Film!

A few entries below are some shots of the Victorian Stroll taken with the Fuji X10,  I also brought my Mamiya 645 Medium Format film camera with a 200 mm Lens ( =to135mm in 35mm format) shot at f4.  I used Ilford HP 400 B&W film  shot at ISO 400.  All images are manually focused and Tv set by camera's meter, which was very accurate.  Of the 15 frames shot, not one was improperly exposed.  These images are taken from a CD Scan made at the time of developing by The Darkroom, in California.  There has been no editing of any kind.  I am really impressed with the detail of the shadows, the richness of all the tones and the Bokeh of the lens.  This is best seen in photo 4.  Note the out of focus background.

Enjoy, Jeff

  

Thomas and Friends

We have iPhoneography and now we have Instant Filmography! 

One of the things I love about photography   is that you have so many options to choose for imaging fun.  I use digital, medium format film, iPhone and now "back to the past", using instant film.  Polaroid no longer makes instant film and a Polaroid like film is Made by The Impossible Project.  However, it is really expensive.  The alternative is Fuji's FP100c, a color film for Land  packfilm cameras.  This peel apart film, is in a 6x9 format and under bright light can produce some stunning prints.  Furthermore, it creates a true negative that can be "reclaimed" using Clorox bleach. 

 My new buddy, Michael Raso, over at The Film photography project (http://filmphotographyproject.com) gave me some great advice about shooting this film in the cold, that was really invaluable.  If you enjoy film as I still do, I strongly suggest you head over to his site for many useful tips as well as fun and educational podcasts.  This shot taken in waning light near days end was made with a Polaroid EE Special camera and the Fuji FP 100 film. This camera has a plastic lens and focusing distance guess scale on the lens.

 This is the positive image without the edges pulled away, giving it a kinda' grungy look.  Later. I'll reclaim the negative and play around with that after it is scanned.

Enjoy, Jeff

Another Tragic Day in America

Taken this year in the late afternoon on Friday, December 14. John on Main Street, grieving in Altamont , NY . When are we going to stop this madness . The lives of our children have more import than the rights of gun enthusiasts to have any weapon they want.  Jeff

Another Way

Another way to have fun with a photo.  This was processed first in Snapseed then in Lo-Mob as a 6x9 old polaroid pack film negative.  Polaroid had and now Fuji has a negative from the instant film that you can bleach out the chemicals, scan and edit the image.  Enjoy, Jeff

Two ways of Visualizing

Shots of a pretty Victorian dressed girl shot during the Stroll.  Note the original vs the aged effect create in Old Photo Pro.  Enjoy, Jeff

Troy HDR Images

Troy Steel Doors

 

Troy Wall

If eyes are kept open, there is so much to see and shoot.  On my way back to the garage today, I saw these walls right there!  I knew they had HDR potential so shot them as a set of 3 bracketed images 1 stop apart.  I used the Fuji X10, and the camera strap braced around my neck as I pushed the camera out in front.  This is a great technique to become the tripod for steady shooting.  The images were processed in Photomatix Pro.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Today's Photo Shoot

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

   

 

Today Was Troy's Victorian Stroll.  Met up with several other Photo Club Members for a walk and shoot!  These were all done on the Fuji X10, ISO 400, no PP after other than than the Uber-cool monochrome of the models in the store front capturing the reflections of the buildings opposite.  I really like that look.  A bit artsy! I shot 15 B&W portraits with the Mamiya 645e MF film camera.  We'll see how they turn out.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Contemplation

The Bronx Zoo of course!  Shot with a Canon SX40 IS, I was impressed with the all-in-one lens tele capacity out to 840mm, handheld!  The camera has IS, ISO was set to 400 and shutter was about 1/50 sec!  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Old is Good

One of my interests is photo restoration.  A friend gave me this photo to restore.  It was taken in the early 1940's and kept as a 4.5 black and white positive image sealed between two thin sheets of glass.  I had a fair amount of speck and dust removal to do but I am so impressed of the sharpness of this analog image!  The original actual photo measured only about 1.25 x 1 inch in this oval frame. I scanned it to create an 11x14 image as seen here.  The detail is unreal. I love digital, but this something to think about!  Jeff

