Exploiting Your Point and Shoot Release

Things went faster than expected so we decided to release Exploiting Your Point and Shoot now instead of waiting until next year.

Most of the photos in this book were shot with a sub-$100 dollar camera. Point-and-shoots are not simple “birthday party” cameras. They are remarkably capable light processing machines. Point and shoot features coupled with their small footprint make them an excellent choice for countless shooting situations. This books shows you how to squeeze performance out of your point and shoot and produce images you’ll be proud of.

Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Exploiting-Your-Point-Shoot-Stefan-ebook/dp/B00R6STGB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418992717&sr=8-1&keywords=exploiting+your+point+and+shoot&pebp=1418992720432

Check out the website here: http://xpointandshoot.wordpress.com

 

Frost Pattern

There was an interesting frost pattern caused by the early morning sun.

I shot this with a Canon S110 point and shoot.

 

Nighttime Freeway Abstactions

We were coming home from a family birthday party last night and I didn’t drive. That gave me a chance to try a reverse light painting technique with my little Nikon Coolpix 3100.

I sat in the passenger’s seat and shot out of the front window.  We were taking I-75 North from Grosse Ile, passing through the heart of industrialized Detroit.

In normal light painting, the camera is stationary and the shutter is kept open while the light source moves. What I did is kind of a reverse light painting and works well at night. Take your camera (a cheap point and shoot works really well), press down on the shutter release, wiggle the camera a little bit, then point the camera to an area of complete dark and wait for your camera to complete the exposure. 

I processed the shots in Lightroom. It’s a cool technique and is fun to play with. You never know what you’re going to get as a final image. There’s a few more here: https://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/freeway-abstractions/

 

Popping Black and White

Much of the time when shooting digitally in black and white the depth and breath of tones isn’t what you envisioned. You might have a great shot, but the highlights, mid-tones, and shadows are muddy. Here’s one way to help make your black and white photos pop.

For this example I used Pixelmator. Pixelmator is image processing software created exclusively for Macs. It’s kind of a cross between Photoshop and Lightroom and only costs $29.99 US. You can download it from the  Apple App Store. If you don’t have a Mac, you can use GIMP, the free, open source Photoshop clone.

Here’s the original photograph taken in Downtown Detroit.

I like the Free Coffee sign, the hand pointing up, the two guys talking to each other and the beat up signs in the foreground. What bugged me about this shot were the dull highlights. So how can this be fixed?

Curves

One of the most powerful features of image processing software is the Curves adjustment. Curves allow you to adjust the tonal range of your image, which is just what we are looking for.

You simply move the curve or move the points to improve your image’s tonal range. There is an almost identical dialog box in GIMP.

Dodging and Burning

Dodging and burning are old darkroom techniques. Dodging decreases the exposure of an area, making the area lighter. Burning increased the exposure, making it darker. Just think as Dodging as lightening and burning and darkening.  In the film world, dodging and burning were difficult techniques to master. In the digital world it’s pretty simple.

 

The dodging tool looks like a feather duster. You can select the range of tones you want to dodge (lighten). These are Highlights, Midtones and Shadows. You can also vary the exposure with a slider bar.

Burn tool

The Burn tool looks like a flaming water drop and works like the Dodge tool with the same tone and exposure selections.

The photo below has curve adjustments and was burned and dodged. I made the white really stand out for this post. Normally they wouldn’t  be so pronounced.

As you can see, this photo ‘pops’ a lot more than the original.

If you work with a Mac, pick up Pixelmator. It’s a great program that’s dirt cheap. If not, check out GIMP. I’ve used GIMP extensively in the past and think it’s a great tool.

Holga Shots

I took my Canon 30D with the Holga lens with me this morning and took a few shots.

I’m really starting to like this lens, even though getting the exposure right is a little weird. The camera is set to manual and the aperture on the Holga lens is pretty much fixed, so you have to fiddle around with shutter speed for control.

I find that, at least on the 30D the shots tend to be overexposed and have to bring it down in Lightroom. I’m planning a new photoessay on everyday urban blight. Here’s a sample of the types of photographs the study contains:

There’s a hidden aesthetic in the commonplace and that’s what I hope to capture.

I’ll have a lot more on this in future posts.

Around Detroit

I misplaced my little Nikon 3100 point and shoot a while ago but found it. After charging the battery I went shooting for an hour in downtown Detroit this week. Here are a few shots:

Even with all its faults (out of focus when zoomed, slow recyling time) I still really like carrying this camera with me for street shots. For more, go here: https://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/around-detroit/

Holga 60mm Lens for Canon DSLRs

I’ve been on a Holga kick lately with acquiring two Holga pinholes cameras. Holgas shoot 120 film and I’m getting set up to develop negatives and make prints, but that’s a ways off. I wanted the Holga look now, so I bought a Holga lens for my Canon DSLRs.

 

The lens, made completely of plastic, goes for $24.99 at B&H. You can get one here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/762095-REG/Holga_775120_Holga_Lens_for_Canon.html or you can get one on Amazon, Adorama, etc.

The lens has a focal length of 60mm and is fixed at f8. There are four focus settings from portrait to landscape. Here’s the first shot taken with the lens using a Canon 30D.

The Holga charm comes through using this lens with its soft focus and natural vignetting.

To effective use the Holga lens your DSLR needs to be in manual. It takes some work dialing in this lens along with getting used to the four focus settings. Be prepared to tinker.

We went for a short drive so I could check out the lens. Here’s the intersection of Main Street and 14 Mile Road in Clawson.

This was shot through the car windshield directly into the setting sun. I was hoping for lens flare and I got it.

This was shot in a park in Royal Oak at dusk.

