Posts tagged submission

First time using slide film!

Lomography Xpro Slide 200ISO on Diana F+

When I first loaded the film into my Diana, I was really worried that my images wouldn’t develop and I would get over/underexposed photographs. I was fairly new to Lomography at that time, and reading about slide film really interested me. It was famous for its punchy, eye catching, saturated colours, and I was itching to give it a try.

My previous experience with colour negative films and black and white were not that great - only about 8 to 12 of the 16 photographs were developed each time! But when I received my slide film negatives and scans back, boy was I surprised! 16 out of 16 photos were developed!!

I was overjoyed. Exhilarated. And very proud of myself!

In conclusion? I absolutely love using slide film.

Yup, say hi to our latest contributor, Ariel Tan! We’re glad that you love slide film because so do we! Share some love and follow her back at http://peanutshutterjelly.tumblr.com/.

Take me to the beach!

Lomography Color Negative 400 on Fujica ST605N

I thought these looked so awesome when I saw them in our mailbox. I’ve always avoided anything with an ISO above 100 whenever I plan to shoot under the hot sun in fear of overexposure. But in this photo set, they simply worked! 

I love the warm, bleached out tones that made them look oh-so-vintage, it’s great! Good job May Rodrigo!

Dammit, I so need to go to the beach…like right about now!

Oh, before I forget, here’s the camera used in this set. I “google-imaged” it from The Camera Site.

Beier Beirette loves Italy

Lomography Xpro Chrome 100 on Beier Beirette

You gotta love the many photographic relics of the past. Here’s an interesting photo set by our reader hailing all  the way from Italy,Elisa Bastianello aka tagliatelelatesta on Flickr using the Beier Beirette. Here’s what she had to say:

This camera had a great story, my boyfriend chanced upon it in an old drawer and  after some digging, we found out that it belonged to my grandmother-in-law’s late uncle. He was a Catholic priest and bought the Beirette maybe in the 70s or 80s.

I shot these photos in January when me and my boyfriend took a walk at the World War 1 territories somewhere near the north of Italy. We had to cross the wild woods to reach the Tagliamento river and once there, I told him to jump up and down…and he did! It was so funny, lol.

For more info on the Beirette check out this link here.

Well, you know the drill…don’t forget to visit Elisa’s Flickr stream and say hi!

Sunset Surf

Kodak Elitechrome 200 on Vivitar Mariner

We’ve never had any reviews on waterproof cameras or even underwater shots of anything!  Luckily May Rodrigo of The Philippines, one of our regular contributors had kindly furnished us with these awesome sunset shots! A consummate surfing lover, May had been contributing shots after shots of the surfing paradise Zambales, always with different cameras & films. 

We have 2 more sets from May, and I promise you they’re gorgeous so be sure to check them out!

Well, you know the drill - follow her tumblr at http://mayprodrigo.tumblr.com!

p/s: Here’s the Vivitar Mariner. It accepts any 35mm film, has a built-in flash, needs 1 AA battery and is waterproof upto 10 feet thanks to it’s housing. Also, it has a 28mm lens but according to some reviews it’s so wide that it could have a focal length of 21mm instead. 

Apparently this camera shoots well with a 400ISO film if you plan to use it underwater but on land, it’s best to use a slower film ie: 100ISO as it tends to get overexposed with a faster film.

For more reviews, check out this awesome blog http://janneinosaka.blogspot.com/2010/10/vivitar-mariner.html

-delusiana

Colors

Kodak Ektachrome 64T (expired 1996) on Olympus OM-10, Zuiko 50mm f1.8

Check out these beautiful photos by Pia Hagenbach. I’ve always coveted the Ektachrome 64T but never managed to find them online, the only tungsten balanced Ektachromes I’ve ever used was the Ektachrome 160T (which were also beautiful & unique in their own way.)

Here’s what Pia has to say:

I found an old Kodak Ektachrome 64T in a thrift shop in Graz, Austria. It was expired in ‘96 and the price was 2€, which was awesome, because the normal price is about 8-9€ on eBay! I used an Olympus OM-10 with a Zuiko 50mm 1.8 lens.  The pictures were taken in Graz and Berlin, Germany.

Both eleanorrigby236 & myself love her photos, especially the subdued tones that brings out the retro in them!

I find that shooting expired films is exciting, of course there’s the risk of having a completely blank roll staring back at you but if you’re lucky (and patient), you’ll get a wondrous, one of a kind palette that no other modern film can match. Just check out this post by eleanorrigby236 and you’ll get my point ;)

Anyway, thank you for sharing your beautiful photos with us Pia! You can check out her photography at http://fraukatze.tumblr.com/ or visit her Flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fraukatze. 

