- I am an outdoor lifestyle photographer and filmmaker based in Seattle WA. I love to push the envelope with my work and I enjoy sharing what I learn along the way.
This blog will show both current work as well as how-to's and insight on becoming a better photographer and DSLR filmmaker.
- Kirk Mastin
Upgrade your photo portfolio:
Category Archives: articles
Extreme iPhone Photo Enlargements: A How-To Guide
I’ve been dying to see how iPhone photos hold up to rather extreme enlargement.
According to Microsoft, the maximum printing size for a 2-megapixel photo is 5×6.7 at 240dpi.
So what did I do? I went ahead and printed this photo at 12×18 at 240dpi!
(The MAXIMUM size you can print at Costco, and it only cost me $2.50.)
The final result?
In one word: Stunning.
12×18 Noritsu Print from Costco.
…and I used to work as a printer at a professional camera lab!
Of course if you view the image closer than 2-3 ft you can see the grain in the image. However, most photos of this size are usually viewed at a distance of at least 4-6ft away. In this case, the photo looks amazing. The grain in an iPhone photo is irregular. iPhone photos have much smoother grain than many digital point and shoot cameras, which is a great thing: iPhone photo grain mimics analog film grain.
Detail of print showing grain.
So there you go.
Go and make gallery-ish sized prints with your iPhone without fear of humiliation from your art friends.
If they are so close that they are peeping the grain of the photo and complaining about that then I would say they missed the whole point of how cool this is and what possibilities this creates for lo-fi photography.
Have fun!
-Kirk
Step by step instructions:
1. Take a good iPhone photo (enough light, not blurry)
2. Apply a CameraBag filter, save photo at highest quality (look inside CameraBag settings)
3. Download photo to computer.
4. Email photo to Costco’s photo lab, or bring file in on CD.
5. Print photo at whatever size you want. A 12×18 print is $2.50. How can you beat that?
6. Enjoy! Impress your friends! Have an Art show!
7. Blog about this article or better yet, Tweet about it on Twitter 
Also posted in iphone, lo-fi
Tagged Apple, Costco, Film grain, Handhelds, iphone, Microsoft, Photograph, Photography, Point-and-shoot camera, Printing, Smartphone, Smartphones, Twitter
6 Comments
Trailer: Flip the Media: A Media (r)Evolution
This is a trailer for the upcoming full length Flip the Media documentary film, produced within the MCDM program at the University of Washington.
In this film we will explore how the media landscape is changing, as the traditional media gate-keepers (print, radio and TV) are being challenged by the rise of the amateur content creator.
With the barriers to technology and distribution becoming nearly non-existent, how will traditional media compete with the masses who will produce work for free?
-Kirk Mastin
Getting some love from the New York Times
A few nights ago I checked my blog to discover that I had jumped to a whopping 2,000 hits a day.
That same day I received a phone call from Laila Ghambari, the fixed gear biker that I had filmed previously for my Flip Video vs. HD test. Laila informed me that the video test had come to the attention of David Pogue, technology writer for the New York Times.
Apparently the Flip Video camera has 13% of the camcorder market share and people are flocking to the Flip Video for its simple controls and self contained software.
Some of the comments about my test were nice and some very very critical. All I can say is that if you don’t get it, you don’t get it.
The reason the Flip Video is such an amazing camera is that it encourages you, by its very design, to go out and make something.
And that is all that matters.
Most video will never be transferred to film to be seen in a movie theatre or appear in HD on the Discovery channel. In fact, video quality is quickly becoming secondary or dare I say tertiary to content and style.
The same people that criticize the Flip Video for its standard resolution and lack of features are the same people that shoot test targets with their digital cameras and rate lenses according to their MTF score (lens resolution per line for non pixel-peepers.)
Anyone familiar with my work will note that I use everything from 2 year old disposable film cameras bought on sale at Rite Aid, to $30 medium format Holga cameras, to mid century Speed Graphic 4×5′s to the latest and greatest Canon 5D.
The equipment doesn’t really matter in the end. It’s the vision of the photographer/film maker/designer that matters, and you either have it or you don’t.
I think that in the next few years we will see an explosion in creativity as the general public starts using tools like the Flip Video and the power of content creation spreads to those who did not have the money or training previously to create. Eventually we will be in a world where creativity will not be hindered so much by access to training or equipment…
…it will be a wonderful thing.
I for one am very excited and not the least bit threatened by the amateur. By all means I hope I remain an amateur in spirit, for it is the amateur that can create with a fresh mind unhindered by the visual baggage of the past.
My next Flip Video project includes debunking the low-light crappiness myth circulating about the Flip Video as well as using the Flip Video in situations that would otherwise prohibit using a video camera (such as attaching a waterproofed Flip Video to a whitewater kayaker’s kayak.)
This summer I also plan to make a short film (a fiction, not a documentary) using only the Flip Video camera, a tripod, my iPod Nano with Mic and either a bicycle or skateboard as a dolly
It should be interesting!
-Kirk
New Orleans, Seattle Sculpture Park and the start of a climbing film
I have *lots* to share here, it’s been a few years and I have reached my 400th post!!!
First some photos from the sculpture park which I went to with my sister Kim a week ago:
The second bit of news is that I have started editing a short climbing film that I shot last October in Bishop, California.
It’s really a *very* rough draft but you can see the direction I want to head with it. I don’t want to make a typical climbing film with lots of music and just cranking on moves…
…instead want to focus on what it must be like to be a super athlete day in and day out, managing both a climbing career as well as friends and relationships.
This film is about Lisa Rands and her amazing life in Bishop California….
Of course the final edit will probably be completely different than this edit, but I could only get this far before I found out that I’m….
That’s right, I’m off to New Orleans for 14 days as an assistant on a documentary film called “Independent America: Rising from Ruins.”
I will be helping to film, gather model releases and shoot stills alongside fellow assistant Jon Liston as we help the director Hanson Hosein shoot the sequel to his award winning documentary “Independent America.”
I am soooo excited about this. I want to make documentaries too and this is an amazing opportunity to see how it’s done from start to finish.
I also hope to shoot enough in New Orleans and on the road trip down there to create a series for my portfolio. We shall see.
See you all in April. I will try to blog from the road!
Kirk
