January 17, 2011
Portraits with Holga
As Suzy Menkes once said, the greatest advance in fashion in recent years has been the digital camera. I would add, without presuming to contradict the most illustrious pompadour, that photo editing programs have also brought us much joy, especially for those of us who spent fortunes on analog SLR cameras and never quite mastered them (and who cares, with how interesting they made us look?). Now, with the combination of digital camera and photo retouching, I would dare say that you don't need to be a good photographer to get great satisfaction from your personal photos; ALMOST everything can be resolved in post-production.
Alright, let's start by assuming that framing, composition, and talent are irreplaceable, but for everything else... photos shot in RAW and retouched with Lightroom. Since this also requires knowledge and patience, we can go down one more step where we'll find magnificent programs created for the entertainment of those new to the field. With these programs, you can correct most lighting errors, as well as simulate the most romantic effects of analog cameras. It's curious that now that we are immersed in the digital age, we like photos to look analog.
Let's take this photo, for example, taken with a digital SLR, to which we haven't applied any effects. It's nothing special beyond serving to accentuate my distinguished profile and highlight an insolent gray hair on my parietal (I'm sorry, a what? AAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!! (well, we'll talk about that another day)).
To start, we have PICNIK. With Picnik, you can apply all sorts of effects to your photo without needing to register or waste time. You go in, upload a photo, play around as much as you like (I recommend the 'create' -> 'effects' tab), and then save it. The downside is that since it's an online program, it can sometimes take a while to process.
With Picnik's "cross-process" effect, suddenly the photo has more charm, the colors are more vibrant, the gray hair is less noticeable (I'm sorry, the what? AAAAAAHHHHAAAAAA), and there's a greenish effect reminiscent of negative film photos.
To avoid waiting, there's another program you can download, Toycamera Analogcolor, with which you can give your photos that vintage look that many popular blogs feature. You download it, you get a few trial photos, and if you like it, you just have to pay about 9€ to unlock it and own it forever.
Here, the photo has been treated with several filters from the program that are used as simple slider bars; it's very easy to use. It gives photos a strangely appealing look; if you stare at them for a long time, you'll feel like eating macarons.
In the two previous programs, you can find options to imitate the extinct Polaroids, but for those purposes, my favorite program remains Poladroid. You download it for free, choose the photo you want to convert, and you decide the degree of development by shaking the photo more or less. As André3000 said, shake it like a polaroid picture, c'mon shake it, sha, sha, shake it.
Maximum Poladroid development, we have the revered white frame and not a trace of gray hair (ENOUGH).
Finally, and despite all these tricks, the real, the genuine still exists. I imagine you already know or have heard of the Lomography philosophy. I have two cameras of this type, the Holga and the Supersampler, which make me very happy because they free me from all kinds of pressure when taking photos. You load the film, cross yourself, and start shooting photos under a relaxed principle of "let whatever the gods want come out." There's not much you can do, no framing, no focusing, no overthinking... you aim more or less and BAM! Sometimes something horrible comes out and sometimes something great comes out, neither of which is thanks to you.
None of the following photos have been treated with digital retouching programs; they are exactly as they come out of the negative.
This is an almost backlit photo with Holga; the tunnel effect came out naturally. I could try to repeat it for the next two months and I don't think I'd succeed.
Pink flash over green flash over a pile of snow. It looks like a giant piece of chewing gum exploded.
You can shoot several photos on the same negative. This way, you'll get a fuchsia snowman flying on a saucer through the streets of Madrid.
I still don't understand how the hairband holding the film could have appeared on the negative. You never really know what's going on in there. By the way, that dog is one of my pincushions.
By taking multiple exposures on the same negative, you can have all the friends you want in one photo; here you see David, Paz, and Esther.
The Holga is plastic; you have to seal the slots with plastic tape to prevent light from entering... or not, and you let it enter spontaneously, creating that kind of side filter. Here, the lamps of the Palacio de Fernán Nuñez are mixed with the faces of Mayte de la Iglesia and the Consort. I know, it's strange, but I promise I wasn't doing any weird experiments; I simply forgot to advance the film from one photo to the next.
