photography – Page 367 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Resurrection

The other day my photo buddy and I got together. He just acquired a Nikon D200 DSLR for a song, and in a fit of generosity (as well as a ploy to convert me to a Nikon fan!), has offered me the use of his Nikon D70 DSLR for play. Isn’t that great? And I admit, I am really excited about the idea of being able to use a DSLR with interchangeable lenses. All my digital cameras have had fixed lenses.

I’ve also been on the hunt for a rangefinder camera as I have never used one, and am looking at several on eBay. I don’t want to spend a fortune, so I have been doing a lot of research. It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn while looking! There are so many rangefinder cameras out there – some more popular than others, some with an interesting history, some for pennies, others for thousands of dollars. To me, what is the most fascinating idea of all, is their supposed portability compared to SLRs. I’m no expert, but my impression is that the plane of focus can be very narrow, and this gives pictures taken with rangefinders some of their charm – blurred foreground and distance, with razor sharp images in the middle. As well as this, brilliantly detailed landscapes.

And if I do this – I need to get the pictures developed. My scanner has an attachment for digitizing film negatives. But! I have no negatives that I can find to try it. Solution? Dig out my old, and only, SLR – a Canon A-1.

Tragically, I never really learned to use this camera. My cheapskate side hates spending thousands of dollars on snapshots which I don’t like. However, with the idea of being able to digitize snapshots, I decided to pull it off the shelf where it has been sitting for too many years. It has seen better days. It has been dropped fairly hard, to the point the enamel is down to the metal underbody, and the ISO dial is reluctant to move. The lens has a haze filter on it, but the entire camera was swathed in dust. The lens itself was jammed, and a button to release it from “A” for the automatic modes popped out when I tried to move the lens to an F stop.

As you can see, this poor thing has been really neglected. I got most of the dust off, but this shows you just how much more needs to be done. Despite this, I went out and got a new battery and the only package of film (Fuji 400 Superia) in the drugstore, downloaded and printed out a manual, which I don’t think I ever even read when I got this camera nearly 30 years ago. I read the manual front to back.

I pulled out my tripod and set up a few shots, using only the manual elements to do some close-ups of an orchid in the yard, and the dying hop plant. I tried to do shots with the largest F stop – f/3.5 with the 28 mm macro, and some with f/11 for detail and depth. I have no idea how they will turn out, but recorded them in a notebook. It will be interesting to see what they look like. Hopefully not like snapshots!

It’s pretty amusing to think I used my digital camera (Lumix DMC ZS5) to take these pictures. If I find myself wanting to use this Canon, we are very fortunate to have a camera repair place here in town that has an excellent reputation.

Time was when one used to be able to buy film in drugstores and grocery stores, but not now. Online seems to be the place, and camera stores. The varieties are still myriad, but local availability has dwindled. Forget having black and white processed at a local lab – it needs to be sent out while color processing stays somewhat local. It may be worthwhile looking into processing at home or finding a local members-only lab, but that is a bit down the line, and only if I get into it.

How times have changed!

Singing the Blues

Having become a bit more serious about photography, doing “themes” seems to be a good way to focus on something, rather than randomly shooting all and anything. And just getting out with the conscious intent to take a picture in theme is proving to be a challenge, a bit of a laugh, as well as tapping into what I would consider as design elements in a painting now being used in a sentence.

The set to the right, What Color is Blue?, are some of the ones I did yesterday morning in a local park. None have been retouched, but a few have been cropped. The most interesting thing to note was how the color shifted with a longer exposure. The benches are a rather nice blue, very clear, but become more turquoise with more light exposure, either with the f-stop or the time.

The above photo is a detail of one of the bench shots I did. I rather like the composition of lines in different directions. However, dead center is a bit of blob between the blue uprights . . . I will try to remove this with some software and see the results. No wonder people edit digital pictures! They can become much more interesting when cleaned up a bit.

Pushing Up Daisies

Below is an image of a daisy taken awhile ago alongside our house. It’s rather bland. Below is the same image, with post-processing done in Photoscape. You can see that under the top daisy, the flower’s receptacle has become nearly pure black, like a puzzle piece. Even in the original picture, it is a bit dark, and consequently distracting to the eye.

Neither picture above is especially spectacular, but the post-processing certainly messed up the final image. Below are two more results, the first which is sharpened only from the original. The receptacle is a bit more defined, with its ridges a bit more clear, but not darker. The second one uses the “bloom” feature (which I don’t understand – I’m a novice in post-production photography software) in combination with the sharpening. I think the result is a little better. The whiteness of the petals is more apparent. I also used the mole removal feature to get rid of the black spot on the foreground daisy.

