Take Your Photography to the Next Level by Hacking the Digital Print

Digital photo printing has reached the point at which anyone who knows how to push the right buttons can create a decent print. Getting a high-quality image out of a desktop printer is no longer the challenge it once was.

In her new book, “Hacking the Digital Print,” artist Bonny Lhotka illustrates how photographic artists can take their work to the next level through alternative methods of capturing and printing photographs. She proves that the hands-on art of printmaking is alive and well in the digital age. And she explains why you don’t always need Photoshop to alter the reality that you capture through your lens.

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By using analog distortion filters and lens modifiers you can create images that look like you—not an app—made them.  As Lhotka explains, “Capturing altered reality is different from altering captured reality.”

In the book’s introduction, Lhotka points out that, “A photograph is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional world. We can restore the third dimension by using materials such as slate, granite, wood, or metal that have heft, mass and texture.”

In “Hacking the Digital Print,” Lhotka shows how to make original art objects and hand-crafted photo gifts by transferring your photographs to materials such as wood, glass, plastics, and metal. Lhotka also shows how to create skins that can be layered to make mixed-media photographs.

Some projects explained in the book use non-toxic digital alternatives to re-create classic printmaking techniques. For example, Wonder Sauce is a water-based transfer solution that is safe enough to use anywhere, whether it’s the studio, classroom, or kitchen counter.For the truly adventurous, Lhotka shares her custom techniques for taking photographs and applying them to 3D-printed objects created with popular consumer-model 3D printers.

Part artist/part mad scientist, Lhotka has spent many hours experimenting, hacking, and tearing things apart to discover new ways to take, make, and print images.

In the early days of wide-format color inkjet printing, Bonny Lhotka organized “Digital Atelier: A printmaking studio for the 21st Century” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and was an artist-in-residence there for 21 days. The artists of the Digital Atelier demonstrated some of the creative possibilities of scanning and inkjet printing.

Lhotka is also a recipient of the Smithsonian/Computerworld Technology in the Arts Award.

Bonny says she designed “Hacking the Print” for “artists and photographers who enjoy serendipitous discoveries—those intuitive accidents that lead to new discoveries and possibilities.”

She encourages you to take the techniques in this book, hack them, and make them your own. She cautions that the process will be messy, and failures may require you to keep trying: “But in the process, you will make your exciting discoveries, find solutions, to your problems, and create a body of work that is uniquely yours.”

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You can purchase “Hacking the Digital Print,” through Amazon or buy a signed copy through the DASS ART website. “Hacking the Digital Print” was published by Peachpit, the Pearson imprint the publishes technology books, e-books, and videos for creative people.

On the DASS ART website, you can also register for related workshops or order the specialized transfer media Lhotka has developed for transferring images printed with pigment inks on inkjet photo printers.

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DASS has also started a Facebook group for artists and photographers who are creasting work with the techniques featured in Bonny Lhotka’s two previous books on contemporary printmaking techniques: Digital Alchemy and The Last Layer.

According to Lhotka, “The Facebook group is a place to post your work, share processes, and ask questions. I will pop in an out to answer questions and post tips.”

LINKS:

Hacking the Digital Print: Alternative image capture and printmaking processes with a special section on 3D printing (Voices That Matter)

The Last Layer: New methods in digital printing for photography, fine art, and mixed media (Voices That Matter)

DASS ART

Can You Believe Photoshop Debuted Just 25 Years Ago?

To gauge how rapidly innovations can revolutionize entire industries and create new opportunities for millions, note that the first version of Photoshop was launched just 25 years ago this month. Who could have imagined how much creative power that program would unleash in designers, photographers, artists, and publishers?

Today, we see imaginative imagery and visual communications everywhere — in smartphone apps, on building-size wall murals, in interactive digital signage, and immersive multimedia displays.

According to a fascinating timeline and an interview published on the Adobe website and Photoshop blog, Adobe shipped its first version of Photoshop on February 19, 1990. The program originated in 1987, when Thomas Knoll developed a pixel-imaging program called Display. It was a simple program to showcase grayscale images on a black-and-white monitor. However, after collaborating with his brother, John Knoll, the two began adding features that made it possible to process digital image files. The program eventually caught the attention of industry influencers, and in 1989, Adobe decided to license it.

“Adobe thought we’d sell about 500 copies of Photoshop a month,” recalls Thomas Knoll, Adobe Fellow and Photoshop co-creator. “Not in my wildest dreams did we think creatives would embrace the product in the numbers and ways they have. It’s inspiring to see the beautiful images our customers create, the careers Photoshop has launched, and the new uses people all over the world find for Photoshop every day.” On YouTube, you can watch a video of Thomas Knoll giving one of his first demonstrations of Photoshop.

