.

Once the sun’s above the horizon, you’re likely to be in the 8 sec-range, as we were here. Trial and error is the order of the day; take a shot, check the image and the histogram and, if it’s too dark, try setting a longer exposure or dial in a higher ISO.

0.1mm

0.2mm

0.3mm

0.4mm

The hole thing
There’s an optimum pinhole size, which is calculated taking into account the distance of the sensor to the pinhole. The theoretical best pinhole size for a DSLR is about 0.3mm (which equates to an aperture of f/150 at 45mm).

This should produce the sharpest image possible – any larger or smaller and the resulting image won’t be quite as crisp (as you can see clearly from the comparison shots shown here).

Obviously, the size of the pinhole greatly influences the correct exposure time. The pinhole shape (ideally perfectly round) and the thinness of its edge also have a huge effect on image sharpness and quality.

Essential gear
At midday on a bright, sunny day you can expect a good pinhole to give you a one-second exposure at ISO100. At dawn or sunset, it may be hard to capture enough light in 30 seconds, so a good solid tripod is essential.

A bubble level will help ensure the horizon is straight, and a remote release is also useful. A blob of Blu-Tack or strip of electrical tape makes a great ‘lens cap’ to keep dust out of your camera until you’re ready to shoot.

In the frame
The measly amount of light a pinhole lets through makes it very hard to see through the viewfinder – even with a good eyecup it may still be too dim.

We found Live View works well for most normal daylight lighting conditions. Another option is to use a zoom lens at around 45mm to set the camera position, and then switch to the pinhole ‘lens.

Focus-free
Since you can’t focus a pinhole, even the clearest image you create with one can never be described as crisp! The upside is that everything is equally in focus (or out-of-focus!) from right in front of the pinhole to the distant horizon – experiment by putting your camera in strange locations, such as really close to a foreground object, and enjoy the freedom of almost unlimited depth of field!

What focal length?
The focal length is the distance of the pinhole from the sensor, and this determines your angle of view. Allowing room for the mirror in a DSLR to operate means the closest you can physically mount a pinhole is about 45mm – close to the length of a standard lens.

Taking the 1.6x crop-factor of most cameras into account, this gives an effective focal length equivalent of a 75mm lens on a full-frame camera.

Final pinhole photography tips
Aperture With a normal lens, aperture is adjusted by the aperture blades that open and close, changing the diameter of the hole that allows light into the camera.

With a pinhole, however, the aperture is fixed – and it’s very, very small compared with the apertures you’re used to on regular lenses.

The smaller the hole, the larger the f/number and the greater the depth of field. Aperture is calculated as follows: f/number = focal length/diameter of pinhole.

As focal length is the distance from the pinhole to the camera sensor – in our case 45mm – and we have a 0.3mm diameter pinhole, 45/0.3 gives us an aperture of f/150.

Check for sensor dust
Use a pinhole to check if your camera sensor needs cleaning. The tiny f-stop of the pinhole – f/150 – puts your sensor glass in focus so you can see debris on it.

Tape white paper to a window, set your DSLR to Manual, at 30 secs, and about ISO400 (so the white is one stop from the right of the histogram).

With the camera close to the paper, take a shot while moving the camera slightly. In Photoshop open the image, click Image>Adjustments>Levels, and bring in the histogram end points almost to the white peak.

Any dust will show up as black specks.

Lo-Fi Photography: turn your DSLR into a toy camera

jmeyer — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:30:02 +0000

Lo-Fi photography is enjoying a huge revival at the moment. Using old cameras has become seriously trendy, and there’s now an easy way to get vintage-looking snaps with a modern digital camera.

Cult camera brand Lomography has created a set of plastic lenses for digital cameras so that DSLR users can participate in the lo-fi photography revival.

The Diana+ lenses cost around £30 each and fit onto all DSLRs with a simple plastic adapter (which costs around £15). The collection includes a fisheye and a telephoto as well as the 33mm superwide lens that we tried out.

The lenses are pretty low tech, but that’s part of the fun of lo-fi photography. The unpredictable variations and soft, slightly surreal focus that they produce allow you to create retro snaps without the fuss of film.

