the edge of logic and intuition

Strange isn’t it, we’re all after the latest iphone/ipad/other gadgets and yet ‘nostalgic’ or ‘retro’ photos somehow seem better than the ones created by state of the art digital cameras! I’ve given the steps below to create a nostalgic (say 70s style) photo from a normal one, using the picture ‘Michelle’ from GirlReporter used from Flickr via the Creative Commons license.

(Smaller images open out to a full size version)

→ view the rest of the post: A nostalgic retro image technique in GIMP (1)

In this post and a couple of subsequent ones I’m looking at how to create frames using Inkscape and GIMP in order to produce vintage / retro and other effects on photos.

Below: creating a frame in Inkscape. This deals with deciding on dimensions, creating the frame and saving it in a suitable format for transparency.

→ view the rest of the post: Creating “instant photo” vintage and other frames in Inkscape

I wrote on here a few months ago about the Fujifilm Instax Mini and how this is the only ‘mainstream’ instant camera on the market. No longer, as Polaroid (who of course used to be the main instant camera/film manufacturer back in the 80s and 90s – retro to me!) are launching the Polaroid 300 instant camera which was developed in partnership with Fujifilm and appears very similar to the Instax Mini (made by Fujifilm).

The CNET article (linked to above) mentions that

It’s unclear whether the Polaroid 300 will accept the same Instax Mini film used for the Fujifilm equivalent. But if you dive into the technical specifications, you’ll realize that both snappers have the same features.

but based on this I would infer that it’s likely that the films will be interchangeable (unless some sort of ‘key’ system or similar is used so they physically can’t be interchanged in the camera) which would be good news for us UK and US based instant film fans who struggle quite often to get hold of the films for the Instax (Mini) without paying ridiculous import prices etc.

At the time of writing it is around $90 USD (from the Polaroid site) and the film cartridge $10 for 10 prints making the film slightly cheaper than what I’ve managed to buy the Fuji films for, but the camera a little more expensive. (If this is the case then over time it works out cheaper of course assuming you take a decent number of pictures!)

Maybe it will remain niche/cult or perhaps instant photography is coming back (in which case it would be a good thing but it’s always a bit of a mixed feeling when something previously ‘cult’ suddenly becomes mainstream.. see also: No Doubt, emo, Linux) as retro and nostalgia always seems popular and people will pay for that!

I’ve been after a graphics tablet for a while and chose the Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch based on good reviews, previous good experience with a Wacom tablet (Volito 2) and assurance from the interwebs that this tablet can be used successfully under Ubuntu!

As a Linux user it is often the case that supplied driver CDs that come with hardware only support Windows and sometimes Mac, resulting in a little more ‘fiddling’ to get the device to work under Linux. I’ve now got the Pen and Touch working so it is possible – as some of the guides on the internet contradict each other and contain different steps I had some difficulty initially but following this method allowed me to install and use it successfully including pressure sensitivity with the pen, and the touch navigation.

If you have found this page through a search then you could try following the steps below and if there are any further problems check sources such as the Ubuntu forums.

→ view the rest of the post: Experimenting: Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch (CTH-460) on Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic)

I took some photos down at the South Kent coast (Dover) recently, on one of the few sunny days we’ve had so far this year. I’m not a great photographer and at the moment only have the camera on my phone (I’m after a new digital camera but can’t decide which one!) so am aware that the photos are nothing particularly special, but with the aid of Picasa and the GIMP managed to turn them into some vintage looking photos that I like the look of much better.

If you want to do something similar you can follow the steps below as a ‘tutorial’ – I haven’t gone into too much detail, just outlined the general sequence of steps.

→ view the rest of the post: Images: Using GIMP and Picasa to apply ‘vintage’ effects to photos

About 15 years ago I used to have a Polaroid instant camera (Vision 95 or something similar as I recall) – it’s long gone and in any case I probably wouldn’t be able to get film for it as the Polaroid instant cameras have been discontinued for quite a while, though the company Polaroid are still going and now sell digital photo related technology instead.

For a few months I’ve been looking into this again since although I use a digital camera mostly (HP Photosmart R717) I had a bit of a ‘retro’ phase and wanted to go back and try an instant camera again.

→ view the rest of the post: Experimenting: FujiFilm Instax Mini 7s

First set of general purpose vector background images with a 2-colour squares theme. Simple in appearance but useful to build on for other work. These are generated in Inkscape and are free under a Creative Commons license.

vector images by the edge of logic and intuition is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License

It can be quite surprising that a ‘regular’ formula can generate seemingly ‘irregular’ images such as fractals (though ultimately they are regular). Thumbnails go through to larger images. This is the first gallery set which I’ve done in black and white; more to be added.

fractal images by the edge of logic and intuition is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

One of the things I had in mind for this site was to be a place to upload some of the graphics I’ve been working on and to make selected images available for free download through a Creative Commons license so that other people could use these as-is or build on them.

Album: Spots and stripes

The link to the complete page above shows all pictures I’ve added to this group – images below are the newly added ones only. Have a look at the link above for the complete group or use the pages list in the sidebar…

vector images by the edge of logic and intuition is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.