November’s Photo of the Month – Film

Last month’s Photo of the Month, is unusual in one respect, it was taken with film.

It was not the shot I was after, the conditions were not right, but I still thought it was worth a record shot.

This is a low quality scan of the original slide, but it gives you a basic idea of what the real image is like.

There are lots of arguments over what is better, film or digital, and many get caught up in the technology race and the race for more megapixels.

What people seem to forget is that for the majority of people, who have no intention of producing prints larger then A4, then 6mb is all you need.

The other point is that film and digital are not the same and are difficult to compare, they act differently at the extremes of light and dark. To a lesser degree it’s like arguing between Oil Paintings and Watercolour Paintings.

If your producing an image for a job then you tend to use the quickest, easiest and most cost affective method.

An Estate Agent wanting a picture of a house to help sell it, is not going to use Paint or Pencil, but may have 100 years ago, technology moves forward. Today it’s likely to be a digital compact.

If the image is personal or ‘art’, then use what you most enjoy or is most suitable for the effect you want to achieve. Pencil, watercolour, oil, chalk, charcoal; film in all its different sizes, colour, black & white, negative or slide; Digital, whether a cheap camera phone or a hundred thousand pound digital scanning back on large format.

Digital is not better, it’s different.

Shoot/Draw/Paint More, Enjoy and lets not argue over what is ‘best.

Now where is my iPhone, that sunset is stunning.

Film Day

Today 35mm film is just about dead.  I shoot a roll of 35mm in my Nikon FM2n about once a year, but even most die-hard film users will admit digital has replaced film for 35mm users.

Most of my pictures are taken with my trusty Nikon Digital SLR’s, but when I shoot Medium Format or Large Format I still use film.

In the medium format and large format worlds, things are still a little more film centric.  With full frame digital SLR’s getting so good now, many medium format users moved down a format to full frame digital 35mm SLR.  Some stayed with film or bought the still very expensive digital backs.  For others they moved up a format, to large format, where today film is still king.

Its great to hear that over the last couple of years, film sales have stopped decreasing and have actually increased, especially for black and white users.  Even 35mm black and white sales are increasing.

Many new photographers are enjoying the experience of developing film for the first time.  I have to admit it is quite good fun, though I have not developed my own film now for nearly ten years.

While developing film is experiencing a resurgence, printing still seems to be in decline.  While developing a film is relatively easy, and no dark room is required thanks to tools like my own trusty Paterson Development Tanks, printing in the dark room is much harder, and can takes years to master to produce consistent high quality prints.

Today, once you have got your negative then once again digital takes over.  Negatives are scanned and then the modern computer printer produces the final print.

This month I shot two rolls of Medium Format 120 Fuji Velva, and on Saturday I got the results back.  I have to admit, its a bit like Christmas opening the packages.

I was extremely pleased with the results, and my metering skills are certainly improving.  I look forward to my next film day with some anticipation.

Autumn Watch Comes to an End

Tonight was the last episode of Autumn Watch. If your a wildlife photographer, BBC’s Spring Watch.& Autumn Watch is well worth watching. Lots of tips about wildlife, lots of inspiration and lots of great imagery.

Looking forward Spring Watch next year.

Back to Normal

Llagollen

Today saw us back to the usual daily commute.  I had missed the bike, its definitely my favourite form of transport.  With the previous week concentrating on Landscape Photography, we had to use car, its just not practical to take Landscape photographs without a tripod, and I have yet to work out how to carry safely a large heavy tripod on a motorcycle.

At the sea side

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We spent today on the beach, photographing details by the sea.

It became quite a challenge, the light was changing fast, and we had a rapidly rising high tide. There were a number photographs that I had pre-visualised; and today we had the potential combination of weather and tide to try and capture them.

The weapon of choice, my lovely old Hasselblad, 80mm f/2.8 lens and Lee Polariser.

Setting up with the camera on my heavy tripod, I had very little time to meter the scene, determine the black point, white point, work out the dynamic range and set my exposure. I took a quick shot and had to retreat rapidly as the water started to lap at the tripod legs.

Sometimes the light and situation can last for just a few seconds, you have to have your camera technique and metering down pat, practice, practice and practice.

With any form of photography, a compact, SLR, Medium or Large Format, you need to practice and know your equipment well.

Many people blame their equipment, and use that as an excuse to buy a new camera, often it’s just that we’re not fully conversant with our equipment.

People, Birds and Boats

Yesterday and today was quite a mix photographically.

We first headed off to Southwold Harbour to catch the early light.

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Here I undertook a number of studies of the old fishermen’s boats and huts. I used a mix of medium format and small format shots using my Medium Format Hasselblad and my Small Format Nikon 1.

Later in the day we headed to another small coastal town of Aldburgh and after a sausage, bacon and egg sandwich we headed to the beach to photograph the boats and some of the more interesting buildings and people in the town.

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We ended the day at the RSPB Reserve, Minsmere, SLR’s and long lens were a must. A much more speedy form of photography then the medium format landscapes and architecture shots we had been taking earlier.

A cracking day out

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Did you get the Wallace & Gromit quote, now I will admit this is a very tenuous link but we are about to go out to the local village pub and we are are both looking forward to a fine cheese board.

Now what has that to do with photography. Well nothing really, but I am in a silly mood, and it has been a cracking day out.

The early part of the morning was spent photographing Blythburgh Church, in the glorious autumn sunshine. I hope to have captured a number of rather nice medium format images. There were one or two shots that would have been ideal for either a large format technical camera with full movements, or a Nikon D3x with the tilt & shift wide angle. Unfortunately I only had my medium format Hasselblad and Nikon 1 to hand.

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The afternoon saw us visiting Wickham Market, they have a nice tea-shop, but far more importantly they have a quilt shop, where Caroline was able to indulge in some fabric buying.

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To finish the day, we headed back to Southwold where we photographed the Pier as the sun quickly set. It was quite challenging, the meter readings were changing by about a stop a minute, and shooting medium format, with filters and a handheld spot meter is not the fastest form of photography. Under the rapidly changing conditions I only had time for one shot before the best of the light disappeared.

Orford Castle

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Today saw us exploring the east coast of Suffolk.
We found ourselves at Orford Castle, from the top there are some delightful views to the south. The weather was a little overcast but I still thought it worthwhile to take a few black and white shots of the castle.

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