 

iPhone or Fuji X10. Russian Dolls

 Russian Dolls shot  and edited with iPhone 4 in Camera+(top).  Below shot with Fuji X10 in Macro mode, AWB.  The differences are obvious and each creates a different feeling, the first more playful, the second more precise and "photographic". What appeals to one person may not appeal to another.  The important thing in your photography is to photograph to please yourself.  If that is accomplished, you have done a lot.  Enjoy, Jeff

Street Lamps

Shot with iPhone 4 in HDR PRO, cropped and artsified in Photoforge Soft frame in PS Express. Shot at 2PM placing the lamps directly in front of the bright sun. An example of true backlighting to create an image with pop. Enjoy, Jeff

Wood as Art

Weather beaten stump seen today. I was taken by its design and form. Futzed with it in Camera+ then Snapseed. Frame from Lo-Mob. Enjoy, Jeff

Christman Sanctuary

Shot with a Pentax 67II using 11 year old Velvia slide film.  As long as film is sealed it can be kept in a freezer indefinitely and still be usable.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Christman Falls

I went back to the Christman with the Pentax 67II and a 75mm Pentax lens to make this shot.  The image was made on ISO 100 Fuji Reala negative film at f22 at 1 second with a circular polarizer.  If you compare it to the digital Fuji X10  image you can see the difference even in this 5MB proof on CD.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Bastion Falls, Palenville, NY

Today was a great day for landscape imaging, cloudy, overcast, just perfect.  These falls are right of off 23A, west of Palenville in the Catskills. You have to park 0.8 miles up the road and walk down the highway to the falls.  If you like a creamy effect , this is easy photography.  Set the camera to to its smallest f stop ( higher number ), set the ISO to the lowest and know that the shutter speed will be slow to soften the water, add a polarizing filter, make sure camera is stable on a tripod, use a cable release to avoid camera shake when firing and voila!  You have a pretty neat image.  This was shot with a Fuji X10, f11, ISO 100 and 1/5 second.

 For impact I edited the photo in Topaz Adjust 5, Vibrant Collection, Autumn filter.  It then needed a little white balance correction to finish.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

The Cardinal

I was leaf blowing the back deck and found this cardinal amidst the dying leaves.  It was upsetting and after putting on rubber gloves  an inspection showed a puncture wound made on the other side.  I suspect a nearby hawk attacked the cardinal but it escaped only to die on our deck.  Wanting to capture detail and create a fitting setting, I placed the cardinal on my scanner with the leaf over it.  I first brushed it off with a new soft paintbrush.  I scanned it and did a lot of dust removal in Photoshop. Flatbed scanners are f2-3,  8x10 large format cameras capable of capturing incredible detail.  I know, it makes us sad to see this but also reminds of the beauty of this creature.  Jeff

 

A Cooperative Frog

My buddy Cliff and I went for a photo walk at Five Rivers today.  Fall colors were faded and not much to shoot, until this patient bullfrog posed for us.  I shot this with my Maxxum 7D and a 80-200, 2.8 lens, handheld at about 1/640 second, f6.3 and ISO 800.  Fortunately the camera has anti-shake built in which gave me 3 more stops to play with. SInce the computed focal length was 300mm (1.5 DX crop), I needed at least 1/350 sec for sharpness.  I focused on the eyes and recomposed.  The image was lightly edited in iPhoto.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Fall Softly

We have a short window to capture fall.  Usually I go for intense fall colors but when I see a softly lit scene like this I am thrilled.  This was shot at the Whitbeck Preserve in New Scotland this past Sunday with a Fuji x10, handheld.  I processed it in Topaz Adjust 5 to get the colors just right.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Ancient Secrets

