In order to submit work to be juried, I need to make slides of my b&w photographs. I have no idea how to do this effectively. Can someone tell me how to do it so they show up to their best advantage?

-- Jill Brown (rundog@globalnetisp.net), February 15, 2001

Answers

It works best if you have a copy stand but if you don't have one just put your print on a wall with some tape doubled on the back and make a photo of the print. Use either a macro lens or a zoom with a closeup (macro) setting. Be sure the camera is level with the print and fill the frame with the photo. If the photo is real dark or light you can take a meter reading off the back of your hand, if it's average light/ dark. You might open up a little if your skis is pretty light.

-- Joe (jcole@apha.com), February 15, 2001.

I'd like to add a couple of things to what Joe said above. It helps if you can cut black mats to fit your photos. Slides look better if they do not have any white around the photographs. Be careful with color slide film. It comes in tungsten and daylight and is very much influenced by the color temperature of the ambient light. Also, the exposure has to be 'right on'. Bracket each shot by 1/2 stop on either side. That means you will only be able to photograph 12 b&w photos with one roll of 36 exposure slide film. Trust me on that. You can't quite predict what the final slide will look like. Some of your images may look better a little over or underexposed also. You just can't tell till you examine your slides. Do that very carefully too. Nothing worse than sending bad slides of good photos! If you are photographing in daylight, make sure it is in the shade, and the light reflecting onto the area in which you are photographing is from a neutral source. No pinks, greens, blues, yellows, that kind of thing. If you are photographing under tungsten light make sure it is just that. No mixing with daylight, fluorescent light, etc. [use Kodak EPY-64 for photographing under tungsten lights.] If you are photographing 11X14 or larger prints, a 50mm lens will also work very well.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), February 16, 2001.

I'll add just a few tips to this as well. A gray card works very well for getting your exposure right. If you're using a copystand, just lay it on the surface of your print. You can bracket in half stops, but (if you're using a good lab) alot of times the gray card exposure will be your number 1. Unless, your prints are all over the place. So, to be safe, bracket...Also, just as Christian has said about color casts, you might want to think about not wearing any brightly colored clothes, as this can cause casts as well (sounds weird, but trust me). As far as holding prints down, a 4 bladed easel works great for this. Plus, if you're copying prints all the same size, you can just get it framed up, and work the prints through one after another (as long as nothing moves...) I'd suggest using a low contrast slide film, if you're using Tungsten, either Ektachrome 64T, or Fuji 64T would be right. Daylight, maybe EPN or Fuji Provia 100/Astia. You might want to use a cable release as well.

-- DK Thompson (kthompson@moh.dcr.state.nc.us), February 19, 2001.

I used to do alot of this myself. If the artwork was true b/w (no toning) I used to shoot TMX and use the Kodak Reversal Kit. It is a beautiful way of doing your slides. Agreeing with the black around the boarders to clean up the images. If you do go the regular slide film, make sure your pro lab is tuned or you'll get a color shift and your slide will show it!!! Just a thought.

-- Scott Walton (f64sw@hotmail.com), February 20, 2001.

You are correct in feeling that good slides are important. Having judged juried shows and such, there is nothing that will turn a judge or curator off more than bad slides from a photographer.

The main things that I consider when making slides are the following, I hope that this is of some help.

1) I would get a copy stand that you can adjust so that you can make sure that the camera is level. It is so much easier to control and repeat the slide making process.

2) I try to place my lights at a 45 degree angle or lower inorder to reduce the possibility of glare. Light coming from a light bulb is hotter in the center of the beam and becomes lower away from the center. Therefore, I tend to point the hot spot of each light to the far edge of the print to get the most even light. Using one light on each side of the print, crossing the light will help to insure even light across the image to be copied. To that end I use a hand held, incedent light meter making 9 readings, one at each corner and in the center, top, bottom, and each side. Make sure that the readings are with in 1/10 of a stop in either direction.

3) If you are going to use color slide film, use tugsten film with light bulbs rated at 3200K. I use the Agfa Scalla fim, which I think does a much better job than the T-Max and the reversal chemistry. The only draw back with the Scally film is that you would have to send it off to be processed and that is inconvient when pressed for time.

4) The above advise about bracketing is a good one. A half stop difference in exposure can be great with slides. The more that you do slides and get use to your equipment the less you will find that you need to bracket. Having said that, I would still bracket at least 1/2 stop. Besure to project your slides to determine which ones you are going to send. There is a great difference between many slide viewers and a projected image. See it as the judge will see it.

5)I might suggest that you tape off your slides rather than go to the trouble of cutting black matts. Taping will look better in the long run as long as you take some care. Matts can cause a shadow on the print.

6) Don't wait untill you need slides to make them. Make them as you produce work. This way if they don't come up to standards quality wise you will have time to re-do them. Make more that you think you need, they will always come in handy.

Making slides is expensive, time consuming and boring, but it is a very important part of being an exhibitiong photographer. It is worth the expense, time and effort to make the best slides possible. I know artists who have lost thousands of dollars in grant money because they did not want to spend the money and time to make better slides. I hope this will be of some help.

-- Rick Lang (rickpho@aol.com), February 25, 2001.

Rick, your suggestions on lighting are right on, I regretted not mentioning anything about how important it was to have even lighting in my earlier response. One thing you also might want to consider, is still using color slide film if you do any sort of toning of your original images. I understand you all's concerns for color shifts from an E6 line out of control, but if you can find a good lab, this might not be a problem. I have made some very neutral & correct copyslides using Fuji 64T (but we run our own film), sometimes there is still color on a b&w print...yes, copywork is very repetitive & boring, but believe me, the more you do it, the less you'll have to bracket (providing you have a halfway decent set-up). I work in a museum and have shot so much copywork, that I can practically do it with my eyes closed. I used to bracket alot more, but over the years I've come to see that the #1 exposure (gray card) is always right on. My point is, the more you do it, the more confident you'll become. Good luck, and keep the lighting as even as you can possibly get it.

-- DK Thompson (kthompson@moh.dcr.state.nc.us), February 25, 2001.