Ghetto lighting.

Spinning Round

Originally uploaded by tourist_on_earth

Most photographers who are even remotely serious about improving their technique will have heard of Strobist, and may even have it in their RSS feed. Me? I have no idea about off camera lighting and although I have heard of Strobist, it’s always seemed slightly prohibitive in terms of cost.

The word SB600 seems to get thrown around a lot in connection with Strobist; I recently saw the price of an SB200 and figured that there was no way I’d ever be able to justify to myself spending that much on just a flash. (I’d rather buy another camera )

So when a flickr contact recently posted some impressive home brew light painting, it got me thinking about my options. Sure I don’t have wireless flashes and numerous tripods with softboxes and tripods to mount them on, but I did have an ancient Mecablitz BCT4 with a manual firing option. I also had a torch similar to the one used on a recent outing, that had proven that fancy equipment wasn’t needed to get a great shot.

Ideas started floating around in my head.

Generally I go out with mates who shoot digital while I shoot film, so I know pretty soon whether my suggestions will work or not. At least during a full moon….

Shooting at night is reasonably challenging, as to achieve a half decent star trail ideally there should be no moon, with a minimum exposure time starting at 15 minutes. Room for error? Not a lot. Even checking on my mates preview screens doesn’t help as after waiting around for half an hour or more for a single exposure, I rarely have the patience to reshoot.

Regardless, we headed out last night. In true wolf_brigade style I hadn’t set anything up, figuring I’d sort it all out on location, despite this approach causing headaches in the past. With only a quarter moon there wasn’t a lot of light. Great for star trails but no so good for trying to setup something new that required light to construct!

I’d brought along a couple of things:

1 packet of orange/red cellophane
1 packet of blue cellophane
1 pair of scissors
1 torch (12 volt battery style with square plastic body) that was found on a previous noctography expedition
1 torch similar in strength to a mag light, and similar in style to the type issued to the SAS; a remnant of my days as a security guard
1 Bronica SQi as a backup camera
1 roll of expired film in box for above camera
1 Pentax 645n with 6 shots left on 100ISO expired Konica Centuria Super
I gold and silver reflector
I roll of Leukoplast (a medical grade tape in lieu of the masking tape I couldn’t find)
1 (rarely used) digital camera to test lighting conditions
1 Slik tripod - my main one
1 dodgy 1 meter high tripod bought for $10 at an antique store so that I had a sturdy portable tripod for pinhole use
1 Gossen Lunasix exposure meter
1 cable release
1 digital countdown timer

First let’s eliminate the “useless items” for night exposure:

Bronica - sure it was nice to have a backup camera, but a set of batteries for the Pentax would have been a smarter move.
Exposure meter - I know from experience the exposure times now, but this is kind of like a security blanket.
The actual roll of spare film.

That’s it! The rest was put together MacGuyver style to allow my mate to take the above shot. Want to know how? Read on…

First I setup the torch I’d found shining up the tree’s trunk. Looked ok, but the lighting was very direct and didn’t illuminate much. I then tried hooking it on a branch, but it kept slipping down facing the ground. Enter the reflector. The gold side provided the best light as the slightly warm cast would help separate the illuminated tree from the deep blue night sky. However, the light wasn’t very strong as you can see here:

Then I remembered about the other flashlight. But with the heat it emitted, it was likely the cellophane sheet would literally melt after a few minutes. How to solve this? Enter the film box from the spare roll of film. Fashioning a home brew style snoot, I slipped it over the torch leaving enough of a gap so as to allow a buffer for the heat. I then taped a small sheet of orange cellophane over the top, cut with the scissors and secured with the leukoplast. I then taped that to the antique store tripod leg. Like so:

I then used a fork in the tree branches to mount my tripod light so that it was facing up. The complete setup looked like this:

Using the digital camera to document my progress, I felt pretty happy. I then setup the Pentax on the Slik tripod with the cable release and took a 15 minute (or thereabouts) exposure:

But Ben’s looked better, so I put it as the opening photo

Almost all the equipment used right? Well all except for the blue cellophane. We played with that later on, though my shots didn’t turn out too well because I was trying some weird techniques and completely forgot about setting the right focus…So in the meantime I highly recommend you check out another of Ben’s shots in which he used my ghetto style lighting I had set up under the bridge for one of my shots as well as passing car headlights to his advantage.

Essentials for film.

Apparently “World Film Photography Day” happened on the 20th March 2008. I forgot, and did not participate. But, I shoot film most days anyway…

Being still relatively new to film, I thought I might share what I’ve learnt so far in regards to the essentials required for successful and fulfilling film photography.

