Assignment 211: Presenting Photo Images - through the internet

Presenting Photo Images:  Through the Internet

My last blog looked at creating a photobook, a very personal way to produce images that endure, but as an amateur photographer limiting to the audience that you can share it with, and potentially costly.

The internet has created greater opportunity for photographers to share their images with a wider audience. This has the benefit of reducing cost and increasing circulation.

There are a number of opportunities to share images through the internet - for example - flicker, on line photo management allowing you to share your images with as many people as you want: http://www.flickr.com/  where you can create your own gallery to promote your work, or through specific websites such london festival of photography: http://www.lfph.org

Flicker:

You can make your images available to all, or restrict access to your chosen few.

I have uploaded a selection of my street images to flicker and created my first on-line photo stream.  Click on the link below to view

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74843485@N07/show/with/6735788563

Flicker allows you to organise your images into sets, add descriptions, titles and tags.  Tags are important if you want your photo's to be found and viewed by others when searching for images on a specific theme.

Flicker is free for the first 300mb of photo's stored and displayed - after this, or for more flexibility on what you can do there is a charge of $25 US dollars per year.

London Festival of Photography:

Another way of using the intranet to share your photographs is to look for groups or institutions that use the internet to manage their membership.  London Festival of Photography is an example of this.  click on this link to view:  http://www.lfph.org/

I've chosen this website as it is dedicated to Street Photography which was one of my two themes.

This site is currently running a number of competitions that are free to enter - clink on the link below for more information: http://www.lfph.org/submissions

This website also provides information on exhibitions, workshops.

In summary the internet can be an excellent media for sharing your images and progressing your interests in a cost effective manner.  It opens up endless possibilities, gives easy access and provides potential unlimited audience.

Assignment 211: Presenting Photo Images - Preparing for a Gallery Presentation

Presenting Photo Images - Framing for a Gallery Presentation

As part of our course we have been presented with a great opportunity - to display our work in a public environment.  

The space and time was secured by one our colleagues - thank you Ian.

There were a number of decisions to be agreed on - 

• The number of prints that each of us could display 
• The size of the prints and the frame
• The style of frame
• The finish of the image

We agreed through a majority vote for a lustre feel to the finished prints, and a standardised frame and mount to give a professional, uniform visual to the display.

All images were sized to 16in by 12 a good size to ensure that the images remain visible from a distance - and downloaded onto a memory stick - this allowed Ian to send all the prints to the pinter as a batch order - reducing the cost per print.  The printers used were an on-line company.  This company was recommended by Ian as he had used them before and found the printing quality to be of a high standard and the turnaround time speedy.

Having co-ordinated the purchase of the frames and the prints we spent our evening mounting the pictures into the frames.  Sounds simple but it was not without frustration and injury!

The frames came boxed and wrapped in cellophane.

The first job was to remove the back from the frame to expose the mount.  This involved lifting the a number of metal clasps to release the chipboard backing frame.  This was best done with a metal ruler or scissors - not your thumbs and nails like me (which caused me to bleed!) as shown in the images below.

Once the backing frame was removed the photo could be mounted directly onto the cream mount.  The trick here was to ensure that as little dust as possible was trapped between the print and the perspex glass and to position the picture correctly within the frame.

We secured the images using a light masking tape across the top of the image only - as demonstrated below.

The use of masking tape meant that the image can easily be removed without damaging it, and by only taping one edge it allowed the image to breathe and not be trapped against the frame.

Countering the dust was the hardest job and saw me remove the image more that a dozen times to blow on the screen to get rid of of the smallest speck that would dive you to distraction.  Next time I will be better prepared with a gentle cleaning cloth.

Once satisfied that the image was positioned correctly and all dust removed the back could be replaced and the metal clasps resealed (which in itself could add more dust!)

In summary - framing requires extreme care and patience but the results are worth it.

Assignment 211: Presenting Photo Images - Creating a Book

Presenting Photo Images - Creating a Book

Increased access to the internet and the use of digital media has opened up the ability to create books from your images - a book may be appropriate to group a set a images together to create a story that can preserve your images for personal memory, or as gift.  

Professional photographers may be lucky enough to have their work created into a book for sale - as a way of generating revenue, and providing the consumer with an opportunity to own the images - as in the example below of street photography.

Amateur photographers can also use this format to present images for their own memories or as a present.

The photographs below are of a book that I created through iphoto when taking photographs of junior league rugby which was sold as part of fundraising activity to help raise funds for the annual tour.

I created the book in hardback to give it a professional feel, and make it hardwearing.

The software gives you total choice over how you arrange the photo's on the page - you can choose to tile a number of photo's or dedicate a whole page to a single image.

There is also the option to add titles and text's to make the book personal, add stories, quotes or details about the photo itself.

The total cost of the book was £46 - for 48 pages, and 81 images - working out at £1.76 per image.

I charged the total cost of the book to the parent - but then asked for donations for my time in preparing each book to personalise it to the player.  Any donation made above the cost of the book went to the tour fund.


You may be able to create photo books directly from your photo editing software, as through iphoto, shown below.

Add caption

The options are endless allowing - hardback, soft back, you can choose the size and style, add stories or notes - creating a lasting book of memories that is highly personalised - and suited to your budget.

Choosing to design and purchase your book through your software package may be easy - but not the most cost effective and if cost is a high consideration there are numerous on-line retailers who will provide you with the same creative options at a reduced price.  For example Photo Box: http://www.photobox.co.uk

In summary - photobooks are easy to design and provide a lasting memory of your work but this has to be considered alongside your cost, and the audience that you want your photographs to reach.