The Whitbeck Preserve in New Scotland has a small cemetery off the trail.  There members of the George-Pound Families are buried.  This is the tombstone of Arthur Pound.  I believe it represents his children.  This was one of the most successful shots I have made of this touching scene.  I had an initial urge to clean up the pine needles, but stopped, realizing the impact they had on the image.  Shot with a Fuji X10 and processed in Topaz Adjust.  Jeff

 

The Christman Sanctuary

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Today was the perfect day for our photo club field trip to the Christman Sanctuary in Delanson.  Part of the Nature Conservancy, the Sanctuary is one of the most beautiful places to photograpth running water.  The Bozenkill runs off the mountain and after some good rain, looks like this.  The six of us had a great time.  These were taken with a Fuji X10, using a circular polarizer.  I shot in aperture priority at f8 ( =to f32 on a DSLR) and had shutter speeds of about 1/4 to 1 second.  I like the water to look soft most of the time, thus the long shutter.  WB was set to cloudy as we were in shade and I did not want the water to look blue. I focused 1/3 way in to achieve a hyperfocal zone of focus, insuring sharpness through the 28mm  wide angle images.  I did a little editing in iPhoto to bring out shadow detail and adjust the color temp back to neutral, or 5500 Kelvin.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Onesthaqua Creek with iPhone 4 and 645PRO

Onesthaqua creek.  The rain stopped a little while ago and I headed out with my Pentax 67II and trusty iPhone 4.  I used 645PRO to make a 14.4 MB TIFF file. As the Fall colors were past peak, I decided to make it a monochrome.  This was processed in Photoshop using Convert to B&W Pro 3.0

Nice way to use a phone, huh?  Enjoy, Jeff

 

White Birch Pond , Partridge Run, Berne NY

White Birch Pond , Pentax 67II.

I had to cancel our Photo Club's field trip to the Christman Sanctuary today  as it was quite rainy.  Time to work on taken images.  As in an earlier post.  I decided to re-incorporate medium format film into my photography.  The Pentax 67II is a huge film MF SLR that produces a 60x70mm negative.  Using expensive film with only 10 images per roll does the most wondrous thing.  It SLOWS YOU DOWN.  I love my digital cameras, but honestly, unless I really think about it, I am banging away on the shutter because I have room for 1000 images on my memory card.  Putting this 5 pound monster on a heavy tripod, using cable release, carefully composing and double checking exposure, putting up the mirror and blacking the viewfinder AND relying on experience to know that your exposures will be fine ( no chimping here!) is a calming,  thoughtful experience.  

This image was shot on Fuji Reala 100 negative film with a 45mm Pentax lens ( = 22 mm in 35 format) at f22 and hyperfocal focusing to insure sharpness from front to back.  After processing, I ran this negative  through an older Epson 2450 flatbed scanner which provided enough resolution for an 16x20 print, now on order through Bay Photo.  I felt a monochrome image would look best so I processed it through Photoshop and Black & White Pro Conversion software.

Photographically you can have your cake and eat it to by digitizing your analog image.  Hybrid photography!  It does not get better!

Enjoy, Jeff

Fall Colors

Tawasentha Fall Foliage

 

Bouquet of Leaves

Today was a great day to shoot after work.  Sky overcast, big soft light and color!  I used a  Fujifilm X 10 camera on Velvia setting and DR of 100.  The leaves above were shot in Macro mode.  The upper image was lightly processed in Photomatix  Pro to blend and tone map 3 exposures.  There are so may ways to photograph fall, from the landscape to what is close in the landscape.  The leaves above were part of the wider view photo on top.  I chose this perspective as the tree limbs seemed to reach out and present its leaves to me.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

HDR Fun

These old fishing trawlers make a great subject for HDR.  Faded paint, rust, decay and breakdown lend themselves to great HDR imaging.  Shot with a FUJI X10, auto-bracket at-1, 0. +1 stops.  The images were then combined in Photomatix Pro to create this painterly effect.  I chose preset Painterly 4and then toned it down a bit to my liking.  Enjoy, Jeff