Slide or Color Reversal Film Capture – Part 1

it doesn't look pretty - but it works  This is one of the setups I use to capture color reversal shots (slide film). It looks very make-shift, but works - and when tweaked with the correct exposure on the camera and a good balanced image on the slide, it does produce the same quality image that you would acquire from a $10k plus scanner. On the other side, when you don't have that perfect exposure, or the shot isn't balanced and the shadows don't capture correctly, or the highlights blow out and vignette - you can acquire some very nice…

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The Relevancy Of A Camera In Modern Times

$13 .... why even bother ?!?!?!?   ... and that's what many people would say. The camera pictured about was released in 1987, the year I graduated. Yep, it's old. It's slow to auto-focus. It only has a one-point TTL phase-detection for that slow auto-focus. It DOES take a variety of Nikon F-Mount lenses, but doesn't get anything out of the current features of the modern lenses because it's computer (if you want to call it that), can't understand them. The shutter range is only 1 sec to 1/2000 sec with bulb (in other word you have to time a…

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The New Analog: Digicams Are Back On The Street!

Mom .... where's my old pocket cam??? Mom: "You mean the one you said we could throw out because you have the $20,000 Funu 10k Hologram capable camera with volumetric 4d stabilization? .... Your dad uses is to post Instagram pics of his pet shrimp." "I need it back ..... nobody is using expensive cameras for street photography anymore - Dad can use my Funu 10k Hologram cam for his shrimp pictures." Mom: "You want to use a $70 camera for you photography projects?!? But ...." .... yup. It Happened. No ... analog is not gone. Ektachrome is back, but…

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Bad Lighting: That Big Grey Cloud

Well, at least you can see some of it ...   Lighting .... when it's great, it's great.  When it's bad .... ^%$&^$!!!!   You have you day planned out, the fall colors are starting to look amazing, the cool crispness of the air invigorates you ..... and they you see that pin-spot of light on the area you want to shoot. No camera can compensate for that, I don't car how good the new A.I. is in the image processor. Well, you get what you can, and then more on to post processing. Too bad you can't go back…

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The Edit: Gimp or Krita

  Time to edit. You took your photos, now make them beautiful pieces of art .....     {{deer in the headlights look}} ....     Ummmm ..... huh? But, Mom said they're already beautiful?     {{eyeroll}} ..... is Mom buying any?     Ummmm ..... no.     {{groan}}     >> This is the time when you realize as a photographer your potential to NEVER leave the house and why your mother buys Valium pills by the gallon.   Your photos are amazing .... and they actually may be.   Here is the reality .... you either now…

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Time Travel with Photography Part 2: Straight Into The Present

  Above is am image taken with a Spartus Full-Vue Camera 2.25 inch square (6x6 format). Image on the right is a picture of that camera. The image above was only cropped to an approx 4in x 6in ratio and was not cleaned up. It definitely doesn't look like it was shot with a modern digital camera where the images is all crisp and perfect, although it was taken on modern unexpired film in approx 2020. There are many things that affect this end image product in modern times, and we will go into a little detail on that later.…

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Time Travel with Photography Part 1: Aged Film and Memories

    One of the easiest ways to time travel (less the monsters,mutants, and expensive cinema cameras) is through photography. The capability of film and a great (or most likely crappy) lens to take you back seventy plus years. The photo above was taken with the camera pictured to the left. Less the design of the boats, it's really hard to tell whether the pic was taken in 2020 or 1953. The imperfect focusing of the lens, slightly blown out highlights from a set shutting time, fogginess in the distance due to the films age .... all take you back…

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Lenses: The Ultimate Addiction

Yep ... it's the other reason your spouse or partner throws you out of the house, besides the $9000 camera body. Usually the camera body thing is more easily forgiven ... because you have usually only purchased one and you can more easily be seen as repentant for doing so. Even from a psychological point of view, it's easier to not get into a camera body addiction than a lens addition. I mean, once you've spent $9000 on a camera body, it's pretty satisfying ... sort of like buying a sports car - when you've got a 500hp Mustang you…

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Rivalries: You shoot a what????

You shoot a what???? Rivalries are everywhere there is a personal or professional preference for something. Sports teams, game consoles, and of course ... cameras. Many of these rivalries started with legitimate competition that set them in play (ie. the neighboring high school or college football teams where one always seems to be the underdog, soccer (or as many would say "real football")), etc. In the camera world there are many reasons this happened (there is a link below to a great article by the Latin America Post that sheds light on more recent ones and some history). I'm a…

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Is It Real ?!?

  Is it real?!?   When you get a great shot of a sunset, clear ocean, etc, is this one of the questions you getting in your comments?   Is it the one you ask yourself after you process is?   Yes, that's normal ... images, just like sounds can be perceived differently by individuals. They can also be interpreted uniquely by a variety of camera image sensors. Sensors, like the eyes of individuals, are not created exactly the same. And then there the differences between what you eye sees and what your camera imager, firmware, and editing software processes.…

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Accidental Images

  Did you ever set up to take that really cool shot and end up doing something stupid like have your footing slip, or have a tripod unlock and twist, or basically have the unexpected happen that actually made that cool shot even cooler? Well, like most, you probably weren't thinking that at first ... you were probably thinking something more in the lines of "^$@@!!&&%$^!!". Right? That's my usual reaction until I start processing files. Then you end up seeing the art in the mistake.   More than once I have taken shots that instinctively I would hit the…

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Digital or Film or Both

Above is a shot of my Fujifilm Finepix S* Pro camera collection. These are my go to cameras due to their ability to capture images very similar to me favorite films (Sensia II by Fuji and Velvia by Fuji). These films were also preferred (mostly Velvia) by magazines such as National Geographic due to their color pop and accuracy in reproduction. The S5 was the most used camera for Celebrity shoots due to it's ability to shoot like an extremely high end professional portrait film (and was used up into 2017 for that purpose be many photogs even though it…

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I have a bunch of stuff and I have no idea what to do with it …

... our answer - stop caring and start having a little fun with it:  The best way to discover the basics of your equipment is to just use it. I get it though .... you just spent $3400 on a Nikon full frame camera with a lens and you quickly need to sell shots to Nation Geographic to pay it off. Here is the truth .... you are still a point and shoot peep. You still need to learn content, framing, lighting opportunity, and much much more and you will need to keep one thing in mind: With the capabilities…

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About The Blog

the cold is here - kodak bw400cn This is a photography inspired blog. You may see anything from advice, professional views and reviews on equipment .... but right now I'm cold, well, because we finally have cold. Not that I'm complaining (actually I am) ... I like the low heating bill, but I'm stating to have to chip the icicles off the dog's nose on the way back in from a walk. Granted, I was complaining too when it way 65+ degrees in mid winter. Let's face it ... nobody is happy with the weather in Pittsburgh (or Midwestern PA…

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