Lo Fi Photography step by step: how to turn your DSLR into a toy camera

01 Attaching a Diana lens
Fit the adapter onto the back of the Diana lens and twist clockwise until it clicks into place. Now, mount the Diana lens onto your camera body by aligning the lens with your camera and rotating anticlockwise until the lens locks on and you hear another click.

02 Switch to manual
Switch to Manual mode – your camera won’t recognize the lens otherwise. The aperture is fixed; to adjust the exposure change the ISO and shutter speed. The lens is marked with three distances, so you can estimate how far away your subject is and pick a focal distance to use.

03 Get experimenting
Diana lenses are great for taking portraits and for capturing anything in the middle ground. Try shooting interiors, cityscapes, architecture or garden scenes. The secret is to experiment; the idea is to create unpredictable and surreal takes on everyday scenes.

Instagram to sell users’ photos to advertisers

jmeyer — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:12:01 +0000

Your Instagram photos could soon be used by advertisers whether you want them to or not, according to changes in the photo-sharing website’s terms and conditions.

Instagram has changed its privacy policy, allowing the company to sell its users’ photos to advertisers without giving users any notice.

The Instagram changes will also allow its parent company, Facebook, to access information about Instagram users, as well as other affiliates and advertisers.

Instagram users have until 16 January 2013 to delete their account if they do not want their photos to be subjected to the new terms and conditions.

Following the 16 January deadline the new guidelines will be in place and Instagram users cannot opt out.

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Recreate a vintage Hollywood portrait using Adobe Lightroom

jmeyer — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:00:18 +0000

Learn how to edit your portraits in Lightroom to produce a glamorous Hollywood portrait with a retro appeal. This easy-to-follow Adobe Lightroom tutorial from our friends at PhotoPlus will help you transform your portrait photography from this…

To this…

… in 8 steps. Here’s how you do it…

1. Import your image
Copy your starting image to a folder on your computer, then in Lightroom 4 go to File > Import Photos and Video, and in the Source window browse to the image and select it. By default Lightroom will add the shot to its catalogue without moving it from its original location. Tick your starting image’s thumbnail and click Import – this will bring the shot into Lightroom’s Library module.

2. Crop in close
Click the Develop icon – this opens the image in the Develop module, where you can edit it. The darkroom tools are at the top-right. In our image we’ve cropped into it. To do this click the Crop tool (or press R to select it), and drag the crop overlay’s handle in to tighten the crop around the subject. This removes some of the featureless studio backdrop, and makes our would-be starlet look more prominent in the frame. Click Done to apply the crop.

3. Boost the contrast
Click the Black & White option in the Basic panel to desaturate the shot, and push the Exposure slider up to +0.80 to brighten the skin’s highlights. Next Go to the Tone Curve panel, click the Point Curve drop-down menu, and change it from the default Linear setting to Medium Contrast, to create a curve that produces darker shadows and brighter highlights.

4. Selective tone tweaks
To fine-tune which areas are lighter or darker, scroll down to the B&W panel. We’ve dragged the Red slider down to -20; this darkens tones that are red in the start image, creating striking dark lipstick that contrasts with the skin. We’ve also set the Orange slider to +30 to lighten the skin even more, and reveal more texture in the sweater, and set Purple to +50 to lighten the studio backdrop.

5. Add a vignette
Go to the Post Crop Vignetting section of the Effects panel. Set Style to Colour Priority, then set Amount to +20, Roundness to +70 and Feather to 40. This gently lightens the corners, giving them a faded look that evokes a vintage print and helping our subject’s darker features stand out more.

6. Add some grain
Go to the Navigator window at the left of the interface, and click the 1:1 option to view the shot’s actual pixels. Go to the Grain section in the Effects panel and drag the Amount slider up to 12. Set Size to 40 for larger clumps of film-like grain, and set Roughness to 67. The cool thing about Lightroom’s Grain effects is that they’ll also be applied to areas we blur, creating a more authentic-looking film effect.