“For 25 years, Photoshop has inspired artists and designers to craft images of stunning beauty and reality-bending creativity,” said Shantanu Narayen, Adobe president and chief executive officer. “From desktop publishing, to fashion photography, movie production, website design, mobile app creation, and now 3D printing, Photoshop continues to redefine industries and creative possibilities. And today that Photoshop magic is available to millions of new users, thanks to Adobe Creative Cloud.”

Photoshop’s massive popularity can be attributed to its constantly evolving capabilities and pipeline of deep image science. This steady stream of innovations is now reaching customers faster than ever before. The Photoshop and Lightroom desktop and mobile apps are constantly updated as part of Adobe Creative Cloud.

Photoshop 1 was aimed at graphic arts and publishing

In an interview with Russell Brady posted on the Photoshop blog, Thomas Knoll points out that the first version of Photoshop was really ahead of its time: “Photoshop 1.0 and the first several versions weren’t really tools for photography – not only because there wasn’t appropriate hardware available in digital cameras, but more importantly, because there were no digital printers. The only real way to get photographic-quality output from Photoshop back then was to create four-color separations on film and take them to a printing press, where the first copy of your photograph might cost you $2,000…If you wanted to print a roll of 35 millimeter film, you’re talking $35,000 to $40,000. So, Photoshop 1 was primarily aimed at the publishing and graphic arts markets.”

After full-color inkjet printers were introduced, Photoshop users could scan the film, manipulate the images, and print them out. The explosive growth of digital photography in the 1990s further accelerated the widespread adoption of Photoshop.

Photoshop’s success has helped Adobe develop and deliver a wide range of products and services used by tens of millions of creative people worldwide. In addition to Photoshop, applications such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Dreamweaver and others have pushed creativity forward, no matter what the media. And today Adobe Creative Cloud services such as Behance and Creative Talent Search are helping a new generation of creatives find a global audience and market for their work .

Adobe is celebrating Photoshop’s milestone in a big way. For example, Adobe is showcasing 25 of the most creative visual artists under 25 who use Photoshop. To be considered, artists upload their projects and use the tag “Ps25Under25.” In the coming months, those selected will take over the Photoshop Instagram handle (@Photoshop) for two weeks and present their work for the world to see. Fredy Santiago, a 24-year old Mexican-American artist and illustrator based in Ventura, California is the first one chosen to display his incredible images.

Adobe has also launched its “Dream On” advertising campaign as a tribute to 25 years of amazing art created In Photoshop. The TV commercial includes incredible work from Photoshop artists and iconic images from major motion pictures that used Photoshop In the making, including Avatar, Gone Girl, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Shrek.

LINKS

Adobe

Adobe Blog Post: Celebrating 25 Years of Photoshop

Thomas Knoll Q&A

Adobe Photoshop Anniversary Timeline

 

Augmented Reality Conference To Be Held in San Francisco

InsideAR, the epicenter of the rapidly growing world of Augmented Reality, is coming to San Francisco for the first time May 20-21, 2015.

The event is hosted by Metaio, the worldwide leader in Augmented Reality software, research and technology. With over 10 years of experience in Augmented Reality and Computer Vision, Metaio serves over 130,000 developers with over 1,000 published apps.  Metaio’s AR software reaches over 30 million consumers around the world.

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Metaio products have been used to develop AR apps for everything from publishing, retailing, and  marketing to industrial engineering,maintenance,and manufacturing.

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Metaio defines Augmented Reality (AR) as a technology that blends digital content into our real world. AR seeks to integrate our increasingly digitalized lifestyle with our physical lives in a seamless, natural way.

InsideAR offers a comprehensive introduction to Augmented Reality by bringing together innovators and stakeholders to share technical insights and the latest and greatest AR applications.

Network with futurists, global leaders in AR, and other creatives who are paving the way for an Augmented Reality future  Additional AR events will be held in Munich, Beijing, and Tokyo.

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In San Francisco, InsideAR will be presented at The Village at 969 Market Street in the heart of San Francisco.

If you can’t attend the conference, the Metaio website features case studies and white papers about how augmented reality is being used in print, marketing, education, television, sales, and manufacturing.

LINKS

InsideAR

About Metaio

Metaio Case Studies

RELATED POST

Metaio Offers AR Creator Plug-In to InDesign

 

Light Impressions Exhibit Shows State of the Art in Mobile Phone Photography

When photographer Colleen Duffley launched a 24-hour New Year’s Eve iPhone photo competition for her Studio b creative venue in 2011, she sensed that the 8-megapixel camera in the new iPhone 4S might empower people worldwide to become photographic artists.

