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Posts for: Timmers
Dec 24, 2018 07:41:52 #
Thanks! We were talking during a break from the first set about WW II, she had never herd of Foo Fighters except as a band! LOL!!! Then I told her about the graffiti with "Kilroy Has Here!" and that being a bald head, huge nose and hands holding onto the imaginary wall, that got slapped up every where at the front by Americans. She was amazed, never heard of that before, but she knew what FOOBAR meant (giggles!).
BUT! I will be doing more images with Cristi and next weekend with VADA, but they will be in the 'Nude Forum", saints preserve us! there is something about this studio, women just seem to fall out of their close! LOL!!!
BUT! I will be doing more images with Cristi and next weekend with VADA, but they will be in the 'Nude Forum", saints preserve us! there is something about this studio, women just seem to fall out of their close! LOL!!!
Dec 24, 2018 07:22:20 #
If any one is looking for POP type paper look for Salted Paper and Albumen Papers. These papers are used to make the old style 'PROOFS' by contact printing to certain light sources, mainly the sun. The term HYPO is a real photographic bit of terminology. If the supplier is Eastman Chemical Division/Eastman Kodak then you are wanting Sodium thiosulfate, Hypo Prismatic Type. To get this chemical locally go to and large swimming pool supplier, it is the chemical used to stabilize chlorine when a mistake in excessive chlorination is made. (You don't drain the pool!). It is a real thing. Kodak use to sell it in large cardboard barrels.
To dissolve any fixing agent (hypo or powdered fixer) you place a vat of water and put the dry fixer compound in cheese cloth and suspend the cheese cloth in the top of the vat of warm, NOT hot water. This is how Kodak dissolves powders to make their liquid fixer even today. This process of osmotic dispersal is the most efficient way to dissolve this type of chemical compound.
In technical literature this compound is sited as 'simple fixer' it has the quality of removing only non-metallic silver, it will NOT attack the silver image that has formed, there for it is 'safe' to have prints in the bath without regards to timing. The other two types of fixer are the 'neutral' or non-acid fixers, these are Sodium thiosulfate and have chemical added to alter their state to a more active/acidulated form, these are supplied as both dry and liquid forms. The term RAPID in the titling of a fixing agent is Ammonium thiosulfate and comes ONLY as a concentrated liquid form.
Confusion as to the ins and outs of 'fixing' are rampant as misinformation. Fixer does not dissolve or dilute into water, the liquid fixer absorbs the water and so is said to 'mix' into a different state. This is the origin of the truthful idea of clearing a print (B&W) in a fixing bath, then doubling the time to clear, this is because the print must 'clear' first and then the actual fixing reaction takes place.Take a color print (analogue) and wet half the print in tap water, observe that the water side color print will take on a bluish state because it us wet. Then place the print into a tray of undiluted Rapid Fixer, the blue disappears in a few seconds. The Rapid fixer has absorbed the water, yet the liquid fixer is so dense that it can not cross the burrier of the color prints gelatin layer. In this fashion one can remove the excess surface water and immerse a standard B&W or color print and evaluate the image as if it is in a dry state for darkroom work. The fixer is kept and still usable as a print fixer for B&W work.
There are many, many aspects in photography that are not understood, once explained one sees more deeply into the crafting of image making.
To dissolve any fixing agent (hypo or powdered fixer) you place a vat of water and put the dry fixer compound in cheese cloth and suspend the cheese cloth in the top of the vat of warm, NOT hot water. This is how Kodak dissolves powders to make their liquid fixer even today. This process of osmotic dispersal is the most efficient way to dissolve this type of chemical compound.
In technical literature this compound is sited as 'simple fixer' it has the quality of removing only non-metallic silver, it will NOT attack the silver image that has formed, there for it is 'safe' to have prints in the bath without regards to timing. The other two types of fixer are the 'neutral' or non-acid fixers, these are Sodium thiosulfate and have chemical added to alter their state to a more active/acidulated form, these are supplied as both dry and liquid forms. The term RAPID in the titling of a fixing agent is Ammonium thiosulfate and comes ONLY as a concentrated liquid form.
