Monday, November 14, 2011

PHOTOGRAPHING VINTAGE FOR MAGNIFICENT MONDAY

When I saw that this week's theme for Magnificent Monday was vintage I had to smile. I am always working on different photographic techniques both while taking the images and in post production. It keeps my creativity growing (I hope) and it's fun!! Lately I have been working on trying to give some of my images a vintage look so this theme worked great for me! 

The reason I was trying a vintage look?? I was sent this image recently. It's my brother Pete and myself as children. This image made me think how far we've come in photography from when I was a child. Please forgive the tassels!!!


I started playing around with different techniques to convert these new images to a vintage look. I was mostly pleased with the results. Vintage doesn't just mean black and white. There was color film but the color didn't have the saturation of deep vivid colors and the film, for the most part, was grainy and not as sharp as our digital files. Grainy is now called noise for you younger readers !! Here are some of my 'new' vintage images.

The first images are the originals and the second ones are my vintage look!!


 
         My example of what the color film looked like back then!!



I added grain to this one and because many of the pictures from back then turned a shade of yellow after awhile, I added a yellow tinge. Many times they also had blown out areas along the edges.



      On this image I decided to create two different vintage looks.




This simple image taken in Boston on our last trip reminds me of the pictures people would take when going on a trip.


                                 Notice the heavy grain!


This next one is my version of an image taken with the original polaroid cameras. The invention of this camera was so exciting. In its day it was like the Ipod coming on the market! You could snap a picture, a piece of 'film' would come out of the camera, you would peel a cover off of it and while you waited, your picture would appear. Imagine a picture instantly!!! It was not that great of a image but in its day, it was an amazing accomplishment. I remember my father getting one of the first ones and the excitement it created in our house. My brothers and I all wanted to take an instant picture!

If you pulled off the covering too soon the image could be ruined or create a ragged edge and an even worse color cast.


                                    Another 'polaroid'


The polaroid film did become available in color after a few years. They would have this ragged edge to many of them especially if you did pull the cover too early. 



These show black and whites with blown out edges and a color cast.



The early color films had very muted colors compared to today's    digital 'film'.



No matter what film we use a beautiful woman is still a beautiful woman!!



With this landscape I tried to show what a black and white would look like. It is followed by what color film would have looked like in the early 60s.



It was not just the film that created the look back then. In this example, I tried to show the vignetting that would happened due to the quality of lenses that the average person would be using.

 
So there is my take on vintage for Magnificent Monday. Head over to Jim McIntosh's web page, Holes in My Soles and check out all the other great web pages contributing to Magnificent Monday.
Thank you for coming by and I hope you enjoyed my take on vintage!

23 comments:

Ann said...

Wow--these are great! Especially love the baby one--those blue eyes!

Sogyel said...

great photographs......:)

Alpana Jaiswal said...

These are really great pictures Jim...u have done total justice to this week's theme.

Alfandi said...

Polaroid..I remember the camera too well..also 80's magenta hue, and Fuji came in with a green hue..great vintage effects reproduced on your photos anyway..you're right, a beautiful woman will always look beautiful in any process..I'll second that..

Nelieta said...

This is a great post Jim! I really like visiting your blog becuae you always have something new and exciting! Love the photos and the vintage effect that you have created!

Shreya said...

Nice pictures. Nice editing. :)

http://www.iredeem.blogspot.com/

AJ said...

Nice childhood photo! :) And I like how the photo revealed itself in B&W but not in the colored version (of you at the marina).

Techmaker said...

Wow nice post JP. Really awesome.

sulekkha said...

Lovely photographs, a beautiful woman is beautiful no matter what film you use is so very true :)

photos by jan said...

Love the editing on these, taking us back in time. great post Jim.

The Poet said...

Hello. Hope you're doing well.
These are awesome!
Very creative.
Thanks for sharing.

Imaginary Dreams

Martha Jane Orlando said...

Loved the vintage look! You've done a marvelous job, here. The old color shots and Polaroid really took me back . . . :)
Blessings, Jim!

Easy Hiker said...

Modern digital photography can now allow itself so many things and yes making photos looking older than they are is one of them.

Cathy Sweeney said...

Thanks for sharing all of these. Love your vintage work! By the way, I remember those Polaroids, too!

Bongo said...

these photos are absolutely AWESOME.....As always...XOXOXOXOXO

JIM said...

Thank You everyone.. This was a great choice by Jim & Nelieta and lots of fun for me!! For the people that remember the polaroid thanks for saying so . It is good to hear there are some other people my age lol!!!



JIm

Jim said...

This is a very fine expose` of old and new in photography Jim. Amazing how long it took to improve photography from the earliest days over 150 years ago, and then look at the explosion of technology, and techniques since digital took off 10 years ago.
So think of what we will be doing in the next decade?

Mary Hudak-Collins livingthescripture.com said...

Wow Jim! Excellent display of the differences over time. I especially appreciated the Polaroids LOL. Am I showing my age now??? This was so very interesting! Thanks for sharing :)

Unknown said...

Jim, excellent post! All of your photos share a special quality. I would love to invite you to my monthly event of 'Changing What's Real'. More details are on my blog :) Hope to see you there one month!

Anonymous said...

I like the tassels brother

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

These leave me breathless!! I love them all but the darling little girl with the huge eyes and the glamorous women really catch my eye. Love the editing!!

http://mariscamera.blogspot.com/2011/11/varina-patel-amazing-and-mesmerizing.html

Eileen Ludwig said...

Looks like fun trying different photographic moods

Melissa Tandoc said...

I wanted to join in the MM this week, but I wasn't sure what a vintage is, until I saw this and Nelieta's works (Jim M, I have a lot of catching up to do in your post, you write everyday lol)...

I like the effects you brought each image. I particularly like the child with the blue eyes too.It looks striking. The brides profile images are also great ~ it makes for nostalgia.

I also appreciated the grainy effect of the airport image...

This goes very well with creativity as it allows not only you to experiment on the images but also with how we react on them.

Loved this MM :)