This was my second roll of double exposures. You can find my first roll here. It was a random experiment, I didn’t know which frames contained what text. I had better results when I did prepare and wrote which frames I had shot what on, you can see those photos here.
This was a roll of Fuji Superia 200 in my Canon SLR 500 shot around Singapore and the original images found online and shot in the dark on my laptop.
I am often surprised by the lack of editing I see in people posting their film photo’s. I don’t know of it is a) lack of understanding of post processing b) laziness c) some sort of purity mentality regarding film d) just liking the look of it. When I get my film back from the lab I am rarely satisfied with the result. My images are often over or underexposed and very under saturated. I am not going to argue that everybody should edit their photos but I would like to show that sometimes it is really worth it. This is not a showcase for my photo editing skills, which aren’t the best, but just to show there are more possibilities with your film.
Here is an example where the scan I received from the lab didn’t have any real black colors. I set a black point using curves and upped the vibrance.
Here I shot some expired Provia film receiving a very green tinted image after having it cross-processed. Some people may like this color shift, but it is way too much for me. After some editing I got a bit of a more normal image out of it, though a bit muddy.
Here is another roll of expired roll of Provia I shot, but I actually developed as a slide film. I did not expect the green color shift so I did some editing to take it out.
This was some basic Fuji Superia 200 film. The original scan was lacking contrast and color. When shooting sprocket with Superia the color lines are a good indicator what the right amount of color is. It’s quite easy to go overboard with the vibrance of saturation slider and those color lines should help you in determining the right amount of adjustment.
Expired 100 Sensia which was then cross processed. My expired Fuji films tend to go green when cross processed ( except some crazy Provia roll which went nuclear pink on me). Taking out the green tones gives me a much better image. You may ask then what is the point of shooting expired film and crossprocessing it if I don’t like color shifts and tints. Well I love the unpredictability of it and sometimes it works, but in the images where it doesn’t work I like to have the option to edit them so I can have images I do enjoy.
Read MoreSome time ago I came across this thread in a forum and I recognized the style of photos. I always liked them but I assumed that most of them used $300 ND filters which I didn’t have intention to buy. But seeing good results from a cheap piece of welding glass got me interested. I got a smaller piece of glass first, but it was very prone to light leaks.
I then purchased a much larger one ( able to fit over my 10-22 wide angle) for $6 at the local hardware store and use a reverse fitted lens hood to attach it to my lens with rubber bands. I still get occasional light leaks, especially shooting in bright sunlight so at one point I will buy a cheap filter and glue it to one.
When shooting I use a tripod and a remote shutter release. Two issues to look out for when shooting with a piece of welding glass attached to your lens:
1) Manual Focus. Focus before you attach the piece of glass because it is so dark that once attached you will have a hard time focusing. After focusing I set it to manual focus so it stays in position
2) Manual White Balance. I only recently figured that one out. My welding glass gives me a very greenish tint ( the reason a real ND filter costs a couple of hundred dollars more). But if I set the white balance manually it removes most of the greenish cast and then shooting RAW gives me post processing control to to really take care of the issue.
As you see though in the end my images end up as black and white images because somehow the photos work better in that way for me.
These were the first two photos I took with the welding glass. They were exposed at about 30 seconds at F11. I got up to 2 minutes with F22 but having a camera on a slippery rock with a piece of welding glass attached with rubber bands makes me want to shoot a bit faster. Most images are shot at 45 secs in RAW at f11.
This was the second time I went out with the welding glass. I hadn’t figured out the manual white balance yet so the greenish tint was removed in Photoshop. In the first image you can see the light leak that forms the big circle. I have taped up the edges of the glass but I don’t know if it has really helped. These days I put my lens cleaning cloth on top of the lens and glass when shooting hoping to minimize the light coming through.
My third time experimenting. When shooting with such a high f stop I need to remember to clean my sensor and lens as you can see some of the dirt on my lenses.
And finally my latest experiments. Stationary objects with flowing water around them really makes this technique shine.
Read MoreLast week I was visiting New York City and this gave me the opportunity to create some cinemagraphs. These were taken all over the city whenever we encountered anything interesting.
Cinemagraphs are really interesting because it makes you look at something differently. I don’t just want a strong static composition, but I have to consider the dynamic element and if it will actually add something to the image. The following are far from perfect but a start to a very interesting experiment.
![central-park[3]](http://www.lostaruban.com/wp-content/uploads/central-park3.gif "central-park[3]")
The Disderi 3-lens toy camera also known as the Robot camera is plastic toy camera with either 2, 3 or even 4 lenses. I got the 3-lens version as a gift a couple of years ago.(thanks Dahmee!) It’s a very basic toy camera without a hot-shoe or viewfinder or any other type of setting. Since there are no settings, its better to load it up with fast film and head out on a sunny day. Find dynamic subject that really show the movement that this camera able of capturing. Not all three lenses fire at the same time, there is some type of wheel and the pictures get taken consequentially.
Below is the first roll of film I put through the Disderi a couple of years ago in the US. Probably taken with some Konica film that I used to be able to find for $1 at the dollar store under their “memories” brand.
Below are the latest results of pictures I got from the last roll of film I put through the Disderi. Taken in various places in Singapore. It was an expired roll of Fuji 100 Sensia film. It had some very pink highlights and green shadows. I used Photoshop to reduce the pink highlights.
I gave my DIY Sharan WideAngle pinhole camera another try and I didn’t do that much better than the first time. I love the wideness of it and the slowness of shooting with a pinhole but it’s obvious I am having a major case of lightleaks. I will try this camera again and I will plug it up with a whole lot of tape and prayer.
Anybody have any experience with makes a pinhole camera 100% lightproof?
Notice how the long exposure turns people into phantoms. Also see below
Lomo Xpro 100 photos with my sprocket rocket. The Xpro so far has given me very strong contrast images without colorshift. Somehow though a lot of these pictures were underexposed. I don’t know if it was because if it was often cloudy or it was just the particular way they were scanned at the Lab. In the end I wasn’t too happy about the results.
I felt like sharing some sprocket rocket photos. Very quickly this camera has become my go-to toy camera. It has replaced my Holga for my sprocket needs. I love the sharpness and wide angle view. I love the fact I don’t have to fumble around with tape and foam to get a roll of film in or out. Below shots were made during a Holi celebration in Singapore. Holi is when you put colored powered on other people. Well it is actually way more then that but you gotta google it if you want to know more.
A film review of Ferrania Solaris 400. Very little noise for a 400 negative film. Colors are well-represented and I can’t say much more than that. This only the second time I’ve shot a roll of Solaris ( the first one came packaged with my (Golden Half). This was all with my Olympus Mju2.
