Looking retrospectively at this years com tech project I can safely say that I have learned a lot and achieved a lot in a relatively small space of time, the focus of my research and self directed projects has been predominantly photography based with a very brief insight into design, layout and printing. The purpose of com tech is to learn how to learn, to find out the best way for you learn new skills and absorb information while also learning new processes and documenting them accordingly. In the least amount of words I would say that I have succeeded in setting up a fully functioning dark room and learned how use it and learned the basics in terms of photo editing, photo assisting and digital print and layout, all of which I had little to no knowledge of previously.
The biggest success in my eyes was setting up the darkroom in my basement, I had received the enlarger and the rest of the equipment in summer for free from a friend who had in turn received it from a school that was intending to throw it away. I had intentions to set it up in my basement previously but never got around to it, however com tech gave me both a reason and the motivation to do it and to do it properly. My only other dark room knowledge was based on a morning induction at the Rossington Street building, at the start of the first year, in which we shot a 12 frame roll and developed them all together in a group, however due to the regulated nature of it I didn't particularly learn much and had forgotten it by now. Furthermore the little knowledge I had was based on a controlled environment that was not available to me, this meant that I had to organize the layout and light proofing of the basement in order for it to work. I ordered a set of chemicals from eBay that stated it included everything you needed to develop your own film, this much was true but with very little instructions I enlisted the help of, previous student, Andy Jones to mix and organize the chemicals with me. From this point onwards the process of developing a film was simply a recap of the process I had previously learned but applied to the environment in my own basement.
The next major problem was that I did not have a fixative for developing my photographic prints, a quick Google search returned results explaining that a solution of watered down white vinegar would work, however there were debates on how strong the solution needed to be. I continued searching via Google, yahoo answers and flickr forums to find an average or most agreed upon amount, this turned out to be three parts water to one part vinegar. Surely enough the solution worked and the problem had been overcome. Despite having everything I needed I still encountered problems during printing through silly mistakes such as not checking the aperture of the enlarger or the recommended developing times printed on the boxes.
Once I had completed the process I repeated it all without any of the previous mistakes and this was a major turning point, I had not only set up the dark room but it was fully functioning and I had an efficient production line. This was a large milestone in my learning process, however I realized that obviously I was, and am still, not fully confident and completely competent with darkroom skills but neither would I learn to be in the next couple of weeks. Instead I would learn these things over time, this meant that my learning curve would come to a plateau and rise much slower than it had up until now. Therefore I made the decision to bring a halt to the darkroom related work, I would continue it in my own time, and move onto other things.
At this point I moved onto looking at layout and digital print so I could learn the process of taking, developing, scanning and printing photos in a document from start to finish, it was a relatively short amount of time and came with few problems overall. In retrospect the jump from technical photographic skills to layout and printing seems strange but I think my train of thought was influenced by use of the digital print room and the level of ease and low cost that had intrigued me. After a tutorial and a look through my work I turned back to photographic practice to look into photo assisting and photo editing.
Both of these were short lived in comparison to the dark room section of the project and encountered far less problems, both of which seemed more of a case of just sitting down and getting on with work, taking in information and learning things. Although I learned a lot with both of these and with digital printing the learning curve was much smoother and uneventful in comparison to that of the dark room where I would say I had the most success, problems and significant moments.
Also I think that if you learn a process and everything goes to plan then you don’t quite understand it, whereas if everything goes wrong you have to find out why in order to truly understand it. The important distinction I found is that with the printing, assisting and editing I had learned and understood processes to a reasonable level, almost a linear process of starting at a point with no knowledge and then ending at a point with an understanding of how to achieve what I had wanted. In contrast the darkroom part of my project involved the biggest successes, biggest problems, largest amount of stress and also biggest sense of achievement. At one point I had found myself sat on the floor of my basement surrounded by completely white and/or completely black pieces of photographic paper with no idea why images had failed to develop but I was determined to succeed and identified the problem, the combination of the aperture and exposure timings of the enlarger, and thus managed to move on. But it was the interest that had kept me going and wanting to learn the solution, through this project I have learned as much about myself as the processes mentioned previously and in the rest of my research.
For instance my time keeping and management is fine but I must take into account when I am relying on other people such as deliveries or help on a subject I do not understand. This accentuated the fact that I am impatient and somewhat of a control freak, but also helped me realize that you can only do so much until you do need to rely on another person or company.
Although this project has been based around technical skills and processes and less about the content and actual photographs I can definitely apply this new knowledge to my photographs, furthermore throughout the course of com tech I have been on various photo excursions and have come to the conclusion that this is definitely what I want to do. I was almost certain of this prior to com tech but this has helped confirm my decision that photography is the area of practice I want to work in and that I am in fact a photographer.
This leads into the vast number of things that I still need, and more importantly want, to learn. Some of which can be applied to what I have learned already in com tech such as continuing to learn dark room skills such as working with medium format and colour processing to things completely new to me such as the introduction to medium format phase one backs. This induction may only be a minor thing but the knowledge I will receive from it, amongst other things, will allow me to possibly get an assisting job in the future.
It is these broader developments that add up and result in the experience I will need, when I look back at the short amount of assisting I did on com tech it may not seem much but it is definitely a starting point. I also think that working with printing companies in order to send work and pay invoices has educated me on a level of professionalism that I didn’t have before and again this may be minor but is a starting point in something possibly much bigger. The other overall realization is that you won’t get anywhere if you don’t work, this sounds obvious but I realize now, more than ever, that if you want to succeed you have to put the effort in and that if you are going to do something you may as well do it properly.
