Glossy Digital Prints

I typically print my photos on Moab Entrada Rag Natural 300 paper which has a slightly textured matte surface. The 300gsm is nice and heavy in your hand, the texture feels rich and “fabric-ey”, and it lays flat before and after printing – no curling or waving. However, the Entrada is not really designed for rough handling. The soft open surface can pick up oil from fingers and is relatively easy to scratch and dent. It is best to put the prints under glass soon after printing.

This week I needed something a little different. The Wayne County Council for the Arts is having a show of photos taken within our county. All entries need to be submitted mounted and unframed. I decided to submit some photos, but I didn’t know how the prints would be handled or stored or presented once I turned them in, so I thought I had better use a glossy paper that would better resist smudges and scratching. The glossy would also look better since matte prints not under glass can sometimes look a little flat.  Plus I was planning to go black and white which I like best on a gloss type surface in order to have the look and feel of traditional wet process prints.

Usually I would order something like this through the Internet, but I didn’t feel like waiting for shipping so I needed to find a local supplier. I stopped by my local art supply shop to pick up some photo mounting adhesive and some board (permanent mounting is also something I don’t usually do). This gave me another idea. What if I printed on matte paper and then applied a gloss finish over the top?

I had heard of people doing this, but I never saw the point since I always frame my prints. So I picked up a can of glossy Krylon “Preserve It!” digital photo protectant and headed home to try it out. Of course the can warned me about flammable harmful vapors, but I figured how bad could it be?

The stuff worked great at putting a glossy surface over my prints. It was an interesting effect – a matte textured surface with a glossy sheen. Unfortunately the smell was over powering. I sprayed two roughly 8×10 prints out in my garage – not the cleanest environment, but well ventilated. After letting the prints dry for 15 minutes or so, I brought them inside. Holy Cow! In no time I could not stand to be in my office. I opened the window and closed the door in a vain attempt to keep the fumes out of the rest of the house. After a couple of hours I could not take it anymore. The prints had to go back out to the garage. It took all afternoon to air out my office to the point it was habitable again and I could still smell it the next day because just laying the prints on my desk caused the odor to impregnate the wood! After several days in the garage the prints still reeked so I threw them away.

Back to the drawing board – looks like real honest to goodness glossy paper is the way to go. I decided to head over to Booksmart Studio to see what paper they had on hand. Booksmart specializes in high end art book type printing, but they also sell stuff for photo printing and even carry a line of inkjet printable metal for those adventurous types.

They several brands of paper; Canson, Innova, Lumijet, etc., and a large selection of Hahnemühle. I always wanted to try Hahnemühle, but it is expensive and I got used to the Moab so I just never bothered. One nice thing at Booksmart is that they have sample prints on dozens of different papers so you can spread them all out on the counter and compare them. I messed around trying to decide on the right combination of print quality, texture, and gloss for about twenty minutes. I finally decided on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl 320gsm.

This is a cotton based paper with no optical brighteners and a gloss coating with a little bit of a dimpling texture that gives it a sparkle when held at the right angle to the light. Although there are no brighteners, the white is still a little brighter than the Entrada Natural. I like how deep and dark the blacks become and the warm grey lighter tones in black and white photos. I have not printed much color on it yet, but so far it seems to need the saturation boosted a little in order to match the colors of the Entrada. There is a slight curve toward the coated side, but nothing serious. It feels good, it looks good, and it seems to take handling very well.

So I fiddled around a bit until I got it to look the way I wanted it and then I printed my photos. I sprayed the back of the prints with 3M Photo Mount Adhesive. I did the spraying in the garage again, but the odor was nothing like the preservative. Once the prints dried a couple of minutes, I took them inside and mounted them on foam board using a hard rubber roller to press them down. Presto! – mounted unframed prints.

I could enter 3 photos and had planned to use one of a canal lock at night, one of a barn with vines growing over it, and one of some bolts in a local railroad tower. After I got them all printed and mounted, I noticed that the entries had to be all taken within the last 5 months. The barn and the canal lock were taken back in January so they were out. I ended up just using three bolt photos; two of which I have included in this post.

