The processing conundrum

As I was uploading proofs from a recent wedding shoot, I began to think about the difficulty of conveying different possibilities for each photo. Even if you create a sort of "look" gallery (which I should probably do), you still have think about tailoring the looks to the photos. Here is a brief example:

I liked this sweet moment that I took at an overexposed setting (which I like to do on closer shots sometimes because it tends to make very flattering skin tones), but darkened up for a more traditional look that you see above. As shot, the photo was a lot closer to that hazy sunny look I talked about in a recent tutorial. So, I exaggerated the effect and added a layer of yellow with an overlay blending mode to get this look:

Personally, my tastes are heading toward a very classic black and white:

Nothing is as timeless as black and white. And to further complicated things, you'll notice that my black and white example above was actually taken a second later, when the groom's arm was no longer bent. So far, you have three very different looks. Then you have to consider the effects of cropping:

An 8x10 crop takes away the white space at the top, like it or not.

A square crop changes it even more.
Or what if you wanted to change the crop, convert to monochrome, and do a romantic pink split toning effect:

Or you can crop it even tighter:

I've always been a fan of close crops, so I like this one as well.

The moral of this story is that making processing decisions can be as hard as taking the photo, and communicating the possibilities can be problematic. Which would you choose? If you were the client given nearly 500 proofs, how well would you do envisioning the possibilities?

Metal Prints (free photos inside until Christmas)

Will this look good in metal? We shall see...

Another post that has nothing to do with skin retouching. If anything, this is a vestige from last month's theme, "everything but the photo." I looked at various print media, including "metallic prints" which are not to be confused with the latest trend making the rounds in photo magazine ads and on the web—"metal" prints.

Metal prints are photos printed directly onto specially coated sheets of aluminum. Bay Photo, the lab I use for clients through Smugmug, has been making a huge push for metal prints. I saw metal prints back at the PMA in Vegas, but at the time, I was paying more attention to the sudden preponderance of acrylic mounts. But since I am working on the "man cave"—my basement lair devoted to film and photography ("basement lair" sounds very creepy, doesn't it? OK, so it's a glorified home theater room born out of the need to remodel when our house flooded this past spring), I am suddenly interested in how to display photos in a modern, minimalist sort of way. The top contender right now is metal. The metal print doesn't need a frame. It can be mounted to "float" about 1/2 inch from the wall. Even better, you can clean the metal print with Windex. I'm impressed.

what about this in metal?

So will metal be the next canvas? Just when the "gallery wrap" thing was getting big, there's a push for a new "no need to frame" print medium. According to the Magna Chrome (a site that just slipped to the #2 spot on the google results for "metal prints"), "metal prints take on a magical luminescence." I have some eye cream that I bought in honor of my mid-life crisis that supposedly does the same thing, so don't blame me if I'm skeptical.


Call me a sucker for novelty, but I'm going to order a 16x24 inch metal print of one of the chair photos in this post. I have a thing for metal chairs (the kind you find in Paris parks are my favorite), and a metal print seems to be a good match for the subject. And since it's the season for giving, you can download (personal use only, not for resale) the photos in this post for free (or order your own metal print at cost) from the temporary gallery that will be up until Christmas.

Expanding your palette for photo prints (part 3: canvas, metallic, watercolor)

I talked about the basics in the last two parts, now let's tackle three more: "watercolor" (aka "cotton rag" or "matte fine art"), metallic, and canvas.

Canvas
In my experience, Canvas is what a family buys for those extra special photos such as the family portrait above the fireplace, wedding and bridal portraits, or individual portraits of children. The common theme here is "portrait," but if I did landscape photography, I'm sure I would have clients purchasing landscapes on canvas as well. A canvas print costs many times the price of a photograph on paper, so what makes it worth the cost?

If you think about the psychology behind it, I think canvas enjoys the strongest connection to artistic legitimacy (i.e. a connection to traditional painted portraits), and that we have been conditioned to think of canvas as more special than paper. I would call this phenomenon the "nostalgia factor." Rare is the person who commissions a painted portrait, so the next best thing in most people's minds is a photographic portrait on canvas. Canvas has a more painterly texture and you can even add textured coatings that might give the appearance of brush strokes. I don't think canvas is inherently better. If you want fine detail, for example, you would be better off with a smoother paper. If you want something modern, you might consider other options. But for traditional looks, canvas gives off a feeling of classic elegance.