First off, a light meter. Often old cameras have faulty lightmeters, or sometimes they don’t even have one at all. A light meter like the one above can be bought for a reasonable price from ebay and measures both reflected and incident light. If you’re particularly interested in exact values you could always look for a spotmeter (which measures a smaller portion of a scene from a narrower angle), but the more you shoot in varying light conditions, using your lightmeter as a guide, you’ll often find that you can predict the readings anyway.

Secondly, a notebook will be handy (and a pen). I like to record all my exposures in a diary with notes on the camera used, the lens,the frame number, the ISO I shot it at, f stop, shutter speed and subject, as well as any extras such as filters. By doing this I can look back once my film has been developed and evaluate the results. If something didn’t work quite as intended, I can review the exposure details and use these to plan the next similar shot. For the most part it comes down to not a long enough exposure, but occasionally I might aim to get back to the same location with a different camera, or at a different time to change the lighting conditions. By having a record of your exposures you can learn to predict even more what settings will work best, in conjunction with your lightmeter.

What happens if you’re taking “happy snaps” and don’t have time to record the details in your diary? I recently bought the cheapest mp3 player with recording capabilities ($38.00) that I could. While I might look a bit silly talking into it after each shot, there have been many times in the past where I wished that I’d taken the time to write down the details.

A tripod. This is going to vary according to your needs. A pocketable one, like the Gorillapod is great, though I find these unstable occasionally. Of course their flexibility more than makes up for their shortcomings. A larger more solid tripod is also a good investment. The type depends on your shooting intentions. I initially went for a fairly compact one as I was only shooting 35mm at the time. Now that I’ve moved into medium format with a Pentax 6×7, I’m wishing I bought a slightly heavier duty one. Think carefully about your future intentions before rushing out and buying the cheapest one you can. A good tripod should last you at least 20 years, so invest wisely.

If you start making heavy use of the tripod, then a cable release is going to come in handy. None of my film cameras are particularly recent, so all require an actual cable release rather then a remote. I’ve often wished for an air type bulb release, though the standard length cable release has served me well so far.

Spare batteries are a must, as is spare film. Some cameras run through batteries quickly, and while in some cameras the battery only runs the lighmeter, others such as the 6×7 won’t work at all without a battery or start playing up when the battery begins to fail. The 6×7 occasionally locks the mirror in the up position, making me think I’ve lost a frame. Curiously the shutter still works fine even when the battery starts declining…

Your film requirements will depend on your budget, your subject choice, lighting conditions and your personal preferences. I don’t develop my own just yet so I still shoot about the same amount of colour as I do black and white. While I’m still working my way through stock that was given to me for free, I like to have at least one camera loaded with colour film, and another with black and white. It’s a bonus if both cameras can accept the same lens mount, as it means if you need to pack light only one set of lenses needs to be packed. Sadly, I’m rarely that organised. I just tend to grab the camera I feel like using for the day, without a thought for interchangeability…At the moment I have only some 35mm loaded, with Ilford XP2, Kodak 400CN and Konica VX100, but given an option Neopan 1600 and a red filter would never leave my camera.

Finally, a bag. You could of course use that bag you bought for your digital, but what would be the fun in that? Hit up ebay for one of those old skool (faux)leather cases…

I’m always open to suggestions for essential film related items.

Help me flickr! I want to be a better photographer!

(This post was written for the recent project over at Epic Edits.)

Is this too big an ask? Perhaps. Let’s examine the possibilities…

Upload only photos that you’re 100% happy with.

By following this advice you can create an online portfolio of your best work. As I’ll explain later, this is crucial for your development as a photographer. Not only that, uploading only your best means that regardless of your organisational habits (having trouble with these? Check out Neil Creek’s suggestions), you will always have access to a portfolio you’re proud of - this often helps with building confidence in the low times when you feel like you’re drained of creativity.

Restrict your uploads to one or two a day, but don’t feel like you have to upload something everyday. Restricting yourself in this manner means that you must be ruthless in terms of judging your best, resulting in only your truly great photos becoming part of your online portfolio.

Haven’t shot anything recently, but still want to share some work? Cruise through your archives. There are some gems hiding in there! Some may need processing, while others may have just been overlooked. As this post would be boring without any pictures, I’ll share one of mine.

The photo below was one I overlooked a while back when I was picking out my best from that day. All it took was a slight curves adjustment and the tiniest bit of saturation increase to make it something I was happy with. To think that until I looked through my archives this was relegated to obscurity!

Join groups that reflect your interest.

