Author Archives: Brad

Jul 16 2013
2 Comments
Kodak, Kodak Ektar

Kodak Ektar 100

Every year in London on the 29th June the streets are filled with a giant party atmosphere celebrating gay right movements and various sexualities coming together to express themselves in one of the city’s more colourful events. Pride.

This is the first time i have been to pride since 2011 as i had got bored of it, for years London pride had been neglected and was usually pouring with rain for at least a few hours, however this year it seems to have been given a complete overhaul, whether people dug deeper in their pockets or maybe it was just organised better but this years pride was, fantastic! One of the best ones i have been to in years.

It was great to see the streets filled with people enjoying themselves, the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky. Music was playing on every street corner from Trafalgar Square to Oxford Circus. The city was alive.

I was already a few frames in to the Ektar 100 loaded in my camera, the previous day’s weather had been terrible and i only managed to get a few frames off around Covent Garden. I was determined to get some shots over pride, i wanted to use this colour film to my full advantage. I brought 3 spare rolls of film with me and went on my merry way into central to meet some friends at one of my favourite bar’s in Soho, Ku Bar.

For this event i wanted my equipment to be as light as possible, i opted for my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 prime for the shallow aperture and it being much lighter than my 24-70. I stuck around f/2 – f/5.6 rarely going any higher.

Annoyingly retouching has taken longer with this film, there were considerable dust and scratches and also water stains on the film which i am not impressed about, the film processing seems to have not been very thorough this time and has left me with a few frames that required more work on them which could of been avoided.

The colours of this film are so saturated and fairly contrasty, Ektar was once likened by my tutor at University for sharing similar properties to Kodachrome however i feel Kodachrome had a warmer more contrasty feel to the final photographs which Ektar misses.

The grain is very desirable and fine not impeding on the quality of the photograph, i would like to see the results of Ektar pulled to 64 and then adding some contrast in photoshop how much it may resemble Kodachrome. Although as i previously stated it is not going to be identical. Dare i say it but i prefer the result of Ektar 100 over Portra 800, even though Portra is a gorgeous film type it lacks the punchiness and saturation of Ektar.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Jul 14 2013
Leave a comment
Kodak

London’s Future Exposure

Hello and apologies for not posting as frequently the past month, I have been busy sorting out my new flat in London and working all the hours i can. Now that i’ve moved I’m 5 minutes from work and University, such a better way of living than being out in the country!

Also it means that i can go full blast with my 35mm project because being in London means more things to photograph. I have 4 films that i have got to develop and scan into my computer so there will be loads more coming soon.

I also acquired Alien Skin Exposure which i will be using more during this project. The idea is to compare the results between Alien Skin and the matching film type to see if Exposure is the digital answer for film photography. As app’s such as Instagram and Hipstamatic are gaining more and more popularity i believe it is only time before the retro effect lands itself in Professional Photography.

I’ve just loaded some Kodak 400TX Black & White film into my camera, the photograph of the film was put through Exposure using the Kodak 400TX filter.

Jul 07 2013
3 Comments
Fuji, Fuji Neopan

Fuji Neopan 400 Pushed to 1600

This post is a continuation of my previous post, for a full review and information on the creation of the film(s) and the people involved please visit Ilford HP5+ 400 Pushed to 3200

This was the first film that i shot pushed however i decided to upload it after the HP5+ for various reasons. I began shooting this film along the embankment and around Tower Bridge (inside the bridge) my Mother come to London to visit me for a couple of days and wanted to do the touristy attractions, being a Londoner i take the sites and sounds for granted as i see them every day, unsurprisingly i haven’t done much of the tourist experiences here because i do other things like work and wondering around with my camera.

When i arrived at the gym this film was almost finished, i was unsure whether 1600 would be fast enough so wanted to keep a few frames just to see how Neopan coped being pushed in the lighting available.

Shooting with my 24-70 at f/2.8 was interesting to say the least, poor lighting made it difficult to get the desired speed i wanted however i didn’t want to lower the f/stop too much because keeping some details in the background was important for this type of photography. I brought my 50mm f/1.4 incase i really was struggling for light although i wouldn’t have ventured any lower than f/2 in these circumstances.

In the end because the 1600 push wasn’t coping with the limited light i pushed a roll of HP5+ 3 stops which gave me much more freedom with shutter speed and aperture.