Things brings myself to a fairly succinct conclusion in that I have learned a lot about processes, photography as a practice, independent study as a whole and myself. I had originally been somewhat apprehensive about basing my com tech project around photography as I was already interested in it and wasn’t sure whether to pursue a completely new train of thought or to continue with it. However it would have been pointless to start learning about something that I was not interested in, furthermore I feel that by focusing on the technical skills and areas that I have, I have learned more in this space of time than I would have done normally. The greatest example of this is that if it weren’t for com tech the enlarger and darkroom equipment would probably still be cluttering up my room and gathering dust as opposed to being put to use. I have also realized the distinctions between photography as an interest and photography as work are few and far between. I often find myself looking at websites and reading blogs, books and zines for leisure but have come to realize that all of these things are effectively a source of ongoing research that I not only enjoy but look forward to.
All in all com tech has been somewhat of a stressful but enjoyable journey in which I have learned as much about myself as I have my photographic practice, I also feel that it has been one of my most productive projects to date and think that it has set a precedent for the volume of work and research that I should be doing for this coming year.
Photoshop Basics Evaluation
Having completed three very basic Photoshop tutorials I am now convinced that that even on a low level the quality of my photos can be improved, with this new knowledge I can remove dust and scratches from a photo or even complete elements of it before sharpening an image to keep a top quality. Again this is only a very basic level but is enough paired with my prior knowledge to start editing and generally cleaning up the appearance of my photos, while still keeping them very original.
Photoshop Basics - Content Aware Fill
This is the third and final of the basic tutorials that I will be completing, it is essentially an extension of the clone stamp tool and can allow you to remove an element from a picture and replace it with what would be in the background however it is more accurate and much quicker.
The desired area is selected with the lasso or magnetic lasso tool followed by the delete key, you are then given the option of content aware fill, simply accept this and allow the computer to do this for you.
Again this is a very quick process but can remove large parts of an image at relatively quick speed and accuracy. Obviously using the clone stamp tool this can be feathered in and made more subtle but is not terrible as it is.
The desired area is selected with the lasso or magnetic lasso tool followed by the delete key, you are then given the option of content aware fill, simply accept this and allow the computer to do this for you.
Again this is a very quick process but can remove large parts of an image at relatively quick speed and accuracy. Obviously using the clone stamp tool this can be feathered in and made more subtle but is not terrible as it is.
Photoshop Basics - Sharpening
High Pass Sharpening
The following is a very basic but also quick and accurate way to sharpen your images, again it starts with duplicating your layer in case of mistakes. This seems like the next logical step after removing dust and scratches as you can sharpen a whole image as opposed to the previously mentioned method of sharpening only certain areas.
Once duplicated you follow the menu - filter, other, high pass and order the pixel radius in order to determine how much of the image will sharpen. The image is shown in greytones and is then revived by altering the top layers representation from normal to any choice of light between overlay/soft light to vivid/hard light. As before sections of the new layer can be erased in order to show original parts of the image where necessary.
Again this is a very quick process and paired with the previous one can lead to clean, dust free images that retain their original sharpness.
The following is a very basic but also quick and accurate way to sharpen your images, again it starts with duplicating your layer in case of mistakes. This seems like the next logical step after removing dust and scratches as you can sharpen a whole image as opposed to the previously mentioned method of sharpening only certain areas.
Once duplicated you follow the menu - filter, other, high pass and order the pixel radius in order to determine how much of the image will sharpen. The image is shown in greytones and is then revived by altering the top layers representation from normal to any choice of light between overlay/soft light to vivid/hard light. As before sections of the new layer can be erased in order to show original parts of the image where necessary.
Again this is a very quick process and paired with the previous one can lead to clean, dust free images that retain their original sharpness.
Photoshop Basics - Dust and Scratches
This will be the first in a small selection of photoshop tutorials that I will be finding online in order to improve either the content and or quality of my photographs, these will be mainly based on video tutorials found via youtube or google search results.
Removing Dust and Scratches
One of the mot noticeable problems I encountered with developing my own photos was problems with dust or scratches on the film once I had scanned them, this is a fairly frequent problem and once easily remedied, The video below explains the process in full detail but I will be showing only the very basic steps here.
As you can see the original image has a lot of dust and scratches, the first step is to duplicate the layer, this means that if anything goes wrong you can start again and you have not damages the original file. Once duplicated you follow the menu - filter, noise, dust and scratches and the menu below will be shown, by altering the radius and threshold of the pixels the programme will eliminate the scratches etc that it sees as anomalies.
However this can result in a loss of quality as seen above, to redeem this we use the eraser tool to remove sections from the top layer in order to show the detailed sections from the bottow layer, in this case the eyes.
Once this stage is complete the image can be flattened and you have an image that is free of dust and scratches but can retain its quality.
This is a fairly quick and simple process but one that could definitely benefit all of my photos quite easily, next I will be looking at sharpening images overall.
Removing Dust and Scratches
One of the mot noticeable problems I encountered with developing my own photos was problems with dust or scratches on the film once I had scanned them, this is a fairly frequent problem and once easily remedied, The video below explains the process in full detail but I will be showing only the very basic steps here.
