Digital Effects with Slide Projectors

Back in 1997, digital cameras were new and rare. Typical camera resolution was only 0.5 megapixels. You could get 10 megapixels, but it would cost you $15,000. If you needed digital, you probably relied upon a film lab with a scanner to convert film images to digital. Most scanners were very expensive drum scanners, but Kodak provided us with the cost-effective Kodak Photo CD system; price for a scan was only a few dollars.

Well, here is a nifty trick from 1997. This effect was included in a slide show using two 35mm projectors and a dissolve controller.

The original image was a 35mm color transparency, which was scanned to digital (Kodak Photo CD). I digitally manipulated the image to a line drawing, like a child's coloring book, and filled in some color. Then the digital image was output back to a 35mm slide using a digital-to-film recorder.

Under the direction of a dissolve controller, one slide projector faded out while the second projector faded in. Projected onto a big screen, it was a really great effect.

Refinement

Here is an example that illustrates two concepts in composition. First concept is picture within the picture. Sometimes a perfectly good image includes another good image within it.

Second is refinement; studying what you are looking at and understanding what exactly is igniting your creative fuse. In this case it was the light on the hull. Through a series of images that gradually excluded non-essential elements, I arrived at the second photo shown below, which is entirely about (1) light and (2) texture.

Tall Ships

After some financial wrangling, the tall ships did come to Boston, though there were a few oddities. If I understand correctly, there was no formal parade of sail. And a few of the tallest ships were berthed at piers that were frequently closed to the public.


















With weather forecast for sunny skies, Tom S and I arrived at South Station shortly after 7am to catch some good morning light. However, our plans were soon foiled as we discovered that the Fish Pier and World Trade Center pier were entirely closed to the public until 5pm. After conversations with several police and pedestrians, we opted to take the water taxi to Charlestown Navy Yard and so achieved some nice images from out on the water. The attached image shows the Kruzenshtern as the water taxi came around the World Trade Center pier.

In Charlsetown, we were among the first group of people to board the Picton Castle and Bluenose II, before the crowds and long lines formed. USS Constitution, permanent resident in Charlestown, was undergoing major renovations, but still earned a very long line of eager spectators. We skipped it, thinking it is here year round and there is no need to wait in line today.

By 11am, the light was harsh and we called it a day. Shooting film that morning, Tom dropped off his film at a local lab where it was processed within a couple hours. Though I was shooting digital, Tom beat me to the punch, posting a couple of scanned images in email before I could complete my digital workflow.
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