Poladroid
By sara martin
30 Nov 2008
I remember the day I found out Polaroid film was no longer going to be produced. I remember that I felt left behind, let down, forgotten. I work in an independent record store and the way the music industry has taken a dive makes me feel the same thing every day. The fact that now I felt this with one of my favorite forms of nostalgic film was devastating. How the hell are we supposed to survive when we don't want to "evolve" into digitalized robots? How do we continue to show our feelings when feelings can be so quickly altered with the click of a button? I used to take photos with my DSLR because I thought they'd look good as a Polaroid, and the thought alone gave me hope. Thrown into Photoshop to mess with color, saturation and texture, my photos took on a warm feeling of nostaligia, but lacked the essential ingredients of the instant film. C'est la vie, I suppose. I'd just have to deal with the let down.
Then came Poladroid. Poladroid to the rescue. A desktop program in a superhero cape. It's a simple, quick and fun way to turn your favorite non-Polaroid photos into a classic Polaroid replica. Take a photo, upload it to your computer, then drag it to the little Polaroid camera that rests unobtrusively on your desktop, and with the machined, clanking sound of a Polaroid, out comes a new version of your photo, border and all. It may seem cheap, almost in a sell out way, but when you can't afford to get back stocked Polaroid, it's your only savior, aside from spending too much time in Photoshop, defeating the purpose of "instant." There are only ten treatments per session (like the content of a film cartidge) and they produce high resolution (400dpi) Polaroid replicas.
Fantastic.
The only downside to this program is that it's only available for Mac OSX right now and the Poladroid manual is entirely in French, which of course isn't a problem if you're fluent in French, but if you're like me, you make the best of what little knowledge you have. Luckily, the program is easy to install and doesn't need very much explanation.
It's also freeware, but don't be ashamed to donate to the cause. Visit Poladroid.net for more info, or check out the gallery at Flickr.com/groups/poladroid.
8 responses
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Joven DelaCruz said (30 Nov 2008):
it's close to imitating the pola with its sound and the processing time, but the real downside for me is the vignettes...
i've downloaded an english version for osx.
it's cool fun none the less. -
Lois Martin gave props (30 Nov 2008):
Looks like fun to me, but no Mac, oh well!
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sara martin said (1 Dec 2008):
Not gonna lie - I love vignettes.
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Ian Beer gave props (1 Dec 2008):
good tip! fun stuff!
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Alexander Bussey said (2 Dec 2008):
don't think this program could ever replace taking a real polaroid picture :(
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sara martin said (3 Dec 2008):
Nothing will ever replace a real Polaroid. This almost fills the void in my heart, but still...
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Dirk HR Spennemann gave props (16 Dec 2008):
this digital Poloa(d)roid is a geat story..thanks for the heads up!
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Amanda Lynn Jury said (24 May 2009):
i believe that the true polariods are irreplaceable... it's a great idea but i couldn't bring myself to accept it. :(
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