Monday, June 7, 2010

The Process -- Taking the Picture

This is of couse what photographers like to do. No special equipment is needed, any camera can provide an image which can end up as a palladium print. I now use a Nikon D80, but most of the images in this show were taken by a Canon Powershot. My old Rolliflex (literally -- it is well over 50 years old) is a wonderful source of images. My Olympus 350 SP works very well also.

Of course, if you use a digital camera, you don't need to scan your image. What is true in this hybrid process is that you need a digital image in order to make a digital negative. That is the key. The digital negative is then used to contact print the final palladium picture.

So the process goes like this. Take a picture. If it is already in digital form, great. You are ready for the next step. If not, scan the analog negative (I would suggest at least 800 dpi) to digitize it.

Make any adjustments to it in an image-processing program like Photoshop or GIMP. Make it look just the way you would like. Often this just means straightening and cropping the image. You'll want to make as few substantive changes (in contrast, for example) as possible. Nothing beats starting with a well-exposed, well-composed image. Get it just the way you want. Save it and get your printer ready.

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