Kodak Ektar 100 - Canon FTb - A Little On Process

This past week I shot a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film using my Canon FTb with a 55mm f/1.2 lens for my year long Roll-A-Week project - Coalesce52. After getting the film developed I started to go through the slow process of scanning and organizing my negatives and was reminded of a video that I had watched a few months back over on FStoppers. Photographer Scott Kelby, during the Google + conference in San Fransico, spoke to a live audience about how to work your scene to find the best composition. He even went as far as to take you through his RAW images to show you his own personal process and how even a professional photographer can shoot many images before arriving at the final image. It's an interesting video and if you have time to watch it I definitely think it's worth checking out (I personally love listening to photographers of all genres and backgrounds as I think you can learn something from everyone).



Of course, this concept of high volume shooting to perfect your composition is much easier when you are shooting digital. Now a days, you can essentially take an infinite number of shots (that's only a little exaggerated) and have the ability to immediately see on the back of your camera what your results are. So, what if you're not shooting digital? Well, I was surprised to find that I actually do this a bit when I'm shooting film - more with 35mm, less with medium format, and, almost not at all with large format and instant films (unless the shot is very important to me for one reason or another... then I might give the subject two exposures). 

With that in mind, here's a look at my miniaturized process for two of the setups that I shot with this roll of film. My first final image is one that I featured over on the Coalesce52 blog and you can also see that image at top. Here, seen below, are the three images that I took right before I ended up with this shot (click for full view):

You'll notice, not a lot of change. These images, though, are very different in my opinion. My position moved, my distance from the subject changed and my rotation relative to the subject changed. Now, keep in mind that I wasn't thinking of the aforementioned video or process when I was shooting these images. I was simply going about my standard shoot process knowing that I wanted to get the best shot possible and that I only wanted to shoot 4-5 images on this setup. Had I stopped after the first exposure, I would have ended up with a decent image, but just three images later (I feel) I ended up with a much stronger composition.

Below you can see another example of my process, this time a bit more dramatic, as I worked my way through another setup. The first two images were pretty awful:

And I kind of felt that after I made these exposures, so, I rotated my position a bit to end up with my next two exposures - which were better, but not quite there yet.

And that's when my composition completely changed - I rotated even more to square myself to the subject, I raised the perspective and switched to a vertical orientation. Of course, as with most things, it's all a matter of opinion which of your images you like best, but I believe that my final image (below) is a much cleaner, stronger composition than the above four images that led me to it.

Now, I do undertand that what Scott Kelby is discussing and what I am showing here are essentially two different things. Shooting film though, is a very different thing than shooting digital. One of the key differences with my process (besides the limited number of exposures I'm shooting per subject) is that I can't see my images after shooting them to check for exposure and composition. I can't compare one image to the next. And that, is where pre-visualiztion and expected outcome becomes so important. 

Knowing that I was shooting a 36-exposure roll of film I was comfortable leading myself through this process of experimentation and making extra exposures throughout the course of this shoot. Of course, I didn't know that I was doing it and didn't realize it until I saw my negatives lined up - okay shot, adjust, okay shot, adjust, okay shot, adjust... Good image. Then, when I started to think about it, I realized that I actually go through a similar process when I'm shooting medium format, large format and instant film with one key difference - I don't actually fire the shutter. I set up my image and view it through the camera, I move and do it again, and again, and then back, and again... but eventually I end up with the final Image I'm looking for.

I'm not saying that my process is the correct one, but Scott's video and my most recent negatives made me consider my process and how it changes with the format I'm shooting. Personally, I think that's all that improving your process takes sometimes... something that catches your attention and makes you examine the way you go about things. I might not change significantly moving forward, but, with my next roll of film I will pre-visualize and think a second longer before I fire the shutter each time. That's what I love about shooting film though... it makes me stop, it makes me think and it helps me improve my approach to nearly everything, not just photography.

If you stuck with me this far, thank you, and if you'd like to see more from this roll of film please visit my Week 5 post on the Coalese52 blog. If you have any thoughts on process or want to share your own I'm alway happy to get a few comments.

Enjoy. 

35mm Rollei Retro 100 - Canon FTb - Coney Island Part 2

Simply stated, this is a continuation of yesterday's post finishing out my Coney Island images with the Canon FTb and Rollei Retro 100 film. Be sure to check out Part 1 if you haven't already. Enjoy.

