Monday, December 18, 2006

Splendiferous images

I friendly reader kindly Pointed out that , seeing this a Photography Blog there is a distinct lack of , well, Photos!
This is something we shall remedy in future postings..so in the words of Tom Lehrer; Be Prepared...!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Depth of Field

One of the more challenging concepts to get right in my own mind were the principles of depth of field.
as far as light fitting the film is concerned it's swings and roundabouts.
I.e. a given large aperture and fast speed is the equivalent of a given small aperture and slow speed, as long as the same amount of light hits the film it will be exposed to the same degre(more or less)
DoF is a concept that i read and read about but did not grasp until i did a test shoot
and then things all fell into place
I guess it's something that one has to see and and get a feel for in a hands on approach otherwise all the theory becomes just words on paper
Once i develop the B&W studies that i did today i think i will a have a clearer and simpler comprehension of DoF

Saturday, December 02, 2006

I've got the Clack...


No, I don't have some exotic disease, but I do have a rather peculiar addiction to the latest addition to my collection of cameras, an Agfa Clack (see this post about the Clack). To look at, the Clack's not a very sophisticated camera, it's got a fixed shutter speed, a choice of 2 apertures or a close up lens. It's also about 40-50 years old. But for all that, it's a neat little camera to use.

I'm just in the process of scanning in the first roll of film I took with it. All in all, it hasn't turned out too bad. I've had some issues with getting exposures right, as the Clack was designed to be used with 50 iso film, and I only have 100 iso. In theory a neutral density filter would fix that problem up, but the filter I've experimented with is apparently a 2 stop filter, where I need a 1 stop filter. Still, there are ways around that, too...

Monday, November 20, 2006

..and a camera for all occasions

hmm ... yes i fing it a little heavy as well, carrying all the gear around that one seems to accumulate and one deems necessary.I guess there is a thing as too much choice. Now , i also have incluided in my gear that i normally carry also a nifty little rangefinder Retina II camera, which in itself is an antique but one that still shoots images of good quality. so all in all i still enjoy woking with the different media( 120,35mm, digital) but as the dear lady wife said'yer going to have to get a bigger bag.....or carry less gear...! wise words, methinks

Monday, November 13, 2006

A camera for all seasons...

Last week I went bushwalking, and as I am wont to do, I took my camera along. This was my first bushwalk carrying my medium format camera and my Manfrotto 190V tripod. I also took along my little point-and-shoot digital camera, and boy am I glad I did.

Now, the Mamiya 645 is a wonderful camera, and the Manfrotto 190 is a great tripod, but together, they're bloody heavy, and somewhat slow to set up. Which means they're not suited to grabbing a quick photo while walking along. The digital is another story, though.

Kept in a little waterproof bag hanging from my pack straps, the camera was always handy, and didn't require me to take my pack off if I wanted to grab a photo. So, my conclusion: The combination of medium format camera for taking photos in the morning or evening, and the digital for taking photos while walking was ideal. All I need to do now is get fitter so my pack doesn't seem so damn heavy...

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Filters and the Mothrs of Invention

Well Frank Zappa has not joined the ranks of happy snappers but in an effort to modify equipment i guess imagination is the only limiting factor.
Ihave been trying to rig some filters for my Agfa Clack but as there is nothing really readily available one has to modify and invent as one goes along.
But i guess that is the fun thing about Photografy : it's dynamic nature as people explore differen techniques and approaches to achieve a goal.
It's no different to what happened in the early Days only the technology has improved.So in a sense exploration and building on the ideas of other is a valid and good thing,it can only lead to improve ones own style

