Museum style

[staplermofo]

As many of you already know, staplermofo.com is a disgusting disgrace, so I was thinking I should spruce it up. Also, now that I’m gainfully employed, I’ve been picking up staplers like crazy, and since there’s a couple dozen of them sitting around unphotographed I was thinking I should get around to it.

So, I have three questions.

1. How do you make things look like they’re on display? I’d like a uniform solution that would work with staplers of all sizes (roughly 5cm to 100cm). Is that even practical?

2. I’d like to make some shots look like they were photographed in that era. What can I do to make a picture look like it’s from the following eras: 1890-1910, 1930-1945, 1960-1970?

3. What would you like to see on staplermofo.com? Go crazy with it.

Thanks.

[monkeybort]

a secret link to the stapler pr0n, of course!

1890-1910….sepia? only not uniform sepia, more as if it had been in the sun and faded unevenly….could also get an old photo from an antique store, scan it, and use its blemishes and spots via photoshop.

20’s – flapper costume! high waisted pants and spats! ummm….great depression, dustbowl, prohibition….short wavy hair and feathers….ok…i know staplers don’t have hair….urrr…

60’s-70’s – i think it’s red (?) that fades from color photographs first (or maybe it’s blue…dangit) – you could take a color shot and take down the red (or blue) levels in photoshop to give it that ‘old’ feeling…tie dye, tight jeans, fringe, sansabelt slacks……

congrats on the job!

[staplermofo]

Sorry, I should have said that I don’t want to dress up the staplers. I mean, having sex with them with one thing, but dressing them up is for weirdos.

[monkeybort]

Sorry, I should have said that I don’t want to dress up the staplers. I mean, having sex with them with one thing, but dressing them up is for weirdos.

right right right, sorry. then all i’ve got is aging the photos (via sepia, spots, fading out one color, etc.).

[Elsinore]

1890-1910, like Monkeybort suggested for sure. Definitely sepia with discolored spots. Also maybe some scratches, tears or folds in the picture. You could probably use old family pictures and clone the scratches etc in from them for authenticity.

I’d also consider making the photo oval mounted in a rectangular frame to mimic the photos of the time, which were usually mounted in a folded cardstock folio that you opened to see the picture. The photo was on the right hand side when you opened it, and the lefthand side might have had the photographer and city on it in fancy type of the era. I can get you some of my old family photos I scanned in this year to use for inspiration if need be. Background/backdrops could be varied. It was often just whatever room the photographer set up in, so it could be obvious house walls with ornate flocked wallpaper of the time. People were often posed in dark chairs or standing with a hand on a table, and the table might have flowers on it. The overall scene was elegant.

1930-1945, more of a true b/w and less sepia. Slightly soft focus with “classic” lighting, a definite strong key light and softer fill. Background/backdrop was often plain, but could be a house room as well.

1960-1970, Again Monkeybort called it. It’s the blue that faded in cheaper film of the era and left a lot of pictures very red, orange or magenta. I have some family photo examples of this too. When posing, think Olan Mills or Generic Department Store Studio stuff. Especially in the 70s (less so in the 60s) the backdrops were often of rather obviously fake outdoor scenes.

Can you tell I did a lot of photo restoration work this year? lol Anyawy sounds like you have a fun project on your hands 😉

[Marley]

1. How do you make things look like they’re on display? I’d like a uniform solution that would work with staplers of all sizes (roughly 5cm to 100cm). Is that even practical?

Um… put them on display? (Seriously, I’m not being smartass. Well, ok, maybe a little.) Put them on a pedestal, with a neutral background. Direct a couple of spotlights at them. If you really want to go crazy and you’ve got cash to burn, put glass over them–a small rectangular (tall rather than wide) glass case, or a glass dome stolen from a clock. If you know someone at a bank, borrow their velvet ropes for a day or two.

Speaking of velvet ropes, what’s that link again to the stapler pr0n?

[schnee]

1. How do you make things look like they’re on display? I’d like a uniform solution that would work with staplers of all sizes (roughly 5cm to 100cm). Is that even practical?

When I did my Eggs-Perimental photoshoot, I built a very simple “lightbox” out of a rectangular cardboard box, a brick, a black t-shirt, a white t-shirt and a plastic milk bottle.

I cut two holes in the box – one on a long end (for the light source) and one on a short end (for the lens). Over the light-source hole, I put a cutout from the milk bottle (for a light diffuser). Opposite the lens-hole, I put down the brick and then put either a black or white t-shirt over the brick and the part of the box that would be in the frame. I got a shoplight to shine through the diffuser.

Then I put the eggs on the shirt-covered brick, closed the box so the only light was coming through my diffuser and shot away (I actually put my wedding ring on the brick under the shirt to act as an egg holder).

If I did it again, I’d probably cover the inside of the box with black felt (or other flocking material) to better control the internal reflections).

[staplermofo]

So I tried it out over the weekend and ended up starting a fire. I guess two halogen lights inches from a fabric-covered stand is a recipe for disaster.

*turns in his farktography membership card, goes off to sulk*

[Marley]

So I tried it out over the weekend and ended up starting a fire. I guess two halogen lights inches from a fabric-covered stand is a recipe for disaster.

This thread is useless without PICTURES!

[veruca]

So I tried it out over the weekend and ended up starting a fire. I guess two halogen lights inches from a fabric-covered stand is a recipe for disaster.

This thread is useless without PICTURES!

Truer words were never spoken… 😉

[staplermofo]

It’s really late and sloppy because I am incredibly lazy, but they’re all (most of them) here: http://staplerforums.com/pics/

It turns out taking 50 pictures in a row just trying to document things is really boring and tedious.
It wasn’t a fun project at all, and the results are horrible. It was a disappointment in every way.

[Author]

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