This roll of Neopan has degraded quite a bit, i am unsure whether the push/developing has affected the emulsion or if the process of coating the film has failed in some way as there is considerable dust/scratches and chunks out of the photographs which had to be repaired quite painstakingly in some areas (retouching with grain is always fun).

Interestingly Neopan developed similar grain properties as the HP5+ at a lower push, the contrasts are appealing however not as consistent as the HP5+ however saying this the quality of the photograph is not compromised and finishes with a classic grainy style.

I am going to enquire what developers the company i use practice with as i would like to see the results of microphen and xtol being used in development. “Do it yourself” i hear you cry once more at me, the simple answer is i would if i had the time, i do miss developing my own film however it’s much easier and faster for me if i can send it off to a developers as i work a lot. Although the next stage for the development of this project will be developing my own work at times to create my own form of photography, however i make up for some this in editing after scanning.

You’ll notice that there is only a small collection of photos in this post, this is due to me doubling up a little with the photos, plus there was some i just didn’t want to include in the final publish. Doubling up is a habit i need to get out of when shooting with film, I have used digital for such a long time it is sometimes second nature to click the shutter more than once.

I would be interested to see Neopan pushed a few more stops as i feel that it would create some fantastic punchy results.

Tagged , , , ,
Jun 25 2013
6 Comments
Ilford, Ilford HP5+

Ilford HP5+ 400 Pushed to 3200

Yesterday I finally received my replacement negative scanner, hazar!

For this film i asked a few of the lads that go to the same gym as me if they would be happy to have their photo taken whilst they do a bit of training, being the friendly bunch they are they of course said yes!

The lighting in the gym was not fantastic but good enough to get some moody shots, i didn’t want to use flash as i didn’t want my subject to look too flat, also i wanted the nuances to show more elegantly in the photographs rather than killing them with flash. “Use bounce/catchlight or reflectors” i hear you cry  – this did cross my mind however the ceilings are far too high for bounce plus i didn’t have an assistant with me.

Delta 3200 has been used a fair bit already in this blog so i clearly couldn’t shoot with that, i tried looking for some other manufacturers that rate their film as 3200 and was astonished that NONE are available. After a bit more digging i found Kodak was one of the last (other than the current Ilford range) however they unsurprisingly discontinued their P3200 range in October 2012 (recently i acquired a roll after a bit of searching which will appear at a later date).

Before shooting i did a hefty amount of research on film types and pushing as i didn’t want the photographs to be insanely contrasty that they’re unperceivable nor did i want there to be so much grain that it actually begins to impair the photograph quality. I needed to find a film that pushed beyond 2 stops fairly well and gave decent results at the same time.

Kodak Tri-X is the classic with HP5+ not too far behind, it all depends on the developer though, xtol and microphen are meant for pushing and reducing grain at the same time, while rodinal is good for a smooth, grainy classic look. There are some great examples of Tri-X pushed to 3200 however i wasn’t sure of the developer the company i use practice with so i opted for the HP5+ which Ilford state on their website it will easily push 3 stops to 3200.

The contrasts on the HP5+ i shot are quite even considering such a big push, there are some areas that are a little over done however it doesn’t ruin the photograph nor does it step into a more avant garde type of photography as the photo is still clear and detailed. The grain has increased dramatically which is to be expected however it’s fairly pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately it’s a bit snowy looking in the blacks which is a little off putting, the grain on the Delta 3200 is much more appealing.

I would happily push this film another stop or more to see the results as it has coped fantastically well with the 3 stop push.

Tagged , , ,
Jun 17 2013
Leave a comment
35mm Project

Uh Oh … Computer Says No

Hello dear readers, fellow bloggers and badgers!

While i battle hay fever and sneezing uncontrollably my negative scanner decided to have a nervous breakdown and start making some odd noises, along with going at a painfully slow scan rate. I have recently sent it off to be repaired however i’m not too sure when it will be returned to me which is frustrating as i have already got 2 rolls of film negatives that need to be scanned and written about! As frustrating as this is i’m not going to be arsey about it because technology does break and once in a while needs a bit of TLC.

Also the first week of July i will be moving to a new flat in London, hooray! I’m hoping to have some work available to publish whilst i’m moving however if you don’t see much activity on here for a couple of weeks or more please don’t worry as it’s probably a mixture of my negative scanner being delayed and the move.