As you can see the original image has a lot of dust and scratches, the first step is to duplicate the layer, this means that if anything goes wrong you can start again and you have not damages the original file. Once duplicated you follow the menu - filter, noise, dust and scratches and the menu below will be shown, by altering the radius and threshold of the pixels the programme will eliminate the scratches etc that it sees as anomalies.
However this can result in a loss of quality as seen above, to redeem this we use the eraser tool to remove sections from the top layer in order to show the detailed sections from the bottow layer, in this case the eyes.
Once this stage is complete the image can be flattened and you have an image that is free of dust and scratches but can retain its quality.
This is a fairly quick and simple process but one that could definitely benefit all of my photos quite easily, next I will be looking at sharpening images overall.
Assisting Evaluation
Although I have only had a very brief introduction into assisting I feel that it is something I could benefit from if I continued to do it at a higher level then it is a potential way to make contacts professionally. I feel that I didn't do a great amount of physical work but definitely took a lot of notes and generally have a better understanding of the process of taking pictures in a studio environment and understand the importance of the relationship between the client and the photographer. The fundamental things I have understood is that the client must come to the shoot with an idea of what they want to get out of it and/or that the photographer must know what they want, without this the whole scenario is pointless and somewhat unenjoyable. As a personal preference I also think that there should be some music playing in order to avoid awkward silences and generally keep the mood of the scenario alive.
Assisting Part 2
Due to my late start previously I arranged to assist on another shoot with Emma Saynor that had been present at the previous shoot and was also interested in studio band photography. This time I arrived on time and helped set up, this involved rolling down the backdrop, setting up the lights and softboxes and general housekeeping of the studio. I also played a more active role throughout this shoot by regularly altering the light placements and suggesting arrangements for the band in order to show them all but avoid shadowing each other.
As previously stated I feel like I did more actual work this time round but still not a lot as I feel that Emma was still learning to use the equipment herself and so it was a learning curve for both of us. Again my criticisms are that having music playing in the background may lighten the mood and generally loosen up the clients and most importantly that they must come with an idea of what they want out of the shoot.
As previously stated I feel like I did more actual work this time round but still not a lot as I feel that Emma was still learning to use the equipment herself and so it was a learning curve for both of us. Again my criticisms are that having music playing in the background may lighten the mood and generally loosen up the clients and most importantly that they must come with an idea of what they want out of the shoot.
Assisting Part 1
As previously mentioned I came to the conclusion that doing some assisting work on another persons photoshoot was a practical way to spend my time and see how other people were doing things, I had already spoken to Vicky about this and then agreed to help her with a shoot for a band one evening. However due to traffic I turned up late and the studio had already been set up and the band were about to arrive, fortunately there wasn't a lot to set up and Emma had already helped where necessary.
Below are a few images from the shoot, the main problem was that we were in a much smaller studio than we had planned for and so fitting four people into a the given space and photographing them without shadowing each other became an obvious problem. In terms of direction and choices Vicky was entirely in charge of the shoot and I was around purely to help move lights and set things up.
This was the first time I had worked in a studio but not with the lighting equipment and so there were no problems setting the brightness of the flash and other settings, only problems in relation to the placement of the lights and the resulting shadows.
I noticed that Vicky had been using a Canon 500D with a standard 18-55mm lens and the cordless flash remote in order for her camera to work in unison with the flashes, again this is a piece of equipment that I am familiar with already and so didn't really phase me. Due to the nature of the shoot I did relatively little in terms of actually helping but spent most of the time making notes and my coming to my own conclusions, I think this partially comes down to the fact that Vicky was partially still getting used to the equipment and environment and so it was equally important for her to do and learn things as it was for my self.
After watching the whole shoot I came to various conclusions, firstly it is crucial that the client comes with an idea of what they want from the shoot or alternatively that you know if you have creative control, this may sound like a simple thing but I noticed that on various occasions both the photographer and the client were asking each other what it is they should be doing next. In the same way both clients need to be comfortable an compliant in order to achieve the best results. Finally I feel that the beeping sound present on the flashes should be turned off once all have been tested as it not only distracting but annoying, furthermore I think that there should be some music playing in the background in order to avoid awkward silences and generally keep the mood flowing however I realise that these are both personal preferences.
Below are a few images from the shoot, the main problem was that we were in a much smaller studio than we had planned for and so fitting four people into a the given space and photographing them without shadowing each other became an obvious problem. In terms of direction and choices Vicky was entirely in charge of the shoot and I was around purely to help move lights and set things up.
This was the first time I had worked in a studio but not with the lighting equipment and so there were no problems setting the brightness of the flash and other settings, only problems in relation to the placement of the lights and the resulting shadows.
I noticed that Vicky had been using a Canon 500D with a standard 18-55mm lens and the cordless flash remote in order for her camera to work in unison with the flashes, again this is a piece of equipment that I am familiar with already and so didn't really phase me. Due to the nature of the shoot I did relatively little in terms of actually helping but spent most of the time making notes and my coming to my own conclusions, I think this partially comes down to the fact that Vicky was partially still getting used to the equipment and environment and so it was equally important for her to do and learn things as it was for my self.After watching the whole shoot I came to various conclusions, firstly it is crucial that the client comes with an idea of what they want from the shoot or alternatively that you know if you have creative control, this may sound like a simple thing but I noticed that on various occasions both the photographer and the client were asking each other what it is they should be doing next. In the same way both clients need to be comfortable an compliant in order to achieve the best results. Finally I feel that the beeping sound present on the flashes should be turned off once all have been tested as it not only distracting but annoying, furthermore I think that there should be some music playing in the background in order to avoid awkward silences and generally keep the mood flowing however I realise that these are both personal preferences.
