Silver birch re-scan

April 24, 2022April 24, 2022 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

The photo in today’s post is a few years old – it was taken on a cold, but bright, February day back in 2018 on the edge of the moorland near Surprise View in the Peak District national park. I don’t think I’ve published this picture online anywhere before now.

I re-scanned it, and the rest of the photos on the roll, yesterday, using Vuescan to make a linear RAW DNG file and then Negative Lab Pro for the conversion in Lightroom.

Now I understand how to use NLP properly (or at least much better – there are still a bunch of controls and sliders that I stay away from!), I’m very pleased with the ease of getting colours that I’m happy with almost straight out of the box. I still tweak things a little, first using NLPs controls, and then maybe some minor tweaks in Lightroom itself (usually adding a little clarity and sharpness), but there has been none of the annoying mental gymnastics where I can’t decide if the colours are “off” in some hard to define way.

Obviously, colours are subjective, whether it be someone sat at home trying to get what they think Portra or whatever film stock they’ve used to look “right”, or a technician in a photo-lab making adjustments in the Noritsu software (or whatever it is they use) on the behalf of the photographer. So far, Negative Lab Pro has given me colours that feel correct with very little faff on my part, and for this I am thankful. I love black and white photography, but this new found ability to get results I’m happy with from C41 film is making me want to shoot more of the stuff (and re-scan some of the photos where I had less than satisfactory results in the past). It’s just a shame I need to sell a kidney to afford colour film these days!

Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 7 February 2018

35mm · Film photography · Photography

North Landing

April 17, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The view from North Landing near Flamborough. Although on the east coast of England, because it is on a promontory, this view is actually looking to the north. Setting off on a straight line from here would take you right over the top of the world without hitting land until you reached Wrangel Island, off the northern coast of the Russian mainland to the west of Alaska. It would be a long and arduous voyage for one of the small boats seen in this scene.

Olympus XA3 & Ilford Pan HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins 20°.

Taken on 14 March 2022

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Beyond the grass sea

April 12, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I was struck by the way that the lighthouse looked like it stood beyond a rolling sea of grass in this photo. I did wonder about cloning out the lone figure on the left but then decided against it.

In other news, I’m currently scanning a roll of 135 Tri-X that I finished shooting at the weekend. As I often get drying marks on my 135 negatives (although, oddly, never on 120 negs…), even though I use distilled water and wetting agent for the final wash, I’ve taken to using a squeegee lately. This has worked fine all the other times I’ve used it, but this roll of Tri-X looks beset by scratches along most of its length, which is disappointing.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford Pan F Plus. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 7mins 20°.

Taken on 14 March 2022

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A pylon in the fog

January 31, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

It’s been a while since I posted a power-lines picture I think, so let me rectify that. If you’ve read this blog for a while you’ll perhaps realise that I find pylons and power lines an appealing choice of subject matter. Not to the extent that I go looking for them purposefully, but they often draw my eye. This pylon, stood like some metallic sentinel on the foggy and frosty Woodhouse Washlands certainly caught my attention.

I took myself off for a trip to the seaside today. I don’t often tend to go there on cold January days, but I figured that a change of scene would get my creative juices flowing (plus I could eat some fish and chips while looking out at the sea…). The day was sunny and bright, but bittely cold with chill winds – the remnants of storm Malik that was now headed east out to sea – so a hat, gloves and a fully zipped up jacket were a definite necessity. I’m feeling tired now, and ready to hit the shower when I finish typing this, but my belly is full of my fish and chip dinner, and I have two rolls of 35mm film to be developed, so the day counts as a success. The pictures will turn up here in a bit, although I’ve got two other rolls of stuff to root through before that happens. It’s nice to be back in the black again, photographically speaking.

Back to the usual routine of work tomorrow.

