Got a scratch on your negative?
Don’t toss the scratched negative away, instead consider scratching it further in a more
deliberate manner.
You can carve directly into the negative using any sharp tool, such as an artist’s knife. It works just like drawing and outlining, and can certainly leave one feeling creative.
You can then top it off by coloring the negative using highlighter permanent markers.
In order to work on the negative, it’s a good idea to place it on a light box so you can get a clear view of the image while working on it.
However, you don’t have to wait until your negative is scratched in order to alter it…
just pick up one of your negatives and get to work.
When choosing a negative to modify it’s best if you begin with one that is OK but missing the special spark that makes it a standout picture.
And finally, make sure you don’t alter a negative you really like as obviously this is
an irreversible practice.
Same practice can be performed on any of your unsuccessful reversal film images such as the transparency slide below.
You can find this photo process and many others in my new book: So Much More than Photography – eBook edition is now on sale for $10. Get it here
What you need:
• Laser photocopy (black & white or color)
• Gel medium or Mod Podge
• Glass & Tile primer
• White ceramic tile
• A water spray bottle
• UV-resistant clear finish
1) Begin by brushing a good amount of glass & tile primer on your
tile surface to increase transfer adhesion and let it completely dry.
2) Choose a mirror photocopy of the photo to transfer. Images with
a plenty of light areas where the mirror or tile will show through,
work best.
3) Cover the photocopy with a thin layer of mod podge or Gel Medium and place the photocopy face down onto the mirror or tile.
Make sure to gently smooth out any air bubbles between the image and the surface.
4) Let the transfer take place and dry for no less than 24 hours.
5) Spray the back of the photocopy with water and begin to gently rub off and remove the paper to reveal the actual transfer. Repeat this step as many times as needed until all the access paper is completely gone.
6) Protect your artwork with a clear protective finish.
You can find this photo process and many others in my new book: So Much More than Photography – eBook edition is now on sale for $10. Get it here
What you need:
Inkjet Printer
Inkjet Transparencies
Gel medium
Receiving surface
UV-resistant clear finish
This method is quite similar to the basic image transfer except the image is printed onto an inkjet transparency film.
Set your printer to inkjet transparencies settings and print a mirror-image of your photo into the non-shiny side of the transparency.
Coat the background of your choice with gloss Gel Medium and place the image side of the transparency face down into the background surface.
Smooth the transparency softly with your fingers to remove any air bubbles and to help transfer the ink.
Lift the transparency to reveal the transfer.
(After the transfer is done you can use the transparency in a mixed media collage; simply adhere it to your collage using gel medium.)
You can find this photo process and many others in my new book: So Much More than Photography – eBook edition is now on sale for $10. Get it here
This method is a quick and simple way to spice up any photo. The best photo choice to use with this technique is practically any photo you like and want to add a special touch to.
The first thing to do is make a quick painting on canvas, and if this part of the process leaves you feeling intimidated, all I can say is: don’t be. Since all you are doing is creating a background layer for your photo the painting does not need to be a masterpiece, just something that pleases your eye. If it makes you feel better I, myself, had never done any painting on canvas before and had quite a bit of fun experimenting with it.
It’s a good idea to use an unframed canvas panel at
8” X 10” so it will be easy to scan when it’s dry.
You can use any type of paints that work on canvas; I like to use acrylic paints since they
dry quite fast.
Next, scan your work of art at 300dpi and open your photo editor.
Now, open the photo you wish to enhance and make sure your layer palette is visible
(Paintshop Pro: View/Palettes/layers or F8. Photoshop: window/layers or F7).
Place your scanned canvas painting onto a new layer above the photo layer and blend both images by playing with the transparency settings until you like what you see.
You can find this photo process and many others in my new book: So Much More than Photography – eBook edition is now on sale for $10. Get it here
At first I decided to get this camera because I was interested in shooting Holga type images on 35mm. Now, the more I shoot this camera the more I like it. In fact, it became my “default” camera; always with me, in my bag, on every outing even when I ride my bike.
The Holga 135BC is a 35mm version of the Holga, where BC is for black corners. Basically it’s a smaller Holga that is adapted to take 35mm film and includes the Holga’s signature dark vignetting. This plastic camera is sold for $42 at Freestyle. It is ridiculously light and very easy to shoot on the go, two characteristics that are an apparent benefit in street photography.
The Holga 135BC produces interesting photos, and in fact they look a lot like the photos produced by the Lomographic Lomo L-CA except with a better price, which brings me to the question: if both of these plastic cameras produce similar results why pay the Lomographic Society $250 or more for another piece of plastic? It doesn’t make sense, right?
In fact, I think that even $42 is a little too expensive for a toy camera.
Here is an example of double exposure. Endless fun.
eBook details:
So Much More than Photography
by Nitsa
PDF, 174 pages.
Special pre-release price: $10
So Much More than Photography is a book of ideas and inspiration for creative and experimental photography.
The first part of the book encourages photographing without following the rules while at the same time exploring new methods and ideas to approach photography.
The second part of the book shares numerous ways to present your photographs artistically such as Image transfers, texture layers, mixed media photography and so on. You will see how easy it is to take your ordinary photos to the next level and you don’t even have to attend an art school or have any special skills to utilize these creative techniques.
The third section includes an article about Print on Demand, selected entries from my photography blog, and final thoughts.
All the processes shared in the book are the product of many experiments, endless trial and errors, I made in the last couple of years. I hope you will find these techniques easy to do and most of all they will inspire you to create your own photo-art work.