Confusion as to the ins and outs of 'fixing' are rampant as misinformation. Fixer does not dissolve or dilute into water, the liquid fixer absorbs the water and so is said to 'mix' into a different state. This is the origin of the truthful idea of clearing a print (B&W) in a fixing bath, then doubling the time to clear, this is because the print must 'clear' first and then the actual fixing reaction takes place.Take a color print (analogue) and wet half the print in tap water, observe that the water side color print will take on a bluish state because it us wet. Then place the print into a tray of undiluted Rapid Fixer, the blue disappears in a few seconds. The Rapid fixer has absorbed the water, yet the liquid fixer is so dense that it can not cross the burrier of the color prints gelatin layer. In this fashion one can remove the excess surface water and immerse a standard B&W or color print and evaluate the image as if it is in a dry state for darkroom work. The fixer is kept and still usable as a print fixer for B&W work.
There are many, many aspects in photography that are not understood, once explained one sees more deeply into the crafting of image making.
Dec 24, 2018 06:34:29 #
My friend the model VADA playing in the big present box. Just like her cats! Just what is it about cats and cardboard boxes?
Check out Photo Critique Section section of our forum.
Dec 24, 2018 04:30:34 #
Please note this statement is in error
" "Kodalk" for Kodak balanced alkalai = sodium metaborate octahydrate"
Kodalk was a chemical trade secret and it acted on papers differently than Kodak balanced alkali = sodium metaborate octahydrate. This was important when toning was done and the two chemicals reacted differently. As far as I can determine Kodalk is no longer available as a product or formulation.
" "Kodalk" for Kodak balanced alkalai = sodium metaborate octahydrate"
Kodalk was a chemical trade secret and it acted on papers differently than Kodak balanced alkali = sodium metaborate octahydrate. This was important when toning was done and the two chemicals reacted differently. As far as I can determine Kodalk is no longer available as a product or formulation.
Dec 24, 2018 04:20:22 #
Organization of 'folders' started for me before I herd of computers, now it is a breeze. Every single folder and folders get a code to serch with. A NAME, like VADA, Kathy, Cats. But the big one was the six digit number appended to EVERYTHING, even individual images. It is the date when the images were created... DAY/MONTH/YEAR Oddly enough it also tells me as I go back when I did that session. If I do two shoots on the same day, I use the day or day before or after. A search for a specific image, I have the day date. If I want the image, when saving an image I put the naming (VADA for example), then the date 6 digit and save the four digit number generated by the camera. If I send an image all of that goes to the recipient.
I will also add that everything that relates to that shoot goes into a single folder titled 'Master', then sub folders marked as VADA 122318.01 and folders marked Edit 01 and the critical folder marked WORK. If I return to do additional actions in future I will generate a new folder WORK 2 or WORK 123018. I don't do much reworking but sometimes I do.
The secret is to have a system that requires no memory but guides you to the source. The best example is when a model/friend/client asks for something I ask them to view the image title VADA 122318.3421 and I can locate and know exactly what image they are looking into. That is a system that works!
I will also add that everything that relates to that shoot goes into a single folder titled 'Master', then sub folders marked as VADA 122318.01 and folders marked Edit 01 and the critical folder marked WORK. If I return to do additional actions in future I will generate a new folder WORK 2 or WORK 123018. I don't do much reworking but sometimes I do.
The secret is to have a system that requires no memory but guides you to the source. The best example is when a model/friend/client asks for something I ask them to view the image title VADA 122318.3421 and I can locate and know exactly what image they are looking into. That is a system that works!
Dec 24, 2018 04:02:29 #
Items of interest to everyone.
First you can NOT steel a Leica. Register it with E. Leitz, if stolen it will eventually need 'repair' E. Leitz tracks EVERY serial number from the first body and lens. If 'stolen' it is returned through Interpol or in the US to the FBI for return. But you must register gear with E. Leitz.
