In The Zone: The General Photography Tips, Advice & Shop Talk Thread

[remotecontrolalligator]

hey a photo thread, neato. i take pictures too, just to screw around. it all started when i was in tokyo two novembers ago. i was taking a photo journal of my days, but really just of buildings and stuff. i had a crappy camera then, so most of the pictures blew. when i got back to the states i got me a nikon n6006. its one of them AF dealamabobs. i only use it in the auto mode to adjust the fstop and shutter speed. i do all the focusing. sometimes i'll play with the shutter speeds too. there was a time last summer where i would take a day on the weekend to go around and take pictures. again with building, but added street signs, and other street subjects. i have a few other subjects in mind to take pictures of, but i've been focused on my golf so much that i don't have a sat or sun. to take off for pictures. once summer comes around though, i'll be able to golf in the morning and take pictures the rest of the day until dusk. i like the lighting better during that time anyway. just last night as a matter of fact, i was out on my roof taking pictures of the freeway, and my neighborhood.

my step dad was really big in photography when i was a kid. he converted one of our bathrooms into a developing lab. too bad he got rid of his equipment he was big into scenery pics. as a kid we would take trips to the deserts in utah and neveda. and they would always go to hawaii, he has a pretty impressive collection of pictures. i never really asked him about the theory and techniques involved. i would eventually like to learn about aperature and fstops, but again, my nikon takes some pretty neat pictures. once i get a good scanner, i'll start getting my collection onto my computer to share.

[wonki wonki]

Originally posted by remotecontrolalligator
once summer comes around though, i'll be able to golf in the morning and take pictures the rest of the day until dusk.

sounds like you'll be living the life. damn.

[Margin Walker]

Originally posted by ocd
How long is slide film's shelf life, MW? I was thinking of picking up a couple 5 packs to compensate for the $8 shipping.

Less than a year for sure. The color peak is about 6 months after manufaturing, if memory recalls. But like I stated in the Holga thread, it's well worth getting it from a decent camera shop because they refridgerate it. And that keeps the the film's colors looking crisp. I sincerely doubt that any mail-order company would keep their pro packs (what 5-packs are called) on ice.

[dimbulb]

blah! I spent 5 hours in the colour darkroom today... I didn't like anything I printed... Black and white is so much simpler compared to colour printing... *Sigh*

[djbadmonkey]

i hate working in color therefore i refuse to do so and chalk it up to artistic license.

[Robocon^^]

B/W was more hands on with the trays and you could see in the darkroom. The color darkroom was super dark and developing the prints used an automated machine that took about 10 minutes to see the results. Ah, the joys of correcting color shifts with exposure adjustments.

B/W was more straightforward, but I enjoyed color more even if it was a pain in the butt. Maybe it was because the color lab was less crowded.

[dimbulb]

ack, i'm having difficulties with figuring out colour correction... how does the spectrum thingy work again?? what's opposite to what?

[Robocon^^]

Cyan :: Red
Magenta :: Green
Yellow :: Blue

[Margin Walker]

Yeah, making color prints is a major pain in the ass. With B&W film, you can estimate what the final print will look like by the type of film it is. But there's so many different film bases & manufacturers for color film that it's really hard to say *"Well, that's obviously shot on <Kodak, Fuji, Agfa, what-have-you>" You're probably better off taking the shot, getting the film developed & printed at a decent lab, and scanning the print at a drugstore or wherever. Then use Photoshop (or any of the other readily-available programs) to tweak it. Go back to the lab or drugstore with your digitized copy and enlarge it there. Just be lucky you don't have to print Cibachromes. They're beautiful prints from slide film but they're an immense pain in the ass to print.

*Edit to amend that you *can* tell what brand of film it is, but not enough that it gives you any insight into how to print the damn thing.

[dimbulb]

Originally posted by Robocon^^

Cyan :: Red
Magenta :: Green
Yellow :: Blue

thanks!

[Robocon^^]

Originally posted by dimbulb


thanks!

The tricky thing with color darkroom printing was different colors have different densities. Magenta's denser than yellow for example. So, if you color correct, your exposure time needs to be changed. And you need to keep your exposure time within certain limits or reciprocity failure creeps in and you get color shifts.

And then once you figure out your settings, it changes when you switch to a new batch of paper.

[falcor]

Originally posted by HwaRang012
Do any of you guys subscribe to a consistently good photography magazine? Something which balances equipment reviews along with technique is what I'm looking for; or even two magazines each dedicated to either equipment or technique.



.black::white.

petersen's photographic
photographer's forum

[tonybricker]

the new issue of Readymade magazine has a neat little article on weird little photography tricks. the one that really caught my interest was taking a picture using blueprint paper.

[lotto]

Originally posted by tonybricker
the new issue of Readymade magazine has a neat little article on weird little photography tricks. the one that really caught my interest was taking a picture using blueprint paper.

me too!

i found this site

[ocd]

Almost forgot:

I found Fuji Velvia in town for only 15¢ more than I've been paying for Kodak.
I've picked up a roll, and yes they do keep them in the fridge, and I'll let you know how it goes as soon as it's developed. If I like it, I'm stocking up a bit. Kind of like the idea of having a fridge full of film.