Groups are probably one of the most important facets in your development. They exist in almost any variety you can think of, from film specific groups to the disillusioned, completely random with a central focus, and, even groups where the only photos accepted are of the cameras themselves. Basically if you have an interest, type it in the group search box on flickr, and you should find a couple to choose from.

Once you’ve joined post your photos to these groups, using the send to group button above your uploaded photo. However, don’t just join a group purely to upload a single photo. Groups gradually become like your online family - sharing tips, comments, fav’s, critiques etc. - having one image in a group often means that you have little or no experience. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it is important not to join a group if you don’t feel that there will be a mutually beneficial relationship. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t join groups that you don’t have images for, (in fact spending time reading forum posts [covered later] is a great way to find out more information about specifics that you are interested in. An example of this would be a macro dedicated groups), but rather that you should question your motives for joining. Keep in mind that your intention is to grow as a photographer and not just gain exposure for your work.

Spend time in the pools that most interest you. Comment on the photos in the pool. Insightful comments. Not just Awesome! Write about what you enjoy in the image and why. Perhaps a question on the technique. By engaging with people on a personal level you signify that you are someone who appreciates the time it’s taken for that person to learn the skills to take the shot, and that you are interested in learning from them. Essentially you set up a master/student relationship, just in an online context. A side benefit of this is that often those ‘masters’ will check back on your work, offering helpful tips. You may even find that they ask you for advice! Someone I greatly admire recently asked me about my Pentax 6×7.

Once you got the hang of groups, try out ones that encourage you to shoot new material in a creative way. Trevor Carpenter’s challenge group is one such example. Currently the group aim is to shoot a different type of colour for each February. A variation is the Exposure group. It doesn’t specifically have challenges, though the creators have a podcast in which they provide photography tips. At present members of the group have been posting images to the group which reflect the previous podcast on long exposures. Utata runs a challenge called Iron Photographer (search their archives for previous examples) in which you must create a photo out of the elements listed in a certain time frame.

Group Forums

Search existing threads before starting a new one! Nothing is more frustrating for regulars than a new member posting a thread already covered by 50 or so others in the archives! (Or worse still, creating a thread saying “I’m new here” - these threads are nothing more than shameless self promotions which will turn away more viewers than they will attract.)

If a thread exists, but it is old and sort of answers your question, but not completely, check the title. Does it relate to the topic? Will the right people check it out to help? If so, question away within the thread - a new response will rise it to the top of the thread list in the forum section. If the topic title doesn’t seem revealing, then you have the_wolf_brigade’s permission to start a new thread.

Spend time engaging with others in the forums. If someone sounds like they know what they’re talking about, without being self promotive, then I’ll often flick (pun intended) through their stream, commenting where I see fit. Not only does this help the person who’s stream you’re browsing, but if they find you helpful then they often check out your stream, returning the favour. Speaking of favourites…

Favourites.

‘Fav’ images that move you. ‘Fav’ ones that make you melt inside with admiration.

Review your fav’s regularly. While fav’s may reflect your moods to a certain degree, on a wider scale they reflect your aspirations.

Match your fav’s with your stream. See any correlation? This is where we can start to answer the original plea. Your fav’s will generally come from pools/groups you frequent and people you admire. In this sense your relationship with others becomes vital as you fav their photos, then comment and/or critique, helping you identify what it is about that fav that moves you.

Robert Doisneau once said that “creativity is merely undetected plagiarism”. Emulate your fav’s. Can’t get to that location? Think outside the box. Find somewhere similar and get copying!

Finally, contacts.

“a contact is a contact is a contact” by eskimoblood.

This is going to sound harsh, but only add contacts whose work you think will inspire you. It should be obvious by now, but just to reiterate, in order to advance as a photographer, you must surround yourself with creativity. Flickr provides a great opportunity for this, but you’ve got to treat it seriously. As I said before, my method may be a bit harsh. If you’re interested in a more polite approach, check out Brian Auer’s guide to Flickr Etiquette.

Check the ‘Photos from your contacts’ stream regularly. Maintain a reciprocal relationship with them through constant dialog. These are the people who will help you achieve that to which you aspire. Having a small group of contacts making it easier to manage this stage, especially if you subscribe to this stream via your RSS reader.

Regularly ‘preen’ your contacts. Remove those who no longer inspire you. Remember that a small stream of contacts is a manageable stream of potential plagiarism. Regular interaction with this, and your favourite groups is the key to exponential growth.