Now a little somethings that many do not know, in a fire what survives in the refrigerator. Truth, ask your fire department, it is really true, they will confirm this. In New York fire departments report the fall through of refrigerators several floors and survive.
Next, the number one cause of fires in residential fires (around 80%) in the US are the duel outlet design on walls (Europe after WW II went to single outlet design, so much less fires). A continuity tester is about $10 at Home Depot in the electrical department. I test my surge protected 200 AMP fused building every six months and replace any suspect outlets.
I carry a tester when I leave my building to do images on location with flash power bases. Nothing can kill a good flash faster that a poorly grounded or cross polarized out let or extension cord.
Now for the one that will drop your jaw! The refrigerator/freezers survive all that fire and the water that usually does more damage than a fire. So with that in mind, take the old refrigerator and gut all the electrical/cooling system and use it to store your gear AND all your electronic media back up plus all your important papers, negatives and the like. You can even secure it to a concrete slab and put a heavy locking system on it if you wish.
Lastly, a refrigerator that was the cooling system and electrical removed, properly marked and painted meets or exceeds OSH requirements for flammable storage. The source of this is The University of Texas at Austin Texas, Department of Physical Plant. No dummies there, why not use old refrigerators as a second source of flammable storage lockers instead of spending moneys of commercial lockers? You can do the same, old fridge in the corner of the garage painted and marked.
Ok, one last item, remove the quick release from your garage door, get rid of it, you need it once in a blue moon and can manually do the release from a ladder. Why, It is the number one way that thieves enter a residence other than a sliding glass door (use a length of closet pole from Home Depot to seal sliding glass doors). Call and ask the installers of garage doors, or go by, they will show you the steel jimmy they carry on all their trucks! And don't fell dumb, I was stunned to discover that the San Antonio Fire Departments knew nothing about the jimmies, but now they do as they hooked up with a big garage door installer who gave them one to make more for their trucks and showed them how to use them.
First you can NOT steel a Leica. Register it with E. Leitz, if stolen it will eventually need 'repair' E. Leitz tracks EVERY serial number from the first body and lens. If 'stolen' it is returned through Interpol or in the US to the FBI for return. But you must register gear with E. Leitz.
Now a little somethings that many do not know, in a fire what survives in the refrigerator. Truth, ask your fire department, it is really true, they will confirm this. In New York fire departments report the fall through of refrigerators several floors and survive.
Next, the number one cause of fires in residential fires (around 80%) in the US are the duel outlet design on walls (Europe after WW II went to single outlet design, so much less fires). A continuity tester is about $10 at Home Depot in the electrical department. I test my surge protected 200 AMP fused building every six months and replace any suspect outlets.
I carry a tester when I leave my building to do images on location with flash power bases. Nothing can kill a good flash faster that a poorly grounded or cross polarized out let or extension cord.
Now for the one that will drop your jaw! The refrigerator/freezers survive all that fire and the water that usually does more damage than a fire. So with that in mind, take the old refrigerator and gut all the electrical/cooling system and use it to store your gear AND all your electronic media back up plus all your important papers, negatives and the like. You can even secure it to a concrete slab and put a heavy locking system on it if you wish.
Lastly, a refrigerator that was the cooling system and electrical removed, properly marked and painted meets or exceeds OSH requirements for flammable storage. The source of this is The University of Texas at Austin Texas, Department of Physical Plant. No dummies there, why not use old refrigerators as a second source of flammable storage lockers instead of spending moneys of commercial lockers? You can do the same, old fridge in the corner of the garage painted and marked.
Ok, one last item, remove the quick release from your garage door, get rid of it, you need it once in a blue moon and can manually do the release from a ladder. Why, It is the number one way that thieves enter a residence other than a sliding glass door (use a length of closet pole from Home Depot to seal sliding glass doors). Call and ask the installers of garage doors, or go by, they will show you the steel jimmy they carry on all their trucks! And don't fell dumb, I was stunned to discover that the San Antonio Fire Departments knew nothing about the jimmies, but now they do as they hooked up with a big garage door installer who gave them one to make more for their trucks and showed them how to use them.
