Polaroid

Due to the adamant enthusiasm from one of the hosts on the Film Photography Podcast, last week, for the first time ever, I used a Polaroid: the SX-70 from the late 70s.



I never expected to use the camera because it was an unintentional acquisition from ebay; it had been one of the cameras in a camera lot auction. Now that film is once again being produced for these cameras their prices have gone way up.

This beauty came complete with crumbling vinyl, fungusy lens, the ability to fold, split image focusing (it is an slr), exposure compensation, and surprisingly, a working meter.

I had no idea using a Polaroid was so infectious. The immediate satisfaction of taking a photograph and having a print within a couple of minutes is way more gratifying than an instant preview on a digital camera.

Granted the performance is not tack sharp (the fungusy lens lowers contrast and blurs the image a bit) and the quality of the film is bandit (especially considering the price), but these factors add to the surreality of the product and I love the images I can make with the camera!





Once scanned into the computer I had to boost the contrast, but that was the only manipulation I made.

I do have some gripes:
1) I can not control aperture or shutter speed - the camera automatically chooses it for me.
2) The damaged lens adds and detracts from the overall image.
3) The price of the available film is high.
4) I can not call the meter reliable.

Overall:
The camera holds a dear place in my heart. I shall name it Tom Jones. I do not think that is unusual.

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Photographic Opportunity

I have not finished a roll of film in a bit, but I found a great event going on at Governors Island on Sunday. I will probably make my way down there for what looks to be a lot of fun.

NYC Volkswagen Traffic Jam

*Edit*
The heavy rain has put a damper on my photographic spirits and I have decided not to go. The weather has cleared up a bit, but by the time I get there the event would nearly be over.

I am thinking that I should have gritted my teeth and bared the hassle anyway.

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Erections Guaranteed

The other day I nabbed my film back from the developer, eager to see the result from the Holga 120N (a medium format camera) which I have not used in about a year. Let me tell you: I love the results. The images are generally sharp at the center, but gradually fade and vignette toward the peripheries. This is the dreamy effect that so many people love on the Holga, but it is the bane of so many photographers who are too into their gear and too into sharpness of their lenses. Yeah, the camera is super limiting with its fixed aperture and shutter speed, but you have to figure out how to work around the issues.

A way to get around the limitations are not surprisingly to work with the available features on the camera, some of which are criminally underused.

1) The aperture is fixed around f/13. The obvious thing is that not much light is let into the camera, but the upside is that the depth of field will be greater, giving a little more leeway on the inexact focusing. The way to fake shallower depth of field would be to set the shot up more towards an edge of the frame, but you need to have the cropping and composition of the final image in mind beforehand. This takes advantage of the nature of the lens becoming more blurry at the edges.

2) The finder is not that good. What you see is definitely not what you get, so it will take a little practice to "see" the image beyond its scope. The benefit is that you will sometimes get surprising and pleasing composition happy accidents which really add to the picture.

3) The shutter speed is fixed around 1/100, slowing down as the camera gets older or if is heavily used. The spring is pretty cheap and wears out. Good thing the camera is under $30. There are no inherent benefits to the speed except that relaxed action will be sufficiently stilled. There is also a bulb mode which is neat for experimentation, but you will have to hold it down with your finger as there is no cable release socket.

4) The focus works. Really, it does. Do not listen to the guys who say they just keep the focus set to infinity. They are the ones with blurry all over pictures. Practice estimating your distances and you are way ahead of the game; this even helps when using the fancier cameras!

5) The inclusion of a hot shoe is an amazing feature. Play with light. Learn it. It will help you overcome nearly all of the camera's shortcomings.

6) There is no real benefit to the cheap construction, but other people like the fact the camera can have light leaks. I do not. I tape up the seams. It can be fun to be a diy'er after little things start to break and you have to figure out how to fix it.

7) Choice of 6x6 or 6x4.5 - it comes with both masks. I always pick 6x6, but there is the option to choose the different format.

8) The lack of meter makes you learn the relationship between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed - another lesson you can apply to other cameras.

All cameras, lenses, and systems have their limitations and the people who know how to work with their gear are usually the ones who churn out great pictures. I am not saying that I do great work, but I guess I think highly of it enough to share my images and words :)



I took this shot at Figment where people are especially encouraged to express themselves. I liked this guy a lot and he reminded me of a cartoon character. I believe I set the shot up with cropping in mind, but even if I did not, I felt the 8x10 ratio really suited him.



Hands. I love hands. I should photograph them more often.



I will sell all the college boys 11x14 prints.


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Meetup Group?

Just joined a meetup.com group. Previously, I belonged to a photo club for a year, but it was dominated by the aged and did not feel the discussions/presentations were all that pertinent to my shooting (ie photoshop tips, digital manipulation, etc.). I decided not to rejoin. This group seems to have a younger base, with many members having an interest in film photography. I am attending the group on Monday so that I will have a chance to find out what they are about.

Drawing The Light

I currently have some film that resided in my Holga out for development. Look for results soon - warning, there will probably be gushage over that camera in such post.

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Color and its Conversion

I was pretty harsh on my photos last time because I was very unhappy with the results. I fiddled with a picture or two because I liked the composition and negated the color in a simple editing program. Check out the results:



The weird color cast is caused by a mixing of halogen with a daylight balanced flash - one of the things that must be taken into consideration when shooting with color in mind. If shooting digital the fix is easy - take a test shot with daylight balance, adjust your white balance and gel the flash to match the ambient light. On film you need to use a filter (which will affect the exposure by some stops), then gel the flash to match the ambient light. On this picture the overall cast is greenish, so I would use a magenta tinged filter on the lens (to balance the green) and gel the flash with green. The gel will also take some power away from the flash so that must be taken into consideration as well when calculating exposure.

However if you want to make a color conversion, you can easily use a program do something like this:



I personally like black and white more than color anyway.

So I guess my lesson is that if a picture does not work for you in one way look at it again and think of other possible options. But please, not too many obvious changes: such would be garish.

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Crappy Photos

I am so disappointed by the results from my last set of photos. They are so bad I am not even going to post them; instead I will provide the link to an online gallery: bad pictures

I used unexpired Fuji Pro 400H and I can not say that I care for this film. The latitude is very slim and the color is dull and the grain does not seem as buttery as a Kodak film. I tried the film once before and thought it was dull then too, but decided to give it another go.

What also contributed to some of my worst work was that most were taken in mid-day sunshine which is the hardest time to get a good capture because of harsh and flat lighting.

Pretty disgusted with both the rendition of the film and the images.

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Detailed

Last night my good friend John stopped by to watch some Twilight Zone episodes, relax, and drink the good drink.

Even though he is not into photography he does enjoy a good image and is always willing to see my work. He is quite the articulate fellow (soon to be an English professor) and gives me some of the best feedback I can ask for - describing what he likes/does not like and explaining emotional responses should there be any.

I showed him the two images from the last entry and he was stunned. He said that he really liked the photographs, but pondered a bit over the explanation as to why because he did not want to say the wrong thing due to having a hard time putting his thoughts and feelings into words. Finally, he said "Detailed, the image is so detailed." I responded something to the effect of "That is medium format." I went on further and explained why I liked it to which he agreed point by point.

So there you have it. Even a gentleman who has little knowledge about photography feels the difference between this and 35mm.

35mm: you are great for use in compact slrs and rangefinders when size and weight matters, but for quality we have to go with the larger formats.

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