Since then, Colleen has created a remarkable “Light Impressions” traveling exhibit that has been documenting the emergence of mobile phone photography as an art movement.

Colleen considers mobile phone photography a “a pure art form” because “It’s more about the creativity than expensive gear or intricate technique.” The fourth edition of the Light Impressions exhibit is on display until February 22, 2015 at the Wynwood Building in the heart of Miami’s Wynwood Art District.

As in previous years, Colleen will be taking the exhibit to sites throughout the U.S. this spring and summer. The Light Impressions installation features 40 iPads mounted on a metal structure made from materials salvaged from some wreckage that Hurricane Opal left on the beach in 1995. Each iPad presents 13 of the best images submitted by a single mobile phone photographer.

As 13 images from each featured artist scrolls across the iPads at different rates, the Light Impressions exhibit makes a powerful statement about how people around the globe are using their mobile phone cameras a means of creative expression. LightImpressionsExhibit Colleen Duffley is a professional photographer who shoots, directs, produces creative concepts for magazines, commercials, and campaigns. She has been shooting people, places, and things around the globe for 25 years.

Colleen devised the concept for Light Impressions four years ago as a way to display the best images submitted to the New Year’s Eve iPhoneography photo challenge. One of her goals with that first iPhoneography challenge was to level the photo-competition playing field and demonstrate that all people could be creative photographers, even if they didn’t have expensive equipment or extensive training.

“The camera phone was the perfect tool to encourage people to be creative because everyone had one,” explains Duffley. “The camera phone gives us the ability and freedom to be creative 24/7.” She says viewing Light Impressions is like watching a fish tank. It’s mesmerizing: “It’s hard to walk away from it.”

“Mobile phone photography is still an emerging art form,” says Duffley. “People are going to be astounded when they see what is being done in this movement. All of the work displayed on the Light Impressions exhibit was done on a mobile phone camera — from the capture of the image to its processing and publishing. It’s really mind-blowing and wonderful.”

Duffley mounted the iPads in aged, weather-beaten metal that she discovered on the beach. As an art installation in itself, Light Impressions illustrates the timeless nature of photography as an art. While photography technology has changed over time, the magic of photography as an art form remains solid. Plus, she says “Mobile phone photography has a ‘found-art’ sensibility to it, and what better way to frame it than on repurposed materials?”

The first three editions of Light Impressions traveled to art fairs, museums, and events nationwide. It has been exhibited twice in Miami during the Art Basel week. In March, the new exhibit will be featured at Duffley’s new Studio b site in Florida and at a photography event in Washington, DC at the end of March.

When curating the 2015 Light Impressions exhibit, Duffley chose portfolios that represented a mix of styles, subject matter, and processing techniques. Some images illustrate the creative use of processing apps. Other images are shown almost exactly as the photographer shot them, with only minor tweaks. You can learn more about the artists, the images, and the apps they used in a special book Duffley produced for this year’s exhibit. LightImpressionsBook

Teaching Mobile Phone Photography

Duffley, who has taught university-level  courses in traditional photography, enjoys teaching classes in mobile phone photography. Within a few hours, students go from knowing very little about photography to being eager to experiment with all of shooting and processing tools that are literally at their fingertips.

One participant in a recent class was the editor of a magazine that publishes some of Duffley’s editorial photography. The editor has since invited Duffley to teach other members of the magazine’s editorial staff how to shoot better pictures with their mobile phones.

For her own iPhone photography work, Duffley prefers composing and shooting great images right in the camera. After spending hours editing the images she captures for editorial and advertising clients, she likens using an iPhone to using a Polaroid camera. When she frames a shot, she thinks about composition, lighting, form, texture, and line — all the things that have always gone into making a great photo, painting, or illustration.

She encourages students to “Take responsibility for what you’re shooting. When you have a good image to start with, you do what you want with it–the app is your oyster.”

Even though Colleen uses a high-end Canon DSLR for her commercial projects, she doesn’t treat her mobile phone camera with any less respect. In fact, some of the images she has shot with her iPhone have been published alongside the images she shoots with her DSLR.

The Resurgence of Studio b

As an editorial photographer, Colleen has traveled around the world, befriended fascinating people, and enjoyed some remarkable adventures. To enable others to experience the same kinds of unique experiences, Duffley founded Studio b in Alys Beach, Florida in 2009. She established it as a creative venue that would bring together the best of the best and the up-and-coming in photography, art, literature, fashion, design, music, and the culinary arts to educate and inspire artists and students. Studio b also hosts and co-sponsors events throughout the U.S. and in Italy, Ireland, and exotic locations around the globe.

