Film + Photoshop = COOL!

Excuse a bit of vanity, but I've been playing around in Photoshop more (after all, it's kinda hard to get out during the darkness this time of year and take pictures), and found some really cool-looking tricks that I mixed together on a self-portrait that I thought would fit. I shot the original on my Nikon F4, and then brought into Photoshop via the Costco scan I had developed today. It's sorta got that cold, yet still alive feel to it, and really captures me in one of my many moods.

I could rant about how pre-visualization is sort of old-school and talk about how I'm starting to see things in a picture AFTER I've already made the shot. This is one of those instances where I was just messing around w/my 'new' camera burning up film, shooting a familiar scene (me and my camera reflected in my bathroom mirror), and then once I saw the image on screen, I had an idea of how to process it in Photoshop. I envisioned a sort of retro-faded color look, with the edginess of some of the modern photography portraits. Here's the result:



I've also purchased my first "pro" printer, thanks to a fellow photog on Craigslist. She had a great deal on an Epson 2200 -- a bit older, sure, but I've discovered that it's by far the best printer I've ever owned. 13x19s out of that thing are really really cool -- and I have to get some roll paper so I can print some panoramas. Costco also started carrying the Ilford Pearl Semigloss paper for REALLY cheap (100 pack for $19!) I love being able to control everything from shutter snap to print. Sure Costco does a great job printing, but they only have two paper choices (and my Ilford Pearl isn't one of them), and I'm starting to really want to do some printing of my own. I'm finding that proofing colors and exposure works fairly quickly on 4x6 paper, and then once everything seems acceptible to me, I can go big. Like up to 13x19 big...

I'm excited!

Ice Age

Some shots from the frigid cold here today.

100th Post! Hug(in)! Capitol Panorama!

Built this from the in-camera JPGs (which are actually a little smaller than the JPGs from the raw conversion would be), using the Hugin freeware Panorama stitcher. Once the file was stitched together (took about 40 minutes, start to finish, and that included the time I needed to learn how to use the program), I edited it in my nearly 6-year-old Mac with less than 1 gig of RAM just fine. I boosted the saturation and brightened the shadow areas a bit. Smoothed out some transition areas too.

(Click to enlarge)

Two Workhorses, and Beer...

Inspired to shoot a little tonight. A few shots of two workhorses. And goooood beer (Scaldis Belgian Ale)...

Crop Factor...

Just a quick post to ponder the difference between 17mm on my 'new' F4s and on my D2H (with a 1.5x 'crop factor'). The difference in the distortion/skewing is very noticable. I'm not sure if it's just a different viewing angle, or if it's really as noticable between the cameras. I'm going to have to do something more 'scientific'...

(D2H)

(F4)

Any color/exposure differences come about because I let the 1-hour photo lab scan the negative for me. I'd ideally, too, like to get the processing a little closer to each other, too.

Still, it's very weird seeing the difference in the distortion with the same lens.

Film, Revisited...

I just essentially traded my old film camera for the film camera I've wanted since I first started getting into photography - the Nikon F4s. Granted, digital offers so much more for so much less in the long run. With as many pictures as I take during the year, I certainly can justify spending $1000 on a dSLR. But I still will always have at least one film camera body. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 'new' F4s. I haven't even uploaded the pictures to my computer from my D2H, but here's one shot I made about three hours ago on my F4 (with the Nikkor 400mm f/3.5):



Granted, that's a crappy scan from the 1-hour photo center at Fred Meyer. If I scan the negative, I can get a little more tonality and texture out of the wall. But, honestly, that's pretty darn good!

And there's something about the smooth whir of a frame of film advancing in the back of a Nikon F4s. Plus the camera itself is a work of art.

Film is not dead. Not by a long shot. I can't wait to get some Fuji Velvia 50 through that thing...

Edit -- here's the same shot w/the 1.5x 'teleconverter' that's inherent to the dSLRs, from my D2H:

So, it's the Government Holding the Pot of Gold?

Captured that on my way into work this morning, with my cell phone camera (click for a larger version). While driving*. I saw the rainbow forming as I dropped my son off, and knew from past experience that as I'd round the particular corner, it'd be hanging over the Leg Building. So, I carefully readied my camera and as I rounded the corner, I snapped the picture.

Yeah, quality-wise, it's not nearly as good as it would've been, had I shot it w/my D2H. But I got the picture I wanted, and I haven't found a vantage point that I could shoot this scene from without stopping the car on the freeway (illegal, completely unsafe). Heh. The "No Texting while Driving" law just took effect. I wonder if using a cell phone camera would count as texting.
*Disclaimer. Don't photograph while driving. Especially not with an SLR...