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Simple German Engineering

Well the above statement is a bit of an enigma... in as much what appears to be simple at first glance turns out to have a GREAT deal of thought behind it.That's why it's deceptively simple. On the other hand there are complex solution and in this instance i thought i mention German cameras from the early part of last century..yes anything before 1961!
I own a Clack..Made by Agfa and as far as a shutter camera as far as i am concerned i don't believe there is anything simpler.
On the other side of the Spectrum there is the Kodak Retina, of wich i happen to stumble upon in a second hand store. The more i look at it the more i am amazed at the complexities of the thing. It's a rangefinder, with a light meter, timer,viable shutter and aperture,leaf shutter lens basically everything you would find in a decent SLR. Everything is interlocked and codependant. In 1959 this was around 300 Deutsche Marks.
considering the average monthly wage back then was only about 600 marks this makes it a very expensive camera. That would make it in todays terms somewhere in the order of 2000-3000 Marks....and it's only for the amateur market. While it's not a Leica or Rollei it does have some brilliant design work and the engineering is to die for. I was going to sell it...but i think i'll hang on to it for a while and experiment whith it. it is actually quite a NICE CAMERA TO USE once you figured out HOW to use and then its an absolut dream

Sunday, October 01, 2006

I'm Singing in the Grain, just singing in the Grain...

Well it's interesting theSpudguns Images were ...well ...Grained . I was considering up until then to submit photos meself. I usually scan my images at what i had considered a High Resolution up until i started using on of the labs here locally to develop and scan my pictures. I get my pictures scanned at 'hi' definition and that gets me an image size in terms of MB at around 15MB per image. It would take me Hours to do that on me home scanner. But the results speak for themselves, i guess. Plus as a Value added service the Images are Optimised for Printing. Well Back to the drawing board and reconsider this whole Grain vs quality vs time & effort

Grain? What Grain?

A little while back, Mad Owl and I were discussing the possibilities of turning what was a hobby for both of us (i.e. photography), into something a little more serious. Mad Owl had the bright idea that, seeing as we both have a bunch of photos, and are taking more all the time, we should submit them to some of the stock photography sites on the 'Net. The theory was that we could earn a bit of money from what we both do for fun.

So, with that idea in mind, I found a few stock photography websites around, and looked at how they operated. The majority of them charge nothing for you to sign up and submit photos, but they do screen submitted photos, and reject ones which don't meet their rather strict standards. Having read through the guidelines, I felt that I was fairly certain to have a few images which would be accepted.

Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather, when every single photo I submitted was rejected. Why? Too much noise or grain in the photos. But, I thought, film has grain, it's one of those facts of life, and surely there are times when grain in a photo can actually enhance it? That may be the case, but the stock photography sites don't see it that way.

It didn't help that most sites have a minimum size for submitted photos, and that I was having to scan my little 35mm negatives at a fairly high resolution to match that size. Having switched to medium format, I have been very pleasantly surprised at how little grain is noticeable in the first roll of transparency film I've shot. So now it's time to resubmit some photos, and the way I see it, if I get knocked back again, it's not going to be because there was too much grain in the photo...

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

LARGE Format....... ARRRRHARRRAHAHAHAHARR

Well having dealt with MF for i while i decided to go the full Hog and go to Large Format....well actually just big medium format. So did i spend Thousands of Brasillian Zemolions getting out fitted with a Linhof, or Schneider field Camera , i hear you ask
Well, No!
i have spend around $20.00 and picked an AGFA Clack. built ithe mid 1950's in Munich.
Actually for what they are i think a lot of people turn theis nose up at them probably because they are so simple. The various agfa models came 4x4, 6x6 and 6x9 and this is just from some superficial research that i have done. Well the camera that i have aquired is a 6x9, fised shutter speed and 2 F stop settings. Thats it. the only thing more basic would be a pinhole camera. And you would be shooting film at around iso 50 or 100.
But it's a dirt cheap way to explore the possibilities of what one can do. you would really have to work for your photo in terms of forethought. Execution is rather simple.
I guess it's the Zen approach to capturing images........OhmmmmmCLACK.......OhmmmmmCLACK