I am hoping the weather improves as i’ve loaded a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 into my camera, i’ve only been able to get enough sunlight to shoot 5 frames in just over a week as the weather has been grey, overcast or wet. Not the ideal situation for a colour roll of film, especially Ektar!

I’ll keep you all up to date with any changes, thanks for reading 🙂

Brad.

Sneaky peak at photographs to come …

Negative

Jun 17 2013
Leave a comment
Ilford, Ilford Delta

Ilford Delta 3200

I couldn’t wait to shoot another DP3200. I absolutely adore this film and feel that it will appear frequently during this project albeit using different pushed/pulled settings and exposures over the next year.

This time i visited Bank as well as the subways of Elephant & Castle and Cafe’s in Wardour Street i’ve also included a self portrait, an unsuspecting fellow traveller on The Underground and EDF Energy’s mascot Zingy! I used the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and Canon 24-70 f/2.8L Mk II for this film. It has been great using the zoom lens, especially when photographing in smaller spaces. Over the coming weeks i’ll start pushing and pulling film to see how this affects the contrasts and tonal range. I’m also interested to see how pushing affects grain properties.

The grain and tonal range is as i would expect, beautiful. There is a huge amount of data that can be pulled from the highlights. Unfortunately the emulsion mustn’t of covered properly as there was considerable damage to a couple of the photographs which had to be retouched.

After shooting this film i looked for some more 3200ISO and was astonished to see that it was unavailable from any other manufacturer. There is the option of pushing slower ISO film however a lot of films start to become considerably contrasty when pushed more than 2 stops, although sometimes this is a desired effect.

In light of this I had eventually found and ordered some Kodak P3200TMAX which was unsurprisingly discontinued in 2012 however i managed to find some online!

My friend Ameila Hallsworth appears in this film a few times, Amelia is a fantastic up and coming Photographer that has a love for everything coffee and cake! Make sure to check out Amelia’s blog www.ameliahallsworth.com and her Twitter @AHallsworth

Tagged , , , ,
Jun 07 2013
Leave a comment
Ilford, Ilford Delta

Ilford Delta 400

On May 9th my friends at University and I held our own 4 day exhibition for our year 2 ‘The Unexplained’ final project. It was a huge success for us both professionally and within our University, full information and photographs of the gallery space can be found at the LSBU Newspaper LINK.

Loaded with Ilford Delta 400 I brought my camera along with me to document how the preparations for the exhibition took shape. The Gallery was well lit so i didn’t need to push the ISO any higher which was fantastic!

I used my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM for this roll of film as i wanted the adjustable focal length along with a fairly decent sized aperture, i attempted to use my 50mm f/1.4 however having a fixed focal length made me feel quite restricted especially as i was working within a space sensitive environment, also the DOP (drop off point) for the DOF (depth of field) is reduced massively at lower f stops and as i was shooting to document, a faster f/stop would clearly be better to use.

There’s a minimal amount of dust and scratches on the film so retouching was quick and easy with only slight fixes required, during retouching i was astonished at how much ‘data’ the negative contains. I scan at 3600dpi (my scanner does go to 7200dpi however after conversion to web quality there is not any perceivable difference, this is questionable for print though) and after scanning (even in pre-scan setting exposure to minimum) there are some burnt highlights, in post i was able to pull these down and i was amazed at how much i could retrieve from the burnt areas, digital doesn’t have such a wide tonal range to be able to do this especially with highlights, digital works better pulling and pushing darks and mid-tones yet i find still struggles at times with highlights.

I am impressed with the clarity and contrast of this film the images are strong and contain a fairly attractive classic filmic looking grain. Although the Kodak T-MAX has a beautiful fine grain at the same 400iso speed i feel that the Delta has better contrasts and tones which i tend to favour.

I have included a shot on the underground, originally i was going to remove this photo from the final publish however i feel that it works well, i shot with a very wide f/stop so that the focal point would be almost impossible to make out (near the woman sitting down) although the focus is a little out on the woman i look at this image and feel that it adds an eeriness and solitude to the image.

