About Slides?
 

I wasn't sure where to post this question, so hopefully this is ok?

I have decided to apply for the grant money, and need up to ten slides of my work. I have never needed to do this so Im not sure of the best way to go about it. I have looked over all the tips about photographing your work and haven't seen this part addressed.

Would it be better to take the pictures with my slr and send to have developed? OR Take with my digital (or scan in pics from the slr) manipulate in Paint Shop Pro to get it as close to the real thing as possible and then send those corrected images to somewhere online?

I have found that no matter how much I follow the rules about taking the photos, they never come out looking like the real thing, and I always end up putting them through PSP to "fix" them.

Has anyone used any of the online companies that make slides and recommend anyone?

I live in a small town and wouldn't begin to know where to take a roll of film to have slides made for something like this.

Mary,

Try the "search " button at the top of any Forum page. If you search for 'slides', you get this .

I don't personally know of any internet service that produces slides from digital images or prints, but I'm sure there are many. If your digital camera has lots of megapixels,you might be better off going digitally. The problem with prints is that they compress the values in the lightest and in the darkest areas. Once you scan them, then send them off to have slides created, the final result will be compounded even more. The reason to take slides in the first place is to try to minimize the distortion of your image. The reason you probably have poor results with taking slides is that you are likely using daylight film, and not matching the time of day (10-11 am or 1-2 pm on a clear day) to the light temperature your film expects to find. Matching light temperatures is just as important with print film as with negative film.

At the very least talk to a photoprocessor in your town and find out if they can advise you. If there is a deadline for your grant application coming up, you'll just have to do the best you can. Good luck,

Chris,

In your professional opinion, would having slides made from digital files

www.slides.com

They do great slides from digital files. You will need a high-speed internet connection as the files you will upload are between 25 to 35 megs per slide.

Just to continue the muse, am I confusing the "slides from digital files" issue? A recent contest guideline stated that work done through digital manipulation would not be considered, but perhaps that was meant to refer to digitally created work, rather than digitally recorded work.

Any curators, jurors, or art society officials out there who would object to slide entries created from digital files?

I hope someone can answer this Steven. I don't enter competitions because I usually can't afford the professional photographers, but it could possibly work with my digitals.

I take much better slides with my digital camera than I did with my SLR. I'd urge everyone to give it a try - don't ever let something like this stop you from entering a competition or applying for a grant. (And congratulations, Mary, for applying for a grant. Let us know how it works out, I'll bet there's lots of interest on the Forum about grants.)

I used to have lots of trouble with glare on my oil paintings when I used indoor tungsten lights with my film camera. I now shoot indoors under skylights. The bright, diffuse, coolish light seems well suited for this purpose. I'm attaching a photo of my studio showing my setup. The easel holding the painting is to the left and the camera tripod is on the right. It is really important to use a cord release on a digital camera, by the way.

I don't have as many color problems with my digital camera as I did with film. Part of the trouble is that many pigments "flash" unpleasantly with film, especially the cadmiums (and, I suspect, the thalos, though they're not on my palette).

I have had no trouble uploading tif files to a local photo place, though I'm going to try Michael's suggestion, they are less expensive. It's so easy to crop the file in Photoshop and then send it out via the internet. I used to hate to crop a slide with silver tape.

Linda,

Just being nosy, is that your house you paint in? Or a seperate studio?

Steven et al,

In my opinion, whether professional or reckless, the only point to sending slides is to most accurately show the painting you have done. Not to change it, but to make the slide look as close to the original as possible. How else would one judge?

If artists essentially want to cheat and "fix" the paintings' problems, then they **** well better execute the changes prior to the show.

I think that the bottom line is, you want to show the judges the image that most accurately represents your painting. In a competition that is 'live' it will immediately be evident whether an applicant has fudged. When a competition does not involve viewing original work, there is basically no way to weed out what I would call "digitally altered images". But in the long run, all will, I think, become evident.

After looking at this thread and talking to Linda Brandon, I think that if your digital camera has enough megapixels, you will still be financially ahead to zoom an image to a production lab, compared to the purchase of slide film, processing, and duplication.

Chris,

I am not speaking for Steven, but I understood him to mean digitally altering the photo to have the color/light look more like the painting. In other words, I usually have to fix the contrast or hue saturation after I photograph mine because my photography skills are lacking. I don't change the look of the painting - I just make the photo look like the actual paintng. Would that be considered some form of cheating as well? If my unaltered photo is too light then it is not presenting the painting correctly to anyone.

Kim,

My studio is separate from my house and I come to paint here almost every day. I'm in Heaven (see Moon in photo).

Linda,

Apparently you haven't noticed that someone has hurled a dead cat against the wall of your studio. Or, it has been speared into the canvas on your easel, I can't tell which.

Personally I can see how something like this might happen, but I would think that after admiring it for a while you would want to have it removed.

Sincerely, Mike

Shoot slides full size in full sun direct-no digital-don't copy or get dupes. 50mm lens

Harley Brown says he shoots slides of his paintings in full sun. (Very different here in Arizona, where he lives) Regardless, you still have to match your Kelvin temperatures.

I used to shoot my slides this way until North Light Books sent me the "highly recommended booklet" on Tungsten lights and film. The results are uniformly excellent. I would never go back to the "guess at Kelvin" exercise with daylight slide film. Slide film is expensive to buy and to process.