Dec 24, 2018 03:14:06 #
I didn't know we could be naughty with out posted pictures! Well you know, some girly love to be spanked with hands and other fun things! So, it is allowed? So lets dig into the Euro taboo. I will assume the same limits on a place like Deviant Art, but not Fetish Life (Fetlife). The Sisters of Mercy...(Acted out by VADA and Jenny Knox!).
To do a Photo Essay like this you must have a plan, yes, but what is most important are 'models' who are first and foremost actresses! VADA and Knox are mostly actresses!
Exerts from a series in five parts composed of some 100 images!
To do a Photo Essay like this you must have a plan, yes, but what is most important are 'models' who are first and foremost actresses! VADA and Knox are mostly actresses!
Exerts from a series in five parts composed of some 100 images!
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Dec 23, 2018 12:18:55 #
Some times the highest resolutions are the best given what I had to work with at the time.
As to lighting, it is what it is. I would enjoy more input as to what is meant by 'better lighting', I get this a lot from posts in other locations and it pops up here as well. It is not a matter of lack of gear nor knowledge in the how to do area, I just create with an idea of what I want to be the final look.
I am not taking shots at any one, please understand that. For me it is personal, a style of working to create images. I do know what is happening and I do intend the results. I don't present images that I am not happy with.
To be honest I dumped the Canon camera I was using because it simply did not deliver good results. I have been told that I need to do this or that to get the results from the camera. To me that is not a workable condition, if I can't get basic results from a camera body then I would rather move on to something else. To me, cameras are mostly an interference, it is the optics that make the photograph.
And I'm aware that many accomplished results are gotten by many photographers doing their work; yet, when equipment becomes a hindrance, then it is time to pursue an alternative regardless. So I went to the Sony body so I could put great optics on that body and control the lens and what it does.
As to lighting, it is what it is. I would enjoy more input as to what is meant by 'better lighting', I get this a lot from posts in other locations and it pops up here as well. It is not a matter of lack of gear nor knowledge in the how to do area, I just create with an idea of what I want to be the final look.
I am not taking shots at any one, please understand that. For me it is personal, a style of working to create images. I do know what is happening and I do intend the results. I don't present images that I am not happy with.
To be honest I dumped the Canon camera I was using because it simply did not deliver good results. I have been told that I need to do this or that to get the results from the camera. To me that is not a workable condition, if I can't get basic results from a camera body then I would rather move on to something else. To me, cameras are mostly an interference, it is the optics that make the photograph.
And I'm aware that many accomplished results are gotten by many photographers doing their work; yet, when equipment becomes a hindrance, then it is time to pursue an alternative regardless. So I went to the Sony body so I could put great optics on that body and control the lens and what it does.
Dec 23, 2018 12:00:03 #
I'm sorry, I don't understand what you wrote.
Dec 23, 2018 10:08:12 #
Thanks! The girls loved it quite a lot. Of course they did the set on separate days and we did a large volume of images. Perhaps on Christmas day before Cristi gets here for Christmas dinner and a Santa shoot, maybe you guys would like to see the images I did with Miss Nicole? She is in the funeral business and brought over a coffin to shoot with! She is a fun and dark spirit! LOL!!!
Dec 23, 2018 08:34:13 #
Model is Nicole Damon, she is totally Pagan! You perhaps have seen her in the pages of Heavy Metal Magazine? Even posters! Anyway, if you Google her name you should run across her by Popeye Wong, the pinup artist from Mexico, great guy and like Nicole and VADA total hedonists!
Same tech info as VADA images.
Same tech info as VADA images.
Check out Professional and Advanced Portraiture section of our forum.
Dec 23, 2018 08:25:34 #
Today's fun is part one of that sexy mistress of Halloween VADA. She does love Halloween and yes, she knows it is Samhain though I'm not certain she is a Pagan!
Technical Note: Did ya know Scorpions are kissing cousins of spiders? That is why Mistress VADA is pointing out the scorp! LOL!!!