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

FIlter Theory

So....what FIlters do i Really need? It's a question i have been pondering for some time. WHile there is a plethora of filters out there which ones are the most practical and usefull? COnsidering the variety of Film Stock that i have(B&W, Tungsten,Daylight,Slide) and the different situations that i' using them in, Ihave come up with a list tha will suit me. This of course is a fluid and Dynamic list as each Photografer has his or her own opinion and rightly so, however i think i'm pretty close to the mark i feel in what is overal most usefull. There are a lot of 'Trick' or novelty filters out there and they have their applications and whith all the filters that i have collected over the Years i find that the trick type filter need a certain degree of planning ie you'll be going out deliberatly to use a particular filter to achieve a particular effect. Whereas other Filter are just commom tools of the trade. I also find that i don't mind usin filters larger than the lens i'm using in part to avoid vignetting, in part as it's personal preference and in part that's what i was able to get me hands on at that time. So here 'tis a list of must have's
UV or UV Haze
Polarizer (i did read a C-PL can be used on every Camera, an L-PL only for Manual Focus type. I carry both types as i have both camera types, but if C-pl can used instead of L-PL's than thats a couple of FIlters less i'm carrying)
80A
85B
NDx2,x4,x8
Fl-D
Fl-W
Center Filter (heliopan x2 type) - haven't got one yet but i'm working on it
And now for the should/could have
A set of colour FIlters(R,O,G,Y,B)
Soft DIffuser
I also use a Set of Varicolours (R,B,Y,G)
and a set of Graduated Colours(R,B,G,Y,O,Pink,Tobacco,Gray/.2 ND)
There are a few others but i won't list them as they fall into the Trick category IMHO.
There more the may need to be included, there may be some that i don't really need in that list. it's not set in concrete but they come in handy with the wide variety of lighting conditions that one is face with.
Thing to keep in in Mind is As Many as is is practical, but but as few as possible.
And when you are on a shoot, i you haven't got with you, there 's no sense pining for it(Lief Ericksenn)

Sunday, September 17, 2006

The Best Laid Plans...

Something that I'm coming to discover, is that to consistently get good photos you need to plan ahead. Sure, if you keep a camera on you at all times, if you do see something worthwhile, you can get a photo, often quite a good one. But your chances of success are going to be so much better if you do your research, and, as per one of my earlier posts, you're in the right place at the right time.

How much planning do you need to do? Well, that depends... Often, just knowing where the sun will be at a particular time will be enough (there's no point trying to get a photo of the sun setting over a nice stretch of water if the sun sets in the opposite direction), but it's possible to go into a lot more detail if you want.

As an example, I've just started planning a bushwalk I want to do in a couple of months. I've got some ideas of what I want to photograph, in particular I want photos from a particular lake around sunset and sunrise. So, in order to get those photos, I'm going to need to camp fairly close by, to save getting lost in the dark, seeing as there's no tracks in this particular area. Knowing that I want to get photos with the surrounding mountains bathed in light will determine which sides of this particular lake will offer me the best vantage points.

All of this thinking has been done with the aid of a map, and a basic knowledge of where the sun will be rising/setting. Of course, the chances are that my preconceived notions aren't going to be spot on, but the theory is that with the majority of the thinking already done, I'll be better prepared to change my plans according to the conditions when I'm taking photos. We'll see in a couple of months whether or not I'm right, I guess...

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Mamiya C22 - Amazing Piece of Camera Engineering


I guesswith Cameras the KISS Principle also holds true. Take the Mamiya C Series TLR Cameras. Relatively Speaking it's a SImple Camera. The only Real complex Thing would be the Shutter Mechanism. Now I have had a few roll through my 645 as well as my TLR and it astounds me that the TLR can out perform the 645 again and again. I guess it's what you get used to but while the TLR needs aset procedure to follow(no fancy interlocks to stop DOuble exposing etc etc, it has to date produced some of my favorite shots.
The Picture is of the Japanese Garden in Adelaide, bright Sunny Day, a few clouds in the sky. Again i forgot to take the setting down but it was shot with a UV & PL Filter in place, with a relatively small Aperture. sometimes you just nail it on the head.