-delusiana

Develop your own color film!

Lomo Xpro Chrome 100 on Diana Mini

Fuji CN 200 (Müller Foto) on Superheadz Ultra Wide Slim

Kodak Elitechrome 100 on Superheadz Ultra Wide Slim

Tired of spending so much dough on color processing at the lab? Like the pictures you see above? Well, today Max Zulauf of http://maxattacks.tumblr.com has a special treat for you guys: DIY Processing of C-41 Films!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• a film-developer tank (a lot of people trust on Jobo Tanks, I got an AP because they are cheaper)
• scissors
• a trash bag 
• the film you will want to process
• measuring tools
• a funnel
• Tetanal C41 Rapid Kit (they come in liquid and powder form, for 1 or 5 litres of working solution. I guess the liquid is easier to work with but I don’t know since I’ve never used the powder)
• chemistry bottles (I have plastic ones but I‘d rather go for 500ml glass bottles because they are heavier)
• thermometer
• an aquarium heater
• a timer (I use my cell, every cell has a timer)
• a water tank where you can fit the three bottles and the development tank

Introduction:
Ok, first of all, you need to know that C41 is a normed process, this means that all films whatever ASA they are, take the same amount of time to develop. This helps if you want to process 2 films at one go and they have different speeds. There are different ways to process C41, the standard is on 38°C, but this is too hot for me and pretty fast, there is the 45°C express process and the 30°C slower process. I will show you the last method, because the temperature is easier to control and isn’t too fast.

Secondly, the chemicals will weaken pretty fast, this means the more film processed in this solution, the longer it’ll take to process subsequent films. But don‘t worry, each Tetenal pack has a manual in it with a nice chart and processing times.

Thirdly, try to avoid useless air contact with your chemicals. They will oxidize and turn bad faster if you leave bottles open and so on. You can slow the process down if you get yourself a Tetenal Protectan Spray, it adds a film of gas (heavier than air, lighter than water) on top of your chemicals without affecting its processing ability.

Mixing The Chemicals & Getting The Right Temperature:

Mix your chemicals. I use 500ml working solution, this means I can keep the 1 liter kit for twice as long. Mix them according to the manual in the package and pour each part (CD for Color Developer, BX for Bleach/Fix and Stab for Stabiliser) into one bottle, close it and label it accordingly. Put them into the water tank. Also put the thermometer and aquarium heater into it and fill the tank with warm water.

It is crucial that you keep control over the water‘s temperature, because there is basically no tolerance in temperature for the process.This will now have to wait a little while, until it all is on 30°C. After a few go’s you’ll know how warm it has to be and you’ll be able to get almost the exact temperature needed. You can speed up this process by adding hot or cold water. On my part, I like to naturally heat up the water using a heater.

Load Film In The Developing Tank:

Take the scissors, film and tank, put them into the trash bag and the trash bag under your blanket. I only use the trash bag because I can trust that it’s dust-free. You do not need it but better be safe than sorry. As you know in this process, no light should get to the film. I won‘t explain the rest, since there are tons of tutorials on this out there. After you’ve loaded the film, put the tank into the waterbath as well.
(Alternatively you can just use a darkroom bag :) )

We’ll skip the part where you wait to get the right temperature. This can vary between minutes and an hour, depending on the initial water temperature.

Make sure that you have the manual with you so can be certain of the exact times need for each step.

Start developing!

First off, pour the CD into your tank. The time starts when you start pouring it.

Close the tank and put the funnel in the bottle. Put the tank back into the waterbath and just move it around there gently. You can rotate it a bit as well. Do this the entire time. This will first help you use all the chemicals, not only the parts next to your film, but it will also help the water in the tank to flow around and keep the same temperature. Because your heater is of no use if you only heat up the still water around the heater and the rest cools off. 

About 10 Seconds before the time runs out, pour the CD back into its bottle and store it for later use.
Then pour in the BX and just do the same thing like before. When you put the BX back into it‘s bottle, you‘ll need warm, running water.
Rinse the film for about 6 minutes. I normally proceed this way.

Fill the tank, invert it 10 times, pour out the water and repeat.
I normally do this 12 times, since it takes about 30 seconds each. After this it is already STAB time! No! No daggers, no knives. Sorry for that lame pun!

Put the tank on a steady surface and pour in the STAB. Just leave it like this for about a minute.
Since STAB foams so much, I never move it because it’ll exaggerate the foaming. After a minute pour in the STAB and rinse the film again.
Now it’s safe to open & check the tank.

Hold Your Breath & Open The Tank!

I normally add a few drops of wetting agent, but this is up to you. The booklet in the Tetanal kit says nothing about a final rinse and most people will just hang the film to dry with the STAB foam still on it.