Oh well.

MDW

New Camera and Stuff

I’m not a big “gear head” when it comes to camera equipment. Oh, I know what’s what and I keep up on new developments, but when I meet another photographer I mostly like to talk about shooting styles and subject matter and philosophy rather than the latest sensor technology. On the other hand I did just get a slew of new equipment so I figure I better burn at least one post on it.

Those brave souls that have been following my last few posts know that I lost all my camera equipment while on a trip to Costa Rica. Thank goodness for home owners insurance which covered the loss – monetarily at least. I still really miss a lot of my old equipment that I collected over the years; much of which is no longer manufactured.

So let’s see, I needed a new camera and some new lenses and a new backpack and new filters and new memory cards – just about everything. I even lost a pin hole lens that I made myself out of an old camera body lens cap and some tin foil. Since I lost the camera AND the lenses I had the opportunity to move away from Nikon to another brand. I narrowed it down to Canon, Nikon, and Sony. In the end I went with Nikon again. Nothing against the other brands – it was a close call and really I think I could have gone with any of them based on the specs.

Staying with Nikon was again more of a stylistic choice for me than a technical choice. I’ve used Canon before, but Sony was a bit of a flyer. I wish I would have had the opportunity to try them all out for a while and then decide, but no chance of that so I had to go with Internet reviews and gut feelings. From all that I read and from viewing images taken with each brand in various models, I just felt that Nikon was the best fit for my method of shooting and the look of the images most closely matched the look I’m going for these days. I can’t really explain it – sorry.

So I have upgraded from a Nikon D200 to a D300. I know the D300S is out, but the major difference looked to me to be just the addition of video which I think is a stupid feature to have on a still camera and I’m happier without it gunking up the works. The D300 looks and handles a lot like the D200. It is only different enough to be really annoying.

The biggest hassle is that the buttons on the back have moved. The top button next to the video screen used to be for reviewing photos and the second down was the menu. The 300 has more features and a bigger screen so the review button has moved up and to the left away from the screen and now the top button is the menu. I have taken a couple hundred photos with the new camera and I am constantly bringing up the menu when I want to review my images. Maybe in a couple hundred more I’ll be retrained.

The D300 gives me two more megapixels which is always nice. The image noise seems to be less too which is also nice. The body is solid and weather proof just like the 200 (a must have when working in the outdoors). The bigger review screen is good, bigger is always better, but it seems a little too bright. I have it adjusted down as far as it will go and I still think it is too bright. It would be fantastic if someone would invent a screen that would adjust itself based on ambient lighting – brighter in the sunshine and dimmer in the shade.

I have yet to really get the hang of the thing so that my images finish in the same zone that I’m used to. The histogram is a little different, the exposure latitude seems a little wider, the preview screen tends to blow out my highlights, etc. I know I should not be using the preview screen to make decisions about contrast and exposure, but it is so hard not to be swayed by it when it is right in front of my face. Eventually I’ll get used to what the histogram and what the screen should look like when the image is the way I like it – it’s just going to take some time. The two photos on this post are from the new system.

Besides a new camera I had to get new lenses. My old ones were ones that I saved from my film camera days. They were completely manual. No CPUs and no auto focus motors. They were simple tubes with glass in them – lightweight and compact. The new lenses are specifically made for digital cameras and with the inclusion of focus motors (that I never use) and digital electronics, they are huge and heavy. My main lens now is a Tamron AF 28-75 F/2.8 zoom. This thing weighs 18oz! When I took it out on a hike the first time I could not shoot portrait from my tripod because the weight of the lens would pull the camera down no matter how much I tightened the mounting screw.

Back at home I took a piece of copper plate that I had left over from another project and cut a hunk off. I hammered it into a Z shape and drilled a hole in the middle. One leg of the Z hooks over the edge of the tripod head,  it passes under the camera, and then the other leg hooks over the back edge of the camera. Now I can turn the camera sideways without it pivoting around the mounting screw.

