Month: November 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Turn up the contrast

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I shot a roll of Fuji Across a couple of weeks ago and, expecting the weather to be a bit on the gloomy side, pushed it to 400asa. As it turned out, the sun decided to come out for at least some of the shots. This resulted in super-hight-contrast images being the outcome. Across is pretty contrasty anyway, but pushing it amplifies this noticeably, such as in today’s photograph of a street corner convenience store in Southwark in London.

The sunlit areas, particularly those with lighter tones stand out vividly, while the shadows have been reduced to deep blacks – the lady on the left of this shot seemingly emerging from a pool of liquid darkness.

I do like a contrasty image, but care needs to be taken when shooting in such conditions of light and shade that it doesn’t become too much. I’m pretty happy with this one – there is still detail in the highlights, and while the shadows are deep, they work nicely withe the brighter details popping out of them.

FILM - Contrast

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Fujifilm Acros (pushed to 400asa).

Taken on 22 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

It’s a bit blurry and I don’t care

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I generally try to ensure that my photos are in focus. It’s kinda important in most cases (for the sort of pictures I make, at least). Sometimes however, despite my best intentions, they are not in focus – perhaps due to missing focus, or sometimes due to camera shake adding some unintended blur.

Sometimes it doesn’t really matter. Sometimes you still like the photograph despite it’s flaws. Sometimes they might even enhance it.

Today’s photo is one such example. It was taken under the railway bridge that passes over Blackfriars Road just north of Soutwark Underground station, carrying the line heading east/west in and out of Waterloo. The light beneath the bridge was quite dim and I had to lower my shutter speed somewhat. I also needed to be quick to try and catch the image while people were placed in a pleasing way and also when no road traffic (of which there was much) was passing through the scene. These factors likely combined to cause a small but noticeable amount of camera shake in the the resulting picture.

Perhaps the photo would have been better had it been perfectly sharp, but the slight fuzziness is pleasing in some way. It gives the picture a slight vintage feel somehow that I’m quite pleased with. I don’t tend to publish photos that I believe are mistakes unless they rise above their shorcomings, and I think that this is one of them (for me, at least).

FILM - Blackfriars Station

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Fujifilm Acros (pushed to 400asa).

Taken on 23 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Road-crossing reflections

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

People waiting to cross cast their reflections on the wet road surface.

It’s one of those photos where I noticed after scanning the negative that someone appears to have spotted me when I took the photograph (three people in this case!). It’s a little difficult to tell for certain, and some of them might just have been glancing in my direction, but I always get an “I’ve been spotted!” feeling when I notice such things.

I was hardly being covert to be fair – stood on the oposite side of the road with a camera to my eye. 🙂

FILM - Crossing the road in the rain

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).

Taken on 26 October 2019

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A walk in Whitwell Woods

fishyfisharcade4 Comments

The weather has been typically November-ish of late which, for the UK, means grey, wet and somewhat miserable. I’ve got several rolls of slide film with “Autumn” written all over them, but I’m starting to think that it’s going to be a somwhat lacklustre year for the colour. We’re in a situation (or at least we are in the part of the country where I live) where many of the trees have already turned and lost their leaves, while others are still largely green.

Despite this, there was a short break in the grey weather on Sunday, so I took a trip out to Whitwell Woods to see if there was anything to be seen and photographed. It was my first trip out with the Bronica in a few months (I think only the third time I’ve shot it, for that matter), and the first time shooting it without the metered prism and speed-winder / grip. As I took a tripod and lightmeter with me I didn’t envisage this being an issue, and it wasn’t.

That being said, my slight unfamiliarity with the camera resulted in my wasting three shots at the start of the roll, and for a couple of shots where I decided to open the 75mm lens to it’s widest f/2.8 aperture, largely missed focus. I’m not sure why this was as, although the depth of focus is pretty narrow at this aperture – particularly when the subject is close to the lens – I was confident that it was in focus in the viewfinder (with a split-prism screen). I think I might set up a test shot in a controlled environment to see if it was user error, or something else.

The woods themselves were very pleasant to walk through, although the paths were a bit squishy, and here are a few pictures.

FILM - Whitwell autumn

FILM - Lost in a forest all alone

FILM - Shattered

FILM - Autumn bokeh

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 & Fujifilm Provia 100.

Taken on 3 November 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

X

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I didn’t spot this noticeable “X” formed by the reflection of the buildings and sky until I looked at the negatives.

The water feature is one of several, variously-sized, artworks near the Winter Gardens in Sheffield. They are, along with the “Cheesegrater” car park – which is a literal stone’s throw from this spot – probaby the most photographed objects in the city.

FILM - Calling all mutants

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).

Taken on 26 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Cathedral in a perspex case

fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

While wandering around Sheffield city centre last weekend I went into the cathedral to see if there were any photos to be had (and also, because there’s a cafe in there, to get a coffee).

Past experience of shooting film in the cathedral have proven that, given the use of tripods and flash are not normally permitted within the premises, that 400asa film is very limiting in terms of the photos that can be achieved. Even opening my 50mm f/1.8 lens to its widest aperture would still only allow shutter speeds of 1/30sec in the best cases and considerably slower in most others. As a result, while there are some great subjects within the building, without a faster film (or a digital camera on a higher ISO) most of them ar unachievable without significant risk of camera shake.

Today’s photo is one of a couple I made on the day, and even this one – from a relatively well illuminated area – was still shot at 1/30 wide open. It depicts a scale model of the cathedral itself and was located on ground level a little behind the brightly lit tower that can be see at the left side of the model.

FILM - Cathedral in a box

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).

Taken on 26 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Spurn lightship bow

fishyfisharcade1 Comment

A couple of days ago I posted a photo of the Spurn Lightship. Today’s image is a detail shot of that ship’s bow.

I really like the tones I’ve got in this picture, especially the milky quality of the water, but also the relief of the plates and rivets of the vessel’s hull too. Despite the film being pushed to 800asa the grain has remained relatively unobtrusive in the shot as well.

FILM - Bow

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).

Taken on 25 October 2019

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Wet seats at the racecourse

fishyfisharcade1 Comment

A week ago I visited Doncaster Racecourse with my dad. I’d bought him the trip for his birthday earlier in the year expecting that he’s go with one of his friends, but when that fell through, I decided to go with him myself. I’ll almost certainly be posting more photos from the day – my interest in horse races is negligible, but my interest in photographing such events is considerably higher and I shot about half a roll (despite the conditions) – but, for now, this post has just a single image.

I think it illustrates quite well the weather on the day of our visit – rain, rain and, yep!, more rain.

The stands are on three levels and I would expect them all to be at least partially polulated normally, but on the day in question only the uppermost tier had anyone present as all the rest were subject to the rain falling on the uncovered section (and blowing under the shelter onto the next level). As you can see, they were not busy. 🙂

FILM - Wet seats

Olympus OM-1, F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800asa).

Taken on 25 October 2019