Film + Photoshop = COOL!

Excuse a bit of vanity, but I've been playing around in Photoshop more (after all, it's kinda hard to get out during the darkness this time of year and take pictures), and found some really cool-looking tricks that I mixed together on a self-portrait that I thought would fit. I shot the original on my Nikon F4, and then brought into Photoshop via the Costco scan I had developed today. It's sorta got that cold, yet still alive feel to it, and really captures me in one of my many moods.

I could rant about how pre-visualization is sort of old-school and talk about how I'm starting to see things in a picture AFTER I've already made the shot. This is one of those instances where I was just messing around w/my 'new' camera burning up film, shooting a familiar scene (me and my camera reflected in my bathroom mirror), and then once I saw the image on screen, I had an idea of how to process it in Photoshop. I envisioned a sort of retro-faded color look, with the edginess of some of the modern photography portraits. Here's the result:



I've also purchased my first "pro" printer, thanks to a fellow photog on Craigslist. She had a great deal on an Epson 2200 -- a bit older, sure, but I've discovered that it's by far the best printer I've ever owned. 13x19s out of that thing are really really cool -- and I have to get some roll paper so I can print some panoramas. Costco also started carrying the Ilford Pearl Semigloss paper for REALLY cheap (100 pack for $19!) I love being able to control everything from shutter snap to print. Sure Costco does a great job printing, but they only have two paper choices (and my Ilford Pearl isn't one of them), and I'm starting to really want to do some printing of my own. I'm finding that proofing colors and exposure works fairly quickly on 4x6 paper, and then once everything seems acceptible to me, I can go big. Like up to 13x19 big...

I'm excited!