Joe’s

February 16, 2020 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

I’m jumping back in time a little today with a photo from 2017. The main reason being that I decided yesterday to re-scan this roll of negs. My original scans were performed on my Epson V550 flatbed using the Epson Scan software, which is what I used to use for all my scans, but is now only really used for black and white medium format stuff.

All my B&W 35mm negatives are now scanned with my Plustek scanner, which gives far superior results, while I send all my colour films off to a pro lab for dev and scan (mostly because I know the colours will look how I would expect them to). I still scan medium format slides on the V550 though – mostly because it will cost me an arm and a leg to get lab scans (the place that processes and scans my C41 film for a very reasonable price don’t process E6 unfortunately). The Epson doesn’t fare too badly with medium format scans, although that’s only really down to the fact that the larger image size means that any loss in scanning quality is less easy to spot on screen – comparing like-with-like with a 35mm scan shows the quality is exactly the same.

So, while all my C41 film has been lab scanned over the past year, I still have a lot of stuff that has only ever been scanned on the Epson (both colour AND B&W), so every now and then I’ll re-scan those rolls on the Plustek to get better results. Today’s photo is from one such roll – shot during a trip to Camden in London that my wife and I took a couple of years ago. While I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the Portra 160 colours that the Plustek and Silverfast have given me, they’re a whole heap better than the slightly muddy, greenish cast scans that I had from my Epson Scan attempts. The resloution is light-years ahead too, with details now much more finely resolved than before.

Today’s photo is one that has really benefited from the re-scan I think.

Pentax P30T, Rikenon 50mm f/2 & Kodak Portra 160.

Taken on 9 September 2017

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Face to face

February 15, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I think, when I took this picture, I’d intended for there to be some seperation between the two figures. However, as I was using the waist-level finder on the camera when I took this (hey, it’s still a novelty, ok? 🙂 ) I didn’t quite manage it. Nonetheless I quite like the way that it looks like their faces are touching in the shot. The light was gorgeous too – gotta make the most of a sunny day in the wintertime!

Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 8 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Sunlight in the underpass

February 14, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’m pretty happy with the way this photo turned out. I noticed the shaft of sunlight in the underpass and decided to wait for a figure to pass through it. I used the Sure Shot Ace’s waist-level finder so I’m very pleased that I managed to time it so the figures are illuminated by the sunshine, but their heads are in shade and framed against the sunlit wall at the far end.

Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 8 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Shadow ads

February 13, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Eek! I almost forgot to post something today – for some reason I thought I’d uploaded something earlier. I’m clearly losing it! Still, I caught it in the nick of time.

Here’s a photo I took because I liked the way the sun cast shadows of the writing on the windows all across the furniture in the store.

Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 8 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Stained window ledge

February 12, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This is a photo I’d forgotten I’d taken until I scanned the negatives. I think it was the sunlit buildings reflected in the glass that attracted me and I completely missed the stain on the ledge at the time. I’m not sure why, but I don’t think the photo would work half as well without the stain.

Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 8 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Top and bottom

February 11, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

Another couple of photographs from the Sure Shot Ace – the top and bottom of a block of flats close to the city centre.

I started scanning this roll yesterday and, after a couple of strips, I was a little disappointed – a lot of the images looked distinctly soft. While the camera is otherwise basic, the remote trigger and – especially – the waist-level finder are useful and unusual features for a camera of this type, so for it to have a poor lens would be a disappointment.

However, to my pleasure, after scanning another couple of strips the results from those frames are much sharper. I’m thinking that the earlier results were down to user error or my overloading the AF system by shooting into the light (the camera flares badly if this is done, at least from the few shots I took in this way).

I don’t think it’s quite as sharp as the other Sure Shot models I’ve used, but it’s not bad and I will certainly be using it again.

Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 8 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Coming around the corner

February 10, 2020 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

A street shot from the first roll I’ve put through the Canon Sure Shot Ace that I picked up recently. It’s a curious camera – a very basic point and shoot, but with the addition of a waist-level finder AND a detachable shutter remote. I may do a review at some point when I’ve figured it out a bit.

Canon Sure Shot Ace & Ilford Delta 400.

Taken on 8 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Empties

February 9, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

While I rarely witness it, a regular sight on Sunday mornings in the town centre is the detritus of the previous evening. Sometimes, if you’re in town early, this will sometimes include the people who didn’t manage to find their way home again, usually as a result of too much of a good time. While sometimes these people would make for great photos – such as the person I once saw slumped in a doorway fast asleep and wearing a suit, with a half-eaten (and long-cold kebab) still in his grasp – I don’t tend to take pictures of those scenes. I have a rule to try to not take “unkind” photos and I think images like this – as with photographing homeless people – would fall into that bracket. I’m not a photojournalist, and I don’t think I could really dress my pastime up as “social commentary”.

However, that doesn’t mean the things that late night revellers left behind can’t make for a shot or two, such as today’s collection of bottles.

Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 2 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

K.I.S.S.I.N.G.

February 8, 2020February 8, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Painted on the wall of Fagan’s pub on Broad Lane in Sheffield, this lovely piece of art – named “The Snog” – hopefully cheers up commuters heading out of town at the end of the day.

Quite often there are cars parked in the space in front of the wall which block the view, but as there were none there on this day, I made a photo.

It was painted by local artist Pete McKee and if you click this link, you can find out more about it and even see a video of its creation.

Nikon F80, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Ilford HP5+.

Taken on 2 February 2020

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Lone figure

February 7, 2020 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I like the sense of scale in this photo. I’ve never really considered how tall these trees are before, but the figure in the distance gives some sense of their size. There is, to be fair, a little bit of perspective to take into play – the person in the shot is beyond the leftmost bit of the trees, but not by too far.