10 May
Yesterday was the first nice day for awhile, but did I spend it outside? Nope! I spent it in the darkroom!
Michelle put in an order for her wedding photos (wanting them, I assume, before their first anniversary) and I thought I'd surprise her by finishing them more than a month before she needs them (when their folks visit on the 15th June).
They turned out very well, but I have decided that the annoying thing about weddings are the damn wedding dresses. They are just so white and they always need burning in to get any definition at all, if you don't also want your light-skinned blond bride not to look mulatto.
I hate burning and dodging. And cropping. I'm lazy that way, I like to have the picture as I shot it, but when wedding dresses are involved, it's just gotta happen.
What is burning and dodging? Glad you asked! In developing a picture, you shine a light through the negative onto the photo paper, and the longer you shine the light the darker the photo is, but if there is a part of the negative that is very light and another part that is very dark and you want to even it out, you need to cover part of the paper while shining the light for longer on the uncovered part.
Burning and dodging are really the same thing, but burning is when there's a light bit that needs more time and dodging is when there is a dark bit that needs less time, so it sort of depends on which bit is bigger.
Yesterday I had a shot of Michelle and her dad where his face needed seven seconds, the picture as a whole needed ten seconds (which means that I had to dodge his face after seven seconds), and Michelle's dress needed fifteen seconds (which means that after the first ten seconds, after dodging dad's face, I had to cover the rest of the shot and burn in the dress for and extra five seconds).
What a pain!
I ended up doing all but one, the last shot, because I ran out of time, but also because it was lousy. It looked fine on the contact sheet, but wildly ugly when it was blown up. I think that Michelle had moved, because Marq is sharp as glass and she was a giant blur. The priest is less than clear as well.
I'll bet she'll decide to choose something else, so no loss that I didn't have time to do a finished print.
Saw this hilarious commercial last night for some sort of device to tell whether your phone is being tapped or if someone's on the extension listening in.
The funny part is that it showed all these people losing everything in the divorce or getting caught in adultery or ending up in jail because people heard their phone conversations.
So basically, they are saying very clearly "Our customer base are the scum of the earth! Are you a lying cheating swine? Then you must need our product!"
I wonder how well this campaign is working?
Today's horoscope:
The people closest to you may swing from hot to cold in their attitudes. You can help them balance intimacy and independence.
One year ago today:
Aw c'mon, she's only two!
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Last Updated Mon 10 May 09:17:09 1999