One thing I have a very hard time with visually is contrast – adjacent areas and their shades of grey – when I work in color. Whenever possible, I try to take photos of any artwork I am doing to check out the contrast. High contrast has few shades of grey; low contrast has several. The degree of density in each, how dark or light, can determine the “pop” in a picture. In painting, this can cause items to retreat to the background, or move forward. This is what our mind uses to create depth and dimension in a photograph or a painting.

This next photo is the last one above, converted to greyscale. It is a soft photo, not especially dramatic. There are good areas of contrast, but the petals are lost.

Daisies in Greyscale after Sharpening and Blooming in Color

This next photo is the greyscale photo further sharpened, and the contrast increased. The petals are more apparent.

Greyscale Daisies with More Sharpening and Contrast

Finally, here are chorus lines of the photos in a row. It may be worthwhile to look at it, and thus decide which photo is ultimately the best. I set the lines up so they would span the same space, but in doing so, some of the image quality is degraded. What I am looking for is the contrast and clarity in the final image of the petals, the inside yellow part (stamens and pistils? I forget my flower sex!).

Ultimately, I am not sure about any of these photos. I think the viewer needs to determine it. Liking or disliking a photo is a personal thing. I do think, in general, the composition is rather nice, but in retrospect, I should have taken the photo from a more superior perspective, looking into the foremost daisy a bit more, but not by much. Also, to cut down on “busyness,” it would have been a good idea to remove the dropped petal on the most distant daisy, the one up against the wall. If I knew how to remove it with software, I would try it. There is some movement in the photo. The center of the daisy on the left may be a distraction, just as the receptacle on the upper daisy may be too dark.

Good, bad? I need to step back to reconsider! Too close, too much, a bit overwhelming. Later I can make a decision.

One thing which does help is turning one’s work upside down.The same can apply to a photo. Maybe I am more successful than I think, as I really like the movement in this upside down image. And, in reconsidering, I like the one of the colored daisies only sharpened a bit, with the black spot removed, the best.

Cheapskate Distractions in a Wandering Mind

We watch our pennies. We don’t have a lot of lolly to throw around on frivolity, but we do make sure we don’t pinch on our hobbies to make life miserable. There are some things we can do without quite easily, even though we might like to have them, such as a flat panel TV, but compare that to being able to buy malt or hops or paper or a brush, we would prefer to do without the TV. Good computers are another necessity, partly for telecommuting to work (although that is provided by The Employer), but also for entertainment, information, education. Clothes are necessary, not optional, but a fantastic wardrobe is not. Good food varies in cost, but preferably is reasonably priced and fresh. Packaged food is for the quick moment when flying out the door without a lunch will spell a disastrous day in the classroom.

Lately I am becoming rather re-enamored with photography. Over the years, I have had SLRs and numerous digital cameras. I am now considering if it is worth having a DSLR. Of course, this means money. My new Lumix DMC ZS5 is a point-and-shoot with a very good lens by Leica, decent video capabilities, aperture and shutter priority, EV, other gizmos, as well as, most seductively, the ability for manual exposure. This means I can take photos with control over all factors, as far as the camera will let me. There is no f1.4 or f22, but f3.3 to f6.3. Shutter speed can be as long as a minute, and as small as 1/2000 second (I think). Not at all bad for something I can put in a cargo pocket. And for the cheapskate in me, digital images beat the cost of film and developing without a doubt!

A week ago, I went to the Descanso Gardens with a friend, and he has a Nikon D200. BIIIIIIIIIIIIG diff! And that has gotten me thinking. I don’t like big cameras, and the new 4/3 format looks interesting, but the EP1, EP2, and EPL1 have not quite gotten my attention. Sony has the NEX-5. I am only now looking at Pentax, the K-7 and the K-x. Reportedly these are small cameras, even though they are full DSLRs. Apparently – and most noteworthy to my cheapskate thinking – is that they are backward compatible for all Pentax lenses. What that means is, with over 25,000,000 lenses having been manufactured by Pentax, there should be some out there! There are also rumors of a K-5 coming out on various boards. Dangerous.

Between now and whenever and when-and-if these thoughts become realities, I’ve decided to become a bit more serious about photography – there is a lot I can do and learn about from the Lumix I have. Currently, the most fascinating thing is to be able to under-expose an image – something not do-able on most pocket-sized digital cameras – using manual exposures.

Because of this, I’ve gone ahead and reactivated my account on Flickr – and have provided a link to the right. This way, you or I or anyone can access some of my pictures in greater quantity. Below, are a couple of my more favorite ones I have done in the past month.