Sony A7 body, Leica R 28mm, f2.8 at f16, 1/30 second, ISO 100, Norman 2000 power base, three heads, bare above to ceiling, small soft box, and 14 inch bowl reflector with deep cone deflector (similar to the beauty dish as an indirect rim light but also adds contrast to the light). In addition there are some twenty LED bulbs suspended to a lattice of half inch EMT supports, some gelled ( thus the need for a lowered shutter speed).
Technical Note: Did ya know Scorpions are kissing cousins of spiders? That is why Mistress VADA is pointing out the scorp! LOL!!!
Sony A7 body, Leica R 28mm, f2.8 at f16, 1/30 second, ISO 100, Norman 2000 power base, three heads, bare above to ceiling, small soft box, and 14 inch bowl reflector with deep cone deflector (similar to the beauty dish as an indirect rim light but also adds contrast to the light). In addition there are some twenty LED bulbs suspended to a lattice of half inch EMT supports, some gelled ( thus the need for a lowered shutter speed).
Dec 22, 2018 16:36:33 #
Well, I can help him with alternative photo processes, also ask him if he has herd of the two filter method of printing silver gelatin prints (uh oh, arrogance warning!) I invented that technique.
Also, a CUC (Creative Use Consultant) with Polaroid before they blew the company.
This is a technique for Polaroid Transfer, BUT, this is from the 8X10 type 809 print that is usually discarded. I reference it as the Polaroid Matrix. It is scanned and then post manipulated in Photoshop, then printed out on paper using an Epson printer. This is after the conversion, modified for viewing as a computer image. The original is an 11X14 and 16X20 prints.
I have a background in theater and video, so I build sets for the models to react in.
Also, a CUC (Creative Use Consultant) with Polaroid before they blew the company.
This is a technique for Polaroid Transfer, BUT, this is from the 8X10 type 809 print that is usually discarded. I reference it as the Polaroid Matrix. It is scanned and then post manipulated in Photoshop, then printed out on paper using an Epson printer. This is after the conversion, modified for viewing as a computer image. The original is an 11X14 and 16X20 prints.
I have a background in theater and video, so I build sets for the models to react in.
Dec 22, 2018 16:24:04 #
Ok, here ya go with out all them words! Serena, who I call Starena.
National Forest, Pagosa Springs Colorado area, Hasselblad, 80 mm T* Super Slide back (makes it slightly longer than normal focal length), Gitzo Tri Pod about 11 AM (trees are eating light, photosynthesis), T-Max 400 at ISO 800 (it's actual speed) Processed in T-Max Developer RS using a unique modifying technique. Among everything else, she is a trained dancer, fire, traditional Gypsy belly dance. That is why her legs are the way they look. From a toned silver gelatin 11X14 print.
National Forest, Pagosa Springs Colorado area, Hasselblad, 80 mm T* Super Slide back (makes it slightly longer than normal focal length), Gitzo Tri Pod about 11 AM (trees are eating light, photosynthesis), T-Max 400 at ISO 800 (it's actual speed) Processed in T-Max Developer RS using a unique modifying technique. Among everything else, she is a trained dancer, fire, traditional Gypsy belly dance. That is why her legs are the way they look. From a toned silver gelatin 11X14 print.
Dec 22, 2018 12:51:19 #
The lighting for the Cristi and Bear are what I wanted, dark and moody. Lighting should project one's concept.
I'm usually told that my lighting is not as dynamic as someone desires, too much detail, too clear!
Also, I'm really old school, use to work mostly with 4X5 and 8X10 optical bench view cameras. Miss all the options! A lot of B&W work, a little color. Hand pulled prints by myself in darkrooms. I lived by the phrase, "A print is not finished until it is toned."
So, most truly fine B&W prints often appear to viewers as flat. In the vocabulary of fine art photography it was called "Full Scale, Full Substance." I know, sounds snotty and elitist, but when you stand before an Ansel Adams print of "Moonrise Hernandez New Mexico, 1942" you can not completely grasp the quality of the true B&W print in the flesh!