35mm Rollei Retro 100 - Canon FTb - Coney Island Part 1

You might remember back in May that I went to New York for a couple of days for some business meetings, and, that while I was there I got the chance to go to one of my favorite places - Coney Island. I've already posted a couple rounds of photos from that trip through Coney (here and here) but I think this round is actually my favorite. I don't like to post too many photos at the same time, so, I've decided to break this post into two days worth of photos.

All of today and tomorrow's photos come from my Canon FTb and a roll of 35mm Rollei Retro 100 that I picked up in New York at the Lomography store. Rollei is most definitely one of  my favorite 35mm black and white films that I've shot with to date and previously the Rollei Retro 400s 120 version of this film gave me some of my favorite medium format film images (the Trikes and Edgewater at Night). I'm now very tempted to buy some of Rollei's 4x5 sheet film to see how it compares.

That's about all for today's post, but, be sure to check back tomorrow for the other half of the Coney Island images that I'll be posting at that time.

Part 2.

35mm Rollei Retro 100 - Canon FTb - Samantha

Back in June I posted a couple of photos of my brothers kids after they were in town for a visit. As I mentioned then, the youngest, Samantha, didn't get her photo posted because I didn't attempt to photograph her with my Crown Graphic as I figured it'd be nearly impossible to get her to sit still long enough. I did, however, snap a couple shots of her with my 35mm Canon FTb using some Rollei Retro 100 that I had loaded up from my earlier trip to New York. I'm in the process of scanning, resizing and saving all of those images now. So, in the meantime, I figured I would quickly share one of my favorite image of Samantha. Enjoy.

Kodak Elite Chrome 200 Expired - Canon FTb - NYC and Brooklyn

Flat Iron Building

Not really a whole lot to say about this post, but, as I mentioned in this earlier post, I have a few images to share from a roll of expired Elite Chrome 200 slide film that I ran through my Canon FTb with a 55mm f/1.2. This is probably the quickest that I have ever gone through a roll of 35mm film (shooting an entire roll in a few hours) but I'm working on using this format a bit more. I don't know why, but this is a format I've often avoided to a degree - perhaps just because I take forever to finish a roll, which of course, means it takes forever to get to see the images. Whatever the case may be, there will be some more 35mm in the near future including some Rollei Retro 100 from around Coney Island and some Fuji Astia that was taken this past weekend during Analog's Pulse that is being cross processed by Old School PhotoLab in New Hampshire as we speak.


But, for now, here are the remainder of the Kodak images from New York City and the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. Enjoy.

Cab outside Center for Alternative Photography

Basketball Courts in Park Slope Brooklyn

Traffic Signal - East 30th St

Store Front in Greenwich Village

Street Vendor on Broadway

View from the Impossible Project NYC Space

Expired Kodak Elite Chrome 200 - Canon FTb - NYC Subway

I just recently have gotten some of my film back from being developed. I will probably do a longer, more comprehensive post soon with some of those images but for right now I don't have a lot of time. Quickly though, I do want to share one of my favorite photos from a roll of expired Kodak Elite Chrome 200. This was shot in the New York City subway with my Canon FTb. I'm not sure what it is about this photo that I like so much but for some reason it really stands out to me. 


I'll post some more from this roll soon and hopefully have a few other things to share as well. I'm off to Milwaukee and Chicago tomorrow for work and plan to take a camera or two with me in case I get the opportunity to snap a few photos. Fingers crossed.

35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 - Last images from this roll

It's rare for me to get a lot of photos out of one roll of 35mm or 120/220 that I like and think are worth posting. The fact that so many have come from this roll of Rollei ATP is even more surprising. My first glance at these negatives led me to believe there was hardly anything worth trying to salvage from the entire roll. Everything looked to be a bit underexposed and ATP doesn't have much leeway when it comes to missing the exposure. With a little work though, I've found some things that I'm glad I didn't just ignore without even scanning. Sure, technically these aren't perfect photos... but then again, when has that ever been what this blog is about?

In case you haven't read any of my previous posts featuring this film, these were all taken with a Canon FTb using the Canon 55mm f/1.2 lens and an external Sekonic meter. The image at top is from an early spring trip along the shore of Lake Erie. This spot is now one of my favorite Cleveland beach spots and is located in the Huntington Reservation. The second image, also from early spring, is from outside a great wine and beer store located in Chagrin Falls. And finally, the image below, is a little still life that I set up while over at Aperture Photography and Variety one afternoon. It was actually the very last exposure on the roll - I only had one shot, and while I would have preferred to have been able to get a second photo bracketed a bit higher, I still like what I ended up with.

Hopefully, very soon, I will be getting back some color slide film of NYC images and some black and white 120 of varying things. As soon as I do, I'll start posting those selects. Stay tuned...