Now open up the reel, take off the film and hang to dry with a clothes peg. I normally hang two more at the bottom end to straighten the film.

Wash your tank & other equipments throughly as you do not want any calcium residues (due to hard water) on them, this can affect your results the next time round. If you want, you can blow-dry your negatives or just leave them there for about 2 hours. 

You can then cut the negs, put them in sleeves and press them for a few hours (for best results) but you can also just go ahead and scan them.

-maxattacks

Edit: DON’T FORGET TO SAY THANKS TO MAX! You can say hi to him by visiting his tumblr http://maxattacks.tumblr.com or visit his flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbbbjs.

Film Soup Noob

Klick Max 200 on Supersampler

Say hi to fauxt0grapher of http://fauxt0grapher.tumblr.com who’d creatively implemented his first film soup attempt using a Supersampler! We think it produced a very interesting effect, and with tea & color negative film nontheless!

Here’s what he has to say:

Finally got the chance to try to do the film soup!

So my first soup was just a simple cup of tea which I kept in the fridge for 36 hours or so. I made the soup before I had the film exposed, so it was a little sticky when I tried to load it into my camera (even after it dried).

I didn’t want to take any chances with the Nikon as I was afraid it being sticky would break something when winding the lever.

Hence, the Supersampler :D

The results are as anticipated, although I only got 17 frames out of 24. No doubt I’m gonna try and do this again. But maybe next time I should put the film in the soup after exposing it.

Thanks again for sharing with us! Also, for those of you who have flickr, come and join this new group we’ve created called Film Soup & Analogue Experiments and share your film soup results & recipes. It’s all about experimenting & being creative, the weirder the better! 

Up up and away!

Kodak Gold (expired) on Yashica FX-D 

Look at these photos with their lovely soft tones. Kodak Gold has always been a favorite but I just adore the colors on this expired roll. Thanks for sharing your pictures from your trip with us Aman!!

Aman says,

Simply said, I went on a day trip to the San Bernadino Mountains with my trusty Yashica and came out with some pretty cool pictures. 

You too can share your photos with us by sending them to us here to be featured on CGSF!!

What the Leica taught me

Fuji Acros 100 on Leica M6, Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.4

I’ve always had trouble focusing in photography, having 6 different cameras loaded with film at once and not being able to finish any one of them.  Last year I came across an article online encouraging people to shoot with a single camera (a Leica), single lens, and single type of BW film for one entire 365 day year.  I kept coming back to the article over and over and finally went looking for a Leica online, found one and purchased it on a whim.  I didn’t have money to burn, and I didn’t feel completely comfortable dropping over $1,000 on a camera and lens.

I committed to a Leica M6, Voigtlander Nokton 35mm 1.4, and Fuji Acros 100 shot at 200 and developing in Diafine.  The article encourages you to shoot 4-6 rolls per week, but I have come nowhere near that many.  In fact over the 4 months I’ve been doing this I’ve only shot 15 rolls.  The one thing I love about it so far is that each picture has a purpose; I have not been forcing myself to shoot.  When I develop, every single picture on each roll is something I’m excited to see.  It’s taken me back to when I had only one camera and it might take me a month to finish a single roll, but each picture was a very unique moment that caught my eye.  Part of the process is also recording all of your exposure information, it slows you down and makes you want each photograph.  It’s amazing to go back months later and know exactly how you shot every photo.

Leica has a bit of magic in everyone’s mind, but it’s just a tool.  Just about everything stated in the article that inspired me is true.  It won’t do anything you don’t tell it to, it shows your pictures as they really are without any additional effects that add or detract, it’s nice and sharp but so are many other slr cameras.  Nothing extra to get distracted by; shutter speed, wind/rewind, self timer, and shutter.  It’s a beautiful and very humbling experience!

Read up and be inspired for yourself:

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/05/a-leica-year.html

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/05/why-it-has-to-be-a-leica.html

-Charlie Wray

edit: FYI, I bought my Ensign Ful-Vue from Charlie on Etsy, and in the package he’d kindly given me a print taken with his M6 and I was immediately in awe and forced him to submit a write-up on his experiences with a Leica. Thanks a lot Charlie! Makes me wanna go and start saving up for one now (though it may take years…*sigh*)

Keep up with Charlie on his tumblr http://goodluckcharles.tumblr.com!!

-delusiana

Film Soup: Silica Gel Experiment

Boots Slide 200 on LOMO LC-A+

We love it when we see our readers try the experiments we feature on this blog, and fall head over heels when we see results like the pictures Nic sent us!! Here is Nic’s take on the Film Soup recipes we have featured.

Nic Walker says,

I love your blog was inspired to follow the instructions you blogged about. 1 cup silica gel, 1 cup boiled water and a tablespoon full of detergent.

I shot the roll I soaked, a Boots Slide 200 roll on an LCA+ and I was super happy with the results. I’ve submitted four of my faves!

Do head over to Nic’s Flickr to check out more pictures from this set. Don’t forget to send us your shots too!!

The Bone Church of Kutna Hora in Prague

Kodak T-Max 400 B+W on Minolta XG-1 w/MD Rokkor 45mm f/2.0  

Went for a day trip to Kutna Hora while spending my holiday in Prague. One of the main attractions there was the Kostnice (Church of Bones), Sedlec, Kutna Hora. All the bones used for the church were from the black death plague in the 14th Century. The decorations and sculptures were created though by a woodcarver named František Rint.It was done so to create a reminder of the impermanence of human life and inescapable death. 

From the outside, the church looks like a small church serving a small community. Nothing special and nothing too fancy. Stepping into the church, one cannot help but start to feel a sudden chill and sense of eeriness upon seeing so many bones and skulls. It was not long before you fully appreciate the artistic decor and sculptures by the creator. Overall it was an interesting sight and experience and I hardly doubt one would be seeing bones and skulls to that extent!

These photos were meant to be shot at ISO 400 on the camera but due to my forgetfulness, I left it at ISO 100 from my previous film. Since the labs in my area do not do push or pull processing, I was worried that the film might not turn out correctly exposed when developed at 400ISO. Surprisingly though, when the negatives came back and after scanning them, they were marginally overexposed but still very useable. The only downside was some of the pictures were not as sharp as I had hoped but that was due to the manual focus of the lens in a low light place. Overall it is a good lesson learnt!

- Ben

Surf all day…

Kodak Ektachrome 200 on Blackbird Fly

Another submission from the lovely Lady May Rodrigo of Philippines, this time featuring surfer dudes in Zambales! Yup, while our continental readers are swathed in winter gear, we South East Asians are either getting all wet or extremely dried up in this unpredictable monsoon season. But now’s the time when the waves are huge and surfing season is at its peak!

Cross processed Ektachrome 200s is quite similar to xpro-ed Elitechrome Extra Color no? Or even those new Agfaphoto CT Precisas: favoring yellow-green-turquoise tones. 

Auckland calling

Fujicolor 200 on Canon EOS 300 (Rebel 2000), Pentax Asahi SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4

Another submission from the fabulous Amanda Lee of LUX | noir, this time in perfect autumn shades. We at CGSF absolutely love the colors, it’s just so sexy.

Amanda says,

I was wandering around the central business district in Auckland with some other photographers, and I was the only one shooting film.  The lighting was basically sun blazing down at mid-day from a cloudless sky.  In hindsight I probably should have pulled the ASA down to 100 or even 50.  

The bags on golden legs are actually from the Louis Vuitton window display which changes every month or so and is usually quite whimsical.  The two girls having their Starbucks perked up and started posing when they saw us approaching with cameras; I was the only one who lingered and you could see them immediately relaxing as soon as they spotted my unassuming cam!  The suit catching a bus was quite interesting given that it was a Saturday.  And you might not want to publish the last photo as it’s a bit rude, but I’m quite pleased with how it came out - the lens was wide open at f1.4!

Oh no, nothing is rude or wrong for the sake of art! XD

Cold Warrior

Legacy Pro 400 on Minolta SRT-102

For the first time ever, we’ve received a submission taken during the filming of a movie!

These photos were taken from set of an independent film called Cold Warrior -a thriller set in Romania in a lead up to the 1980 Moscow Olympics  where the protagonist, a young gymnast questions her dreams of glory  when she discovers that she’s part of a sinister national plot.  These dramatic photos were taken and kindly submitted to us by Anna Griffin, one of the co-producers.

The film sets to share light on allegations that in the 70’s & 80’s, sportswomen especially gymnasts were being put through “abortion-doping” to get an undetected surge of strength in  order to win competitions.

I thought the film concept was interesting and would be a real eye-opener, I for one can’t wait for this project to be premiered!

For more updates on the status of this movie, and if you’d like to offer some donation, do visit their website at http://www.indiegogo.com/cold-warrior-completion, you can watch the trailer there too. 

And don’t forget to follow Anna Griffin’s tumblr!

-delusiana

Paris Twenty

Ilford HP5+ 400 on Nikon FM2, 50mm f1.8

I thought these photos by Agnes Samour were awesome. I’m absolutely in love with her composition, especially in her first photo. The clash between the argyle tiles, stillettoes & perspective just works.

You can view more of her works at her website, www.agnessamour.com or follow her tumblr here. She also has a Facebook page dedicated to her photography so don’t forget to say hi!