Another change in the lens department is the lack of an aperture ring. My old lenses had a physical ring that turned to set the F-stop. The new lenses rely on the camera. The D300 has a wheel on the front under the shutter release. Turning the wheel sets the aperture on the lens. This was a bit annoying at first, but I’m getting used to it. I was very worried that the electronics were going to force me into either aperture priority or shutter priority – happily I can still work everything manually.

Another change that is making it difficult to get the hang of the new system is that Nikon changed the raw (NEF) file format between the 200 and the 300. So my Paint Shop Pro XI photo editing software will no longer read them. I decided to upgrade to version X2 (shouldn’t that be XII?) which will open the new NEF files. I should not have bothered with the upgrade – the software itself has almost no upgraded abilities in the areas I use and although it opens the D300 raw files, they are unusable once loaded. Here’s why.

Nikon has come out with something called the Picture Control System. I find this a really crappy and wholly unnecessary bit if fluff added just to keep the programmers busy and to sell new software. The D200 had a menu where you could set modes like standard or vivid which would shade the images a little toward more contrast or more saturation or whatever. That was it. You set the setting and forgot about it. The resulting raw file was just a file.

Now we have a thing called a picture control where one can set the same basic stuff (standard, neutral, vivid, monochrome) only the settings are somehow separate from the actual image file so that according to the manual one can “share image processing settings among compatible devices and software”. Great. On top of all the color profile crap flying around let’s add another layer of redundant and proprietary complexity so that we can really screw things up!

It would appear that Paint Shop is not a “compatible” piece of software and misses out on the picture control settings. All the raw files opened with it are blown out beyond recovery. The histograms are shoved way way way to the right. I tried creating my own picture controls with all the settings at some sort of neutral position hoping that I could tone done the raw files, but it never helped.

In the end I had to install Nikon’s ViewNX software that came with the camera. I now import the raw files from the camera and then open then in ViewNX. I select all the images and export them to TIFF files. The TIFFs are now in a form that Paint Shop can open and ViewNX has applied the picture control so they look correct. Just what I needed was another step in my workflow. Besides, I could have opened TIFFs in Paint Shop XI and saved fifty bucks on the upgrade. Sheesh.

Finally we come to the new backpack. It is a Lowepro Flipside 400 AW. The flipside deal just means that the main zipper to open the bag is on the side against the wearer’s back rather than on the “face” of the bag. Supposedly this allows one to slip their arms out of the shoulder straps and spin the bag around on the waist strap to the front and get gear out without putting the bag on the ground. Many reviewers swear by this feature. It gives me the willies just thinking about such a maneuver. I ain’t doing it.

My old Lowepro bag used to open from the top. It stood up when on the ground and the top access was quick and easy. I often set up my shots while standing in mud or water or snow or maybe all three and an upright bag only let the bottom get all mucky. The new bag needs to lay down so the entire pack gets wet and muddy. The good thing about the zipper being on the side toward your back is that the wetness doesn’t get on you when you put the pack back on. Unfortunately the face of the pack is a mess. Good thing it is weather proof.

This pack has a tripod holder which my old one didn’t. I like this feature. I used to have to bungee the tripod onto my motorcycle and sometimes it scratched the rear fender or gouged up my seat. Now I can hook the tripod to the pack on my back and avoid all that. When I’m in the woods, I still carry the tripod in my hand – it would be too much trouble to strap it on and off all the time.

That’s about it for first impressions. I’m very fortunate to be able to replace all my lost gear and most of the gripes I have will go away once I get used to how the new stuff works. Time will tell.

MDW

Costa Rica Trip Part 4

We left off on the last post having arrived at Allegro Papagayo our beach side home for the last three days of our trip. We spent the remains of that afternoon playing with Calvin in the pool and catching some rays. The sun was a welcome change from the clouds and rain of Arenal.

The next morning I was on the beach before sunrise to see what I could see. I walked a mile or more down the beach. The only other people around were a couple of local guys casting nets for fish while their dog chased the small crabs that ran everywhere above the tide.

I photographed some interesting shells. The black sand beach made a perfect background to set off the strange shapes and colors. At one point the beach changed from flat smooth black sand to tumbled sharp black volcanic rocks. For some reason it was at this point that I started to see sea urchins washing in and out with the shifting water. I’m not sure why they were just here and no where else. They rolled and tumbled and slowly waved their spines. I’m no marine biologist so I can’t say anything too specific about them. These were mostly a maroon color with long spines that looked like porcupine quills. The underside had rows of bright blue spots. I could not find a decent photo of one in the internet. Too bad I don’t have my shots to show you.

I headed back toward the hotel and was shooting some flowering trees nearby when I heard someone running up behind me. It turned out to be my son. When I told him about the sea urchins, he of course wanted to see them. The tide was coming in so I was worried that they would be gone by the time we hiked all the way down there again, but we found a few that had not yet been sucked back out to the ocean.

After breakfast, we hit the pool again (my son would have stayed in the pool 24 hours a day if he could have). We found out that the resort offers a day trip where they take you by boat to a local town for some touristy type shopping and what not. Unfortunately it only ran one day a week and this was not that day. I was hankering to see something of the local area – all we had really seen so far were resorts and tourist attractions. So I got the bright idea to rent a car for the day (the rental place is at the hotel). So after lunch we took off for Playas del Coco.

We knew the area pretty well after yesterday’s experience so we had no trouble finding our way around. We rolled into town and parked at the beach. It was a weekend so the place was busy with locals and tourists. There was a soccer game across the street (just to liven things up a bit, a fight broke out among the players toward the end of the game). We played in the water a while (although the beach was not that great). We bought a couple of Copos from a guy with a push cart. Then we decided to walk up the street to hit some shops.

This is where things go bad for my photos. Normally on a family vacation I only take a point and shoot camera to take travel snaps, but this time I brought my SLR and lenses and filters and all that jazz – figuring I needed it in the rain forest and what not. Although I had told myself that I was never to let my camera bag out of my sight, without thinking I threw the bag into the car with our towels and beach bags and stuff, locked the car, and away we went.

When we came back, the car was still locked, but my camera bag with all my equipment in it and my tripod were gone. This was in broad daylight along a public beach in plain view of hundreds of people and within a hundred yards of a police station. I’m figuring someone had been watching us all along and had keys to the car so as not to look like they were breaking in and hit us as soon as we turned the corner of the street. So goodbye all my equipment (both the SLR and the point and shoot were in the bag) and it was the second to last day of our trip so goodbye to just about all the photos of our trip.

Demara stayed with Calvin at the car while Heather and I went over to the police station to make a report. This turned out to be like a scene from an old Bogart movie. It’s hot humid and toward the end of the afternoon. The police station is basically an empty room except for a desk along the back wall. The doors stand open to let in some air and a huge fan sets up a steady breeze across the room. The policeman is dressed in blue shirt and pants with his shirt unbuttoned to expose his white T-shirt. He speaks no English. We try to explain the situation to him. He is not impressed.

He gets up and we follow him out to the street where he spots someone he knows. They talk a while and then the new guy heads off around the corner. We stand around silent for a while. Then the policeman asks about our passports which of course we have left back at the hotel. He’s not happy about that. Soon a new guy shows up who can speak English and is going to act as our interpreter. The policeman starts asking questions (he likes to come back to that passport thing pretty often). His investigation consists of looking up and down the street and then telling us that there really isn’t anything he can do. We refuse to go away so with a sigh he brings us inside to fill out a report. I figure I’m going to need something if I have any hope of getting insurance to cover this loss.

Reluctantly the policeman takes my driver’s license in lieu of a passport and starts to get some papers out of his desk. He has to use carbon paper (actual carbon paper!) to get two copies. The fan threatens to blow the papers off his desk so he staples the sheets together. He methodically fills out the papers with the answers we give to occasional questions. In the meantime our interpreter keeps up a running conversation that eventually leads to a pitch for a time share resort. No wonder he speaks English.