Unfortunately, the timing for Studio b’s launch was less than ideal. Just as the economy was slowly starting to recover from the Great Recession of 2008, The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 temporarily decimated the tourism industry on the Gulf Coast.

So Duffley closed Studio b for a while and re-focused her energies on her photography business, Colleen Duffley Productions. Now that the economy and tourism industry are rebounding, she is preparing to re-launch Studio b in a different location on Florida’s Emerald Coast this spring.

On the Run Website

Colleen Duffley is also launching a new website, through which people can order metal prints of some of Colleen’s best iPhone images. When she travels on assignments for commercial projects, she carries her iPhone when she goes for long runs to relax and unwind. “When you run or bike, you get a different perspective on your surroundings,” said Duffley.She is calling her the website “On the Run” because “It’s just me capturing the world on the run.”

The Rising Quality of Mobile Phone Photography

As she curates each Light Impressions exhibit, Colleen Duffley said she is amazed to discover the many different ways people have come to the medium of mobile phone photography and embraced it as a tool of creative expression.

Over the years, the number and quality of entries she receives for the Light Impressions display has steadily risen. While some of that is due to technological advances in smartphone cameras and apps, Colleen says the community of mobile phone photographers is exceptionally collaborative and supportive of one another.

She said the artists featured in the Light Impressions exhibit are doing amazing things with their mobile phone photography: “It’s an amazing art form, and some people are making a good living selling prints of their mobile-phone photographs.”

RELATED POST

Ring in a Creative New Year with Studio b’s Camera Phone Event

LINKS

Studio b: Light Impressions-Profiles of the Featured Artists

Studio b Boutique: The Light Impressions On Tour Book

Colleen Duffley Productions

Facebook: Studio b.the Beach Studio b

New Website Helps You Produce and Ship Small Runs of Custom Designed Apparel

DESIGNERS. ARTISTS. The vPersonalize.com website enables designers to visualize, produce, and deliver small batches of their exclusive designs of apparel and accessories. Or, artists can promote and/or monetize some of their works by converting them into merchandise. You can preview your creations in 3D in the chosen style and size before approving it for manufacturing.

Right now, you can decorate more than 30 products including T-shirts, tunics, shorts, backpacks, dresses, scarves, trousers, and messenger bags. Sell the items through Etsy or on your own website.

“One of the barriers for emerging designers has been access to an easy and affordable manufacturing platform,” says Lee Hagelshaw, co-founder and CFO for vPersonalize.com. With vPersonalize.com, you can produce designs under your own label and have them shipped direct to customers, without having to pay for a larger run from a manufacturer and being stuck with excess inventory.” And like e-books, no design ever goes ‘out of print’ because all products are made on-demand.

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“We have continually improved our platform. Features such as advanced error checking point out any problems in visual design. Auto-fit, mirror and clone functions make it much easier for any creative individual to design professional looking products,” says Bala Selvarajan, Co-Founder and Chief Technologist for vPersonalize.com. “We have also added a much requested feature from designers – the ability to select and reorder their older designs.”

As a pioneer in full custom, design-your-own apparel and accessories, vPersonalize’s 3D visualization and automated pattern-generation technologies support custom sizes, full-bleed, all-overprints, custom styles and choice of fabrics.

LINKS

vPersonalize.com

Register for Free Thriving Artist Summit January 5-18, 2015

Thriving-Artist-Summit-Square-1-LargeArtist and designer Bonnie Glendinning is striving to empower artists while making art more accessible to a broader universe of buyers.

She founded The Thriving Artist Summit and Thriving Artist Academy to help you develop the business skills you need to build the type of art career you really want.

Bonnie is also the founder of Artmuse.com, an online, curated gallery that sells museum-quality prints to anyone who appreciates quality contemporary art but isn’t yet comfortable investing in higher-priced originals.

Thriving Artist Summit

The Thriving Artist Summit (January 5-18, 2015) is a free, online gathering designed to help artists, designers, and makers take their creative businesses to the next level. Through a series of hour-long interviews that Bonnie has conducted, artists, experts, and mentors will discuss how to:

  • build your brand for your ideal buyers
  • price for real profit and growth
  • increase sales marketing, PR, and social media
  • diversify into licensing, wholesale, and direct-to-consumer sales
  • get into galleries and shows
  • raise project funds
  • develop your creative practice

Some of the artists, experts, and mentors who will be featured in the 2015 Thriving Artist Summit include:

  • Brand Strategist Shenee Howard
  • Photographer and Selfie Expert Vivienne McMaster
  • Agent, Author and Artist Lilla Rogers
  • Publisher Tom Morkes
  • Fine Artist and Illustrator Lisa Congdon
  • Mixed Media Artist Tamara Laporte
  • Jewelry Designer and Mentor Tracy Matthews
  • Business Strategist Tara Gentile
  • Teacher Karen Gunton
  • Artist Owen Garratt
  • Choreographer and Teacher Gina Morris
  • Writer Kristen Fischer
  • Artist and Designer Jessica Swift
  • Author and Teacher Samantha Bennett
  • Gallery Owner Jason Horejs
  • Marketing Mentor Ilse Benun
  • Art Marketing Advisor Barney Davey
  • Designer and Editor Jess Van Den
  • Business Strategist April Bowles-Onin
  • Artist Coach Gwenda Joyce
  • Indie Retail Expert Clare Yuille
  • Creative Business Coach Lisa Jacobs

If you are too busy to listen to the interviews during the first half of January, you can sign up to get a discount for purchasing the Summit audios for anytime access.

Artmuse

Through this online gallery of colorful modern art, art lovers can buy museum-quality, limited-edition art prints at prices starting at just $25 for the smallest size.

Bonnie Glendinning founded Artmuse.com in 2009 to help artists reach a wider audience and enable visitors to discover new artists. One of the gallery’s missions is to help build relationships between artists and collectors. As she explains in the guidelines for artist submissions: “We want buyers to learn about you as an artist, enjoy your art, and collect your art throughout your career.”

The site’s philosophy is to showcase contemporary art one artist at a time: “Art is to be savored, not consumed….We believe that the more collectors can learn about you the artist, the greater their interest will be in collecting your art.”

Artmuse looks for artists who are committed to their artistic vision, philosophy, and craft. While they aren’t seeking a specific style or medium, they do look for a “combined continuity of intention, inspiration, execution of an artistic vision, and perspective.” Your art should also work well in printed form. This typically includes drawing, mixed media, painting, photography or watercolors.

LINKS

The Thriving Artist Academy

The 2015 Thriving Artist Summit

Artmuse.com

Artmuse.com: Artist Submission Guidelines

Blog Post on The Thriving Artist: The Power of Possible Thinking

 

Ello Teams Up with Threadless to Highlight Work of Established and Up-and-Coming Artists

Ello.co is a simple, ad-free social network created by a small group of artists and designers. It was originally conceived as a private social network where people could be who they want to be and connect with people they love without getting bombarded by boosted posts, data mining, and ad salesmen. But a public version of Ello has recently been built for everyone to use. As a Public Benefit Corporation, Ello has vowed to never serve ads or sell user data to make money. (A Benefit Corporation is a new kind of for-profit company in the USA that exists to produce a benefit for society as a whole — not just to make money for its investors.)

Ello recently teamed up with the Threadless design community and e-commerce site to sell t-shirts featuring the Ello logo reimagined by independent artists.

ThreadlessElloDesignThe first T-shirt in the collection was created by Chicago-based artist Chuck Anderson (aka NoPattern), a fine artist, illustrator and photographer, also well known for his commercial work. He reimagined the Ello logo with a multi-color, drip-like background. The Ello x Threadless store will also offer black-and-white T-shirts with the original Ello logo for $25.

Anderson will curate the entire Ello x Threadless collection and work with established as well as up-and-coming artists to highlight their unique work.

“What’s truly special about us teaming up with Ello is the incredible commitment to supporting the arts,” noted Jake Nickell, founder and CEO of Threadless. “Both of our companies are rooted in creativity, and together we’re making art accessible to a wider audience.”

The Ello x Threadless online store will release a new limited-edition artist-designed Ello t-shirt bimonthly. An online timer will countdown to the next available design which will appear on the first and fifteenth day of each month. Once a design has been replaced, it will not be available again.

“Ello is about freedom − freedom from advertising, freedom to be who you want to be, and freedom to create. Working with brilliant artists like Chuck is a way we support Ello’s creative community,” said Paul Budnitz, co-founder and CEO of Ello.

“When Ello and Threadless approached me about curating their t-shirt collection, I couldn’t wait to begin our collaboration,” said Anderson. “This project stands out as it allows me to engage with new and established artists and be part of their creative journey.”ThreadlessLOGO

Threadless is a creative community that makes, supports, and buys art. Thousands of people worldwide submit their designs online. Then, the community picks their favorites, which get made into t-shirts, bags, wall art, and more. When you buy from Threadless, you directly support the artist who created the design.

LINKS

Ello Threadless Store

Threadless Page on Ello

Ello: A Public Benefit Corporation