For twenty five bucks the Holga lens is a great investment. You get the Holga look with little effort. I’m going to spend some serious time with this lens.

Holga Pinhole Cameras Part 1

In the last few posts I talked about returning to medium format black and white film. I made a homebrew pinhole “lens” from a camera cap and did not get what I wanted. I bought two Holga pinhole cameras, a Holga-120WPC wide angle model and a regular Holga 120 Pinhole. They both take, of course, 120 film. Here they are (shown with the lens caps off):

Holga 120 Pinhole

Holga 120WPC

Holga cameras are made in Hong Kong and have a big worldwide following, both the models with  lenses and without. The wide angle version is a monster, as you can see from the picture above. Since the cameras are built so cheaply, Holgas are notorious for leaking light. This is part of their appeal, a lot of photographers believe. It’s been said that no two Holgas are alike, which makes yours unique and supposedly endears you to it.

Loading the film is easy, and on the Holga 120 pinhole you have a choice of 12 or 16 exposures. Same with the 120WPC. The very first thing you need to do after loading the film is to PUT A PIECE OF TAPE UNDER (OR OVER ON THE 120WPC) THE METAL BACK HOLDERS. It’s ironic. I was just watching this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB4f0femgjE

and laughing at Kai when the back of his Holga kept falling off during his shoot. It’s raining outside today so I thought I would take a shot of the deck through a lower window. I picked up the tripod the Holga sat on to move into position and guess what- the back fell off. I was on the ninth exposure and thought I had a couple good shots. I’ll develop the negatives but I don’t have much hope. Again, tape the back holders so the back doesn’t fall off. It’s only a matter of time until it happens to you.

Holgas are cheap. The basic Holga 144-120N goes for $29.99 on B&H’s website, the 120 Pinhole goes on Amazon for 32.92 and the 120WPC is $49.95. If you plan on using the pinhole versions you will need to use a cable release and tripod. The cable release for the 120 Pinhole is a mechanical contraption that fits over the lens (you can see it on the photo of the 120 Pinhole. The thread size on the cable release is non-standard and does not fit my Canons or Yashica Mat124-G.

I’m going to start shooting with the Holgas today and will soon develop the negatives. I’ll have more about these quirky cameras in later posts. You can check out the whole line of Holga cameras here: http://shop.holgadirect.com

Pinhole Photography

I’ve always admired pinhole photography. I converted a camera cap by drilling a hole in it then cutting out a piece of metal from a pop can, poking a hole in it with a pin and taping it to the camera cap with black electrical tape. Here’s a good tutorial how to do just that:

http://www.howtogeek.com/161794/how-to-take-pinhole-photos-with-a-digital-camera/

Here’s some results with a couple of different hole diameters. The first shot is with a large pinhole and the second with a smaller pinhole.

Big Hole

Little Hole

  

The first thing I noticed was every spec of dust on the sensor, no matter how minute, showed up as a big black spot in the resulting image. This required a lot of work to clean up in Lightroom. I set the camera (Canon 30D) on a tripod and, after each exposure, checked out the histogram. That’s the only way to tell if you’ll get a reasonably exposed shot.

The images were not what I expected or wanted. So, what to do? I read about Holga pinhole cameras. They are made entirely of plastic, leak light and have a big cult following. I bought two of them- the standard pinhole and the panoramic version (Holga-120WPC). Holga’s are essentially toy cameras that are made in China to bring photography to the masses. They use 120 film, which is my preferred film size. I’ll be using Tri-X like in the Yashica Mat 124-G. I’m expecting the cameras any day now and will continue posting after they arrive.

Film: A Slight Return Part II

In the last post I pulled my Yashica Mat 124G and shot a roll of TRI-X (12 exposures) in the old house we rented in Grand Haven, Michigan for a week. Yesterday we went to Camera Mart in Pontiac to pick up some equipment and chemicals to develop the negatives. The Camera Mart people are first rate and always willing to help. Here’s what we bought:

• Kodak TMax developer
• Ilford Rapid Fixer
• IlfoStop Stop Bath
• Kodak Photo-Flo 200
• A Kalt stainless steel developing tank (One 120 reel)
• A Kalt stainless steel reel
• A filmstrip squeegee
• A graduated cylinder
• A thermometer
• Three one quart Delta 1 photochemical containers

 

All of it was around $112, which isn’t too bad. I thought about getting a bag of D-76 and mixing the developer, but TMax seemed to be more convenient since it, like that other chemicals, are in concentration. The mixture is one liter of of TMax to four liters of water, so I will have to figure out a one to four ratio for the quart containers. The fixer is also one to four. The Stop Bath is one to nineteen. The Photo-flo ratio is one to two hundred, which is going to be tricky to measure for a one quart container. I read on the Web somewhere that a guy uses an eye dropper to mix his.

There are two big elements to developing negatives- mixture ratio and time in the tank for each chemical. The critical time, naturally, is for the developer.

So I’ve shot what I think is a pretty decent roll of film and I’m apprehensive about screwing it up. I’ve developed hundreds of negatives, both 120 and 35mm, but that was around thirty years ago. I bought a five pack of TRI-X and have the second roll in the 124-G. I’m going to shoot the second roll on junk and use that as a guinea pig to see if I can get the film threaded correctly on the reel. Before I potentially destroy an exposed roll of film I’m going to sacrifice an unexposed roll and thread it on the reel in the light of day, over and over again until I get the feel back. The worst thing that can happen is the film sticks together on the reel, ruining the exposures. I can’t tell you how many times that happened to me in the past. Practicing with the film in the light (with my eyes closed) will help when I’m doing the real thing.

The next step is to go to the grocery store and buy a few jugs of distilled water and mix the chemicals, then practice, practice, practice loading the reel to prepare for the real thing.