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 1600asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 13mins @ 20°

Taken on 15 January 2021

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Scaly woodland beast

January 4, 2022 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Beside one of the footpaths in Padley gorge stands the remains of a twisted tree. Little more of the trunk is left but it’s something of a focal point on the path as the wood is embedded with hundreds (or more) coins which have been hammered into the surface and bent over (or perhaps they were bent over before they were knocked in). The result is an odd and intriguing texture that resembles the scales of some beast, like a serpent or a dragon.

The effect is even more pronounced when viewed from the right point of view as the broken tip of the trunk resembles a horned face (or I think it does anyway). On this day it had a conifer branch leant against it giving it a slightly festive air given it was a couple of days before Christmas.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 50mm f/2.8 MC & Ilford Delta 3200. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9.5mins @ 20°

Taken on 23 December 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Archivery

December 18, 2021 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

I’ve been out all day today and haven’t had chance to upload a photo to Flickr, and I now don’t have much time to write today’s blog post either (mostly because I’m hungry and my belly is demanding precedence…). It’s been a very foggy day today though, so I’ve dug out an old foggy day photo that I don’t think I’ve posted here before (I hope).

It was shot on a roll of Rollei Retro 400s which, despite me shooting it at the advertised box speed of 400asa, came out very underexposed. Some of the shots were pretty much ruined, but a few – like this one – I liked. This is the original scan from my V550 flatbed, so it’s a bit mushier than usual.

Olympus OM-1, Rollei Retro 400s. Lab developed in Xtol.

Taken sometime in 2016/17

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Bolsover castle

November 7, 2021 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

This viewpoint of Bolsover castle is always striking to behold, I think, and there was clearly good reason to place the castle in this location given it’s commanding position above the valley below. The castle dates to the 12th century and was built by Henry II and further extended in the 15th and 16th centuries.

M1 motorway
Runs like a river below
Bolsover castle

Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 October 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pausing on a country lane

November 4, 2021 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how I’d gone out for a spot of photography as a break from all the renovation and decorating that has been going one, but then forgot to take my tripod with me.

Today’s photograph was made when I realised what I had done. Instead of a medium format picture of this scene, I used my XA3 which I had thankfully taken along too. Although the day was dull and without much in the way of good light, the HP5+ in the XA3 was being pushed a stop to 800asa, so gave me good leeway in the conditions.

I’m not sure how a 6×6 medium format version of this scene shot on Ilford Ortho Plus would have looked, but this HP5+ version came out nicely.

Sometimes a mistake
Can lead to good things instead
Of disappointment

Olympus XA3 & Ilford HP5+ (@800asa). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 10mins @ 20°

Taken on 22 October 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Superzoom

August 21, 2021 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

When using compact zoom cameras, I rarely shoot them at anything other than their wide end. I’ve found that the zoom either leaves something to be desired in terms of sharpness, and also tends to be severely limited by small minimum aperatures. While shooting the Olympus Superzoom 160 though, I decided to see how it would fare with the final shot on the roll.

It always pays to be careful when using the zoom as, depending on the light available, the camera will fire the flash if you don’t manually disable it using the fiddly little button. Some zoom compacts have a mechanical switch to do this that can be left in the off position unless flash is needed, but most tend to flash automatically with the various flash modes being switched via a small button. It can be easy to forget this and end up with an underexposed shot if you’re not paying attention.

So, being careful to make sure there was enough light, I made the following landscape photo with the camera zoomed in. I can’t remember if it was at the full 160mm setting, but a good way towards it if not. The results are kinda what I expected with a definite softness apparent when compared with photographs made with the camera at it’s wide-angle setting, so I guess my rule of thumb will remain mostly in place.

Don’t zoom in too far
Disapointment may arise
From your photograph

Olympus Superzoom 160 & Agfa APX 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12.5mins @ 20°.

Taken on 7 August 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A view from Elmton church

August 19, 2021August 18, 2021 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A while ago I posted of my adventure crossing an overgrown field to photograph St. Peter’s church at Elmton. Well the field at the lower left of this picture, behind the wall, is the one in question. It looks pretty innocent here, doesn’t it…

Innocent it looks
Though the truth was not so fine
Nettled guardians