So Much More than Photography [PDF]
PRICE: $10
Thank you for your support!
BOOK CONTENTS
Part one: Why you don’t need to follow the rules – Intro to non.photorapy – no rules – The science (art?) of photography – Abandoning the rules – Street photography – Accidental Work – Unplanned and unstaged photography -The challenges of street photography – Photographing on the move – Constructing a street photograph – Alternatives in street photography – Photographing in the rain – Shooting in the fog – Sky, sunset & sunrise
Photographing at night – Long exposure – Flash effects – Motion panning – Zoom lens effect – Shoot different cameras
Part two: Unconventional and creative photography techniques – The cameras we use – Polaroid – Holga – Other toy cameras – expensive cheap cameras – Diana – Lubitel 166 – Holgaroid – Classic cameras – Best camera for street photography – Film and scanning techniques – Cross processing – Tungsten film – Time Zero film – Multiple exposures – Expired and damaged film – Extreme and creative scanning – The negative as a frame – Computer techniques – Canvas background layer – Aging a color photo with coffee – Adding texture to a photo – Make your own textures – Texture from a mixed media collage – Working with textures and layers – Fake HDR – Positive/negative composite – Inkjet transfer – Basic image transfer (inkjet) – Perfect photo transfers – Transferring with transparencies – Xerox (photocopy) image transfer – Test transfer – Packing tape transfer – Paint transfer – Mixed media transfer – Transfer to mirror or ceramic tile – Gel Layer transfer – Aluminum foil transfer -Transfer to Polaroid – Paint a transfer – More transfer ideas – Hand coloring and painting photos. – Modified negative – Distressed prints – Mixed media and journaling – Slicing and reassembling a photo – Print on Demand – Which Print on Demand should I choose? – Standard books POD (Lulu & CreateSpace) – Publishing a Photo book – Lulu Studio – Blurb BookSmart – Publishing on Amazon – Marketing your book – Selling at your local bookstore – Online Marketing – Website/Blog – Search Engine Optimization – Join an Online Network – Link exchange – Book review – Social Networks – RSS feed – Marketing services – Paid advertisement – Document sharing services – Tools you can use – Photo editing: Paintshop Pro – FTP Client: FileZilla – Blog: WordPress
You can choose any surface for this mixed media background but I prefer wood surfaces such as artist wood panel or any type of wooden blocks.
What you need:
wood panel.
An old newspaper or pages from an old dictionary.
Gel Medium
White and black Acrylic paints
A big nail
1) Thoroughly cover the wood surface with acrylic black paint and let it completely dry.
2) Use white acrylic paint to cover over the black paint, but let the black paint show through in some areas.
3) Use a big nail or a screw or any other tool to scratch and distress the surface.
4) Using gel medium adhere a few pieces of old newspaper or old dictionary pages and lightly cover them with white paint.
What you need: Any size canvas or hardboard panel.
An old newspaper or any designer/art paper.
Mod Podge.
Acrylic or water paints
Optional: distress ink.
Its true you can make some beautiful textures on your PC and it will probably be an easier, faster and a cleaner process. However, if you like the direct contact with the materials, you will sure
love this process.
Ok, now on to the details:
Cover the canvas panel with an old newspaper or a textured paper adhering it with Mod Podge. Make sure your work is sloppy and not smooth so there are creases and bumps to the newspaper.
Paint one thin layer of paint covering the newspaper. Wait until it’s almost dry, add a drop of water to a different color and paint another layer letting the layer beneath show through
in some places.
Cover your work of art with any clear finish; Mod Podge can be used for this purpose as well.
When it’s dry and ready you can scan it and use it as a background texture for your images.
(Another great application for this thing is to use it as a background for your photo print which you are going to frame and proudly display by your bed.)
The texture I used for the above picture came from the back cover of an old book which I scanned and used as a background.
I’m especially happy with it since the book cover I used here is actually one of my favorite books; I Claudius by Robert Graves, which was printed in 1932 and probably had seen better days.
People keep asking me all the time where can they download or even buy textures from. So this is just a suggestion to show you that you can easily find your own textures if you just look around.
If you don’t know how to use layers in Photoshop there are many online tutorials to help you learn it fast. Here are just a couple: www.ehow.com/ and http://tv.adobe.com/
The next few posts are going to feature texture layers; how to work with them and also I’ll show you how to create your own textures.
* * * * * * *
The fastest way to add a new dimension to a picture is to open your photo editor and insert an additional layer of texture. This method is quite simple and mainly involves placing one or more layers that contain texture, on top of your original photo.
In addition to bringing a layer of depth, these textures often introduce the illusion of dust, dirt, stains and creases to the photo and create a final grungy and dramatic appearance.
The texture can be made on the computer, as many of the existing graphics software offer tools for making such textures and backgrounds. However, I find it incomparably effortless to simply scan homemade textures or even designer papers (sometimes called scrapbooking or decorated paper). Often, people prefer to use found textures such as peeling paint, leaves, fabrics, rust or scratched surface, which they capture on film (or digitally) and set as backgrounds for their images.
Whatever textures you choose for your art work, you will blend them in your photo editor on different layers so that your photo will act as the background layer. Play around with the transparency and blending mode settings to let the textures show through your photos.
When blending the textures with your photo, you can insert as many layers as you wish – don’t limit yourself to one type of texture; you can combine as many texture layers as you like for a unique edge.
The reason this technique is so effective is because people are often drawn to texture, especially when it is unexpectedly found in a two dimensional image.
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