Historical Re-enactments

[dadsm3]

Hello: While driving in my car up the escarpment in Stoney Creek ON last summer, I was stunned to see about 500 redcoats come storming out of a forest, and I was just able to discern in my rear view mirror they were charging about the same number of American soldiers advancing up the hill...turns out it's an annual re-enactment of the battle of Stoney Creek in the War of 1812. Mentally kicking my ass for missing such a great spectacle and promising not to miss it again, I remembered I had some shots of a Civil War re-enactment from many years ago.
Anyways, I thought it would be a great idea for a thread.....I'm sure some of our American members must have some great stuff lying around. These re-enactments are great for an RF, all the participants camp at the battleground exactly as they would have 150/200 years ago, don't mind (even pose for) photographs.....it's fascinating for history buffs and and heaven for photographers.
Although b&w definitely should be the film for the Civil War, the colours of the uniforms for the War of 1812 are amazing, absolutley beautiful on both sides ( I guess camo was for sissies back then!). One can only imagine what our European members might have.....Austerlitz?
Mike

 

[dadsm3]

packing gunpowder cartridges by hand....

 

[dadsm3]

I KNOW some of you guys have way better than me.......haven't figured out this Minolta scanner yet......very low res scans, but RFF rejects anything decent....

 

[dadsm3]

good show....

 

[dadsm3]

pics are crappy, but the theme is good.....

 

[dadsm3]

......streetshots 1864....

 

[rover]

I would love to shot an event like this, use some older equipment to capture a "vintage" feel in the quality of the images.

Very nice.

 

[dmr]

haven't figured out this Minolta scanner yet......very low res scans, but RFF rejects anything decent....

Great shots! 🙂

How are you scanning, post-processing, and saving the images? From here they look like 600 pixels on the long side but files like 300k or so, which looks very large for this kind of file.

I might suggest that you do the actual scan at a higher res, then reduce in Photoshop or Gimp or whatever and then save at 800 pixels on the long side and at a jpg quality of 7 or 8. That's what I've been doing for the photo of the week thread and various other threads and never had trouble getting RFF to accept them.

Your pics are great, but I admit they probably should be larger. I do see what looks like it may be jpg artifact, but hard to tell. I do see dust and lint in a couple of these, and some spots (dare I suggest a light touch fingerprint? 🙂 ) on the one with the tent. These can be fixed in Photoshop or Gimp, but ... I'm finding that attention to detail in technique, like keep the negs clean and dust free, is one of the keys to spectacular scans.

 

[dadsm3]

Thanks dmr for the great advice....I'll spend some time learning the ropes. I wasn't happy with the quality of these scans, I'm sure I could do better.
Mike

 

[dmr]

Thanks dmr for the great advice....I'll spend some time learning the ropes. I wasn't happy with the quality of these scans, I'm sure I could do better.

I don't know which model scanner you have, but all of the Konica-Minolta ones are capable of excellent scans, and yes, even with the supplied software. You should be able to get flawless 8x10 equivalent scans from this from any well-exposed (or even a sortakinda well exposed) negative or slide.

There is a learning curve, and I'm still climbing it. Just keep scanning. 🙂

 

[jan normandale]

Mike, if you have the Scan Dual it should have come with a copy of PS Elements. If you haven't installled it you should. Then just go to toolbar dropdown "file" and go to "Save for the Web", you will see a control panel for the image size. Highlight the long side and then enter a number between 700 - 800 max the other side will automatically scale proportionally. Hit save and you should have an image that is ready to upload and will not usually exceed 150- 200 kb.

Good luck

 

[dadsm3]

Thanks Jan...Yes I did get the PS Elements with the Scan Dual IV I bought from Henry's on PeterC's advice ( very happy with it, amazed in fact. Of course as a newbie, I scanned EVERYTHING in max resolution). I didn't download the Elements because I got PS CS2, which is a bit above my head. I'll load the Elements and give it a shot......very steep learning curve but I have lots of time (I hope!). I've already learned that the advice on this forum can save you days of trial and error...
Mike

 

[Byuphoto]

Some friends of mine are Civil war re-enactors and they invite me along to shoot. Since I am the Great-grandson of a Confederate veteran I belong to the Sons og the Confederacy. As such I usually dress the part and shoot with an old 4x5 on a wooden tripod. I would love to have a vintage 19th century camera to use for it.
Here is one from last summer with the Bessa R. I turned it sepia and developed to enhance the grain

 

[dadsm3]

Wow Byup, nice work. You can't get any more authentic looking than that...it looks like a photo from that great Civil War documentary that was on a few years ago.....

 

[Byuphoto]

Here's three more. The kid running is a member of the Louisiana Zouve Brigade, the cavalry charge is at Pea Ridge and the miltia are the Franklin Sharpshooters. I use Nik filters to create the old photo effects. The reason I never post them here is they are taken with a Canon SLR

 

[Byuphoto]

PS I only live about 60 miles from Vicksburg, Ms and I visit Atl, Ga. about once a year. the only major battlefiled I have never visited is Gettysburg

 

[dadsm3]

Those guys really do a good job....once you see a re-enactment like that you really get an idea of battlefield confusion. All of these shots are great, but that last one of the running boy is superb...not just the subject, but the ghost images of the soldiers and artillery behind him really capture the essence of the battle. Well done!

 

[dadsm3]

Test, will be deleted.

 

[dadsm3]

Yahoo!
Thanks dmr & Jan! Now, about grain and dust removal.......

 

[peterc]

Mike, one of my co-workers is a member of a group that re-enacts War of 1812 battles. The Battle of Stoney Creek will re-enacted at Stoney Creek this year on June 2-4. There are a few others in southern Ontario this summer as well. He says they welcome photographers and will give me more info closer to the date of the battle.

Peter