Monday, September 11, 2006

What goes around, comes around

I was just reading Spud Gun's first post and it reminded me of how i got into Photografy nearly 30 years ago. Mum & Dad finally bought me a 35mm fixed Lense Compact Camera when i was about 9 or so Years old. For some reason which i don't quite understand to this day my mother insisted that I only shoot slides.(i still don't quite see the logic in her reasoning as she never offered an explanation as to why and any questions with 'why' in them were usually met with a slap around the head and a "i'm your parent, do not question me,because I know better!) But i digress....when i think back to those days I had no auto exposure, no light meter it was basically point and shoot. Come to think of it the film was a cassette type (35mm cassette). The shutter was fixed and you used a cube Flash (4 Flashes/cube).I then graduated to Mum's Spy Camera... well thats what it looked like only it was about 2.5x the size that James Bond Uses.The Whole Camera is about 13mm thick and again it used a Cassette Magazine. Why did they Buy one of thoses.. Hey, it was the Seventies and it was Cool to have one of those Kodak Cameras. I still have the camera here at home i just don't know Where. And then there was a variant that used a Disk with 12 Exposures (from memory) The Disk was a bit like the disks that you got with the 3D Magic viewers that where all the rage(anyone remember those?) Having said that with by todays Standard Basic Equipment you could and did produce some absolutely Stunning Photografs. Pop the cassette in, wind on, point , hold steady, shoot. And that was about it. You just had to take your chance whith the light. But it was an awfully big Adventure for a 9 year old, and a lot of fun, even when you made mistakes. The excitement was almost unbearable when you took your pictures in to get developed and you were waiting for slides/prints to be returned so you could see what you had achieved. That Magic has been lost to some extend with Digital, but as long as we have Medium format around i think one can recapture some of that Mystique.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Learning through making mistakes

I picked up the first film that I took with my new Mamiya M645 from being developed today, and I got quite a surprise. Out of the 15 photos that were on the roll, 4 or 5 were of quite a good standard. While that doesn't seem particularly successful, I'm happy with the results for a number of reasons.

To start with, I've never used a medium format camera before, and I've certainly never used a camera with a waist level finder. Add to that the fact that I've gone from having a camera with an exposure meter in the viewfinder, to having to use an old hand held light meter, and it's a surprise I got any successful images at all. One thing that has been brought home to me is that while the hand held meter is going to give me a start to my exposure, I'm going to have to compensate for things like uneven brightness, overly bright or dark scenes, and so on.

Out of all the photos I took, I was most surprised to see that the first photo I took with the camera came out very well. It's just a shame that the subsequent ones were not to the same standard! Even though the rest were not all as successful as the first, having kept notes on what my exposures were, and knowing that in all cases I was using an exposure suggested by the light meter, I'll be able to adjust in the future, and hopefully have a much better success rate.

6x6 mamiya tlr fantasy


Well... of all the cameras i have my mamiya C22 is probably the simplest, yet the most intriguing. I guess it is becouse of it's simplicity . the 6x6 Neg/slides are really something else when compared to 35mm. And the other thing is one has to be methodical beccause so easy to double expose. Focus,Wind,Cock,Shoot is the mantra. In any case it is a great camera to work with one gets into the habit of doing always the aforementioned steps. I got my first roll back a few days ago and although most of the pictures were testers of some sort this is probably the best of them. I took a series of Sunset Pictures and in an earlier post blog i posted one of the images but after having the images re scanned by a lab i thought i put this one up as well as it is a better quality image and deos the mamiya more justice.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

What's the opposite of Inadvertent?

I'd like to muse for a moment, on the opposite of the inadvertent shot. This is the kind of shot where you walk around, look for interesting angles, maybe set up your tripod, look through the view finder, adjust as necessary, until you're finally happy with the composition... And it goes on, deciding on whether you need a small aperture for a large depth of field, or a large one to put the emphasis on the subject of the photo. Then you have to decide if you need a long shutter speed, to show motion, or a short one to freeze the motion... And then you decide if you can balance the depth of field for the length of exposure... And once you've done all of that, you finally take the photo.

