Vintage Shootout - camera repairs!

Hi all,

Yesterday I spent a good 4 hours of the day setting up this scenario.

Picture yourselves back in the 20s or 30s visiting a camera repairman's home, finding him working on a couple of period cameras. I thought it would look something like this:

bump

I love it.... love the colors too!!

Great job and obviously a lot of prep work went into it. The only thing I find out of place is the ballpoint pen. Image 2 the tip of the pen is hidden by the glass, so no big deal there. However, in the first image you can clearly see it is a ball point pen and these were not fashionable until the mid-late 1940's. Replace that pen with a fountain pen and I think you'd have an excellent recreation.

Great job on the topic and PP work.

Naturalist wrote in post #10101809
Great job and obviously a lot of prep work went into it. The only thing I find out of place is the ballpoint pen. Image 2 the tip of the pen is hidden by the glass, so no big deal there. However, in the first image you can clearly see it is a ball point pen and these were not fashionable until the mid-late 1940's. Replace that pen with a fountain pen and I think you'd have an excellent recreation.

Great job on the topic and PP work.

A sound observation, must have slipped!

Thanks for the kind comments

You're gonna hate me.
After all that work, I am disappointed to see the processing you have done. These could have been (and probably were) very nice photos, which are spoiled with cheesy processing art students and budding photographers love to rave about - till they begin to learn the trade.

Sorry

Thanks for your comment.

Well I wouldn't go as far as to say the editing was cheesy. However, keep in mind that the aim was to emulate old,faded photographs typical of the period. I actually used a couple of old photographs as a comparative benchmark. The unedited photographs, though adequate, do not give this special appeal.

That said, could you offer any other kind of editing technique that you would deem un-cheesy, in this case?

Editing performed here included a partial de-saturation, clarity reduction in lightroom and some vignetting. That is all.

Chris450D wrote in post #10106059
Thanks for your comment.

Well I wouldn't go as far as to say the editing was cheesy. However, keep in mind that the aim was to emulate old,faded photographs typical of the period. I actually used a couple of old photographs as a comparative benchmark. The unedited photographs, though adequate, do not give this special appeal.

That said, could you offer any other kind of editing technique that you would deem un-cheesy, in this case?

Editing performed here included a partial de-saturation, clarity reduction in lightroom and some vignetting. That is all.

I would like to see them as straight-up B&Ws, with no smoothing, or de-toning. The amount of contrast or pushed blacks would give you a difference in age style.

Chris - just my opinion, of course.

By the way - how's Malta doing?
Lived there for 10 years

Malta's fine! Gettin warm already

I really appreciate your comment... its actualy what I'm looking for

Will try make a str8 B&W conversion next chance I get!

Cheers

I like #1 except part of his right elbow is missing. Also, I think you could up the black levels a bit.

Did they have ties like that in the 20s? It just strikes me as a bit off for the period. I would suspect that slimmer (Italian style) single color ties were standard back then. I have no real knowledge on the field, though

you may be right about the tie, but I was managing with bits and pieces of clothing found in the house lol!

Chris, I guess I'll throw this in. I like the concept and the attempt and the overall look.

However, your hairstyle and some other details (ballpoint pen, wristwatch, ice cubes) make it less-than-obvious when it's "supposed" to be. JMHO, worth what you paid for it .