Photo Collage Workshop

Originally, the idea of a photo collage did not really appeal to me. I think it was partly because I did not know how to do it effectively, and partly because I thought they were a little cheesy.

Our photoclub had a workshop on the weekend, and I had a great time learning and building photo collages!

Here are the collages I created during the session:







The trick is making an effective border so the images pop off the background. These were done using a large paintbrush tool, and then going around each photo so only the edge of the brush affected the photo. Also the background is usually made from a photo in the theme you have selected - do the colours are similar - and then the photo is blurred to create a background. I dound it was also effective to choose the photo, and invert it. This way you get colours which are literally complementary to the colours in the photos you have selected (like in the haircut photo collage).

I will be building more, I am sure!

1930's Ansco Box Camera

I just felt drawn to Value Village about a week and a half ago - wasn't sure why...but here is the reason!

I picked up a box camera for $9.99! It is an Ansco brand, and from my research, it looks like it was made in the 30's. Two big bonuses here - a) It works!, and b) It takes 120 film (which I have). It could have taken 116 or 127 or 620, etc... which I don't have, and you can't readily get any more.

From what I read, it has an aperture of about f/8-f/11 and a shutter of about 1/30 sec. The inside of the camera says to use Ansco Plenachrome film...?
Most sites suggest using a 100 speed film for sunny days. The sunny 16 rule would indicate that a 30 ASA film would be good for a 1/30 sec. shutter at f/16. This would mean 60 ASA at f/11, or 125 ASA at f/8 (assuming the given aperture and shutter speed are correct).

I took it for a test run at the park on a very overcast day. I probably should have used 400 ASA film, but I used 100 and pushed it to 200 in development. Here are a couple of the images:





The shots were scanned on my Epson 4490, and given a contrast boost and some sharpening in post production.