I would have loved to have added a section on my favourite flickr ‘hacks’ Unfortunately this article grew to a larger size than I expected. Thankfully Martin Gommel has this area covered. I would like to add that the Lights out greasemonkey script has become an invaluable tool, as I often don’t notice some things until my screen is free of distractions. If you don’t know what greasemonkey is, a google search will help you much more than I could even begin to.

Faceoff.

Faceoff.

Originally uploaded by the_wolf_brigade

So last night I loaded my Pentax 6×7 with some Kodak Tri-x Safety Film. It had written on the paper leader to expose for 200 ASA in daylight, and 160 in Tungsten.

“I always thought Tri-x was 400 ASA?”

Could be because this roll expired in November 1961. I got it for $2 at a local antique store.

“Ah well, I guess I’ll meter it at 50 ASA instead of 100 to compensate for the age.”

I was pretty excited about heading out to Manly today to try and emulate my utmost favourite Escher image. I had packed a Circular polarizer, a R25A filter for increased contrast, and an ND8 to allow long exposures.

It took me about 2 hours to get to Manly. I took a walk, spotted this location and jumped the fence.

So I setup my tripod, screwed the filters on to the 6×7, screwed in the cable release, mounted the camera on the tripod, focused the image, work out the math for a photo at f22 with adjustments for a 9 stop decrease in shutter speed (filter compensation), waited for a nice wave…and pressed the cable release.

Slap, a sound like thunder.

“Hang on, that sounded too fast!”

Get up, check the shutter dial.

“Crap!” 1/500 second. Move the dial to bulb mode, advance the film.

Wait for the waves….slap…slap. 40 seconds at f22.

At this point in time I’m so excited by the fact that finally I have a chance to pay tribute to my childhood hero, that I’m shooting with potentially 50 year old film, and at this point it looks like everything is going to plan.

One more sweet exposure passes.

I try and advance the film for a fourth. It jams. I can’t believe this! I try and force it a little bit, mindful of the fact that I’ve only fed two rolls through this camera since the film advance was repaired.

So what was I to do?

While the film meant a lot to me, as well as the exposures so far, there was no way I was going to force it even more and risk damage to the camera.

I give up and open the back. There is a kink in the film, which has somehow caused a portion of the film to appear on top of the paper leader of the 120 spool, meaning that when the shutter opens, the image is trying to imprint itself on the leader, which is “protecting” the film. Some film is close to the shutter, on the correct side, but has not made it to the take up spool.

I pull the film out in disgust. I only had one roll of black and white with me - I didn’t want to taint my purpose by using the Fuji 160s Pro that I had also brought.

With a heavy heart, I begin to pack away my gear, then figure I may as well shoot off a few digital snapshots so that I know what to look for next time.

It is then that I spot the above composition.

In no way does it make up for my loss, but it does give me hope that my trip may not have been in vain.

This captured, I pack up my gear, but pull out my Yashica GTN which has a roll of Neopan 1600 and a red filter attached - meaning I’m telling the camera to expose at 400ASA, as the meter is not TTL . The roll needs using up, and my street skills need sharpening.

I head back to the city, after loading the Pentax with the Fuji colour.

I stop at Museum station to try a few long exposure train shots with the 6×7. Happy with my captures, I move on. Tripod packed away, but Pentax in hand.

A thought occurs to me.

“Ok, rangefinders are the king of the street, and someone’s really going to notice me grabbing a candid of them with this beast…but maybe if I have my ear phones in and act like a tourist?”

I pump up the metal (Demon Hunter) to a volume that cancels the background clutter.

It works.

Elated I meet up with my brother, confident I’ve got some awesome street shots with the king of SLR’s.

I get close to home and realise I forgot to compensate for the Polarizer on my street shots. Still, having shot most of them wide open at f2.8 in daylight, they should be usable.

I drop the Fuji 160s and Neopan off for processing.

I get home and find I’ve won the Pentax P30n and Samsung zoom I was bidding for on ebay.

Sweet!

I arrange to go and pick it up.

I get it home and load it with batteries. The film advance lever is stuck. I’d noticed this when I looked at the camera when picking up a previous win from this ebayer. I figured it just needed film and batteries. Guess not

The film won’t auto load, and the zoom is sloppy. Guess I lucked out on this one - good thing I didn’t pay too much.

Well, I have placed a few bids on “dud” cameras recently, with the intention of teaching myself to fix them. Sure it’s more that what I would have spent, but it seems I got my wish.

And thus ends my day of highs and lows.

While I have gone on a self imposed photography fast recently, I was hoping to make a comeback with some 50 year old vintage.

While this photo may not have been the original outcome I had in mind for today, it is good, even if I’m still slightly too emotionally down to appreciate it.

Tomorrow is another day.