For me, I get a lot of enjoyment from both types of shot, but in very different ways. I'm always thrilled when I see that a photo "works", even if I wasn't planning it to, and it was just an accident. But there's a different sense of enjoyment from a well planned photo, where you've taken to time to make sure everything is right, and you know (well, you hope you do) that you've got a good shot. I get a lovely feeling of satisfaction from such photos, especially if I've had to work hard to get them

This photo is a particular favourite of mine, for a number of reasons. For starters, it's not a shot any one could have got by parking their car, and snapping away. I had to work for it. The falls in question have had a massive log in the main fall for a number of years, and any photo from the track is going to be overwhelmed by the log. How do you get around that? Easy, you hop from rock to rock across the river...

Having done all that, all I needed to do was find a spot on the opposite bank where I could set up my tripod, hopefully keep my feet dry, frame the shot without the log if possible, or if not, frame it so that the log doesn't dominate the shot anymore. If you're lucky, that'll be on a nice patch of firm, level ground, but in reallity, it's more likely to be on a wet, slippery rock.

Having framed the shot nicely, all I needed to do was decide on the exposure. It's at this point I'm forced to digress, and ponder the tendency for photographers to _always_ use a long shutter speed when photographing moving water. Sure, it looks nice, but so do the million other photos with similar exposures. In this case, I decided to hold back a bit, and limited myself to 1/2 a second, which allowed some blur, but not an excessive amount. Of course, this is all personal preference, and other people may feel differently.

Getting back on track, once all of that is decided, it's time to actually take the photo, a process which is infinitesimally tiny, compared to all that has gone before it. Hopefully all the planning which has gone into the shot will have paid off, and you end up with a great shot. If course, life being what it is, this doesn't always happen, and you bump the tripod just as you take the shot, and it ends up a blurry mess... As they say, "Shit happens"... There's always next time...

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Inadvertend Shooting.....


Isn't it funny how often the shots that you don't plan or the times you accidentally push the shutter become somewhat remarkable. I guess in Zen Terms one is freed from the constraints of the concious and all preconceived Ideas and convention is gone. For that moment the camera is free and captures a moment in Time and Space that is unique to itself and has not been pidgeon holed by the Photografer.
I was testing the Zoom/Macro Function on a Lens i had acquired and as i was Zooming( i cannot remember which way) i hit the shutter . The attached Image is unedited save for some mild sharpening. Other than that it's as i shot it. (Pentax ist D, 200mm Zoom Lens, Camera all Auto Settings....)

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Sunsets are soooo romantic......Hrumpf!



Well Spud Gun.. Talk about being in the right Place at the Right Time... actuall i was waiting for the above shot i had been itching to try some graduated filters , and this axample uses Grad Blue and Red. It's the first time i have used filters like this and in combination. The Image really was a tester but it worked somehow and showed me the potenttial filters have (image shot with a pentax ist D, 80mm Aspherical Lense, all settings automatic)

Friday, September 01, 2006

The Right Time and The Right Place


I've come to the conclusion that a large part of photography comes down to luck. This was driven home to me tonight as I was walking to my car after work. The weather wasn't brilliant, it had just finished raining, and as I crossed a road, I turned to look for cars, and saw the most stunning sight. The sunset was brilliant, the sun had just sunk below the horizon, and the last of the light was painting the clouds in brilliant shades of pink and orange.

As luck would have it, I was able to get a great view further along the road, and I had my camera with me, so I snapped off a couple of shots. By the time I'd walked the last 20 metres to my car, the light show had faded. I was truly lucky to be in a position to take those couple of photos while the light was at its best.

Often, the difference between a good photo and a fantastic photo is down to being at the right place, at just the right time. It's certainly possible to plan photos, but you're still at the mercy of nature. Sometimes, despite all the planning in the world, the light just doesn't happen, and then when you least expect it, you're treated to an amazing display.

It's for that reason that I'm rarely without a camera of some sort these days, whether it's my MF or 35mm SLRs, or my little point and shoot digital (used to take the photo in this post). It's impossible to take a photo with the camera you don't have...