35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 - Chicago

A long while back I went to Chicago and took a lot of photos. Now, as I wait for some of my recent things to be developed, I figured I would post what is probably my last batch of images from that trip. I found these, like so many other things, on an older roll of 35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 that I shot using my Canon FTb.

If you'd like to check out more of my Chicago images, here are six previous posts that you can check out featuring multiple different film types - 1. Polaroid Sepia, 2. Impossible Project Black Frame Poor Pod, 3. Impossible Project Orange Flash, 4. More Impossible Orange Flash, 5. Black Frame Poor Pod in Wrigleyville , and finally 6. Some Kodak Ektachrome Elite 200 Slide Film

Of course, if you're not interested in any of that, you can just enjoy the rest of the images in this post.

35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 - Photos with Natalie

I figured I would follow up my most recent post about Rollei ATP 1.1 with some more of the photos that I came across on that same roll of film. These were actually taken as far back as October of last year when I headed down to the Columbus area to shoot with Natali. At the time I had posted a shot taken with a Polaroid 250 using expired Polaroid Sepia and mentioned that I had taken some 35mm images as well that I would share in the future when I finally got the roll developed. Well... eight months later here we are.

At first I was a little disappointed when I scanned these images in, but, after looking at them in comparison to the rest of the images on the roll I decided these weren't as bad as I expected. I did put in a little time working on the levels and contrast of these images after they were scanned to get them to where they are now. Whereas I am generally a purist with my instant film scans, I am a little more liberal with my 35mm, MF and sheet film scans. Since I'm not yet at the point of developing my own film, which takes away a certain amount of control, I am alright with considering Photoshop my digital darkroom for negatives after they have been developed and scanned.

  
You will notice though that overall I didn't do much work on these in the way of retouching as I would my traditional digital model photography. In fact, I ended up liking the sloppy scanned borders, dust and grit so much that I decided to keep all of those things in tact just as they came in. I think the high contrast, gritty feel of these photos actually works really well and the more I look at them the more they grow on me. 

As I continue through this roll of Rollei ATP 1.1 I'm starting to think I may need to give this film another go around. Yes, it is a bit more difficult to shoot, but I think the results can be very nice when all is said and done.

35mm Rollei ATP 1.1 - Super High Contrast

Shooting 35mm film is an interesting experience for me. It's probably the format that I shoot the least when it comes to shooting film. A roll can often stay in my camera from a couple months to anywhere around year or more. In the end it really does make it interesting to go through the negatives and look at the different places I've been and things I've shot over that period of time.


The photo above was the next to last shot on a recent roll of Rollei ATP 1.1. This was taken early this spring along the water front of Lake Erie. It was one of those unseasonably warm Saturday's so we had taken a drive and a couple of cameras out to enjoy the weather. Despite being in a park with a few other people milling about when I saw this tree it had a very abandoned and desolate feeling to it. This is one of those few times where I saw the image in my head before exposing the film and ended up with something almost identical to what I had pictured. I was so sure about it that this is actually the only frame I took.


As for this Rollei ATP... well, it's much more difficult to shoot then I had imagined. I've worked with the MF Rollei Retro 400 before (seen here and here) and immediately fell in love with the results of the film. I figured the ATP would be similar to shoot, but I found that the dynamic range of this film is thin and the final images are very very high contrast. 


After working with these images a bit I've found a few that I really like, but overall have to say that this film is much harder to work with if you happen to miss your exposure by even a little bit. Still, for my first time out with the ATP and my first time shooting anything as low as 32 iso I think I got some decent results. I look forward to posting a few more images from this roll in the coming days .

Kodak Ektachrome Elite 200 Slide Film - Chicago Architecture

I just recently got back a couple different rolls of film - one 35mm and one 120. I generally don't shoot entire rolls at once, so there really is a variety of things on each of them. I usually don't send things out to be developed very often either, so the things on each roll are from really can date back quite a ways.

These images are some from my Chicago trip back in early October. This is all very city oriented, much of it in fact coming from the architectural boat tour that we took the last day in the city.

These are, as you can probably tell, from the roll of 35mm that I was talking about - some Kodak Ektachrome Elite 200 iso slide film. I ran this roll through one of my favorite cameras that I rarely end up using. It's an early Canon FTb with a 55mm f/1.2 lens. Both the camera body and the lens were my Dads before he handed them down to me, and, if I remember correctly he bought this outfit when he was in the navy. It's what he used to shoot film on when he was out on the aircraft carrier, and luckily, it made its way back in extremely good condition.