First Tests On Promaster Paper

We reported the arrival of the new Promaster inkjet printing paper last week. When the place settled down on Friday we cranked two sheets of the Ultra Premium Metallic paper through the shop Epson 3880 to see what it was like.

Metallic paper is a bit of a fooler - you look at the surface straight out of the packet and it looks sort of dull - the silvery sheen can seem  a little grey in normal light. it is an illusion - turn the part to the light source and it flashes back.

So - the image size had to be adjusted in the printing program as these papers are the US Letter size - 8 1/2 by 11 inches. No real problem with Epson as there is a menu section that has all these sizes in a list - pick one and it will know what you want. As an aside, I was amazed that there should be such a variety of sizes all around a general theme...but then I reflected that there were no real sizes standards in the 1830-1890 period and studios just did whatever they thought was right...

Back to the paper. The images chosen were a southwestern water scene in colour and a Singapore cityscape in monochrome. both detailed and contrasty - they needed snap.

The recommendation on the net from Promaster re. Epson printers is that the high-speed option be turned off with this paper. It took about double the time for the printing but both images were delightful. Sharp, contrasty, good blacks and the highlights threw back the silver instantly. Glossy to the max - rather like the flashiest Epson papers.

We will open other sample packets and try other images on different surfaces. As it is, this one looks like a letter-sized winner.

Multicoloured Bingo Card Now In Stock

Those of you old enough to have someone else's teeth in your mouth will recognise the heading image. McBeth Colour Checker. X-Rite Colour Checker. Piece of cardboard with standardised colour panels on the front. Everybody's got one and everybody can talk the same colour over the phone because they are all the same.

Prop one up in the leading frame of your studio, wedding, or film shoot and then look at what you've got when you see it on the main computer screen at home. Curse, shout, or smile, as the occasion takes you, but in the end do whatever you need to do to get the output to equal the Colour Checker.

The panels have been variously described as Caucasian or African skin, Foliage Green, Sky Blue, etc. About the only really definite statement you can make is that there is a cyan, yellow, and magenta and a pretty good blue, green, and red there. Plus a white to black progression. The nipple pink block in the middle is the colour that Canadians get when they mix all the remnant tins of paint in the garage together to get enough to paint the back porch. The purple patch next to it is the same thing but in this case it pertains to Finnish-Canadians. Trust me on this...

The surface is matt and the colours are fast - mine has stayed the same for decades. And the cardboard is really sturdy - you can beat your studio assistant about the ears with it and it won't fall apart.

Happiest Masking Tape In The World

Okay, kids, it's getting fun around here again.

Our video and filming expert, Melissa, has ordered a big box of specialised products and they have arrived. Some of them are strange to a still photographer but sound useful nevertheless. Note that the video and film people already know about them so they can just come in and buy straight away.

Remember in a previous post I mentioned gels? Well the Rosco ones are the ones Melissa ordered - the big ol' box of large gels was whisked off to a film shoot but there is no reason that we cannot get more. We've got he small packs in right now.

The multicoloured stack at the top of the post is a masking tape-like set of rolls that are used apparently to mark out actor's positions on sets and to colour code various items for smooth production work.  Very Cheerful!

Joe's Sticky Stuff is a roll of ribbon gel that is similar to the adhesive that they stick free gifts onto magazine covers - sort of a plasticized hot glue ribbon. It is used to temporarily stick filters onto lenses and can be peeled off without leaving a residue. I see it in my table-top studio as a wonderful way to secure props without having to make complex supports for them. It is clear and re-usable.

Apparently there is also a great good line of different gaffer tapes available - some matt black for plugging up light leaks, and some stronger than regular types. Who knows what has been stuck to what with this stuff...

More reports as she sets things out.

Take One Tablet And Call Me In The Morning

As long as it is a Wacom Intuous Pro tablet, that is. Good news is that you can call me wirelessly...

Okay, okay, enough of this. the new Wacom Intuous Pro computer tablets are here and the real difference between it and the Intuous 5 is that the new Pro has the wifi connection built in.

I am a great fan of the Wacom tablets - I have an Intuous 3 on my home computer and a Bamboo here on the laptop. They are the preferred method of image manipulation with the Aperture or Photoshop programs - you can get a far finer control for selection than ever you could with a mouse. Indeed, I only use a mouse for some typing programs, and that is getting rarer.

You get the lot with the Pro - stylus pen, electronic inkwell (?) tablet, battery, computer link, and a cord for battery charging. The freedom of position and the absence of clutter for your digital desktop is marvellous. I believe there is also provision to get quite a number of related programs as well - creative software like Adobe Photoshop Elements and Coreldraw.

