It's an Illusion, Just an Illusion................ (Part 1)

Someone once said that, back in the nineteenth century I think about photography in general. So today with crisp sharp focus, perfect colour and the ability instantly to retake a photograph a look back at the past perhaps. Well not to far back!

With my interest in vintage or old fashioned photography in general. It was only a matter of time before I started manipulating my own photos into something older.

At first my attempts were quite basic

1. Find a suitable photograph.
2. Convert to black & white
3. Add noise and dirt
4. Tone it to sepia
5. Find a suitable frame and merge the two together.

This is the sort of result you get -

The Suffragette 

I am quite fortunate in living near to Beamish the North of England Living Museum and this lady enactor neatly dressed as a suffragette for the 1913 town scape, provided the perfect model.

OK the streets are a bit clean for a real 1913 shoot and the models figure is defiantly 21st Century. 

Overall though not a bad attempt I think.

However as time has gone on I have thought about something more realistic.

A couple of years ago I happened to be in Portadown, Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland just as it was hosting it's "Country come to Town' Carnival. Lots of traction engines vintage cars and the police tractor (honestly!!)

For me however the stars of the show were the Ulster Edwardian Lady Cyclists, and here they are -

The Ulster Edwardian Lady Cyclists

Don't they look great? Six ladies of ascending years not only dressed for the occasion and riding period cycles, but they really do look the part.

I spent hours, or it seamed like it carefully cuting out the background until only the ladies themselves remained. Then I tried adding them to some of the vintage street scenes I have in my back catalogue - but nothing worked. I shelved the project for a couple of years and have only just returned to it, when I had an idea.....................

But more of that next time.

A Clydeside Boardwalk

"A Clydeside Boardwalk"

"I have to confess, I have something of a soft spot for the River Clyde, Lanarkshire and the town, actually The Royal Burgh, of Lanark. Just a mile or so away from where this photograph was taken. 

This charming walkway provides visitors to The Falls of Clyde from New Lanark through the Falls of Clyde Nature Reserve, managed by The Scottish Wildlife Trust."

This is what I wrote to describe this autumn or early winter riverside scene when I posted it on Flickr on the 16 December 2017. It was well recieved with, so far just under 500 views but 22 Favs and a sprinkling of comments it can be viewed on the page by following this link  

A Clydeside Boardwalk

However an autumn scene was not what was on my mind when I shot the photo in early October when the leaves were still very green. What I did have in mind was an HDR shot. Si I took three exposures one correct, one under and one over here are the originals:

Ten_36701

Ten_36702

Ten_36703

With the intention of later producing an HDR something like this -

"HDR Boardwalk"

However as often happens, other photo projects got in the way and this went by the wayside. But then I found I had nothing to post just before Christmas which I had timed to celebrate my 2000th photo on Flickr (yes it was The Redhead, but more of that post later) Looking around in my archive for something suitable (it could not be The Redhead) I stumbled over this and thought, Indian Summer Filter and as if by magic the finished result, as posted appeared. It did of course help that the trees in the forground are fairly young so did not have many branches or leaves.

I would be interested to know which photo you prefer, 

"A Clydeside Boardwalk"

OR

"HDR Boardwalk"

In my teens and early twenties I had a mild fascination for infrared photography. Back then (in the late sixties early seventies) there was not much infrared film stock available. I could only obtain Kodak Black & White Infrared, but I knew that others were available.

I obtained some film and found that - to my relief It could be processed in normal Kodak chemistry - I had to go out and buy the developer as my normal developer Ilford Ifosol and Persoptol, I was unsure if I could use! So I purchased a packet of Kodak D-76 (yes a packet, it was a powder like many developers then)

Went out and started taking photos - for some reason I concentrated on people - this was the sixties of course and being different was the norm!

This is the kind of results I achieved - Weird but not to my eyes unappealing.

Then I found out that the real use of this medium should be landscapes, trees, woods that sort of thing.

And this was the result, not exactly grabbing your attention is it?

Lacking depth of  contrast and definition, so I gave up.

Then in 1976 after marrying The Redhead, I thought I would have another go - just to see if I had improved my techniques.

The answer as you can see was a triumphant NO. So I really did give up, or so I thought.

Along with digital photography comes digital processing, this can be where a fairly lacklustre photograph can sparkle and shine. And tucked away inside of the free and excellent Color Efex Pro 4 is the ability to produce dramatic and beautiful images.

So back to The Dene, this time after a snowfall and with just an iPhone and some post-processing this is how infrared Photography should look and in glorious COLOUR!!!