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 Create slides that are a work of art By Rebecca Blaho Usually by the time an artist has reached the college stage of his academic career he or she has shot slides at least once. My first shot at shooting slides came my senior year of high school. I’d carefully chosen my best pieces to showcase and was ready to photograph them so I could send the slides off to my schools of choice. The only advice I’d been given was “use good lighting and a white backdrop.” The only photography experience on my résumé was a class during a pre-college program, which definitely didn’t include the basics of shooting slides. With this limited information I haphazardly took my first slides. While those slides did the trick, they were far from the quality I’d have liked them to have been. According to Elvira Sanchez Kisser, assistant slide curator at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s slide library, there are a few things even the inexperienced can do to help insure quality images on those slides. Starting with the basics is always important. The main ingredients for making this recipe work are a camera, a plain backdrop, pins — or something suitable to hold the work on the backdrop — and lights. According to Kisser you should use a 35mm camera with manual controls. If a camera like this isn’t readily available, consult with a local camera store regarding renting or purchasing this equipment. The manual controls allow the user to manipulate the film exposure. It is best to take several shots of the work using various exposures. When the film is developed this will allow for several shots to choose from to insure that one is the proper exposure. Backdrops are very important as nothing should distract from the work itself. “If you are shooting from books, you don’t need a backdrop; but if you are shooting a 2-D or 3-D object, use black velour or velvet, or felt. If the artwork is dark, you may want to use a light color such as white or grey,” Kisser said. Choice of film is an important consideration. “If you want slides, slide film is needed,” she said. “Another method would be to shoot (the work) digitally and get the image outputted on slide film, though this wouldn’t be very economical if you need a lot of slides.” The speed of the film used is another important consideration in relation to the lighting used. According to Kisser, using natural lighting is an option, “For shooting images from books or flat 2-D artwork, you could either set up outside with even lighting or use a copy stand. For 3-D artwork, you can use tungsten photo flood lights.” A copy stand is available on the third floor of the Jen Library. When shooting in daylight, 100 ISO daylight-balanced slide film is recommended. When shooting under tungsten lights, 64T tungsten-balanced slide film (Ektachrome, Fujichrome, Agfachrome) is best. If unsure of what type of film to use a consult a professional at a local photography store. While it’s best if the background cannot be seen in the slide sometimes this cannot be helped at the time the image is taken. However, once the slides are developed masking will solve the dilemma. For more information, visit http://scad.edu/admission/financial/scholarships/slides/2d.html and check out the SCAD slide library Web page under Collections: Making Copy Stand Slides. Another important reminder: Work on the slides well in advance of any deadline so that if anything needs to reshot there is plenty of time. Sometimes even the experienced find that trial and error is a fact of life. Blaho is data entry coordinator. |
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