Bloggage has declined precipitously around here lately for one simple reason: Real Work.
I’m in the process of creating a new website for a local photographer. I enjoy doing photography websites because I like seeing what the client chooses for the portfolio sections. In this case, the client is a longtime fixture in Midland; he’s been a professional photographer longer than I’ve been alive, which is pretty astounding. As you would expect, he’s got a large body of work, and he’s picked about 200 photos to go on his website.
The catch is that he’s Old School. He’s done just fine with film over the years and he has no intention of switching to digital. I certainly won’t second guess his decision, but what that means for the project is that I have to scan 200 prints and make them web-friendly.
Besides the sheer volume of the work, there are two basic problems.
The first is that all the prints are on satin finish paper. This means that there’s no reasonable way for me to make the scans look as sharp as if they’d come from glossy paper. The client understands that and is fine with it.
The second issue is dust. When you’re showcasing someone’s photographic talents, the appearance of dust motes on the image is a very bad thing. Unfortunately, next to heat, our most common natural resource in west Texas is dust. And it’s amazing at how the smallest particle jumps out in an otherwise flawless photo. As a result, I have two choices. I can do quick scans and then use Photoshop to remove the dust spots, or I can apply canned air and a dry dust rag to each print and the scanner bed before every pass. I’ve elected to do the latter, counting on an ounce of prevention and all that.
On the positive side, my new Canon scanner and SilverFast software are working together beautifully, and the client has been quite pleased with what we’ve accomplished thus far.
I hope to return to more consistent posting soon…but I’ve got to process 72 scanned photos of high school seniors. Such is the glamorous life of a pixel pusher.
Eric, I can sympathize with your photographer/client … I am still devoted to my Canon AE-1 … but for how much longer?
Many of the objections I had, originally – the limited capabilities and hardware for digital cameras – have long since been addressed.
A brother-in-law of mine – head of a newspaper’s photo department on the East Coast, and a frequent advisor to photo departments of other newspapers in the chain – has long since made the move to digital, and loves it.
We have a small digital we use for snapshots. Limited as it is, it has allowed me to get a good feel for what’s possible with digital ….
Maybe it is time to take that plunge …
*****
Speaking of photographers and website, can you tell us who the photographer is for http://www.bleuchocolate.com/ ? Great work! But no links, to tell him/her so.
Jeff, I’ve been using a digital SLR for the past few months, and any reservations I may have had about the medium quickly went out the window. Digital photography has truly come of age.
As to the identity of the bluechocolate photoblogger, if you want to know badly enough, you can do a whois search. Unlike a certain other commenter, I’m not going to reveal an identity that’s being intentionally kept out of the limelight.
That sounds kinda tedious after a while… oh well at least you have some good photographs to look at 🙂
I like my digital photography. I’m sure I’ll be taking heaps of photos on a certain upcoming trip!
Rachel, I hope you bring lots of memory cards for your camera. 😉
I got a 40GB portable hard drive….Is that enough? Hehe.
Well, we can always burn a DVD or two (or three or four) if it’s not.