7. Enhance the hair
To add sheen to our subject’s hair, click on the Adjustment Brush icon to select it (or press K). Click to place an adjustment ‘pin’ in the hair, then set Exposure to 0.40 and Contrast to 30, and push Clarity up to 100, which will increase the ‘local’ contrast between the strands of hair. Set the brush size to 16.0, and paint over the hair to make the highlights stand out more in contrast to the darker details.

8. Selective blur
Click the New icon in the settings panel, and click to place a second pin near the edge of the hair. Set Exposure and Contrast to 0, and Sharpness and Clarity to -100. Paint around the edges of the hair, and over the lower fifth or so of the subject, to blur those areas and create a shallow depth of field effect.

If you dont have Lightroom follow our walkthrough by downloading a free 30-day trial version of Lightroom 4 from www.adobe.com.

Photoshop collage: turn a single image into a series of overlapping prints

jmeyer — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:29:55 +0000

Within the Photoshop Elements Content Panel lies a treasure trove of Photoshop frames, backgrounds, shapes and other graphics. You can use these to create graphic designs or complement your photos. There are literally hundreds of frames to choose from, but unless you’re making something intentionally ironic or kitsch or have bigger Photoshop effects in mind for your end result, you wouldn’t let most of them anywhere near your images.

However, there are a few exceptions. Towards the bottom of the long list lie four excellent frames with aged, crumpled borders, just like you’d get on old photographs.

We’ve used the vintage-style frames here to make a retro montage inspired by the Polaroid collages of David Hockney.

By overlapping and multiplying the frames and cropping the image in multiple ways, we can make a simple Photoshop collage and transform a single image into a whole series of different prints.

For extra variety, we can also add colour tweaks to some of the prints, making them look even less like parts of one original image. A Photoshop collage is surprisingly quick and easy to do, and opens up lots of creative possibilities.

01 Apply raw tweaks
Drag your start image into the Photoshop Elements workspace. In the Basics Panel, set Temperature 7300, Tint -64, Recovery 25, Blacks 8, Contrast +45, Clarity +18, Vibrance +25, Depth to 8 Bits/Channel. Click ‘Open Image’.

02 Save a JPEG
Go to File> Save As and save the image as a jpeg. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to copy the Background Layer. Highlight the Background layer, go to Edit> Fill Layer. Set Use: White and hit OK. Highlight the top layer and set Opacity to 40%.

03 Add a frame
Go to Window>Content. Set By Type and Frames in the drop-down menus. Scroll down to Vintage Photo 01. Drag it onto your image. Check ‘Show Transform Controls’ in the Move Tool options, then click on the bounding box.

04 Drop in image
Use the bounding box to rotate and resize the frame. Hit Enter when done. Click inside the frame and navigate to the JPEG file you saved earlier, then click Place. Resize and position the image, using the faded layer as a guide.

05 Vary the frames
Continue adding more frames to create a collage. Add the saved JPEG image each time, varying the position, angle and size. Right-click over any frames for options to move the layer to the front or back of the collage.

06 Tweak the colours
When the frames are in position, you can add variety by changing colours. Right-click over a frame layer and choose Simplify Layer. Go to Enhance>Adjust Color> Color Variations and choose a colour tweak. Repeat for all frames.

Quick Photoshop tip  
Once you’ve added an image to a frame, you can double click over it at any time to edit the size and position.

Abstract Photoshop: recreate the Harris Shutter Effect in Elements

jmeyer — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:34:44 +0000

The Harris Shutter Effect is a process discovered in the days of film photography. It’s achieved by taking a sequence of three exposures on the same frame, with a red, green and blue filter used for each.

The resulting effect means static objects in the scene appear in full colour, whereas any elements that moved appear as the colour of the filter used while taking that exposure.

The ability to shoot multiple exposures on one frame is possible with some modern DSLR bodies, but not all, and the process itself can be tricky to get right.

However, with Photoshop Elements it’s possible to get the same results using three standard colour images shot in sequence. In our latest Photoshop Elements tutorial we’ll look at how to use Elements to apply colour fills and blending modes to filter the three shots into their component channels.

The first will display only the red colour information, the second green, and the third blue. After the three images have been filtered and prepared we’ll combine them into a new image.

