Raindrops

[BruceS]

OK, so I'm on a posting roll today :)



This is a relatively low res scan of a 35mm film shot from my front porch. It was meant to be artsy. What do you think? Honest...

[padi56]

You must have read my mind Bruce,see how dramatic a few drops of
water can be, check your flower post.

[BruceS]

And a much appreciated tip it was too!

[JJ Irani]

Good imagination, Bruce, and very artistic.

[dman]

Honestly it is funny how something so basic and mundane can be so striking and pretty when captured at the right moment. Good work mate.

[BruceS]

Thanks guys! :)

[Uncle-AJ]

I had a couple of looks at the picture and cut the top off so you could just see porch. In my opinion it looked better that way. I do like it as I know how difficult it is to photograph rain.

[BruceS]

Thanks Adrian! I cut the top off once too, but couldn't decide which I liked better so I just left it as is. I'll lop the rail off once more and give it a look.

Thanks again,
Bruce

[Uncle-AJ]

Originally Posted by BruceS

Thanks Adrian! I cut the top off once too, but couldn't decide which I liked better so I just left it as is. I'll lop the rail off once more and give it a look.

Thanks again,
Bruce

Difficult one this, a case of "Shall I, shan't I"

[padi56]

Originally Posted by BruceS

Thanks Adrian! I cut the top off once too, but couldn't decide which I liked better so I just left it as is. I'll lop the rail off once more and give it a look.

Thanks again,
Bruce

Here you are Bruce see if you like it

[dman]

I like the other, reminds me of my prison home.

[BruceS]

I do like it Padi! I did it myself this morning and posted it on a photography forum.
Cheers,
Bruce

Very nice work Bruce. You're a really excellent shoot, my friend.

I posted some black and white shots last week (I think) in the OT forum. Have a look and let me know what you think.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=1386

Keep up the great work. You're inspiring me to shoot more..

[BruceS]

Wow, nice work John! You really can't beat real film for b&w. It's just such a pain anymore, unless you develop it yourself (which is easy enough if you have the equipment). There's no one around me that does it. I would have to send it off to a pro lab.

Thanks for the compliment mate. The raindrops shot was actually with colour film, but it was so dark out, and the combination of shadows, light and the wood make it look b&w.
Cheers,
Bruce

Thanks Bruce, I'm outta practise and that was my first b/w roll I've shot in a few years. It is a pain in the arse to develop and I even have the equipment, but it's finding the space and also springing for a water temperature regulator to ensure the film will process correctly. Otherwise you're effed.

I have a decent shop around the corner from work, but they still send it out and it still takes more than a week (to actually process it only takes about 20 minutes if you don't account for the drying process).

So while it's a pain, I still say it's well worth it. I think you got copied on my b/w shots of Charlotte. Colour film just can't capture a person the same way b/w can.

[BruceS]

Yeah those were great shots of Charlotte!

[padi56]

Got to be my favourite formats for some portraits,and there is still a lot of life left in B/W photography.At one time done a lot of my own developing,and
enlarging,used to love burning and shading,the exposure time to bring out the contrasts in the picture.For B/W always liked Ilford film 35mm of roll and my
favourite camera then, was then a Mamiya RB67 Pro with 65mm lens

[Uncle-AJ]

I was in a photographic club when I was in my teens, pre-colour days. One member once brought in some monochrome slides. They were awesome and the tones were incredible. The process to attain them was basically expose the film to light half way through the development period. This then reversed the negatives. Never had the nerve to try it myself.

Originally Posted by padi56

Got to be my favourite formats for some portraits,and there is still a lot of life left in B/W photography.At one time done a lot of my own developing,and
enlarging,used to love burning and shading,the exposure time to bring out the contrasts in the picture.For B/W always liked Ilford film 35mm of roll and my
favourite camera then, was then a Mamiya RB67 Pro with 65mm lens

Peter, Ilford is still my b/w film of choice. I use Ilford PanF which as an ASA of 25. The low ASA (or ISO) really picks up the detail.

I've also shot some b/w with infra-red film. There's no ISO rating on the film so you can shoot whatever you want (although lower is better). But the effect is AMAZING. Rather than pick up just light, it also picks up on heat and cold, so when shooting a big green leafy tree on a sunny day, the leaves will be a stark white, almost silver compared to a very dark, black sky. When shooting portraits or people with infra-red, it can actually detect and show the veins beneath the skin creating a very eerie effect.

When I was a darkroom techie, burning and dodging were my fave pasttimes. It really can help emphasize or hide objects on the print. And Adrian, I've done the reverse negative thing and it's pretty cool to do. I've also played with silvering a print. This is where you expose the print for half the time you fully intent to expose it, then flash the lights on and off, then contineu with your exposure. It gives the prints a cool, silvered look.

Ansel Adams, while a good photog, was a magician in the darkroom and that's where his genius was. He mastered all the fun techniques to get those amazing results we all strive for.

BTW, and easy way to get a sepia tone on a b/w neg at an hour-photo-lab is to have them shoot the b/w neg onto colour paper and process with colour chemicals. It'll come out sepia.

[padi56]

Well John got to agree with you on all points,spent many a happy hour
in my homemade darkroom.Like you dodging and shading the exposures when
enlarging prints.Never used infra-red film though,another technique I liked was
to make your pictures look very grainy,somehow made them look more
atmospheric, but all that was a long time ago.

Originally Posted by padi56

Well John got to agree with you on all points,spent many a happy hour
in my homemade darkroom.Like you dodging and shading the exposures when
enlarging prints.Never used infra-red film though,another technique I liked was
to make your pictures look very grainy,somehow made them look more
atmospheric, but all that was a long time ago.

Peter, making prints grainy can be done a few ways, but playing with the exposure time in the darkroom is one way... another is pushing the film, i.e., setting the ISO on the camera waaay faster than the film and then processing for the duration the phantom ISO requires. Eg. you can push a 400 asa film to 1200 asa which would really grain it out.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Atomic

Peter, making prints grainy can be done a few ways, but playing with the exposure time in the darkroom is one way... another is pushing the film, i.e., setting the ISO on the camera waaay faster than the film and then processing for the duration the phantom ISO requires. Eg. you can push a 400 asa film to 1200 asa which would really grain it out.

Yes agree that Ilford 400 Asa I found you could push it to do most anything you liked,and still gives great results.But in the colour dept liked Fuji film for the
rich greens and reds,my favourite then was Fuji Asa 160 professional a
brilliant film for all portraits.But you had to get your exposure spot on,it was
very unforgiving that way,not like some of the other branded films with greater latitude.