NYC July 2008, Patrick Rodrigues

NYC July 2008, Patrick Rodrigues

NYC July 2008, Patrick Rodrigues

Silver Efex Pro

Thanks for that Lucas, you make some very good points, I do love the look Silver Efex Pro can give you. I agree that it is an intuitive application. What I dont like is that after saving and closing an image in Photoshop and upon opening a new image, the last filter command will launch all the manipulations used in the previous image. That would be great if you want to process every image identically but what if you want to use another template or film preset. Then you must launch the plugin again from scratch. Creating an action might be a better way to go. 

I have friend who offered this observation. "You have D3 that cost 5k with a 2k lens on it, then you upload to your 3k mac laptop, use an 800 dollar photoshop program, then you want to use a 200 dollar plug in to give you the look of a 30 dollar Holga."  

Obviously he has over simplified with his usual smart ass comment (what are friends for) but he does make a point. So I just bought 50 rolls of Tri X and that will give me the Tri X look with out plugins. 

To be honest I miss the analogue approach to shooting, professionally I use digital an it's incredable, lightning fast turn around times from field to client, but for the art of image making and the tactile pleasure of film, the advance of film one frame at a time, the smell of stop bath, fixer, and developer, not to mention the discipline of waiting for the shot instead of editing down 8 gig of shooting in a day, nothing beats it, no way to be sure you have the shot until the film comes out the soup. Ahhh the magic of it all! 

No doubt that I'll spring for Silver Efex Pro sometime, it's just another tool to make images, but in the meantime I'll be going silver. 

Silver Efex Pro

Hi all, sorry for the lack of posts over the last few months. I've been blogging over at my own site, but thought I'd get posting here again.

So, to get started I thought I'd put up some thoughts on Silver Efex Pro, which I recently picked up after finding it indispensable after the two week trial expired. I made a couple of posts about it here, and here, but to sum up, for me it really cuts down on my processing time, and lets me fine tune dodges and burns that in Photoshop would be a total hassle. I use it primarily with Apple Aperture, and the plugin is quick to load, and very intuitive (it took me all of 10 minutes to get the main functions sorted, and to save a favourite setting that I now you as a base when processing work.) My only beef with the Aperture plugin is that it produces a flat image, whereas the Photoshop version allows you to save your processing as a Smart Filter, and therefore it's editable later. The difference in file size is enormous though, with the flat version being 25MB, and the Smart Filter version 150+MB.

I agree Ted, it is a little pricey, but worth every penny in my honest opinion. If you're lucky enough to be a student, or know one, the student pricing runs at about half.

Silver Efex Pro

Hi Ben, nice work, highly stylized. I like it.

Has anyone used a photoshop plugin Silver Efex Pro? I downloaded a trial version, and I like it but at 200 bucks a pop, not sure if I'll invest in it or not. Anyone have an unlock code ;-)

It has quite a range of options from film types and grain to templates of antique, holga camera, Ambrotype etc.  Here are a few examples, check it out it's free for a two week trial. 

Chinatown Vancouver - July & August

Greetings to all,

I'm embarrassing to say that I could not really remember exactly what I was doing for the past few month. I was busy....yes.....but then other than working, shooting, and clean up my computer I couldn't recall anything that kept me away this long......

Anyway......Ted, that explosion is a really good wake up call...and I thank you for reminding us.

So, back to my recent images on Chinatown project. There's quiet a lot going on in summer at Vancouver's Chinatown. First being Chinatown Night Market held every weekend between May and September. Then in the early August there's summer festival with section of Chinatown blocked off for vendors for a day.  Photographically speaking, I have a very fulfilled summer, but at the same time it kind of create a nightmare when it comes to editing since I over shoot "a bit"

As I mentioned in the previous post way bak in June I do have desire to photograph Chinatown else where. But before I have enough fund to do so I'm still going to explore more about Chinatown here in Vancouver....and for the next part I would like to shoot the section which border with "Downtown Eastside" which is the community known for its drug and homeless problems. Stay tuned.

Have we all lost interest..

 "life's a blast". 

That is the motto of our explosive techs...