Back to Photography
After my Tutorial on wednesday with both David and Graham it came to my attention that digital printing and layout is not the way I should be spending the rest of my time in Com Tech, although they are practical skills and well worth learning I feel that I should attempt to perfect my photography skills as a primary goal first. For instance I have little to no knowledge of Photoshop and so will be spending some of my remaining time looking at basic photo editing and manipulation. It was also suggested that I could try assisting another photographer on a shoot in order to learn the process of studio photography and the organisation skills I would need. I will start this by looking at online tutorials and speaking to the technicians, such as Mike Flowers, and other students in order to learn more about photo editing. I will also be hopefully assisting Vicky Kortekas on at least one shoot for her own com tech project, this will befit both her as a studio using photographer and myself as a student learning the tricks of the trade.
Due to this change of plan and reversion to photographic techniques I have blogged all of the printing and making posts together consecutively followed to avoid confusion, posts from now on will be based again around photographic techniques.
Due to this change of plan and reversion to photographic techniques I have blogged all of the printing and making posts together consecutively followed to avoid confusion, posts from now on will be based again around photographic techniques.
Printing Evaluation
Overall I have learned quite a lot even though only looking at two companies and printing 3 documents and I feel that if I was going to print a photobook or zine at a later date that I would definitely use the Digital Print Partnership and would pick either the saddle stitched notebooks or perfect bound documents based on the number of pages and content of the document. Also depending on the size of the print run I have learned that I could print zine or booklets as cheap as £1-£2.50 depending on size, quality and type of binding and so making and selling is not out of the question as most zines are around £5 with or without postage. This means I could get my work out there but also make back my costs and make some profit but this is something I will look into at a later date.
DPP Perfect Binding Test
The second Digital Print Partnership service I tested were the Perfect Bound Documents, the initial process is exactly the same in the way that you pick document size, paper weights and finishes etc and then you are given a brief overview and shown prices. Again prices are high for a single document but you can get multiples for the same price as once and large scale prints increase the price at regular but fair intervals. The rest of the details are the same as the previous order with DPP and so wil lnotbe reapted.
Again the overall finish is very good and the perfect binding gives a professional look to the document straight away, furthermore the thicker cover gives an extra layer of protection and makes the whole thing seem more substantial. This is a very strong product but one that I feel suits larger scale documents of 30 or 40 pages and does not work so well with anything less than 20 or so. The choice of paper weights is slightly limited for perfect bound documents but this is not a problem and the overall product is very strong. The only real problem is that during the printing process the inside front and back pages got misaligned and so everything is about 1cm lower than it should be, DPP offered to rectify this and reprint the document which again shows that they have a strong level of customer care and quality control. The pictures included in this are from a trip to Amsterdam in Easter and again the layout was kept the same for direct comparisons.
I also took this opportunity to place the two DPP documents side by side and make comparisons, both documents are the same size but the perfect bound is far more substantial. Here you can also see the bleed through on the stapled booklet due to the thin paper and cleaner lines and better visual appearance of the perfect bound document. Obviously the perfect bound document is more desirable but it does come at a costlier price.
Evaluation
Again this is a very high quality product and is reasonably priced if you intend to make more than at least 5, however I do feel that due to the nature of the book it lends itself to larger scale documents as previously mentioned. My only real problem is that due to the nature of the binding it is hard to open the document wide to fully see the pictures and you are at risk of splitting the spine by pushing it too far.
Again the overall finish is very good and the perfect binding gives a professional look to the document straight away, furthermore the thicker cover gives an extra layer of protection and makes the whole thing seem more substantial. This is a very strong product but one that I feel suits larger scale documents of 30 or 40 pages and does not work so well with anything less than 20 or so. The choice of paper weights is slightly limited for perfect bound documents but this is not a problem and the overall product is very strong. The only real problem is that during the printing process the inside front and back pages got misaligned and so everything is about 1cm lower than it should be, DPP offered to rectify this and reprint the document which again shows that they have a strong level of customer care and quality control. The pictures included in this are from a trip to Amsterdam in Easter and again the layout was kept the same for direct comparisons.
I also took this opportunity to place the two DPP documents side by side and make comparisons, both documents are the same size but the perfect bound is far more substantial. Here you can also see the bleed through on the stapled booklet due to the thin paper and cleaner lines and better visual appearance of the perfect bound document. Obviously the perfect bound document is more desirable but it does come at a costlier price.
Evaluation
Again this is a very high quality product and is reasonably priced if you intend to make more than at least 5, however I do feel that due to the nature of the book it lends itself to larger scale documents as previously mentioned. My only real problem is that due to the nature of the binding it is hard to open the document wide to fully see the pictures and you are at risk of splitting the spine by pushing it too far.
DPP Saddle Stitched Booklet Test
The Digital Print Partnership offer a simple to use service in which you can pick everything from paper size and thickness to lamination and paper coating in order to give you the exact product that you want. Once selected it shows you an overview of all your choices and upon accepting that it asks how many pages and copies you would like. The price updates automatically upon changing either value and even tells you the cost per unit. Again this is fairly expensive for single copies but printing multiples results in much cheaper prices, for instance it is the same price to get 8 copies as it is to print 1 in the scenario shown above.
Upon finalising your choices you upload your PDF to your website and you are told the exact cost involving VAT and postage and also given an estimated delivery date, this is normally within 5 days. The biggest difference between this and Newspaper Club is that instead of paying at the time of ordering they send you a monthly invoice, however you can opt to pay this at whatever point you would like. My assumption is that they use this system as their products are more geared to business style transactions and it is the most appropriate way to deal with taking money.
The overall impression fo the document is very good, cleanly cut and stapled spine, high quality images and all round strong presentation. I chose the thinnest paper as I thought it would be cheapest but in retrospect I could have gotten much higher quality paper and coating for the same price. Although the finished product looks good I feel it could be vastly improved with the previously mentioned changes. In comparison to the newspaper it is a much more practically sized document and is more substantial, furthermore it is more cost effective to get these printed either in bulk or in smaller runs and so it seems like a more viable option depending on the document. The images featured in this are a selection of photos from various wild swimming excursions throughout the summer and the layout has been matched as much as possible to that of the Paris newspaper.
Evaluation
The service offered by DPP was of a very high quality, as was the finished product, the only minor is that the paper is very thin however this was an error by myself and I would definitely invest in thicker and/or coated paper next time as it is the same price. The document is very well made and shows precision production, I would say that the overall impact is stronger than that of the newspaper and would be better for large runs and in terms of selling as a collection of photos. The only other problem is that some of them arrived with slight creased through them, but due to the nature of the packaging I am assuming that this happened during transit. I raised the issue with DPP and they assured me that they only send out goods to the highest quality and even offered a reprint and so I cannot complain about their customer service at all.
Upon finalising your choices you upload your PDF to your website and you are told the exact cost involving VAT and postage and also given an estimated delivery date, this is normally within 5 days. The biggest difference between this and Newspaper Club is that instead of paying at the time of ordering they send you a monthly invoice, however you can opt to pay this at whatever point you would like. My assumption is that they use this system as their products are more geared to business style transactions and it is the most appropriate way to deal with taking money.The overall impression fo the document is very good, cleanly cut and stapled spine, high quality images and all round strong presentation. I chose the thinnest paper as I thought it would be cheapest but in retrospect I could have gotten much higher quality paper and coating for the same price. Although the finished product looks good I feel it could be vastly improved with the previously mentioned changes. In comparison to the newspaper it is a much more practically sized document and is more substantial, furthermore it is more cost effective to get these printed either in bulk or in smaller runs and so it seems like a more viable option depending on the document. The images featured in this are a selection of photos from various wild swimming excursions throughout the summer and the layout has been matched as much as possible to that of the Paris newspaper.
Evaluation
The service offered by DPP was of a very high quality, as was the finished product, the only minor is that the paper is very thin however this was an error by myself and I would definitely invest in thicker and/or coated paper next time as it is the same price. The document is very well made and shows precision production, I would say that the overall impact is stronger than that of the newspaper and would be better for large runs and in terms of selling as a collection of photos. The only other problem is that some of them arrived with slight creased through them, but due to the nature of the packaging I am assuming that this happened during transit. I raised the issue with DPP and they assured me that they only send out goods to the highest quality and even offered a reprint and so I cannot complain about their customer service at all.
Newspaper Test
The Newspaper Club website is very easy to use and has a helpful pricing page, shown below. The drop down box, in the top left, gives you the option to print anything from 4 to 64 pages and by selecting this the prices below change accordingly. This is quite an expensive process for small scale printing but can get very cheap for large scale print runs.
They do offer an online layout tool but as previously stated I have opted to make my own PDF files for all tests in order to keep the content very similar. For the next step I set about designing a short 12 page paper with pictures from a recent skate trip to Paris, I made this using InDesign using the basic layout skills I learn in the previous zine and book projects. I also received an email the day before printing saying that pixelisation may occur on the larger images and that larger files were requested for optimum quality. Newspaper club print twice a week, tuesday and thursday, and will have the product delivered normally within 5 days of printing - overall a very efficient service. Below are the pictures of my newspaper, as you can see it is typical newspaper dimensions and printed on newsprint as you would expect from a normal newsprint publication.
There are obvious criticisms of this as a final product, for instance it is flimsy and due to the nature of the paper the colours often bleed through but this exactly what is expected with newspaper printing and common faults in any regular newspaper. However the quality of the print itself is very good, the colours are surprisingly vibrant in comparison to the muted tones I was expecting and the overall look and feel is very satisfying.
Evaluation
Overall I would say that I was very pleased with the service I received from Newspaper club both in terms of the end product and their customer service, especially in relation to feedback. The finished product is exactly what you would expect and the only faults I can find are due to the nature of newspaper printing, not due to the actions or qualities of the service they offer. Apart from this it is quite expensive for small runs, but very cheap for larger runs and so it is really dependant on the publication as to wether or not this is appropriate but I feel that a large collection of photos would suit this format very well taking all things into account.