As the layers are overlaid and combined using blending modes, the static objects, in this case the glass, will appear in full colour, while the water will display the colourful Harris Shutter Effect. So with your images ready, let’s give it a go.

Step-by-step how to recreate the Harris Shutter Effect

01 Create the red channel
Open your start image. Right-click the image layer and from the drop-down menu select Duplicate Layer. Click the half moon icon at the base of the Layers palette and create a new Solid Color layer. We want this first layer to be red so set the values of the layer to R: 255, G: 0 and B: 0.

02 Create green and blue layers
Change the blending mode of the layer to Multiply then select Layer>Merge Down. Duplicate the background layer copy, choose Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation and increase the Hue to 120. Duplicate the green layer, open Hue/Saturation and increase to 120 to create a blue layer.

03 Remove green and blue
Change the blending modes of both the green and blue layers to Screen and then flatten the image. Click the half moon icon in the Layers palette and create a new Solid Colour Adjustment Layer. Set it to R: 255, G: 0 and B: 0. Choose Multiply from the Blending modes drop-down menu.

04 Create the other channels
From the Layers menu select Flatten Image. Repeat 1-3 with the other two images, replacing values of the Solid Color layer in steps 1 and 3 with R: 0, G: 255 and B:0 for the green channel and R:0, G: 0 and B: 255 for the blue. Press Ctrl A, Ctrl C and Ctrl V to paste the green and blue images into the red one.

05 Blend the images
Change the blending modes for the green and blue layers to Lighten then flatten the image. From Tools select the Burn tool. Select Shadows with exposure set to 50%; use this on the black background to remove any highlights. Reduce the Exposure to 5% and use on the glass to improve the contrast.

06 Apply finishing touches
Open Levels with Ctrl L. Move the Shadows and Highlight sliders to meet the edges of the histogram. From the Layer options, select Flatten Image. Open Hue/Saturation. Increase Saturation to +20. Choose Enhance>Smart Sharpen, increase the amount to 50%, set the radius to 1.6 and click OK.

Cross-processing: a simple but effective way to get this classic effect in Photoshop

jmeyer — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 15:30:22 +0000

Cross-processing (or ‘Xpro’) is an effect often used in fashion photography to give the kind of stylised look you can see here.

In the traditional chemical lab, cross processing was achieved by developing a roll of positive film through chemicals intended for negatives, or vice-versa.

Different films and chemicals would produce varying results, but typically you’d see increased contrast and shifts in colour, often with strong yellow highlights and blue shadows.

The cross-processing effect is easy to replicate in the digital darkroom, and as there are no specific rules for cross-processed colouring, you’re free to experiment with different colour shifts. Key to this technique is the Curves command, which gives you control over the Red, Green and Blue colour channels.

You can access Curves in Photoshop CS, but you can also use Curves in Lightroom 4 and Adobe Camera Raw 7 (which we’ve used here).

With Curves you can get the cross-processed look in seconds. And because Adobe Camera Raw (and Lightroom) lets you edit raw files, you’ll ensure the maximum possible quality.

Step by step how to get the look of cross-processing

01 Boost contrast
Navigate to xpro_before.dng in Adobe Bridge then double-click to open it into ACR. In the Basic Panel, set Temperature 5650, Tint +21, Contrast +70, Vibrance +14. These settings aren’t set in stone, we’re aiming to add warmth, boost colours and increase saturation.

02 Add blue shadows
Click the Tone Curve Panel and choose ‘Point’. Select Blue from the Channel drop-down, then drag the bottom-left point of the Curve line upwards and the top-right corner down to make the line slightly more horizontal.

03 Tweak channels
Select the Green channel, then drag the top-right corner point down slightly. Add two new points along the Curve line and make a steep ‘S’ shape.

Next, select the Red channel and make a shallow ‘S’, then do the same on the RGB channel.

Old postcard effects: turn everyday scenes into historical wonders

jmeyer — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:55:10 +0000

Deserted streets and historic buildings make great subjects for a retro photography take on a notable landmark or scene. One way of doing this is to process your images to give them an old postcard look, which enhances the retro photography effect.

The first stage of this process, though, is to capture the scene, which is worth doing early in the morning to avoid the crowds.