Here I am with my bipolarity; the one on the right is my white swan and the one on the left is the black. By the way, have you seen Black Swan yet? Wow Natalie. Wow Rodarte.
Alright, let's start by assuming that framing, composition, and talent are irreplaceable, but for everything else... photos shot in RAW and retouched with Lightroom. Since this also requires knowledge and patience, we can go down one more step where we'll find magnificent programs created for the entertainment of those new to the field. With these programs, you can correct most lighting errors, as well as simulate the most romantic effects of analog cameras. It's curious that now that we are immersed in the digital age, we like photos to look analog.
Let's take this photo, for example, taken with a digital SLR, to which we haven't applied any effects. It's nothing special beyond serving to accentuate my distinguished profile and highlight an insolent gray hair on my parietal (I'm sorry, a what? AAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!! (well, we'll talk about that another day)).
To start, we have PICNIK. With Picnik, you can apply all sorts of effects to your photo without needing to register or waste time. You go in, upload a photo, play around as much as you like (I recommend the 'create' -> 'effects' tab), and then save it. The downside is that since it's an online program, it can sometimes take a while to process.
With Picnik's "cross-process" effect, suddenly the photo has more charm, the colors are more vibrant, the gray hair is less noticeable (I'm sorry, the what? AAAAAAHHHHAAAAAA), and there's a greenish effect reminiscent of negative film photos.
To avoid waiting, there's another program you can download, Toycamera Analogcolor, with which you can give your photos that vintage look that many popular blogs feature. You download it, you get a few trial photos, and if you like it, you just have to pay about 9€ to unlock it and own it forever.
Here, the photo has been treated with several filters from the program that are used as simple slider bars; it's very easy to use. It gives photos a strangely appealing look; if you stare at them for a long time, you'll feel like eating macarons.
In the two previous programs, you can find options to imitate the extinct Polaroids, but for those purposes, my favorite program remains Poladroid. You download it for free, choose the photo you want to convert, and you decide the degree of development by shaking the photo more or less. As André3000 said, shake it like a polaroid picture, c'mon shake it, sha, sha, shake it.
Maximum Poladroid development, we have the revered white frame and not a trace of gray hair (ENOUGH).
For those who miss analog black and white (digital isn't the same, we know), there's a Japanese program that transports your photos back to the beginning of the last century, Wanakoto, the texts are in Japanese but you can figure out enough to upload the photo and wait for the final result.
Thanks to the colors and grain, the photo looks like it's from a 1900 newspaper... wanted: delinquent aristocrat. Hoa was the one who showed me this program, thanks boss.
Thanks to the colors and grain, the photo looks like it's from a 1900 newspaper... wanted: delinquent aristocrat. Hoa was the one who showed me this program, thanks boss.
None of the following photos have been treated with digital retouching programs; they are exactly as they come out of the negative.
This is an almost backlit photo with Holga; the tunnel effect came out naturally. I could try to repeat it for the next two months and I don't think I'd succeed.
Pink flash over green flash over a pile of snow. It looks like a giant piece of chewing gum exploded.
You can shoot several photos on the same negative. This way, you'll get a fuchsia snowman flying on a saucer through the streets of Madrid.
I still don't understand how the hairband holding the film could have appeared on the negative. You never really know what's going on in there. By the way, that dog is one of my pincushions.
By taking multiple exposures on the same negative, you can have all the friends you want in one photo; here you see David, Paz, and Esther.
The Holga is plastic; you have to seal the slots with plastic tape to prevent light from entering... or not, and you let it enter spontaneously, creating that kind of side filter. Here, the lamps of the Palacio de Fernán Nuñez are mixed with the faces of Mayte de la Iglesia and the Consort. I know, it's strange, but I promise I wasn't doing any weird experiments; I simply forgot to advance the film from one photo to the next.
Here I am with my bipolarity; the one on the right is my white swan and the one on the left is the black. By the way, have you seen Black Swan yet? Wow Natalie. Wow Rodarte.
I'll leave you now with all these toys, with which I hope you have a great time retouching your photos and bringing your blogs to life.
Happy week,
The Analog Countess.
The Analog Countess.