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Analog vs Digital Printing

After having my first two films developed by my local Professional lab i was pleasantly surprised (actuaLLY I WAS SORT OF EXPECTING THIS) that my lab no longer uses Analog (the best way to describe it) equipment to print a customer's Pictures. GOne are the days of the enlargers and baths of reeking chemicals. The lab wil develop your film, scan aan digitize it and then print your pictures out( albeit at a quality superior to trhat of your local Kmart or Photo kiosk) Their Darkrooms now are in Cyberspace. But the results speak for themselves. At the moment i cannot afford or justify a Scanner that will take 120 film and this Lab will long roll scan and make any adjustments required ready for printing. Almost takes some of the joy out of it but the losses are offset by the economic gains. And there i was going to start developing my own Black and Whites......

New Vs Old

As I mentioned in my first post, I've recently purchased a Mamiya M645, which is replacing a Canon 35mm SLR. The Canon was a fantastic camera, but having used both of them this last weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed shooting with the M645 the most. I originally bought the Canon camera because it offered me more functionality than my first SLR, which was fully manual.

Somehow, though, the bells and whistles of the Canon didn't really end up being that useful. Sure, it had a bunch of different shooting modes, allowing me to control everything myself, or to let the camera have some or all of the control. Maybe I'm just lazy, but I found that I'd got into the habit of selecting the auto mode most of the time, which didn't always give me the results I was looking for. I also felt that I'd stopped thinking about what I was doing, and ended up using the thing like an expensive point and shoot camera.

The M645 is a different kettle of fish entirely, it's all manual, and doesn't even have a built in light meter. In order to use the camera effectively, I'm going to have to be thinking about what I want to achieve with each shot. Which is not a bad thing really, as I find it's far too easy to stop thinking about such things if you have the option of not having to. I'm expecting to have quite a few dud shots to start with (particularly as I'll also be shooting with colour transparency film for the first time), but I'm also expecting my photography to improve, as I start forcing myself to think about what I'm doing.

So, all in all, was the Canon a bad camera? I don't think so, it certainly did the job well, but it didn't really suit what I was trying to do with it. The 645 should fit the bill rather nicely, and I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the first film I put throught it.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The shutterbug's bitten me too

Actually this is is a nice layout for the blog let me start ofd bysaying(a touch of Yoda)
But yes , MF is somethig i fell into by bad management of a set of fortuoitous circumstances, having started of with a Mamiya TLR and whithin a short period of Time gotten hold of 4 more Mamiya 645's. Well a man';s gotta do what a Mans gotta do. After testing the surplus equipment it will be duly redistributed to deserving ones.
One thing i've got to start doing is to keep a journal of what has been shot at what setting. I found that flying by seat of your pants works for 35mm but Medium Format needs a little more finesse. Specially when one is using Transparency Film.
I had my first 2 films returned to me with mixed results. Long is the road and endless the Journey, so says Tathaka Bhudda, but you have to start somewhere.

Monday, August 28, 2006

New Blog, New Toys...

Having taken a break from photography for the last couple of months, the shutterbug has bitten again. I normally keep a journal of my thoughts on each film I shoot, plus whatever thoughts are going through my mind at the time. This time I thought I'd share my photos and thoughts on a blog.

What better way of starting a new blog than talking about my new toy(s). This week I made a decision to move away from shooting 35mm to Medium Format. It's been something I've thought about for a while, but I've never really been game enough to fork out so much money for something, which, when it comes down to it, is a bit of an experiment. Fortunately for me, a friend pointed out a fantastic Mamiya M645 going cheap on eBay, which I am now the proud owner of.

Having taken it out on the weekend for the first time, I can say I'm looking forward to taking a lot of photos with this camera. There's a certain amount of discipline required with the Mamiya, where I could cut corners with my previous camera (a Canon EOS300, which has been sold to pay for the Mamiya). This in turn has forced me to think more about what it is that I'm doing, which can only be a good thing.

Of course, a medium format camera is a lot heavier than a 35mm one, and as a result, I've also invested in a new tripod, a Manfrotto 190V, which I'm eagerly waiting for in the mail. All I need now is a heap of free time and good weather, so that I can get out and go walking (hmm, might need to increase my fitness, so that I'm able to carry all the extra gear...)