Thoroughly recommended for anyone who does ANY post production. More good than a new lens.

I Need A Camera For Street Photography...

It is surprising how often we encounter this request. Setting aside the cynical thought that you could photograph actual streets with ANYTHING...and realising that the search is really for a camera that will photograph people without attracting attention, we come to a set of basic questions:

1. Where are these streets? Foreign or domestic? Do you want to haul something that is electricity -dependent?

2. What are the streets like? Dark and twisty or open and bright? Big fast lens or small slow lens?

3. What is coming down the street? Mardi Gras float or a burst of anti-tank fire?

4. Who are the people on the street. See question No.3.

5. Why do you want the pictures? Newspaper, magazine, Facebook, Gloatbook?

6. Gotny money? Gotnuff money? Gottoomuch money?

7. How bad do you want to keep the camera?

With all these answers factored in we can give cogent advice.

1. If you are going to go where Edison never trod - Elbonia or Whackistan- you are going to encounter no electricity. Either take 2 dozen charged lithium-ion batteries with you - at the risk of being heaved off the airplane - or settle for a film camera and the risks of the X-ray machine.

2. Big lens -him mean f:1.8, 1.4., 1.2, 1.1,  or 0.95. See in dark like cat. Take picture with fast shutter speed. Weigh like elephant. Cost like sin.

Little lens slow - work only in daytime. Cheap and light. 

3. Want a piece of that? Step out and click away.

4. Me friend. You no shoot friend. Me shoot you. Umm, I could have put that better...ummm...Me friend of Chief. You no shoot. Please.

5. If you want to hit the big time, shoot Leica M. Or Leica X2 or X-vario. Or Fuji X-Pro1 or X-E1. If you want Facebook or Gloatbook, shoot Fuji X-M1 or X-20 or Canon G15-16.

6. We can suit all pockets, provided you are prepared to put your hand in your own, rather than ours...

7. Okay. Flash that Leica M down the back street in Bogota at 2:00AM to impress the crowd of cocaine addicts.  Or discreetly snap with your X-10 in Bourke Street Mall at lunchtime. You can write the scenario for yourself after the first shot. 

* Heading image: Ricky Rodd-Shau at the diner.

Poke De Button And See What Happen...

I'm so relieved. A customer rang up and asked a question about a D800 Nikon and I answered it correctly. She poked the button and turned the wheel and it worked. My time here is not wasted.

I am bitterly depressed. A customer came in to claim a lay-by and it took 15 minutes of frustrated computer mousing and poking - and then a temper outburst - and then a rescue by our overworked IT man - to solve a simple procedure. We have the fatal combination a new computer program and an old employee...

I am thoughtful. One of our customers has just bought a new camera that only takes black and white pictures. I believe he is a wildlife photographer who specialises in penguins, pandas, and magpies.

I am impatient. International Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming and I can't wait to bring the parrot and the cutlass to work. Would the double-barrelled pistol be over the top, do you think? Arrrrrrr.

And tomorrow is Saturday. Three hours of the sort of trading situation that reminds me of 1944 films of kamikaze atttacks. Crew frantically serving the computers and customers coming in from all directions. Occasional explosions. New computer program demanding attention and, like a 2 year-old in a toy store, not letting anything happen until it is satisfied...

So. How's your Friday going?

* Heading picure: Ricky Rodd-Shau to make you feel better.

Ooh - Look At All The Coloured Lights!

1960's and 1970's - heyday of the coloured gel in the studio. With the new flash systems you could put a piece of extremely expensive cellophane in front of the and fire them off and get funky effects. We knew they were funky because we saw them in advertisements in German magazines. A lot of us weren't exactly sure what funky meant, but...

Reel forward ( Reel? I will explain reels to you later children, once the arthritis medicine kicks in.) to now and the necessity of applying delicate touches of colour to studio work. See the heading illustration. All major flash makers produce some form of gel holder for their light shapers - generally it will clip onto the front of a standard reflector:

You can enclose the gel in a cardboard frame or you can slip it in there palin. What you cannot do is slip in a piece of cheap newsagency cellophane over a modelling light (I'll explain cellophane children, as soon as the gout medicine ramps up.) as it will melt, catch fire, or start twerking. You have to use real gels designed to withstand heat.

Enter the Rosco Gels. Here are a variety of them in convenient packets. You can get colour correction, violent tints, diffusion sheets, or theatre colours. Better still, I see the Rosco people can also supply the stuff in rolls - 48 inches wide and 100 square feet on he roll. This means you could gel a soft box as easily as you could do it on a standard reflector. The big rolls are a special order through us but the small packets are in-store now.

One thing to remember with gels. Too much is rarely enough.