Postcard Exchange Round 23 - Comments and Feedback

[MattKing]

Thanks hpulley and Laurent - glad to see that the cards are getting to their destinations.

[piu58]

Yesterday I got Tronds' interesting Beach shot. Thank you!.

[Mike Wilde]

I'm just back from holidaying, with a neat collection of images pile in with the bills and junk fliers in my mail stack to review and comment on:


CCross- Watercourse – Neat use of a paper negative, and its slow speed characteristics. If you were in my part of Canada I know what you mean by a break in the spring rains; they really went on this year. I enjoy the bare hint of the paper negative margins in your contact print positive, and how you have chosen to tear the edges of the paper.

DaveMartiny – ‘Converging Big O’ = Mike Wilde’s title for this image. Or, as Buzz Lightyear would have said: ‘To infinity and beyond’. A nice low key image with lots of shadow detail, and enough with no detail to keep things interesting. The printing style with the thin white border aids in framing the image well.

George Nova Scotia – Cold Steel- An apt title for sure. There is a nice balance of content in the frame. There is a full tonal range from textureless white to fully black shadows in the print. I might like to see what a bit of texture in the snow would have looked like. A lower grade of contrast when printing might help that way, but I don’t know if doing so would have gutted the depth of black in the shadows.

HPulley – a bit young for coffee- a neat title for the image. I recall the scene well, for I think I was standing beside you when you took it. I was focusing on capturing the keen reader at the right edge of your image. The contrast is a bit strong for my tastes; it could just be the Ektar. I might have developed a bit less to ‘pull’ this scene, since it had plenty of contrast, and I think of Ektar as a contrasty slide film on the inside but wearing negative clothes kind of film. That or flash the print a bit to wind down the foreground brightness, but I know that is a pain to do with a lot of prints to crank out for one of these exchanges.

MattKing – Life Rafts - I enjoy the repeating pattern of the rafts on their overhead storage rails framing in the deck area, as well as the shadow cast by the railing. You have timed the shot well; the person standing is not caught in any shadow. The inclusion of people gives a nice sense of scale and draws your eye in. I appreciate the effort taken to tone this image, but don’t really see how it has helped in building density in any strong shadows.

Rst – Patio Torches – It is nice to pair the image with your description of the scene as ‘still sleeping Heidelberg’. The shallow DOF, throwing the background softly out of focus, combined with the smooth even morning light illuminating the scene works very well. The gentle warming of the print tone also suits the image, as does the matt paper finish.

[MattKing]

Thanks for your comments Mike.

On the subject of toning, I find that when I am "gang" printing small prints it is advantageous to use short exposures and simple dodge and burn sequences. It can be hard to duplicate exactly any high contrast localized burns. I use selenium toning to add just a slight amount of fine tuning to the shadow densities, and vary the amount of toning according to need.

[Valerie]

All my US cards went out a week or so ago. The rest were posted today. I've completely loved everything received so far!! (Too many to list right now). Great round, y'all!

[hpulley]

Thanks for your comments, Mike! Being color I couldn't go low contrast with the paper (though it would be even moreso on Fuji CA II) but didn't think to try pre-flashing color paper. An experiment to try, thanks for the idea. Ektar is contrasty for sure and shooting a little after noon there the light didn't help the contrast, very harsh lighting I thought and I was used to the lighting in our mostly cloudy spring so I probably could have gone at least a full stop darker on exposure.

I hope you'll share your picture of the reader with us. I should have trained the Mamiya with the telephoto in that direction...

[semeuse]

more goodies in the mailbox:

hpulley's "A bit young for coffee," wonderful vintage feel and I love the kid's face (interesting that after the strike, the Canadian PO doesn't bother to cancel stamps - this is the 2nd one through - I guess it's quicker that way)

inez's "Little Rock Central HS," great color work with a Diana

valerie's "Through the Giftshop" makes me want to get to Houston to see the ArtCar Parade in person

mattking's "Life Rafts" is beautifully printed and packed with amazing detail

trond's "Beach," a hypnotic shot, fortunately saved by the large borders, since someone at the post office appears to have tried to eat it

wonderful treats!
Kris

[mooseontheloose]

Well, my cards went out two weeks ago but it appears only two people have received them so far -- don't know why the post is so slow! (I haven't received anything either in that time frame).

[George Nova Scotia]

Well, my cards went out two weeks ago but it appears only two people have received them so far -- don't know why the post is so slow! (I haven't received anything either in that time frame).

Don't worry one made it to the other side of the world. I've just been slow at making updates - slow at a lot of things these days. Loved the shot, was it wash day

George

[drpsilver]

20 July 2011

To All:

At long last I made time to work in the darkroom. As a result my cards will be mailed tomorrow. Hope you like the image I selected.

Regards,
Darwin