Tagged , ,
May 16 2013
Leave a comment
Fuji, Fuji Superia

Fuji Superia X-TRA 400

Following on from my previous post Kodak T-MAX 400 I decided to use the Fuji Superia X-TRA 400 whilst at the May Day March as some of the banners etc were fairly colourful, it was also to see how i got along with colour for a change.

Slower ISO than the Portra yet it handled well with the speed that i demanded on the day, interestingly the Portra 800 grain qualities far exceed that of the Superia (in my opinion). The tonal range and colours on the Superia are satisfactory but not fantastic, from this shoot i have realised that the consumer grade film is a good choice for point and shoot photography however didn’t really cut it on the final outcome for quality.

When i shoot with digital i obviously pay attention to colour, especially with the street style work i do or when i cover London Fashion Week however i noticed shooting the Superia that i was specifically looking for colour so as not to waste  frames!

A couple of days after the March i finished the rest of this film off wondering around China Town, Soho and Covent Garden. I used the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and 24-70 f/2.8L Mk II for this film. It has been great using the zoom lens, especially when photographing wider shots in tighter spaces. I’d be interested to see how this film copes being pushed as the higher contrasts from pushing may give some interesting results in saturation.

Tagged , ,
May 14 2013
Leave a comment
Kodak, Kodak TMAX

Kodak T-Max 400

On May 1st London’s street’s fill with thousands of people that take part in the May Day March. London has been celebrating May Day since the 1880’s and this year I wanted to come along and take part too….by documenting it at least anyway!

I had finished University submitting my work early so that i could get to Trafalgar Square where the march finishes at 1pm (i figured this would be the busiest spot as they give speeches afterwards).

I was able to finish a roll of Fuji Superia 400 (will publish at a later date) by the time that the march arrived.

I haven’t used Kodak T-Max before but i love the results from this shoot, the negatives (other than the DP3200) are crystal clear when scanning.  The photographs are super sharp along with contrasts and tonal range being pretty good.  I’m a bit let down by the exposure of some of the photographs however thats a technical error on my part when metering as i gave the camera aperture priority (so i controlled aperture, camera controlled shutter) this was essentially a speed thing. I used my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 during this shoot, i would of preferred my 24-70 f/2.8L MkII lens for this type of photography however i didn’t have it on me at the time.

There were times where i was sitting on the max shutter speed. What i should of done is raise the aperture to compensate however i wanted some bokeh.

Currently im favouring the T-Max as my ‘go to’ film, its sharpness and fine grain at a speedy iso with great contrasts has won me over….for now! We’ll see how long this feeling lasts once i have finished the Delta 400.

Tagged , , ,
May 06 2013
Leave a comment
Kodak

Eumig C3-M CineCamera and KodaChrome

For quite some time my grandad has been telling me about his old cinefilm camera which he acquired in the 60’s. I say 60’s because he has some footage of my mom on some old 8mm film and she was born in 1964 (sorry mom).

Today i went to see my grandparents and he pulled out this beautiful and in mint condition Eumig C3-M CineCamera.  Absolutely stunning! A small winding gear turns to wind the film on, setting the FPS and releasing the shutter gives a glorious clatter as the gears then wind the film and respectively expose it.  There are 3 lenses to choose from attached to the camera,  the viewfinder is terribly small and the coverage is something to be desired however just listening to it wind on made me go gooey inside!

Eumig

What really made my heart flutter though is when he pulled out some vintage KodaChrome.

KodaChrome

The colours and reproduction of this film is so attractive to me and i would love to have included some KodaChrome in this project.  The moment i fell in love with KodaChrome was once i saw the world famous National Geographic 1984 front cover photograph ‘Afghan Girl‘ by Steve McCurry. Shot with Nikon at F/2.5 the colours are saturated and contrasty. This combination gives an exceptionally strong image.

McCurry was the official photographer to shoot the last roll of KodaChrome, begging Kodak to give him the final roll off the production line.  You can see McCurrys last roll of KodaChrome HERE

To view the Nat Geo documentary on the last film put into production and how McCurry carefully shot each frame visit Nat Geo: The Last Roll of KodaChrome

I was gutted when KodakChrome was discontinued,  until 2010 there had been only 1 lab in the entire world that would process KodaChrome due to the different processing it required.

If my Grandad is okay with using his CineCamera I’m considering using it for my project in the future, ill do some research first on development labs and film around at the moment. Exciting!

← Older posts
Newer posts →