Fake It Like A Polaroid Picture
The last couple of days I’ve allowed myself to really sit down and play in Photoshop. I don’t normally do this and, after looking back through the fruits of my leisure, I have no idea why. I had fun, figured things out and ended up with some shots I really love.
It all started with Lensbaby-envy, which grew into “I wish I knew how to use my Holga”-envy.* I decided that anything you could do by accident, I could do on purpose, and these photos are what I ended up with.
My only grievance about the process of faking lomography with Photoshop is that everything you do is deliberate. The very nature of setting out to fake it takes away the element of surprise that is so exciting when shooting film.
I told a friend earlier today that I wish Photoshop would come with a button that said “Surprise me.” That would make my day.
I did resort to closing my eyes a few times when using the lasso tool to produce the “light leak.” I guess that’s the closest we Photoshop addicts will ever come!
* I’ve had this thing for at least 5 years and have never successfully taken out the originally loaded roll of film. Pathetic, huh? If you want to come over and teach me how to use my Holga, I’ll make you chocolate covered peanut butter balls. **
** Yeah, Renee– I’m talking to you!
9 Comments so far
The aperture switch on the Holga doesn’t really work, so if you’re feeling a little brave, you can take the little bugger apart and do a little DIY TLC on it (it’s super easy, I promise, I did this with mine): http://jsurp.tripod.com/holgaman/id2.html
And, really, there’s nothing to using a Holga. Once you have your film speed and your aperture, it’s guess work from there. Point and click!
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November 19th, 2009 @ 11:45 am
Thanks for the link, Jenny :)
It’s mostly the loading/unloading of the film. I’ve only ever used 35mm and large format film, so I’m sort of at a loss with these tall boys.
Also, on the subject of mods, same friend I prodded in that post for help has her Holga modded to take 35mm film. So cool!
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Great shots! This screams for a tutorial :)
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November 19th, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
It would be the longest tutorial ever! But, I’ll work on it :)
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November 19th, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
Or maybe some photoshop “tips” for recreating the look… instead of a full-blown tutorial. Again, great work!
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I still have to develop my first roll of Holga film taken back in 2005.
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November 19th, 2009 @ 2:28 pm
hehe! I remember firing off a few shots on my Holga before realizing I didn’t know what I was doing beyond the point-and-click (this was pre-college access to a darkroom, too, so I didn’t even want to think about where I’d get my film developed!)… I’m pretty sure that was back around ‘05, too! :)
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Chocolate covered peanut butter balls!!!! I have never used mine either. Let’s learn together and eat the sweets. I’m going to see how much I should sell my lensbaby for and then let you know. You’d be the first to know, why? Because you’d rock it harder than anyone else.
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November 19th, 2009 @ 3:26 pm
haha, thanks Britt :) If only we really could learn together and eat the sweets– why didn’t we ever do that when we actually lived in the same city? Regrets, oy!
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