They do offer an online layout tool but as previously stated I have opted to make my own PDF files for all tests in order to keep the content very similar. For the next step I set about designing a short 12 page paper with pictures from a recent skate trip to Paris, I made this using InDesign using the basic layout skills I learn in the previous zine and book projects. I also received an email the day before printing saying that pixelisation may occur on the larger images and that larger files were requested for optimum quality. Newspaper club print twice a week, tuesday and thursday, and will have the product delivered normally within 5 days of printing - overall a very efficient service. Below are the pictures of my newspaper, as you can see it is typical newspaper dimensions and printed on newsprint as you would expect from a normal newsprint publication.There are obvious criticisms of this as a final product, for instance it is flimsy and due to the nature of the paper the colours often bleed through but this exactly what is expected with newspaper printing and common faults in any regular newspaper. However the quality of the print itself is very good, the colours are surprisingly vibrant in comparison to the muted tones I was expecting and the overall look and feel is very satisfying.
Evaluation
Overall I would say that I was very pleased with the service I received from Newspaper club both in terms of the end product and their customer service, especially in relation to feedback. The finished product is exactly what you would expect and the only faults I can find are due to the nature of newspaper printing, not due to the actions or qualities of the service they offer. Apart from this it is quite expensive for small runs, but very cheap for larger runs and so it is really dependant on the publication as to wether or not this is appropriate but I feel that a large collection of photos would suit this format very well taking all things into account.
Research - Printing Companies
After researching and speaking to various people from my course I have found a few companies that I am going to look into in regards to self publishing. My plan is to produce the smallest runs I can of a document for the cheapest cost in order to get a feel about the quality of their products without spending too much money. I am aware that most companies offer a software program via their website to get the best out of their products or allow you to send your own PDF's, as I am reasonably confident with InDesign I will be designing all of the documents myself in order to keep continuity in the content so focus can be kept on the product itself.
Newspaper Club is the first real company I was told about by various friends and previous students, including Andy Jones who still has a few copies of his left for sale. As the name suggests Newspaper Club print newspapers in the traditional way, they can and will print pretty much anything in newspaper format and it seems the more you print the cheaper it gets. Obviously there are limitations such as ink bleeding through and a lack of durability but the process is very cheap and one I will be looking into.
Digital Print Partership (DPP) are a company I found through Google, they print pretty much everything in any format, however it is there saddle stitched brochures and perfect bound documents that I am interested in as they not only offer a wide variety of sizes and paper qualities but also the nature of them lends themselves very well to zines and photobooks. Obviously these are more substantial products and so cost more but the difference in price seems to be worth it, again printing one document can be costly but printing more results in cheaper costs overall. Again the offer help with layout and design software but I will be opting to design my own PDF.
Finally there are Blurb and Ubyu, both of which offer high end book printing and binding. These are the most costly but also the most substantial, I have grouped them together as there end products look to be very similar whereas the previous two were very different. They offer a wide range of sizes, paper thicknesses, lamination/gloss options, covers and pretty much everything else you can think of. However after only browsing through their websites I feel the products they offer are of a much higher quality and higher price than what I was originally looking for and so I will be looking into the other previously mentioned printing companies first.
Newspaper Club is the first real company I was told about by various friends and previous students, including Andy Jones who still has a few copies of his left for sale. As the name suggests Newspaper Club print newspapers in the traditional way, they can and will print pretty much anything in newspaper format and it seems the more you print the cheaper it gets. Obviously there are limitations such as ink bleeding through and a lack of durability but the process is very cheap and one I will be looking into.
Digital Print Partership (DPP) are a company I found through Google, they print pretty much everything in any format, however it is there saddle stitched brochures and perfect bound documents that I am interested in as they not only offer a wide variety of sizes and paper qualities but also the nature of them lends themselves very well to zines and photobooks. Obviously these are more substantial products and so cost more but the difference in price seems to be worth it, again printing one document can be costly but printing more results in cheaper costs overall. Again the offer help with layout and design software but I will be opting to design my own PDF.
Finally there are Blurb and Ubyu, both of which offer high end book printing and binding. These are the most costly but also the most substantial, I have grouped them together as there end products look to be very similar whereas the previous two were very different. They offer a wide range of sizes, paper thicknesses, lamination/gloss options, covers and pretty much everything else you can think of. However after only browsing through their websites I feel the products they offer are of a much higher quality and higher price than what I was originally looking for and so I will be looking into the other previously mentioned printing companies first.
Research - Others Work
As mentioned previously, the work showed earlier is my only real attempts at printing things myself and so serves helpful as a research, the following things are examples of work and companies that are currently doing the things I am interested in.
The first example is this zine Berlin Wallride by David Cooper, it is a simple photo documentary zine of a skate trip to Berlin he and his friends embarked on. It is well printed on thick card but poorly bound and so bows out. As mentioned previously this is more about the end product that the content of zines, however I feel that I may try something similar with photos from my recent skate trip to Paris.
Blood of the Young are a Toronto based blog and printers dedicated to youthful documentary photography and self publishing. They run an online blog that is regularly updated and regularly print both collections of accumulated work and documents dedicated to specific photographers.
Shown below - 'And I Slept Fine Because my Bed Still smells Like Sex With You' by Dimitri Karakostas.
Fourteen-Nineteen are another example of both an online and printed presence in the self publishing world. They are london based and consider themselves as "exploring and exposing young photographic ingenuity', although the name suggests so they do not entirely limit themselves to youth and teenagers but more so the feeling of youth. Below is an example from their collection of books available in their shop.
Self Publish Be Happy are the largest organisation I have looked at so far and are at the forefront of self publishing in the UK. They not only help artists sell books/zines but also feature articles on up and coming artists and projects while also creating their own collections of work and regularly asking for submissions. Although they do not print for people they will gladly sell products that have already been made or give attention to those in the process of being made. Again they have an extensive shop and regularly update their website with everything and anything related to self publishing.
