Two of the rolls of film I got back the other week were from my Holga. One roll I shot a few months ago, and the other was the ancient film from 2004 that had been stuck in my Holga ever since I first got it.

The latter had only 2 frames with any sort of discernible imagery on it. The former was over half full of successful shots– mostly from a stroll through my neighborhood where I hastily fired off almost an entire roll in unbridled excitement– and of course a few obligatory stinkers here or there.

So… What did I learn?

1. First and foremost… Don’t be scared! For years this toy camera served more as a piece of decor than something to take pictures with, all because I was intimidated by it. The images that did turn out I love, like the first photo of an iced over car during our winter cold snap, and I can’t wait to go out and shoot with it some more.

2. Get Outside. Every single one of my frames that didn’t turn out were horribly underexposed because they were taken indoors (my Holga doesn’t have a flash). Even the bright lighting of a grocery store and 400 spd. film wasn’t good enough. I learned my lesson and will only be shooting outside from now on.

3. Don’t Flaunt It. I have a sneaking suspicion one of the reasons my 2004 roll didn’t turn out is because I had kept it on a bookshelf for years while the film was still inside. I imagine light probably leaked in and ruined all the film over time. Or maybe it had gotten botched some other way. Regardless, when I’m not shooting with my Holga, I now keep it in a dark cupboard or in my camera bag until it’s time to come out and play, just to be safe!

I’ve also discovered the endless source of Holga knowledge known as SquareFrog, which is what I now turn to every time I have a question about my toy camera. Pathetically enough, for the time being this also includes each time I unload/load my Holga, because I’m that dense when it comes to medium format!

Be sure to check out SquareFrog’s page on custom masks, while you’re at it. Looks like fun!

I’m so excited to release the new Fauxtography action set that I nearly choked on my Voodoo Donut! The set is $20 for 13 actions and 9 super sloppy frames.

Check out the shop for an official gallery view, or click here for a super concise glance of what’s in store.

Here’s a run-down on each action:

Carbon - My go-to faux film action. I love this one and use it all the time. It works great with the light leak actions, too, if you have those.
Oscuro - Similar to Carbon but it “burns” the image, so it works best on lighter photos.
Sponge - Gives a “glossy” look. I love to use it on photos with text (like the stack of books shown in the gallery).
Lipgloss - A cherry-tone colored version of Sponge.
Couleur - A basic filmy action with lots of grain.
Vert - A basic filmy action with lots of grain and a strong green tone.
Bleu - A basic filmy action with lots of grain and strong blue/light yellow tones.
Memento - I love this one - depending on the colors in your photo it can really transform the picture into something else. Gives highlights a soft yellow tone and shadows a bluish haze.
Jaune - I like to think of this action as a warm, yellow blanket being thrown over a photo.
Taffy - My go at a fauxlaroid color scheme. Dave Ward makes a great Polaroid frame that I like to use with this action.
Glaze - A basic action that gives a “filmy” look. Lightens shadows and warms things up a bit.
Blast - Like Glaze, but more intense.
Cadre - A simple frame/matte-like action, with slight vignetting and drop-shadow to give it a 3D-ish effect.

Plus 9 sloppy frames created by me: 4 4×5 frames, 3 5×7 frames and 2 square frames.

Phew! Sorry it took so long to get these released, but I appreciate all the support and prodding everyone’s been giving me along the way. :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, there’s a whole post’s worth of Voodoo Donut face stuffing in the works! Stay tuned!

I’ve been telling people that my Light Leak action set won’t be available until the end of March, but I totally lied. In fact, it’s available starting today for $15 at the action shop!

Included in the set are the following effects:

14 unique light leaks
2 Lomo effects (Lite and Burn)
Packaged Deal (It’s changed a bit since, but I wrote about this one on the Flickr group)
Shake
Custom vignette
Custom zoom
Black box vignette

The set is created with the intention of combining actions to get the overall look and feel of a film/lomo photograph that’s been exposed to light.

For example, the photo above was processed using the following steps:

1. Shake effect.
2. Flatten.
3. 2-3 Light Leak actions.
3. Flatten.
4. Lomo Burn, with grain turned down to 50%.

For a b&w look I’ve been running through this process and then completing it with my new b&w film action, which will be available soon (example here). If you’ve got the Monochrome set of actions, Blanco Y Negro is a good compliment to these Leaks/Lomos as well!

I’ve found it works especially great on landscapes, or for rescuing snapshot-y images.

Unfortunately, this set of actions is only compatible with CS2 and up.

However, Lomo Lite and Lomo Burn are compatible down to PS7, so if there’s enough of a demand I might make a smaller, cheaper set with PS7 friendly actions.

I’m really excited about these actions. I hope y’all have fun with it! :)

After months of fine tuning and tweaking, my actions are finally ready for purchase! I spent my day off whipping up a site where you can view a few sample galleries. Click the screen cap to be whisked away.

I have two sets available at the moment: a Color set and Monochrome set. I know, I got real creative when naming the packages, huh? :)

The Color set ($15) has 15 actions for transforming your photos, 3 basic actions for adding subtle details (vignette, grain, sharpening) and 1 freebie action that just flattens your image and converts it to a web appropriate color profile.

The Monochrome set ($10) has 9 actions that range from simple B&W conversion to vintage insanity. Most of these have a yellow tone because I’m a junkie for warm color casts!

There’s also a small sampling of what happens when you put some of these actions together, called the Combo Gallery. Note that the sample photo has been flattened between running each action.

I’m always coming up with new actions and I’m still working on my faux light leak set, so sit tight– there’s plenty more to come!

And I just want to squeeze in an extra thank you to everyone for your support as I developed these actions. Much love.

Yesterday I posted this photo as the 11th shot in my 52 Weeks project. I got a few emails asking how I did it and thought this would be a fun way to kick off a small series of tips & tricks for post-processing your photos.*

I’ve tried making shots like this before and they never turn out– I always just look like a giant, or my butt is missing, etc. The key to making floating shots is a tripod and low horizon (something I’m still grasping at), but not so low that the camera is looking under you.

This will make more sense in a minute, but on to the tutorial!

Before you even open Photoshop your need to set your tripod up and take a photo of an empty space– in this case, my living room. Preferably without the cat cameo, but Felix just couldn’t help himself and I had a great time trying to clone out his reflection later on (…NOT!).

Next, sit / stand / lay on top of something and take another photo. I chose my ottoman, but something that isn’t so squishy would work better (stool / box / etc).

Make sure your camera is situated low (this creates the floating illusion), but not so low that it’s looking underneath you (or you will be missing body parts when you erase your stool / box / etc).

Open up Photoshop and paste Shot #2 over Shot #1 as a new layer.

Add a layer mask to Shot #2 by clicking on the icon of the circle in the square in the layers tab (see above). The layer mask will show up as a big, white rectangle next to Shot #2’s thumbnail.

Click the layer mask to select it, then select the brush tool and begin painting the portions you want to disappear with black. If you make a mistake, you can switch your brush’s color to white and paint it back.

And that’s what I did yesterday afternoon after coffee & video games at Fremont Place. :P

Like I said, I’m still trying to get the hang of this effect. My lack of shkills is what brought me to adding a couple of textured layers. I did this to give it less of a clean and crisp look since my work was anything but.

Feel free to post your results– or some of your favorite floating shots– in the comments!

* The great thing about Photoshop is the amount of freedom you have to achieve similar effects in a vast amount of ways. I don’t consider myself an authority or expert in Photoshop– I still stay up way past my bedtime trying to figure things out, too. This post and those to follow will just be explanations of how I’ve come to do things. By all means, find what works best for you!