Satisfied that everything is in order, the policeman bangs a couple of official looking stamps onto the forms, hands us one, and waves us out of his office. We hit the street just as dusk is falling. We stand around for a few minutes saying goodbye to our interpreter. He hands us a brochure for his resort before he leaves. So it is back to the hotel.

We pull into the hotel parking lot and realize that we have forgotten to refill the rental’s tank with gas. The nearest gas station is a half hour away back toward town. My wife and son go down to the pool while Heather and I head back out in the dark to get gas. I had heard horror stories about how bad the driving is in Costa Rica, but I didn’t seem to have any trouble. To be sure strict adherence to traffic laws like stopping at stop signs and passing only when safe is not practiced much, but everybody seem to take it in stride without any of the road rage type stuff you see around here. People are easy going down here.

One thing to look out for at night is people walking or riding bicycles along the road. This is how a lot of the population gets around. You must be constantly on the look out for people suddenly appearing in your headlights. Heather became the lookout for this sort of thing while I navigated the roadways - Bike! Swerve. People! Swerve. Dog! Swerve.

The gas station was pretty busy with lines on both sides of the pumps (full service of course). While we waited, I noticed a guy by the door of the station holding a large machine gun. I probably shouldn’t have, but I said something to Heather like “Hey look, a guy with a machine gun!” She made me roll up my window and lock my door.

Now during this whole excursion I had been trying to calculate in my head how much gas was going to cost us. It is sold in litres of course and valued in Colones. I was trying to convert this to how many gallons of gas I thought we would need compared to the few thousand I had left in my wallet. I was afraid we would not have enough to pay for the gas. I really did not want to have them fill up the tank and then not have the money to pay for it thus possibly upsetting machine gun man. So it was time to hunker down with the pump guy. To Heather’s chagrin I happily jumped out of the car and started babbling to the pump guy. I took out my wallet and showed him all my money and bringing to bear my vast knowledge of Spanish, amazingly we came to an understanding – fill it up but don’t go over what I’ve got in my hand. Fortunately the car was very fuel efficient and we got out of there with a few bucks to spare and the guys at the station had a good laugh over the crazy American tourist.

On our last free day, we took a boat ride over to a beach owned by the resort. It might seem odd to go to another beach when one was right outside our room, but this beach had white sand (real or trucked in?) and a snack bar for drinks and lunch. Being a Monday, there were only about eight guests versus three staff so we were waited on hand and foot. The staff brought drinks and fresh fruit to us while we lounged on the beach. We paddled kayaks around and floated in the surf on noodles. We built sand castles and watched monkeys in the trees. We spent most of the day just taking it easy and having fun. That night we shot pool in the club til they turned the lights off on us. Not bad.

Early the next morning we met a new driver to take us to the airport in the town of Liberia to go home. It was a short half hour ride, but another cab ride; another search for an ATM. We were out of cash and since the car rental agreement with our credit card information on it was in the stolen camera bag, we had canceled our one and only credit card. Among other things we needed to be able to pay a $26 per person “leaving the country” fee at the airport.

The airport at Liberia consists of a huge runway that can handle large planes and an assortment of metal buildings that pass for a terminal. There was the fee to be paid, customs forms to fill out, bags to check, etc. Get there way early. Again asking around is the only way to figure out where to go for all these things and even where to get on the plane. There are no ramps to the planes – passengers walk out onto the runway to board. You need to go through the security check point to reach the “gates” (there are only two) in a big open room filled with chairs that opens onto the tarmac. At least there is food and drink available here while you wait.

Our trip home was relatively uneventful except that my car keys were also in the stolen camera bag which meant that when we got back to the Rochester airport, we would not be able to drive home. Sooooo, while in Atlanta we called my cousin who oddly enough was visiting NY from her home in North Carolina and staying at our house. She and her son got our spare keys and met us at the airport at midnight. Hokey smokes.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time and would go back again in a minute if we could afford it (as long as I hang on to my camera bag). Six days were not enough to see even a fraction of all the cool stuff there. Do go if you ever get a chance. Just remember to be flexible.

MDW