This will reduce the amount of cloning you’ll need to do to remove distracting elements. We took our photo of Bath Abbey at around 9am with a wide-angle lens.

The low angle and wide focal length has resulted in converging verticals, which we can correct in Photoshop Elements. Due to the cloudy conditions and poor morning light the image is slightly under-exposed.

This has helped to capture detail in the sky and foreground, but the dull lighting has created a flat and lacklustre image. However, these uninspiring conditions form the perfect starting point for our old postcard shot.

In this tutorial we’re going to correct the converging verticals by using the Perspective Transform tool, and we’ll use layers to create and add realistic film grain and a vignette. We’ll also use the Brush tool and one of its preset brushes to create a border from scratch.

How to recreate an old postcard effect

01 Correct the verticals
To correct the converging verticals, right click the background and choose Duplicate Layer. Choose View>Grid so you have a guide to work from, then Image>Transform>Perspective. Grab one of the corner points and drag away from the image so that the building’s verticals align with the grid.

02 Selective adjustments
Choose View>Grid to switch it off, then pick the Quick Selection tool. Select the sky and then switch to the Magic Wand. Tick Add to Selection and switch Contiguous off. Click a part of the sky that hasn’t been selected, then click Refine Edge and set Feather to 2px and the rest of the settings to 0.

03 Correct the exposure
Select Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels and increase shadows to 175. Right click the Levels layer and select Duplicate Layer. Click the mask and press Ctrl+I to invert it. Adjust the new Levels layer settings so that the shadows are at 14 and highlights at 145. You’ll now have improved contrast and detail.

04 Convert to mono
Select Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation, and reduce the Saturation to -100. Go to Layer>New>Layer and then Edit>Fill Layer and select 50% grey. To add grain choose Filter>Noise>Add Noise, change it to 40 and tick Monochromatic and Gaussian. Click OK and set the layer blending mode to Overlay.

05 Add vignette
Choose Filter>Correct Camera Distortion, darken the vignette to -100 and click OK. Create a new Levels adjustment layer and set the shadows to 30, mid-tones to 0.9 and highlights to 225. Create a new layer and select an area slightly smaller than the image, then press Ctrl+Shift+I and fill it with black.

06 Create the antique border
Use Ctrl+D to deselect, then choose Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, set the amount to 40%, click OK and change the opacity to 70%. Create a new layer and select the Brush tool. Select Preset 36 in the options and set the foreground to white. Paint around the edge, changing brush sizes as you go.

Through the viewfinder photography: shoot through a twin lens reflex

jmeyer — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:30:46 +0000

Through-the-viewfinder photography, otherwise known as TTV, is a great way to spice up your pictures. The idea is to take a picture through the viewfinder of another camera. Naturally, this will reduce the quality of the picture, but it’s precisely this distressed, grungy look we’re after.

You can shoot through the viewfinder of just about any sort of camera, but an old twin lens reflex will give the best results as the viewfinder is big and bright.

As with many of these in-camera lo-fi techniques there’s a far amount of happenstance, trial and error, so you’ll need to experiment with the exposure settings, focus and lighting. It’s good to keep the rough viewfinder border in your shoot as it adds to the ‘vintage’ look.

Chances are the viewfinder of the camera you’re using will be square, but you can crop the edges off easily enough in the digital darkroom. As the viewfinder gives you a mirror image of the object, you may wish to flip it later too.

Let’s see how it’s done…

01 Find an old camera
You’ll need a second camera with a viewfinder to shoot through, ideally a twin lens reflex. We found a secondhand Halina Prefect on eBay for around £15. As it’s rather old there’s a fair amount of dust and scratches, but this just adds to the overall effect.

02 Light leaks
Light may leak in between your camera’s lens and the viewfinder. The solution is to make a box and attach it to the top of the viewfinder with electrical tape. Decide which lens you’re going to use and measure how far your D-SLR needs to be from the old camera before making the shield.

03 The shoot
Take a picture through the viewfinder of the TLR with your Nikon SLR – you’ll have to point your camera down to do this. Use it handheld. Switch your focus ring to manual. You need to focus on the scene in the viewfinder, not the screen itself, and this can throw auto focusing off.