Tag: analog

Film . . .

I am beginning to really enjoy taking pictures with film these days.

Autumnal Grasses-1

As I’ve said, in my early days of photography – back in the 80s when digital didn’t exist – my experiences were all really bad.  I had no training and no idea what to do.  Maybe it is because my own family didn’t take pictures, so my experience with photography was very, very limited.  I had no idea what made a good picture as far as composition, and no idea how to make a good exposure.  Hundreds of dollars in printed ugliness was no reward, but the best deterrent!

Woodland-1

Enter the digital camera, some classes, lots of reading, and now I think I can go out and take a few shots in film without screaming at the results.  One reason is I can get digital images, rather than prints.  Costs are $10 – $11 / roll of film.  I have my own scanner.  Now, I am learning how to shoot film, such as lowering the iso for richer color and better contrast.  I am learning how to use my software to do post production, which may seem like cheating, but it is simply a digital vs. chemical darkroom.  Film still retains the quality of film, even if digitized – at least, it seems to me it does!

Fallen-1

One of the most fun things about film is trying out different types of film, and finding ones I like.  I have tried Tri-X, T-Max, Superia, Rollei Crossbird, UltraMax, Ektar, and have a few others.  It’s really cool.  Developing B&W is going to happen with greater frequency, and later, developing color.

Trees & Rocks-1

What have I gotten out of this?  Patience with composition.  Appreciation of digital and analog film processes.  A sense of success.  And a whole hell of a lot of fun!

Autumnal Grasses

Autumnal Grasses

A new-to-me film, recommended by one whose photography I admire: Kodak UltraMax 400. Not an expensive film. I shot the roll at the recommended iso, using the automatic exposure element in a Ricoh XR-10 camera, and a Vivitar 28-70mm lens. The guy at the photo lab suggest I shoot all 400 at 320 iso instead – longer exposure, better color. I’ve loaded another roll of the same film, in the same camera, to test it out at a lower iso.

This image was doctored a bit in LR.

Instant Tulips

Instant Tulips

“Instant” tulips?

Yes.

I bought a Fuji Film 90 Mini Neo Classic instant camera for a July 4th birthday. No firework pictures, just pictures of the birthday party attendees. It was a success, and lots of fun.

So now I have to drag out the old scanner to put them up on line! In the process, I’ve had to look at how filthy my scanner is, at the dust and hair probably embedded inside the scanner, and then clean things up. By hand it is awful, but the >filter>noise>dust in PS6 works very well!

More results will come . . .

Spring Growth

Spring Growth-Edit

I did a little post-processing of one of the few images I liked from my “checking for a light leak” roll of film. I pushed the colors, and upped the detail a little, as well as the contrast. Below is a detail of the same image.

Spring Growth Detail

I am rather intrigued by film and how it processes from analog to digital. I now have a roll of Kodak TMax 400 in the Nikon FM2N (same camera that had this image in it), and took it out for a walk under the nearby oaks. Black and white in the woods. I will have the TMax processed and scanned at a professional lab.