2018 - Project 52 Print - Manfred Mueller

I wish I was better at seeing images in the detail. I'd have missed number 6 if I'd have been there.

All my January 2018 prints.

http://i64.tinypic.com/29c6zc3.jpg

This shot was taken at Badami, Karnataka, India. We were up at one of the Badami Caves (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) when I looked over a wall and saw this geometric scene. A triangle of ghats (stairs down to water) and the water itself. Breaking up the scene were people (predominantly women) doing their laundry.

This print was done on Epson Cold Press Natural.


#7 - Doing the Laundry - Badami, India

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4691/...b71fe80b_k.jpg

This is a three shot time blend of the Old Town of Tallinn, Estonia taken from the Toompea Hill. I started shooting near the beginning of the evening Golden Hour and continued right through to the end of Blue Hour. I took one image from Golden Hour, one image near the transition of Golden Hour to Blue Hour and one shot take near the end of Blue Hour and hand blended them into a single image. Shooting time was well over 2 hours as the sunset took quite a long time in mid-May.

Image printed on Epson Cold Press Natural

#8 - Time Blend image of the Old Town of Tallinn, Estonia.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4739/...242156df_k.jpg

Thats a great angle to catch the working gears.

Classics

This week's image was one I took of a monk who was dancing at one of the many festivals held in Bhutan. This one was at the Ganteng Monastery in the Phobjikha Valley. This area of Bhutan is very popular with birders as the Black Necked Crane over-winters in this part of the country.

#9 - Dancing Monk

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4626/...cc445e3c_k.jpg

This print was done on Epson Hot Press Natural paper.

This is a studio shot of my youngest daughter wearing a NATO gas mask. She has had a fascination for masks and has a small collection going that includes a couple of gas masks and some Italian (Venice and Florence) masks.

This shot uses two studio lights; a key light and a fill light. The curved glass of the lens meant a bit of trial and error to get a glare-free shot with the eye closest to the camera. There is a bit of the light modifier visible on the camera left lens.


#10 NATO Gas Mask

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4628/...74b3e355_k.jpg


This image was printed on Epson Hot Press Natural paper.

Nicely captured and presented.

February prints

http://i64.tinypic.com/zlq05l.jpg

This shot of the Sõrve Lighthouse was built in 1960, but the Soviet Union at the south-western part of Saaremaa Island on the Irbe Strait, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Riga from the Baltic Sea. I took this image at golden hour in the evening.

#11 - Sõrve Lighthouse - Saaremaa Island, Estonia

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4801/...b72b2b46_k.jpg

Printed on Epson Cold Press Natural paper

Really nice images for prints :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Manfred M

This is a studio shot of my youngest daughter wearing a NATO gas mask. She has had a fascination for masks and has a small collection going that includes a couple of gas masks and some Italian (Venice and Florence) masks.

This shot uses two studio lights; a key light and a fill light. The curved glass of the lens meant a bit of trial and error to get a glare-free shot with the eye closest to the camera. There is a bit of the light modifier visible on the camera left lens.


#10 NATO Gas Mask

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4628/...74b3e355_k.jpg


This image was printed on Epson Hot Press Natural paper.

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Manfred, I've only now seen this image. It's very striking, partly because of the unusual subject matter and also because of its sharpness/clarity.

I'm falling further and further behind with my printing. I need to catch up.

In the meantime, you are choosing to print some very fine images.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Donald

I'm falling further and further behind with my printing. I need to catch up.

In the meantime, you are choosing to print some very fine images.

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Thanks Donald - I am taking a printing course at the local photography school http://spao.ca/ and am re-learning printing under the guidance of a "master printer" (digital version of how Ansel Adams did his work); which means I spend at least 3 hours a week working on prints. I hope to continue this process in the fall.

I find that the most important lesson for most is that the computer screen can only emulate a print and doing small test prints is the only way to get the image to look right. This was the same technique I used in the colour wet darkroom, so does not come as a surprise to me. The sharpening technique he uses differs quite a bit from what Fraser and Schewe recommend, but seems more effective. Once I get a bit more comfortable with it I plan to put a "sticky" up outlining how it works and the advantages over the Fraser & Schewe output sharpening method.

Sounds interesting. I do want to attend the Permajet Academy and explore printing with the Epson Printer. There are workshops for B & W printing using the Epson Advanced B & W facility. I think I am quite a good printer, but there is so much more I am sure to learn.

I'm not sure there is a course such as your undertaking. I am sure there must be something somewhere in the UK.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Donald

Sounds interesting. I do want to attend the Permajet Academy and explore printing with the Epson Printer. There are workshops for B & W printing using the Epson Advanced B & W facility. I think I am quite a good printer, but there is so much more I am sure to learn.

I'm not sure there is a course such as your undertaking. I am sure there must be something somewhere in the UK.

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Actually SPAO offers three courses. Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced. I'm taking the introductory course, although I probably could have gone straight into at least the intermediate one. Sometimes its good to be able to confirm that one is doing the basics right and it also forces me into a discipline of printing regularly.

This is one of my shots from Holi in the Indian village of Nandagaon, showing a young participant well covered in coloured water and gulal powder. It was three days of very intense shooting in difficult conditions. Printing was not a lot easier as the colours were generally out of gamut for the paper I was using, so a fair bit of tweaking of the saturation to make the image printable.

#12 - Young Holi Participant at Nandgaon Temple, India

This image was printed on Epson Hot Press Natural.


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4757/...8bb03213_k.jpg

I love this festival which we called Phagwah in Guyana. The colours are wonderful and it did not matter what your religious bent was chances were you would get wet or sprinkled with powder during this celebration. The colours you have captured bring back fond memories of a kinder time....

I didn't see this image at the time (just after you were in India). It really is a very fine portrait. and can imagine it will make a very fine print.