I'm more of a rugby fan myself.....
For years i've collected photo-related junk ever since my purchase of a Box Brownie which had a roll of film still in it. I processed the roll with care only to reveal a clear strip of film save for the last frame which had a faint outline of a donkeys arse on it !
I tend to buy from flea markets and second-hand shops and go for photo memoribilia including cigarette cards. As a mass communication tool, these things were well sought after and a great way for product company's to market themselves. What better way is there than a child putting pressure on their parents to buy more cigarettes or packets of tea leaves to get the next card for their ever expanding card collection.
Many of these cards were illustrated by artists but i'm caught by the black and white photographs, which were then hand-painted to remove backgrounds etc. The expressions, hair styles and poses are straight out of Boy's Own comics and look very different to how footballers are depicted now...
I was always amazed that most of these cards were collected by kids yet they bore the name of cigarette companys on them. Could you imagine Yu-gi-oh or Top Trumps cards having the same thing today? There'd be outrage in the streets!
Given that we're in the throes of a football world cup, I thought i'd try imitate the 'style' of these minatures. There are several things I needed to consider, one was the lighting, another was the actual, jaw-jutting style pose and then the 'card' style itself which would be a photoshop job to achieve.
So, details.... This was shot with a Nikon SB28 placed about a foot away and about a foot above my face. This sounds quite vicious but it was only set on Manual at 1/32 power. Hand-held flash are great little power-units, but there is little in the way of reflectors or grids etc to control the output so i've always made my own from good old-fashion gaffer tape in true Blue Peter fashion !
With this shot, I made a tube to contain the light and stop it spilling onto the background. Its made with gaffer/duct tape and is simple to construct.
I cut 4 lengths of tape into 25cm strips and overlay these to make a sheet. I cut the middle section from a plastic 1litre bottle of pop and lay that on the exposed, glue side, leaving the top strip uncovered by the plastic. I then cover this by laying more strips over the exposed plastic/strips and then trim. You should be left with a plastic-reinforced sheet with an unreinforced collar. Pull the collar around the end of the flash and tape in place. If you tape it right, you can re-use it time and again. The plastic bottle insert means that it stays as a tube without crumpling too badly. I cut a disc of translucent plastic from a detergent bottle and push-fitted it in the end to diffuse the light somewhat and make it a little less directional.
Once you've made the initial tube, you can cut it up into a variety of shapes, gobo's and grids to fit your flash, and then throw it away as it wears out and make a new one.
The 'card' style was straightforward enough. I photographed some faded old textures and opened the files in photoshop. I expanded the canvas size of the portrait to give a white border similar to the cards, and cut this out using feathering 10 and pasted it as a layer underneath the texture file. I used layer mask reveal all on the texture layer, played about played with its opacity and began rubbing out texture over the eyes, mouth and jutting chin where needed...
And talking of a jutting chin, that was the hardest bit to emulate !
I'm no wimp but i'm no struttin', juttin' sportsman either so thats the best I could do i'm afraid.... Oh, and the ciggie brand and football club are fictious, I made them up !
I tend to buy from flea markets and second-hand shops and go for photo memoribilia including cigarette cards. As a mass communication tool, these things were well sought after and a great way for product company's to market themselves. What better way is there than a child putting pressure on their parents to buy more cigarettes or packets of tea leaves to get the next card for their ever expanding card collection.
Many of these cards were illustrated by artists but i'm caught by the black and white photographs, which were then hand-painted to remove backgrounds etc. The expressions, hair styles and poses are straight out of Boy's Own comics and look very different to how footballers are depicted now...
I was always amazed that most of these cards were collected by kids yet they bore the name of cigarette companys on them. Could you imagine Yu-gi-oh or Top Trumps cards having the same thing today? There'd be outrage in the streets!
Given that we're in the throes of a football world cup, I thought i'd try imitate the 'style' of these minatures. There are several things I needed to consider, one was the lighting, another was the actual, jaw-jutting style pose and then the 'card' style itself which would be a photoshop job to achieve.
So, details.... This was shot with a Nikon SB28 placed about a foot away and about a foot above my face. This sounds quite vicious but it was only set on Manual at 1/32 power. Hand-held flash are great little power-units, but there is little in the way of reflectors or grids etc to control the output so i've always made my own from good old-fashion gaffer tape in true Blue Peter fashion !
With this shot, I made a tube to contain the light and stop it spilling onto the background. Its made with gaffer/duct tape and is simple to construct.
I cut 4 lengths of tape into 25cm strips and overlay these to make a sheet. I cut the middle section from a plastic 1litre bottle of pop and lay that on the exposed, glue side, leaving the top strip uncovered by the plastic. I then cover this by laying more strips over the exposed plastic/strips and then trim. You should be left with a plastic-reinforced sheet with an unreinforced collar. Pull the collar around the end of the flash and tape in place. If you tape it right, you can re-use it time and again. The plastic bottle insert means that it stays as a tube without crumpling too badly. I cut a disc of translucent plastic from a detergent bottle and push-fitted it in the end to diffuse the light somewhat and make it a little less directional.
Once you've made the initial tube, you can cut it up into a variety of shapes, gobo's and grids to fit your flash, and then throw it away as it wears out and make a new one.
The 'card' style was straightforward enough. I photographed some faded old textures and opened the files in photoshop. I expanded the canvas size of the portrait to give a white border similar to the cards, and cut this out using feathering 10 and pasted it as a layer underneath the texture file. I used layer mask reveal all on the texture layer, played about played with its opacity and began rubbing out texture over the eyes, mouth and jutting chin where needed...
And talking of a jutting chin, that was the hardest bit to emulate !
I'm no wimp but i'm no struttin', juttin' sportsman either so thats the best I could do i'm afraid.... Oh, and the ciggie brand and football club are fictious, I made them up !
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