Last year I spent over $6K on film/processing. I have already saved half of that with my digital camera, purchased in March. However, all digital cameras are not equal. There is, I am sure a crossover point where slide film becomes obsolescent, but I am sure it depends on the megapixel capacity of your digital camera, as well as the focal end of your shot ( e.g. web page or 8X10 ad)

I will absolutely try Linda's approach with the painting now on my easel.

Linda, how many megapixels does your camera shoot?
I am debating moving up from my 3.4 megapixel camera. (One with a cable release, as you described, would be nice too.)

Michele, my Minolta has about 5 megapixels. If I were you I'd skip this model and save up for one of the $2,000 or so cameras that are out now. But you really ought to buy a cable release, I think mine was around $20 and it's made a big difference in how well my camera focuses on a painting. I'm not the best photographer and I need all the help I can get.

Mike, you must have an amazing monitor to be able to identify the quavering old quadruped in the painting on the wall. Not a dead cat, but very close: my 12 year old English Pointer. The title of this painting, in fact, is "Not Dead, Just Resting."

Oh my gosh Linda, now I really feel bad. To suggest that your dog looked like a hurled dead cat stuck to the wall, this is inexcusable.

When I got the multiple auto e-mails referring to the tossed kitty I should have suspected the recent computer glitches. Please forgive me, I should have double checked before going off like that.

It is however even more impressive to think that a fairly large dog, probably twice the size of a cat, would just stick there like that.

But seriously, that seems like a very fine studio environment. Mr. Moon looking down on you is a nice touch.

Sincerely

My camera has no attachment for a cable release, unfortunately. What I do to compensate for that is put my camera on a tripod and use the self timer. (That way my finger on the shutter doesn't shake the camera, for those of you not familiar with what a cable release is for.)

I love slides.com
 

I'm posting a heartfelt testimonial to the wonderful people at www.slides.com .

Due to sloth, gluttony, and who knows what else of the Seven Deadly Sins, I was recently late in getting slides out and making a deadline. To make matters worse I didn't opt for the super-fast shipment. (That one would have been 'greed'.)

The compassionate slides.com people stepped in and saved my neck. I received a duplicate order so quickly it made my head spin. They are fantastic!

Not expensive, either. Each original slide is $4.00; an extra one is $2.00 and I think the price eventually drops to $1.00 for multiples.

I upload my tifs and I'll never go back to shooting film for slides again. (I see they also offer a Powerpoint service, though I haven't tried this yet.)

A Public Service Announcement
 

It has come to my attention that there is some confusion about what consitutes the Seven Deadly Sins. (Personally, I think they should be the Seven Naughty Misdemeanors, but it's not up to me.)

Not in any particular order, they are: Pride; Anger; Lust; Envy; Gluttony; Avarice; Sloth.

****************

Wilt thou forgive that sin, where I begun,
which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive those sins through which I run,
and do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin, by which I won
others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
a year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

I have a sin of fear that when I've spun
my last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore.
And having done that, thou hast done,
I fear no more.

John Donne (1573 - 1631)

I knew the Anger and Sloth part ("Guilty as charged on both counts, Your Honor"), but I'm kind of wistfully sorry to be reminded about Lust. ("Nolo contendere!")

Not completely sorry, though, mind you, nor completely penitent.

www.slides.com
 

My first order arrived from www.slides.com

I ordered six of the same image, they look fantastic, and best, they are all first generation slides :)

My first experience was nothing like the one Chris had.

When I called to check on the delivery the day it was to arrive, they told me they did not receive my order and that they had been having problems with their site. I watched my files upload and cue on their FTP server, so I have no idea where they ended up with all the other customers orders.

I must say the lady was as frustrated as I was when I called her about it, and they went through hoops to get them to me by the coming Monday and only charged me for normal delivery.

My lesson, like I mentioned with the frame site, is to always call and confirm that they have received and completed your request. Otherwise you will be waiting and there is nothing in the mail!

I will use them again.

I received my slides from slides.com yesterday morning. Wow, I can't believe how good they look!

I'm entering a competition in Jersey and had shot a roll with traditional slide film. I can usually get about 9 or 10 decent ones, not great, to use out of a roll of 36 when I shoot it myself. I can't afford or schedule a professional photographer to do it. I went to the local photo shop and found out that there is no longer next day or two day service anymore, it's over a week. I wouldn't have my slides in time. I found a place who would do it in two hours, but it's far and I can't take off work to do it.

I noticed a few of you were happy with slides.com so I gave them a call. Very helpful, the gentleman was also courteous and friendly, the lady sounded like she was just doing her job, but not rude. I took the pictures outside with my new NikonD70 (nice camera) and played with the pics a bit on Photoshop, mostly adjusting paper color and contrast.

Uploaded them thru their site, and I made sure I called them after to make sure they received them ok. Thanks Beth. Had them delivered overnight. It came out to $81.50 for 50 slides and overnight shipping. It might sound expensive, but I've wasted more money in film trying to get it right, and it would have been a LOT cheaper than hiring someone who couldn't give me a guarantee. I will NEVER shoot my own slides again. (unless of course slides.com goes out of business)