I have touched on Polaroid Photography before on this Blog and would like to indulge again on this topic because it is an area of photography that really excites me.
When I first started using Polaroid Film for more creative work, it was a bit like starting a marathon from not just the back, but also after most of the runners had finished and gone home. This was certainly the case in respect to Polaroid the company, it had gone into receivership, due in part to the decline in it's market which had been drastically eroded by the digital revolution. There was no more instant film being made and it seemed to me that instant film would soon be obsolete. So for me this was going to a quick dip of the toe in to the "Polaroid" water to see what I had missed before the tide went out for good on this photographic medium. But I couldn't have been more wrong with this assumption, as within a very short time I found, I loved it so much, I was soon splashing about up to my neck it what is a most amazing creative material. I could go on at length about this experience but rather than do this I just want to show you what is possible and let you decide for yourself whether this is something to explore.
The basic equipment needed is a flat bed scanner, a working Polaroid camera and the right film for it, both film and camera are still readily available and I given links for resources and the best places to obtain these at the foot of this Blog article. It is fairly inexpensive image creation if you look at it from the point of the finished image with between 8 - 10 captures to a cassette which is typically about £15.
Each type of film has it's own characteristics the examples here are are TZ Artistic Film shot using a SX-70 camera which has to be one of the coolest camera of all time. Basically TZ Artistic instant colour film creates a very soft image which leans towards warmer tones having a brownish hue and therefore has a very 70's look to the images it creates. The other brilliant thing about this film is that it can be manipulated to literally reshape the image using some basic tools and a bit of heat (I will cover this in a future Blog).
So here are the illustrations for you, fist we have a totally unedited image shot and then scanned with the odd bit of dust being removed. I think the soft colours are just amazing:
Next we have a manipulated image here I have emphasized the shape of the tree by applying different pressure to the image :
The final image is also a manipulation but this time I have burned in the normal colours of the film in Photoshop to make them more vibrant, but this is not a Photoshop created image it has only been used to enhance the image I had already created. This image has quiet a lot of meaning to me with the larger wooded model being being adapted and positioned by me and the smaller figure being made by my son when he was much younger. I entitled this image "Lean On Me" but I hope it questions who is leaning on who:
Useful links:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/polapremium
http://www.polapremium.com
http://www.polanoid.netLabels: polaroid experience marc byram sx-70 TZ Artistic inastant film creative photography
Next we have a manipulated image here I have emphasized the shape of the tree by applying different pressure to the image :
The final image is also a manipulation but this time I have burned in the normal colours of the film in Photoshop to make them more vibrant, but this is not a Photoshop created image it has only been used to enhance the image I had already created. This image has quiet a lot of meaning to me with the larger wooded model being being adapted and positioned by me and the smaller figure being made by my son when he was much younger. I entitled this image "Lean On Me" but I hope it questions who is leaning on who: