James McMillan Photographer: Blog

Make a Print by James McMillan

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 13:09:25 GMT

“The digital image is the future of photography” did someone say? I am sure that someone could argue the point very eloquently and digital is certainly here to stay for the foreseeable future. But what if all those great shots you have gathered over the last few years disappear into the ether? Easily done if thinks are not backed up in several places. The loss of a phone or a failed hard drive can wipe out a decade of family history in an instant. SO I have this crazy idea that everyone should make prints of their favourite images! It used to be quite popular some years ago and they last far longer than a smart phone! It is also great fun putting them into albums and even better when, a decade later, you get them off the shelf and flick through a book of your history. The kids love it too despite being committed tech-head teens and certainly laugh with/at you for what you looked like with hair! The value of a tangible print in your hand that freezes a past moment in time is still magical. The kids will no-doubt fight for ownership of our pictorial family history when we oldies make space. For a few pence it has to be worth saving a little bit of your past to pass on?

Albums forever blog image.

Portrait Pro and a Younger You! by James McMillan

Thu, 14 Apr 2016 07:52:21 GMT

Software, software make it all good! Yes it is a cure-all for our ailing snaps and we are all the better for it. If only it were true but that is a mantra for the age. You may have seen 'Portrait Pro' which emerged last year as the latest ‘before & after’ solution to all your aesthetically challenged sitters. Photographers everywhere, ( according to the adverts ), were singing its praises and rubbing their hands together with much glee. It seems that if you have a picture of an old boot all you do is sprinkle it with 'PP' dust to reveal a Jimmy Choo! Fabulous darling! The only problem I have found with this super plan is that the result glams you up so much it no longer looks like you! Call me old fashioned, my wife and kids do constantly, but I feel a portrait should actually look like the person. Over do it and you may never be able to leave the house again for fear of bump into someone who has seen the PP and thinks you are your grandparent! Moderation is perhaps a better mantra? Why not try it yourself but do remember to have a mirror handy before you save that perfect you! www.portraitprofessional.com

The Real Venus by James McMillan.

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 09:32:06 GMT

Ten years ago I was sent off to a remote film studio somewhere in East London to shoot the film poster for Venus, the latest Miramax-Film Four production. It starred Peter O’Toole and Leslie Phillips who I would have liked to have met and added to the folio. However, the poster concept solely featured the unknown Jodie Whittaker. The image we wanted to produce was based on the Rokeby Venus painting by Velazquez, a nude, so we hired a model as a body-double to shoot in position. Jodie would join us later to shoot head shots that we would ‘comp’ in to the final image, thus avoiding her having to get naked. Everything went to plan and we got an excellent set of images to work to. Infact, when Jodie saw them she liked them so much she offered to do the shot herself! We cleared the set and reshot with Jodie as the real Venus so she ended up being the poster girl after all. She was a great help on the day and saved a lot of retouch so ‘thank you Jodie’ for being a star. It was great to produce something that was real in an ever increasing world of fakery. By the way the cherub was a blow up stuck on foam board and taped to a light stand! Venus Film Poster

Taking Retouching Too Far?

Thu, 31 Mar 2016 09:44:54 GMT

Don McCullin’s Guardian article on digital photography got me thinking about the amount of retouching and digital manipulation that we are now surrounded by. Glossed images in magazines and on the web have become the norm and we only seem to notice when something has not been ‘cleaned up’. I do not necessarily mean removing a spot or tidying up a distracting background, although that is very handy! For me retouching has become a means to an end when dealing with difficult subject matter and that is, perhaps, where it is best used. I shot a large vacuum forming machine for a client, Formech International Ltd, last month in the engineering workshop where it was made. This machine was the largest that they had built to date and measured approximately 4m x 4m x 2m high. You will see from the before and after shot that getting a good angle and being able to produce a clean product shot relied partly on good photographic skills and largely on retouch. The machine could not be moved and so it comes down to manipulation to make the final image work. Retouching is here to stay but it comes down to using it when it is necessary and not as a default. Formech 2440SA Vacuum Form

Don McCullin-"Digital images can't be trusted"

Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:09:42 GMT

I recently enjoyed wandering around Don McCullin's Bruton exhibition and seeing his prints in the flesh. He has a very impressive back catalogue of important images. I was interested to read his comments last November in The Guardian that "digital images can't be trusted" and "photography has been hijacked by digital cameras and art world". He has certainly been a bastion of integrity for the authentic in photojournalism for many decades and I can appreciate the sentiment that gloss and filters seem to be applied to everything as a matter of course. It is worth pointing out that old school image manipulation, of which he is an expert, is and has always been acceptable. Perhaps the problem is that these new breed of cameras, and smart phones, are so full of enhancements that the users do not notice that they do not capture what they see! It is a pity that the majority of modern popular photography is more influenced by the whims of a collection of software writers in California than the actual photographers pointing their cameras. The camera never lies but it certainly partial to a few un-truths!

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/27/don-mccullin-war-photographer-digital-images