Wallace Koopmans Artlog

Here is an instance where I  wanted to create an image with the background  completely white and the subject in front  correctly exposed.  So I was in a situation where I was taking pictures with a large south facing window that would have light streaming in all day.  To create the “softbox” effect I hung a semi transparent queen sized white sheet between two stands in front of the window.  By placing the model close to the light source it allowed light to spill in from both sides. 

In order to deal with the great difference in light levels I metered for the models face and allowed the backdrop/ light source to clip.  In addition a reflector was placed in front of the model for fill.  The resulting exposure was F5.6 at 1/60 sec and ISO 250.  This was actually 1 1/3 stops over what had been metered for the models face but helps give the high key look I was after.  In order to get a warmer look the white balance can also be increased by about 1000 degrees, but in this case it was fine and I have left it as shot.

With the same setup, you can get a different look by using flash to light the subject while still clipping the white background.  Here I placed an off camera flash with an umbrella reflector right above the camera.

Settings f2.8, 1/80 s at ISO 125.   The flash output power was adjusted manually for the correct exposure.

This is my homage to Kodachrome, which has been discontinued after 74 years.  My dad made thousands of beautiful slides with his Pentax H2 and a hand held light meter.  Kodachrome was his film of choice and today 50 years later these images still retain wonderful accurate colours.  Slides have an undeserved reputation perhaps developed from forced viewings of poorly made images.  On the other hand I have very fond memories of sitting as a family watching our lives displayed in giant images while the projectors fan hummed away broken by the distinctive sound of the next slide and the outburst of us children clamoring to be the first to identify the time and place.  I too made thousands of Kodachrome slides throughout my teens and twenties only reducing my usage when processing was no longer included in Canada.  Now we view our digital pictures and scanned slides on an HD TV and get that same social family interaction.  I do miss the hum of the projector though.

The painting is of a roll of K-11 process film with an ASA of 12.  The box is stamped process before DEC 1959 X and the cloth bag was provided for mailing back to Kodak for processing.  It sits in a deserved place of honour with my camera collection.

While taking pictures yesterday I came across a beautiful organic hazelnut grove.  I spoke to the owners who’s family had planted the trees in 1977 and they kindly allowed me to wander through the grove.   The shadows cast be the trees created interesting patterns and it was only later that I realized I should have spent more time emphasizing them.  Amongst the photo’s, I have  several that have the potential to be made into a relief print however I think that I would prefer to add figures in the grove.

I’m not sure that I ever consider a painting complete, but I have decided to stop working on the Dancer painting.  It has been difficult to find the time to paint lately and these long interruptions have meant that I have to remix colours to match what is already there.  You can see evidence of my painting  method in the detail shots, there is a small amount of glazing but I primarily paint directly.

I took some time to continue working on the dancer painting and I am pleased with the way it is coming allong.  I will work on the hands next and also take another look at the background.  The feet will also need work.

I have had these images sitting on my computer for about a year now so I thought maybe I should post them.  If some of the images look strangely familiar, well I think that given the opportunity many photographers passing through Dorothy Alberta take some very similar pictures.

I have been doing alot of photography lately so it was a nice change tonight to put some paint on a canvas.  I have done a full colour underpainting for this image and if I had more time I would likely keep right on painting until it was finished.  Taking a step back though will give me a chance to look at it in a fresh light  and to see where it will need the most work and corrections, which can be done directly without much fussing.

A subtitle for this could be “How to create photographs with nausea inducing anastigmatic distortion”.  This camera has 4 zone focus settings Closeup, Three quarters, Group and Infinity, I’m not actually sure just how effective focusing is with this setup but with the .55x adapter on and at about f8 there isn’t much that isn’t within focus.  And really who would notice with all that distortion.  As for the focal length the lens by itself is  38mm so multiplied by .55 yields 20.9mm but that sounds a bit too precise in this case so we’ll call that 21mm ish.

Just how long does it take nature to begin taking back what we leave behind?  In this case not very long.  Last year they tore down dozens of nice homes to build more shopping and higher density housing.  This pool is a remnant of the demolition and is full of tadpoles and other growing things.

I’m having a bit of an internal debate about what to say about these pictures….  Ok I lost, the pictures have to speak for themselves.  Two things however, both these pictures are of the same location and I didn’t have to wait long for a plane to come into frame.