When we created Light Leaker we approached it with a singular goal in mind: Create the most authentic and realistic photographic light leaks possible!
As we looked around, we were shocked to find there were so many cheap light leak effects on the market that just looked like blurry patches that lacked detail or accurate coloration.
To understand what makes a light leak look good, it's important to understand how they occur.
Camera film loves the dark and when properly exposed it makes perfectly crisp, clear and wonderful images.
Enter the light leak . . .
Light leaks occur when an older camera body or film compartment becomes loose and small rays of sunlight seep into the seams and holes and expose the film in the camera before a picture is taken.
What would normally have been a photographers worst nightmare became something of a happy accident that actually creates an image with more life, vibrancy and in fact something desired by photographers! This gave rise to lomography, an entire genre of photography dedicated to creating the perfect light leak composition using vintage Holga Lomo cameras.
We discovered it wasn't just the camera alone that made these amazing light leaks but it was a combination of the camera, the film and the way the sunlight leaked into the camera.
Not only did we research a vast collection of vintage photography to study the patterns light leaks occur, but we also studied how the emulsion of the film responds to double exposures and how it was typically processed to reveal the film grain in a different way when it had been overexposed.
We also looked at what conditions made the best light leaks and looked at a wide variety of photographic styles ranging from bokeh to double and triple exposed light leaks till we understood what makes the perfect light leak.
Once we knew how to create perfect light leaks, we wanted to make a plug-in that was easy to use and offered a huge variety of looks. What we ended up with really knocked our socks off and we couldn't believe how convincing the result was and how simple it was to create it!
Machine Wash Deluxe & Light Leaker Texture Effect Developer
After earning his BFA degree from Rhode Island School of Design, and before beginning his career as founder and typographer of AOETI (the Astigmatic One Eye Typographic Institute), Brian J. Bonislawsky was an overactive full-time & freelance designer for numerous South Florida apparel companies.
During his tenure, he created silkscreen t-shirt designs for such clients as: Universal, Hard Rock Cafe, SixFlags Theme Parks, Hang Ten, Norwegian Cruise Lines, NASA, Las Vegas Properties, Major League Baseball, & numerous major tourist attractions.
Out of the wide array of designs he was called upon to create, a large majority simply involved distressing typographic and logotype designs to achieve an effect similar to that made popular by Abercrombie & Fitch and other mainstream apparel companies. Although a handful of distress patterns were available, Bonislawsky took it upon himself to expand the range of distress treatments in order to offer more visual variety and style.
It is from these humble beginnings Machine Wash Deluxe came to be as Bonislawsky expanded his repertoir of texture effects from 24 to over 250! Each texture effect was carefully remastered from its source material and enhanced to work flawlessly with our powerful and easy-to-use plug-in.
Imaging Application Plug-in Developer
Maxim is a 1996 Graduate from Tomsk State University (Russia), receiving his M.D. in Applied Mathematics and Cybernetics. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Mathematics and Computer Science in 1999.
In 1998 Maxim establish Panopticum, LLC which specialized in the production of special effect plug-ins and filters for video and picture processing. From its inception through 2003, he created more that 50 commercial products for sale including plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere. In total during this period, he created more than 1.7 million lines of source code!
From 2004 through 2006, he worked for Samsung Electronics in South Korea focused on producing multimedia components for cutting-edge smart phones before returning to his homeland of Russia.
In 2007, Maxim established Alpha Plug-ins, LLC a new company dedicated to his favorite business of inventing high-end special effect and custom imaging tools for graphic and video designers. Maxim makes this clear by stating, "While this work is supposedly very creative and interesting, the real challenge for me is testing my skills and mastery to make it work."
In 2008, Maxim teamed up with Mister Retro to create the Permanent Press Image Filter which was released in August of that year to industry acclaim. Based on the success of that working relationship the two forces joined again to re-concept and develop the already sucessful Machine Wash product line into Machine Wash Deluxe which was released at the end of 2009 and again redeveloped from the ground up for its updated 2012 release.