Shown below - 'Self Publish Be Naughty' by Self Publish Be Happy.
The first example is this zine Berlin Wallride by David Cooper, it is a simple photo documentary zine of a skate trip to Berlin he and his friends embarked on. It is well printed on thick card but poorly bound and so bows out. As mentioned previously this is more about the end product that the content of zines, however I feel that I may try something similar with photos from my recent skate trip to Paris.
Blood of the Young are a Toronto based blog and printers dedicated to youthful documentary photography and self publishing. They run an online blog that is regularly updated and regularly print both collections of accumulated work and documents dedicated to specific photographers.
Shown below - 'And I Slept Fine Because my Bed Still smells Like Sex With You' by Dimitri Karakostas.
Fourteen-Nineteen are another example of both an online and printed presence in the self publishing world. They are london based and consider themselves as "exploring and exposing young photographic ingenuity', although the name suggests so they do not entirely limit themselves to youth and teenagers but more so the feeling of youth. Below is an example from their collection of books available in their shop.
Self Publish Be Happy are the largest organisation I have looked at so far and are at the forefront of self publishing in the UK. They not only help artists sell books/zines but also feature articles on up and coming artists and projects while also creating their own collections of work and regularly asking for submissions. Although they do not print for people they will gladly sell products that have already been made or give attention to those in the process of being made. Again they have an extensive shop and regularly update their website with everything and anything related to self publishing.
Shown below - 'Self Publish Be Naughty' by Self Publish Be Happy.
Research - Past Work
Although this is a fairly new area to me I do have a reasonable level of knowledge on the subject due to previous projects and a general interest. In this introduction I will briefly show what I already know/have the done, the kind of things I am interested in and the printing companies I may be looking into.
First of all there was the Zine and Book book project in first year, this involved making a very basic photocopied zine at the cheapest possible cost and the most simplicity, we also made a book but I'll get to that later, and during the What is Viscom? module I made a booklet of my findings. Although one is from the very start of the year and the other these are shown together side by side to show a difference in not only quality but my understanding of layout and type and also as they are of a similar format. It should also be noted that the the following photos of zines and books in this post are more about the learning process than the finished product. As you can see the latter is a lot more carefully considered, printed to a higher quality, produced with higher grade materials and generally more aesthetically pleasing but was also made with an inkjet printer and hand sewn as a one off, not a realistic process for multiple production runs.
I made a small run of five zines using this process and it was not only time consuming but also costly, bearing in mind only 5 copies were made with the intention to be shared between friends.
Finally there is the Book from the start of the first year, again this was printed and bound by me but is a costly and lengthy process that cannot really be stretched to multiple prints easily.
As you can see, through progression there is an obvious upgrade in terms of quality and knowledge in terms of layout and design, but none of these documents would be suitable for making more than 5 copies and so looking into printing companies seems like the most logical way to do so.
First of all there was the Zine and Book book project in first year, this involved making a very basic photocopied zine at the cheapest possible cost and the most simplicity, we also made a book but I'll get to that later, and during the What is Viscom? module I made a booklet of my findings. Although one is from the very start of the year and the other these are shown together side by side to show a difference in not only quality but my understanding of layout and type and also as they are of a similar format. It should also be noted that the the following photos of zines and books in this post are more about the learning process than the finished product. As you can see the latter is a lot more carefully considered, printed to a higher quality, produced with higher grade materials and generally more aesthetically pleasing but was also made with an inkjet printer and hand sewn as a one off, not a realistic process for multiple production runs.
I made a small run of five zines using this process and it was not only time consuming but also costly, bearing in mind only 5 copies were made with the intention to be shared between friends.
Finally there is the Book from the start of the first year, again this was printed and bound by me but is a costly and lengthy process that cannot really be stretched to multiple prints easily.
As you can see, through progression there is an obvious upgrade in terms of quality and knowledge in terms of layout and design, but none of these documents would be suitable for making more than 5 copies and so looking into printing companies seems like the most logical way to do so.
Introduction - Printing and Publishing
The other process i would like to research and attempt is digital printing and self publishing, this seems like an obvious step forward and prompted by my use of the Digital Print room. My reasons for this are that I am very interested in zines and photobooks and find the concept of self publishing quite endearing, although I realise it is not the most professional manor of getting work out there it is a first step and something I feel I need to learn. Furthermore it pairs nicely with the darkroom and could result in a solid process of taking, developing and printing pictures in a document completely of my own design and accord.
Conclusion
Although I still have a few weeks left of the com tech project I feel that it is more productive for me to move onto another area of interest in order to make the most of the project. Obviously I do not know everything there is to know about black and white film photography but neither will I learn it in the following few weeks. Now the darkroom is set up I will continue to use it and continue to learn and hopefully perfect my skills but it will not be my main goal in regards to com tech.
Second Try Evaluation
I have now completed a full second run of shooting, developing, scanning and printing a film with next to no real problems. This time round I remembered to set the appropriate iso on the camera to avoid under/over exposure and managed to load the developing spoon efficiently without any help. As with last time there was a small crease due to trying to secure the tailing end of the film, however this has only resulted in chemical burn on a single frame. I also cut the negatives into sets of fours, to make them more efficient to scan in the Hassleblad scanner, and remembered to go to the digital print room during drop in to get them done quickly. I finally got around to printing again with the enlarger and found no real problems at all as I already have pre-mixed chemicals and had worked out exposure times, it was a simple case of doing an exposure test strip and picking the most appropriate timing before printing photos.
