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Post by sparxphoto on Aug 1, 2011 16:58:50 GMT -5
Shot on a very old farm my stepdad stays on :)Feedback welcome
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Post by sparxphoto on Aug 1, 2011 16:59:31 GMT -5
Pig Scales
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Post by sparxphoto on Aug 1, 2011 17:00:15 GMT -5
Hunting Bothy
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Post by Th1nk3r on Aug 2, 2011 22:40:49 GMT -5
nice BW.... especially the "pig scales", sharp and have good detail...
do you mind to give some technical detail for those picts, so I can write down to my note as the sample pict of some gear / film / developer. ?
thank you in advance.
didon.-
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Post by sparxphoto on Aug 3, 2011 14:46:58 GMT -5
yo man cheers for the kind words as for info all i used was my Minolta Dynax 303i with AF zoom 35-80mm lense f. 1:4 (22) - 5.6, Film Ilford XP super iso 400. My mate works in a photo lab so i send him all my film so not to sure what they use prob just standerd c41 chemicals. hope this helps
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daveh
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Posts: 4,696
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Post by daveh on Aug 3, 2011 16:02:05 GMT -5
You've weighed in with some good photos, especially the pig scales!
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Aug 3, 2011 17:49:06 GMT -5
Didon,
You wrote:
Do I take it that you keep notes of what camera, film and developer were used to produce other peoples' pictures?
This, if I may say so, isn't the way to go about improving your black and white photography. You will never develop your own personal style until you are able to put thoughts of film, equipment and developer out of your mind and concentrate on the picture.
The only way to do this is to choose a camera, pick a film, choose a developer and processing time and stay with them for at least six months until the technical side of your photography becomes second nature.
Back in the 1960s when I was a raw technical and industrial journalist rather than a photojournalist, I learned all I could from my more experienced colleagues. All of them were very willing to help and advise. I learned how to put a story together: open with a striking premise to catch the reader's attention, develop that premise and then wind it up with a conclusion - all within the space alloted to you by the layout sub editor, maybe 1,000 words, maybe 1500.
In particular I owe debt of gratitude to to Cliff Web, at that time industrial correspondent of the Guardian, for teaching me the technique of interviewing (he called it polite interrogation), and to Wally Little, a very experienced Australian journalist who later taught journalism at Manchester University for showing me how to tighten up my writing to fit an alloted space.
In those days I always worked with a staff photographer. In the last six months of my employment, once I had made up my mind to go freelance, I studied the way these photographers worked. They all gave me the same advice: pick a camera with either a short range zoom or with three lenses - 35mm, 50mm and 90-135mm. Choose a film and a developer and stay with that combination until the technical side is second nature.
The make of camera doesn't matter a lot as long as it's utterly reliable and the lenses are good quality. I chose Canon, first an A1 and then an F. I practiced with them until I could load and use them almost without looking. I had other lenses, but my most used was Canon's "short zoom", 35 - 70mm. This covered almost everything I wanted it to. "If you can't get what you want with a 70mm lens, you aren't close enough", as one experienced photographer once said.
Then concentrate on the picture.
Try to anticipate the right time to shoot (Cartier-Bresson's 'decisive moment).
If necessary shoot several frames of the same subject.
Try to get human interest of some sort into the picture. Never look through the viewfinder or you see only the middle of the picture.
Always look into it so you know what's in the frame and don't get un-noticed intrusions.
Learn the traditonal "rules" of composition, and then think more about lines of sight: what first catches and holds the reader's attention, and where does his eye go from there?
Try to make every picture tell its own story (who did what, where, when, how and, if possible, to whom?)
Above all, don't copy what we do. Develop your own style or you'll always be a "secondhand" photographer.
That's the way I learned, and it stood me in good stead for more than 25 years freelancing.
It may or may not work for you, but think about it and at least give it a try.
Apologies for rambling on so long.
PeterW
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daveh
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Posts: 4,696
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Post by daveh on Aug 3, 2011 18:21:22 GMT -5
Peter, rambling is one of your favourite pastimes which is just as well as it always makes for a good read. I have just read a thread from a couple of years ago cameracollector.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=op&action=display&thread=4988&page=1 "Nothing at all to do with cameras" which illustrates the point. Lens choice: I remember Victor Blackman saying "all you need is a 50mm lens and a pair of feet. It's true, but only when the subject is suitable for that approach. Of course the 'three lens choice' was based on what lenses were available at the time. I would suggest, for 35mm, it would be more in the order of 20mm, 50mm or 70mm and 200mm in today's terms.
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Post by Th1nk3r on Aug 3, 2011 21:43:41 GMT -5
@jamie thank you for the info, very useful for me. peter, I want to know details of the picts just as a proof that with that kind combinations (gear, film and chemicals) someone can make somekind of picture like that, so it can be as reference for me. I have several camera with their lens and accessories, films and chemicals that I want to try to know their performance one by one. I think it is interesting to try everything that we can try, as much as we can... and write down the result as a database, that may be can be useful for anybody else someday. To make a photograph, I've already got my style, if it can be called a 'style' .. , and happy with that so don't want to 'copy' or try to be somebody else with write something that I think it useful . About the gear, last year mostly I used the SRT Super w/ MC 50mm/1.4 and this year I use my MX with its 28mm SMC-M lens as a mate ... dont know about next year. Every year I try to change my 'mate', and use saveral films (and chemicals) I have as an experiment, even in one point I think I dont care about the result..... I just enjoy the process, ... the analog photograph process,... the feel when we got new gear, .. find other kind of film,.... different chemical recipe ... some strange process prosedure.... and others. That why I'm happy to join this forum that full fill of people with huge experience using photography things, especially analog... and want to get data as much as I can , and may be try to share everything I know if it useful for other people. Thank you very much for your 'rambling' .... haha...agree with Dave about that, I love it and get many useful information from that, and still want another in advance . Davethank you for the link.. About using several focal lens, which one is more useful for your self .... bring one camera and several powerful fixed lens, or several cameras (how many?) with several lenses attach to them, .. or using the best zoom lens we can got ( even we have to rent that lens.. ) didon.-
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