Lately, the trend for wrapped canvas (aka "gallery wraps") has been growing. The marketing pitch usually tries to exploit the inherent association of canvas with "art" while simultaneously arguing that since the wrapped image looks great on its own, you can save money by hanging it with no frame. Sans frame, gallery wraps make canvas a "contemporary" option, which is a pretty smart way for people in the canvas business to keep their product relevant.

Metallic
This has become a very popular alternative photo paper, but you might have trouble finding it at most local labs. Look online (Mpix and Bay Photo are just two of the many online options) for places that do metallic. Kodak Endura Metallic is the market leader as far as I can tell. I can't really show you what a metallic print looks like, because you have to see it in person and look at it from different angles. It doesn't look like a photo printed on tinfoil as you might imagine. Think "glossy," but more interesting. It has a smooth surface, and a silvery base that you will notice most prominently in the lightest colors. Colors are more intense and vibrant on metallic paper. Black and white photos can look stunning on metallic, and some people swear that it's good for just about anything. Personally, I would never use metallic paper for family photos. I have heard people claim that it produces good skin tones, but I would only use it on more stylized photos. Cross-processed and bleach bypass photos would look even better in metallic.

Watercolor
I mentioned in my last post that "giclée" is snob for "inkjet." To be fair, a giclée is usually a high quality inkjet and it is usually done on watercolor paper. Hahnemühle photo rag is my favorite 100% coton inkjet paper. It's not even in the same world as Canon or Epson as far as I'm concerned. Some of the reasons have to do with paper's weight, its D-Max rating (i.e. how deep can the blacks get?), how evenly the paper absorbs the ink, color gamut, and so on.

I would recommend watercolor paper for more dreamy, romantic looking photos (perhaps at a heavier texture), for classic looking black and white, or for most anytime you want a quality matte finish.

And now it's time to play [wild applause], "What paper would Marc choose?" [confused smattering of claps] The game where we get to look at some of Marc's photos and find out which paper he would print them on! [sound of crickets chirping].

photo #1: Boy with dog

Traditional elegance, rich tones. Taken for a client with a tasteful European-influenced home. Canvas.

photo #2: Champion gymnast

Desaturated, stylized, masculine, cool tones. Metallic.

photo #3: Wedding photo

Romantic, pink duotone. Watercolor.

photo #4: Fire escape portrait

Urban, trendy, cross-processed. Metallic.

photos #5 and 6: Bride

Classic, timeless bridal portraits. Canvas for the photo on the left and watercolor for the more contemplative photo on the right. However, if they were displayed next to each other in a home, I would choose the same (either one) for both.

photo #7: CNN Hero, Peter Kithene

Rich, dark, earthy, and timeless. Ivory-hued watercolor.

Obviously, these are just examples with my opinions. But it is my blog, so I won't pretend to be objective.

Parts 1-3 have taken you through the basic choices, but we have only scratched to surface as far as expanding your print palette goes. I am on day three of being stuck inside the apartment, and I am going stir crazy. This isn't the last you will hear about photo prints this month (In the eyes of many photographers, we aren't even close to alternative processes yet), but it had better be the last post I do in my robe in between doses of Advil.

November Monthly Special: Everything but the image

This will be an unconventional monthly special. I have decided to dedicate the month to everything BUT the actual image in a photo. Frames, albums, books, decorating ideas, unconventional use of photos, papers, printing processes, and so on. I want to tackle the problem/exciting challenge (depending on whether your a half-full or half-empty kind of person) of what to do with the photos you take.

I don't scrapbook, and since there is a multi-billion dollar industry dedicated to scrapbooking, I won't try to compete. But I will talk about other book ideas that may or may not fit within your definition of a scrapbook.

I am not a professional framer, but there is a great one down the street here in Paris, and if I can get an interview, I'll give you some tips about framing.

Because I try to do monthly specials that force me to learn new things, I hope to explore alternative printing techniques as well as a variety of display ideas.

And because holiday season is already upon us, I hope to come up with photo-related gift ideas, both homemade and bought.

And here I am doing my post on November 3rd! I had better get moving.

As for your participation (we had 6 last month, that's better than the month before), should you decided to post something and share it with a link below, I'm sure everyone would enjoy it. For example, tell about a favorite photo gift you have given or received. Share how you print and display your photos.

Sure, we all take photos, but then what?