(insert photos here)
(insert photos here)
Second Try
My plan now is to repeat the whole process and rectify all of the problems that occurred first time around. This time I will remember to -
set the iso on my camera accurately to avoid under/over exposure
load the developer spool properly without creases
control the temperature of the developer for optimum results
book time/go at drop-in times to use the negative scanners to avoid dissapointment
remember memory stick/hard drive with enough free space
set up enlarger, checking timer, aperture and chemicals before starting
generally organise my time better
set the iso on my camera accurately to avoid under/over exposure
load the developer spool properly without creases
control the temperature of the developer for optimum results
book time/go at drop-in times to use the negative scanners to avoid dissapointment
remember memory stick/hard drive with enough free space
set up enlarger, checking timer, aperture and chemicals before starting
generally organise my time better
Printing - Digitally
As I had used the digital print room to scan my negatives it seemed only logical to go back and sample the quality of the digital printing. Having learned from my last mistake I went during the drop-in period and asked about printing, prices and times etc. The digital print resource offers prints anything from A7-A0 and can even print in metres for wallpapers or large wall hangings, prices in relation to size and quality are posted around the room on A4 sheets. I decided to blow up the image to see how well the quality of the scans enlarged. To print A3 on a satin paper was only £2, not only far cheaper than any other outlets in town but with better papers to choose from and complete creative control. Due to the hectic nature of the print room I found out that you do not actually organise any of the printer settings at all but simply ask James the print technician and he will ask you about size, paper type and any other desired outcomes and will then set this up for you and quote a price. The whole service is very efficient and the outcome was of a very high quality, especially considering the scan I used was only 900dpi, if scanned at the highest quality a single 35mm frame can be blown up to A1 before losing quality. Below is an example of the A3 print framed, this has since gone up in my house.
Evaluation
This is a very straightforward process with no real problems, again all I need to do is ensure I go at drop-in times or book an appropriate space to avoid disappointment and take files in the correct format ready to print. I also learned that the quality of printing is exceptional and far cheaper and quicker than any other service available to me.
Evaluation
This is a very straightforward process with no real problems, again all I need to do is ensure I go at drop-in times or book an appropriate space to avoid disappointment and take files in the correct format ready to print. I also learned that the quality of printing is exceptional and far cheaper and quicker than any other service available to me.
Printing - from Enlarger
This is a process that I was already somewhat familiar with but not not that I would say I was an expert at, especially not in the confines of my own basement. The basic process involves exposing, developing, stopping, fixing and washing an image. The first hurdle was that I didn't have a stop bath, however after a quick google search I found that watered down white vinegar, of bout 5% acidity, would do the trick and so bought some at the local supermarket and mixed it in the ratio of 3:1. I then poured the other chemicals into the trays and set them up in order, as I don't have running water in the basement I filled the 4th, largest, tray with water to let the prints soak and then washed them properly in the sink afterwards.
The initial problem was that the photographic paper I was given was devoid of any information, particularly the iso of it and so this turned out to be trial and error. After wasting about 7 sheets trying at different times it came to my attention that the timings weren't the problem but that the aperture on the lens of the enlarger was not fully open and as with a normal lens the wider the aperture the more light that is let in, or in this case out. After this change I tried another time sheet exposing the photo in sections for longer periods of time to work out the correct timing, coming to the overall conclusion that the ideal exposure was between 6-10 seconds dependant on the photo itself.
After exposing photos were moved to the developing tray and left for around 5-7 minutes for the image to appear and darken appropriately, this was then moved to the stop bath for 30 seconds-1 minute to stop the developing process. After this they were moved to the fix and left for a further five minutes and finally the wash for a solid ten minutes either soaking in water or preferably under a tap of running cold water. Prints would then be squeegeed of excess water and left to dry.
Evaluation
This is probably where I encountered the most problems so far, however I feel that I have overcome them all already. I just need to ensure that the aperture of the enlarger lens is fully open and to time each stage of the process to ensure optimum results. It should also be noted that when I have finished the stock oh photo paper I have that I may need to adjust the exposure times based on the iso of the photo paper.
The initial problem was that the photographic paper I was given was devoid of any information, particularly the iso of it and so this turned out to be trial and error. After wasting about 7 sheets trying at different times it came to my attention that the timings weren't the problem but that the aperture on the lens of the enlarger was not fully open and as with a normal lens the wider the aperture the more light that is let in, or in this case out. After this change I tried another time sheet exposing the photo in sections for longer periods of time to work out the correct timing, coming to the overall conclusion that the ideal exposure was between 6-10 seconds dependant on the photo itself.
After exposing photos were moved to the developing tray and left for around 5-7 minutes for the image to appear and darken appropriately, this was then moved to the stop bath for 30 seconds-1 minute to stop the developing process. After this they were moved to the fix and left for a further five minutes and finally the wash for a solid ten minutes either soaking in water or preferably under a tap of running cold water. Prints would then be squeegeed of excess water and left to dry.
Evaluation
This is probably where I encountered the most problems so far, however I feel that I have overcome them all already. I just need to ensure that the aperture of the enlarger lens is fully open and to time each stage of the process to ensure optimum results. It should also be noted that when I have finished the stock oh photo paper I have that I may need to adjust the exposure times based on the iso of the photo paper.