So in keeping with the hard edged B&W image with loads of contrast, here is one of just that nature...I was asked to site technical aspects of what I post. This can be done with a traditional slide projector. In this case I used a Norman 2000 watt second studio power base with a Norman Tri-Lite optical projection head plugged into the from 2000 watt post using full power. For the image session I chose a cheap Kodak Etagraphic Projection lens (I have Apo optics as well, even a shift lens, all have different qualities), this is a lens that displays all types of aberrations, you see this in the wavering lines projected on the body.
If you asked me to help you with composition, as many of the students in my department often did I had a model pose in static poses and use the Tri-Lite to do these type of images. Done with 100 speed B&W film rated at ISO 200 and processed to an average N+ (increased contrast) state. Full frame RC prints were cranked out as master work prints of the best off of a simple contact sheet. These prints were then run through a Xerox copy machine creating about a dozen copies. Some were even given to the models for them to play with as well as others. Using an Exacto blade (No. 11) parts were removed, while areas were then filled in with a Marks A Lot black marker. In this way the images would be transformed into new images. The observation comes finally after several generations on the Xerox machine that the lines end up as abstractions that resemble bird or fish forms.
The real challenge come to the making of images, one finds that by hiding refinances to pubic areas and nipples and belly button, while avoiding the neck head and extremities one has in the end abstract forms from the torso area. One finally grasps that the single most decisive area in a photograph is what is not there, that shadows will dynamically create more by transforming the image into less ("Less is More"), and that is the power of the B&W image.
In this image we see the importance of the line of transition from dark to light. The work of the grand master of the edge and early color images, Paul Outerbridge Jr. is some of the best examples of a master doing the cutting edge work in photography. His work is amazing!
I'm usually told that my lighting is not as dynamic as someone desires, too much detail, too clear!
Also, I'm really old school, use to work mostly with 4X5 and 8X10 optical bench view cameras. Miss all the options! A lot of B&W work, a little color. Hand pulled prints by myself in darkrooms. I lived by the phrase, "A print is not finished until it is toned."
So, most truly fine B&W prints often appear to viewers as flat. In the vocabulary of fine art photography it was called "Full Scale, Full Substance." I know, sounds snotty and elitist, but when you stand before an Ansel Adams print of "Moonrise Hernandez New Mexico, 1942" you can not completely grasp the quality of the true B&W print in the flesh!
So in keeping with the hard edged B&W image with loads of contrast, here is one of just that nature...I was asked to site technical aspects of what I post. This can be done with a traditional slide projector. In this case I used a Norman 2000 watt second studio power base with a Norman Tri-Lite optical projection head plugged into the from 2000 watt post using full power. For the image session I chose a cheap Kodak Etagraphic Projection lens (I have Apo optics as well, even a shift lens, all have different qualities), this is a lens that displays all types of aberrations, you see this in the wavering lines projected on the body.
If you asked me to help you with composition, as many of the students in my department often did I had a model pose in static poses and use the Tri-Lite to do these type of images. Done with 100 speed B&W film rated at ISO 200 and processed to an average N+ (increased contrast) state. Full frame RC prints were cranked out as master work prints of the best off of a simple contact sheet. These prints were then run through a Xerox copy machine creating about a dozen copies. Some were even given to the models for them to play with as well as others. Using an Exacto blade (No. 11) parts were removed, while areas were then filled in with a Marks A Lot black marker. In this way the images would be transformed into new images. The observation comes finally after several generations on the Xerox machine that the lines end up as abstractions that resemble bird or fish forms.
The real challenge come to the making of images, one finds that by hiding refinances to pubic areas and nipples and belly button, while avoiding the neck head and extremities one has in the end abstract forms from the torso area. One finally grasps that the single most decisive area in a photograph is what is not there, that shadows will dynamically create more by transforming the image into less ("Less is More"), and that is the power of the B&W image.
In this image we see the importance of the line of transition from dark to light. The work of the grand master of the edge and early color images, Paul Outerbridge Jr. is some of the best examples of a master doing the cutting edge work in photography. His work is amazing!
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