Posts about film pictures and the techniques used to make them.
Jarring Reality
Hand-held Double Exposure Creates Artistic Motion This is a fun image created with a double exposure, but there is another few tricks involved beyond just doing an additional exposure. After coming up the sidewalk in Chicago to Miller’s Pub, I knew this needed to be a picture, so I stopped and contemplated for a short…
Stack some Filters
Get a dramatically darker sky for a more impactful image. Most film photographers at some point become aware of the benefit of filters to enhance the impact of images. These may include circular polarizers (CP), particularly for color pictures, that can make colors more saturated and darken the blue sky. Shooting at a right angle…
Double Exposure, Double Depth
Using a trick to add texture, depth, and mixed reality. This is an example of adding depth, texture, and even movement, to an otherwise ordinary or dull picture. A tripod mounted camera and double exposure was utilized to capture this image. The trick in this image was executed by taking the primary shot, focused on…
Infrared Double Exposure
Combining people with surreal light for some abstract effect. 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…
Paratrooper
A look at a swirling retro carnival ride in motion. This is a fun look with that county fair vibe back from 1998. This film stock is no longer available unfortunately, but the readily available Kodak E100 Ektachrome is and I’m sure would give equal-to or better-than results. I shifted in these later years to…
Ghost Chess
Luminescence from down under. This is a fun picture with just a single light source. The glass chessboard and chess pieces were perfect for capturing an otherworldly shot using a slow shutter speed to show movement of the hand and piece. This image was captured by setting the chessboard on two chair backs at the…
Pumped up on Film
Industrial equipment is an interesting art form! I was driving down a back country road over curving and lightly rolling hills, when I came around a curve to see this enormous, bright white pump jack. It was like a shining beacon in the middle of a field, and I was fortunate to have my trusty…
Red Rover
An interesting shot using Cinestill 800T film. In a previous post about Kodak re-formulating their Vision 3 cinematography film, of which Cinestill 800T and 50D are derived from with the remjet removed, I commented that I wasn’t really a fan of the halo effect that comes with these films. Because the anti-halation remjet has been…
Panning for Gold
Movement in two directions. I took this shot from the back of a taxi and used a fairly slow shutter speed of 1/30 for the 85mm lens. The movement of the car blurred just about everything in the direction the car was going, but I panned with the motorcycle going the opposite direction, and got…
Tunnel Vision
Another motion-blur shot from hand-held camera. Two things I like about this shot: The train speeding by, and the red donut of light from the oncoming train. The latter effect is a property of Cinestill film, a re-spooling of Kodak Vision 3 motion picture film with the remjet layer removed, and thus the halation from…
Carnival Cruisers
A view of life at the county fair. This is a favorite of mine and really has that small-town county fair vibe. One thing I like is the motion of the people walking toward the camera, but the “carney” in the stall is sharp, and notice the young boy in the background looking at the…
Get Close and Open Up – The Beauty of Bokeh
Fast lenses are more than just fast. Lenses with particularly low aperture numbers are commonly referred to as “fast” lenses because the low f-stop allows more light through the lens where the photographer can use a faster shutter speed in low(er) light situations. But an often overlooked advantage of these lenses (e.g. 35mm lenses with…
Donuts Anyone?
Mirror lenses and life at the beach. Mirror lenses like 250mm f5.6 and 500mm f8 are fun to work with and have advantages and disadvantages. One advantage, because of their design, is that they are much more compact then glass lenses of the same focal length and less expensive as well. The major disadvantage is…
Saber Rattling
The football game with a big twist. This is an oldie back from the 1981 Texas A&M University versus Southern Methodist University football game at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. Cadet Greg Hood infamously removed his saber from its scabbard during an unauthorized incursion onto the field by SMU cheerleaders. Read more about it…
See the Unseen Light
Infrared black and white makes the unseen pop. A Two Minute Beach Read. I LOVE shooting infrared black and white photos and the effect can be stunning if not surreal. This is a good example of how the process works. You may note several things from this photo: I try to look for scenes with…
Double or Trouble?
Experiments in double-exposure hand-held photography. This was an experimental shot that has an interesting vibe to it. Shaky yet sharp. Chicago Chicago. This effect is a simple double exposure, handheld camera.. The scene was quite bright with the streetlights and theater marque, so getting a suitably fast shutter speed was easy enough. To get this…
Go Truck Go
Show motion and get a sharp image hand-held. Blurred motion adds some depth to photos and is typically done using a slower shutter speed (1/15 or 1/8 sec) with the camera on a tripod. But this image was taken without a tripod. How? It is possible to take motion-blur pictures without a tripod if you…
One-Minute Reads about Film Photography 