I'm finally starting to create sample albums to show prospective clients. It has been difficult deciding on the packages but I've decided to go with 2 packages. Archival Package and Non-Archival Package. Simple. Archival is more expensive as I use more expensive materials. So that's about the only difference. This means I have to use special glue and albums with acid-free pages.

I wanted to provide something different. But most of the stuff has been done before. In the end, for the archival album I'm just going to mount the whole photo on the album page. The photograph will not be laminated so extra care will have to be taken with this album. But I've found the prints look A LOT better than the laminated prints as the laminate does dull the print a bit.

Since some people are concerned about the print I've been thinking of spraying it a bit with a protectant. Right now I just ordered a few cans of Krylon^® Preserve It!^® Digital Photo & Paper Protectant. I'm just going to experiment with this spray first and see whether there is a noticeable difference in the print when sprayed. If it does alter the print too much then I'd rather not use it.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the sample albums that I've created. One of them is not fully complete yet.

It's been awhile since my last post. Been meaning to post but have been busy with the day job as well as editing a recent wedding I did. Well, first thing's first. I did attempt some window light portraits using the techniques I mentioned in the earlier post. In my opinion the result was actually quite pleasing. But what's most important is whether the bride likes it or not. I haven't really printed the album or the prints for them yet since I need to round up everything and deliver everything one shot. That's the new policy. All or nothing. As well as giving the bride a bigger surprise, this also reduces the cost on my side. No more travelling several times to deliver 1 thing at a time.

So my workflow now consists of wedding-back home-upload-backup-backup again-edit-edit some more-design album (done mostly by my wife)-prepare files for printing-print-DELIVER.

Since I'm not doing this full time I usually give an ETA of 1 month after the event to receive everything. I do have to go out and buy albums and print at the Pro-Lab which happens to be situated in SS2. This is what I dread the most. Going to SS2 and finding a parking place. The Lab opens during office hours so I can't go after work and during office hours getting a parking place there is just so damn difficult. So I leave the Lab trip for Saturdays.

Anyway, here's the best window light picture I took on that occasion. It was taken again with the 20D (which is the only dSLR I have anyway) and the 24-70L at the 70mm setting. Aperture used was f2.8 and shutter speed was about 1/100 at ISO400. Flash was used with minus compensation to just give a bit of fill on the shadow side. I can't really remember but it should have been between -1 1/3 and -2. I am really happy that this light balancing thing has worked out.

The posing is just straight 'look out the window' posing. I still like to take some formal posed shots since I think it relies on a different set of skills so I'm always experimenting. I do both Traditional and Documentary Photography. I really couldn't care less what people label me. I'm just a wedding photographer. I shoot both styles and mix 'em up.

It's a bit obvious this shot was Photoshopped as well. First problem I encountered with relatively close-up shots like this is that the 24-70L is just way too sharp. The imperfections in the skin do show up so I really needed to soften the picture a bit. Fashion magazines have that airbrush thing but I just soften the picture a tad so that it still looks natural. There are many ways to achieve this effect so I'll just mention what I did.

I created a duplicate layer and then applied the Gaussian Blur Filter. Radius about 20-30. At first you will be surprised that the picture goes totally blurred. Don't worry. Just go to edit and then Fade Gaussian Blur. Tweak it to your liking. I can't really remember this particular setting so can't say what I used.

After blurring the picture then comes time to sharpen some bits. Well, not really sharpen but get it back to its original sharpness. I changed the view to Actual Pixels and then proceeded to use the history brush on the eyes. Be very careful not to get overexcited. I tried to get as natural an effect as I could and I achieved what I was aiming for.

What I like about this picture is the golden glow it has. The blur has created a more pleasing look whilst the eyes being sharp gives it a different feel that I don't know how to explain.

So, hopefullly the bride will like this picture.

Lately, I've been missing being in university. Those 3 years at Staffordshire University studying Forensic Science were some of the best years of my life. I think it was the first time in my life I actually enjoyed studying and excelled in almost every subject.

Currently, my work consists of mostly fire investigation. Sometimes we do get some vehicle investigation jobs, but most of the time this too involves fire. I actually miss working in the lab at university. I don't enjoy it all the time but some days I can just sit there and watch the auto-sampler work on the GC-MS. I don't think I'd want to work in a lab forever, but I do have ambitions of at least doing some research at Ph.D. level. It'd be cool to continue what I did in university but I think some other person at the university is doing it now.

I've always been fascinated with fingerprint analysis, which was why I chose that as the topic of my Final Year Project. Actually, it was something to do with cyanoacrylate fuming. This is the use of superglue to develop latent fingeprints. In simple terms, the superglue is heated and the vapours created react with the amino acids, fatty acids and proteins in the fingerprints. Our fingers secrete oils and sweat and all that stuff which is left in the fingerprint and the reaction between the superglue vapour and these chemicals results in a whitish residue which takes the form of the fingerprint.

Once it's developed, there are ways of enhancing the print but usually on a dark surface, you can just photograph it straight. Anyway, my project was aimed at using superglue fuming for large areas, but unfortunately, the analysis section took longer than expected and I couldn't really do the whole room fuming. This was not helped by the fact that nobody really wanted their rooms fumed leaving white residues over everything.

So what I did get done was actually find a way to sample the air for traces of cyanoacrylate. This would help in determining the level of cyanoacrylate in the air at different times after fuming. In a room situation, it'll determine when you can safely enter the area. Well, the best that I can hope for is that my experiments and results become useful for someone else continuing research in this area. I know it's not anything groundbreaking and all but I spent a lot of time on the project and hopefully it'll help some other student in their projects.

Since I'm already working investigating fires, I was thinking of combining some research with fire investigation. It'll be a best of both worlds thing. I knew of another student in my year who did fingerprint development on items covered with soot. That must have been fascinating, but then it has been done before, so I will have to think up of something when I actually try and apply for a Ph.D. post.

It'll be a couple of years more till I actually decide to do a Ph.D. Right now I need as much work experience as I can get. I've got a great mentor (John Horswell) here at my company. He's got his name on a book and quite a few journal articles and has loads of experience in Forensic Science. So, before I even entered the company I knew I was going to be able to learn a lot from him. There're always stories to tell and since both of us come from a Forensic Science background, we actually speak the same language. It is refreshing 'cos I don't think I have any friends in Malaysia doing Forensic Science and I find that it never comes up in conversations. Sometimes I envy those people working in the finance industry talking about their job and other stuff I can't comprehend.

Anyway, I'm just ranting. Right now I'm happy being a wedding photographer and forensic scientist. It's nice to be doing what you enjoy most but it does get tiring when you have to edit photos in your free time intead of spending it with the family. I try to balance it but my wife still complains. So my solution is to just make her a part of my photography business. That way we can divide duties and spend more time together.

I did a wedding on Saturday and this time I gave her more photographic duties. Before, she helped out with posing, album design and equipment management & security (aka bag minder), but this time she had a camera and was shooting away. The results are quite good since it gave different views of the same moment (I can't be in 2 places at 1 time). I think it will help out when we actually design the album later.

I may post a picture or 2 in a future post and probably discuss about it, but for now, I really have to end this long post. I need to learn how to write an ending to a post instead of doing this all the time. Maybe I should add a 'to be continued' thingy at the end of every post.

Lata

Point44