35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
I’ve been busy with stuff today and have left it quite late to post to the blog (it’s one of those days where the daily posting feels like a grind, unfortunately). As such, I’m taking the easy route and posting a digital picture, one shot in the early evening sun one day during our trip to Malaga in August.
Ricoh GRIII.
Taken 21 August 2023.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken 2 September 2023.
A selection of old boats moored by the Humber Estuary. I suspect some of them may be permanently moored…
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE or Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC, and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken 28 August 2023.
I’ve posted a picture of this ice cream truck before, that picture shot with my large format camera on the same day I took this photo, but the carriage in the second shot was only photographed with my Bronica ETRSi.
I don’t have a clue which type of carriage it is – I did look online, but backed out of the rabbit-hole of potential sunk time before I lost hours to detective work. It’s difficult to know just how old it might be. It could date back to when such things were a primary mode of transport, or it could also be a more recent vehicle, used for displays or special occasions or something, which has been left to decay. Whatever the case, it was interesting to see it there, albeit behind a metal fence that adds little to the picture.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE or Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC, and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken 28 August 2023.
Beside the Humber Bridge on the southern bank of the Humber Estuary, there is a car park for visitors. The bank of the estuary here has several benches where visitors can sit and enjoy the scenery, whether that be the spectacle of the suspension bridge, or just the water passing by on its way to the North Sea.
There is also a cafe, The Viking Way Cafe Bar, so named because it stands at the northern end of The Viking Way, a 147-mile hiking trail running from Oakham in Rutland, to the Humber Bridge. As there is evidence that the Vikings excercised control and influence over the lands through which the trail passes, particularly the Lincolnshire Wolds, so the way got its name.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE or Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC, and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken 28 August 2023.
While watching YouTube videos the other day, I came across a video by linusandhiscamera, which I’ve embedded at the bottom of this post. The video, entitled “Your film scans SUCK“, shows how colour scans can be considerably improved in some cases by tweaking the colour curves in your editing software.
I know, curves, right? Who the hell understands how to use those things? It’s practically mathematics!
But not in this case. The technique is very simple to implement and you can see quite dramatic improvements to your scans straight away. I’ve tried it on lab scans and some of my own – pre-Negative Lab Pro – home scans, and am very pleased by the results. It seems to do especally well at removing colour casts from reversal film too. I’ve included some examples below – both my own photographs, and also some old slides that I’ve collected.
I’ve used Adobe Lightroom to do this, but the Camera Raw Filter in PhotoShop should work too, or – I presume – any other editing software that allows modification of colour curves.
Here are some examples:
The first three are lab scans. I thought the first two looked ok in their original format, but the tweak has improved them noticeably.
This next one was from a roll of Ektar that I’d accidentally underexposed. There’s a dramatic difference after editing the curves.
This next one is an Epson V550 scan of some Velvia 50. The tweak has really made the colours pop.
All the other examples below are old slides from my collection. Some of these have significant improvements visible.
This is a great and straightforward technique, and I hope others find it as useful as I have.
Here’s linusandhiscamera’s YouTube video, which explains how it works.
Often I will eke out multiple blog posts from each roll of film I shoot. At present, however, I have approaching two-hundred pictures that I’ve mostly either not scanned, or uploaded to Flickr yet, so I guess I have enoungh leeway to chuck our a batch of them all at once every now and then.
These shots are all from the same walk around the edge of town (shot on the day I used the roll of Portra 400 from which I’ve recently shared images of the Cholera Monument and other stuff). There’s no particular theme, although I guess it forms a snapshot of the sort of stuff that tends to catch my eye in an environment like this when I walk around with a camera.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE or Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC, and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken 6 August 2023.
I thought I’d drop an old picture into the blog today. While it really could have been shot anywhere, it was Mablethorpe where the picture was taken – it was a display in a shop window. I’ve posted it here because today was my annual pilgrimage to the town
Normally I would have a bunch of photos from the day but, this time – in a break from tradition – I didn’t make the trip alone, I took my dad along too, and as a result I didn’t have the same opportunities for picture making. Also, while the weather on the drive out there was lovely, such that I loaded some old Portra 400 NC into my camera, five minutes after leaving the car-park a hazy sheet of cloud formed, blocking a lot of the light, meaning colour film really wasn’t the right choice. In the end I only took a couple of pictures (with my GW690). To add insult, I think the camera shutter accidentally got fired while it was in my bag, meaning I’m going to get just seven shots from the roll at most…).
While photographically it was a bust, it was really nice to make the trip with my dad – he hasn’t been to Mablethorpe for about forty years – so I’m not disappointed to have made so few pictures. To be honest, because I try to go every year, I’ve got pictures of pretty much everything already anyway. Sometimes several of the same scene! My dad also paid for our fish and chip dinner bought, as is tradition, from Monty’s, a nice treat for the designated driver. 🙂
Anyway, depending on how the two shots I made turn out, they’ll probably make an appearance here at some later date.
Nikon F70, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D & Fujifilm Acros (cropped to square). Lab developed.
Taken on 13 September 2017
Just a load of lines and angles I guess, but something in it spoke to me. So I pressed the shutter button.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE, and Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.
Taken 6 August 2023.
I took this picture not fat from the Cholera Monument, which I posted about recently. It’s a view towards Sheffield city centre. I found it interesting to see in the picture a whole host of other locations that I’ve photographed on other occasions.
I’ve photographed the new structure in the centre of the image (with the two red cranes) at least twice (here & here). Just to the left of that you can see The Hubs, which I’ve also taken many pictures of, such as this one, and this one. The “Cheesegrater” car park can be seen behind and to the right of the new construction. At the right edge of the fram can be seen Sheffield Hallam University with th red lettering at the top. On the side of the building you can just make out the “What if?” poem, which you can see here too. Behind the university building in the distance is the university arts tower, which I’ve poasted loads of pictures of, such as this.
There are several other buildings I can see where I have pictures too, some of which I’ve posted on the blog, others which I haven’t. The building in the foreground begind the grass is Sheffield Midland Station, another location where I have lots of pictures from.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 150mm f/3.5 MC, and Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
Taken 6 August 2023.
Steel City Snapper photography 