Film: Inspired Images

The subject of my image is my sister, Sadie and a book. I took this picture in a boutique in Portland where there was lots of light. To take the image I used my film camera and then I developed the film using chemicals, I used the enlarger to make test strips, contact prints and then my final print. The photographer that I researched is a street photographer so I looked for candid shots around me and this one was my favorite. It has a full range of value and is kind of out of focus, which I like.

I used selective focus, Sadie and the book are in focus while the background is out of focus. I also used rule of thirds, there is space that is not filled by my subject. When printing this image I used ghosting to making the words on the book clearer then the rest of the picture. This was our first film project so I had issues with rolling my film so a lot of my pictures weren't fully developed and this was one of the best. To get this image I made a contact sheet for each of my rolls and then chose the best image of both. I had to make sure that when I was taking away the paper I used for ghosting that the photo paper didn't move, it didn't for my final print but did for a test strip.

The book is about things to be happy about and Sadie is one of the happiest people I know so it captures her happiness. The image relates to my life because I took it, it's of my sister and I went through the process to develop it. When I used the ghosting technique I had to make sure that it framed the book, but this was hard to get perfect and in my final print it is a little off. This isn't something that I would redo my print for, but I now know that in the future I need to make sure that it lines up perfectly because it is obvious if you look closely. The picture is kind of fuzzy because I didn't focus it completely, but I like it because it gives it more of a vintage candid look.