One-Minute Reads about Film Photography

Combining people with surreal light for some abstract effect.

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This photo was a fun experiment with slow shutter speed along with double exposure, and all on infrared film. The Mamiya C330 twin lens camera was perfect for this composition as I put the dark R72 (720nm) filter on the bottom film exposure lens and still able to set up and view through the top viewing lens. Because of the slow shutter speed required for the infrared film (an effective speed of ASA 6 with the R72 filter), this is a tripod mounted camera shot.

I began with composing the beach with the palm trees and then waited for some people to walk on the beach. I knew I wanted some people in the shot but was uncertain what I would get whether walking toward me or away from me. I did not expect the serendipity of having these three people walk ACROSS my shot. I watched in the viewfinder and waited until all three were in the frame and took a shot at normal exposure which was f8 and 1/15 sec. The shutter speed was just enough for a bit of blur evoking motion.

After they moved out of frame, I took a second double exposure of likely about 2 stops underexposure. This rendered some of the trees showing through the people for an ethereal effect, and added more strength to the original exposure.

Fun film to experiment with. Happy shooting!

• gregory gammon / www.vinylfye.com