Category: Film photography

Jul 25

Recommend a website

Since I get a lot of requests to review and recommend other websites I decided to make life easier for myself and let you do the reviewing and suggesting. You can recommend any related website or blog you think might be of interest to this blog’s visitors.
Go here to suggest a website.

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Aug 24

Yashica Mat 124 G – The last TLR camera made by Yashica

This camera review is posted by raypg



Yashica Mat 124 G

After a long waiting time period I finally got my Yashica Mat 124 G, and I can say it is fantastic and a different experience shooting with a TLR camera.

The Yashica Mat 124 G was created between the 1970 and 1986, this camera was the last TLR camera made by Yashica, It´s almost similar with the Yashica Mat 124 the only differences is the almost black elements of the body and it has gold contacts.

The technical details it has an aperture of  f/3.5, shutter speed from Bulb to 1/500, It can handle 120mm as well as 220mm film, you can use studio lighting  and has a self time. The Yashica Mat 124 G has an internal light meter that uses a 1.3v mercury battery that is no longer available but you can get a replacement with the same voltage from Wein Cell from Amazon, ebay, etc.

Where you can get this TLR camera? well this is very simple I got mine on ebay, just find the one that is in a very good condition and with the light meter working. Mine as you can see in the photo above is like new but I found the Mercury battery spill and probably damage the light meter wires. I think is a simple repair solution but I still have no time to send it for repair.

Other way It works perfectly all the internals are mechanical so the battery is only for the light meter reading. But in the TLR world is better to use an external light meter.

Here are some samples of the first 2 rolls of film shoot in Black and White and as I already shared before using my DiY Film Scanner to share is over Flickr.

This image I use a strobe triggered using the Yashica PC Sync input

So far is a fantastic camera if you are looking more quality in your photos that you can not get in your Holga or Diana camera.

I hope you find this helpful, ah I just forgot  you can get this camera around $80-$400 dollars over ebay just be sure to get the one in better conditions.

I wrote this in spanish in my blog but I really need to shared here.

This camera review is posted by raypg

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Aug 12

More than Photography book published!

eBook: So Much More than Photography
eBook details:
So Much More than Photography
by Nitsa
PDF, 174 pages.
Special pre-release price: $10

So Much More than Photography is a book of ideas and inspiration for creative and experimental photography.

The first part of the book encourages photographing without following the rules while at the same time exploring new methods and ideas to approach photography.
The second part of the book shares numerous ways to present your photographs artistically such as Image transfers, texture layers, mixed media photography and so on. You will see how easy it is to take your ordinary photos to the next level and you don’t even have to attend an art school or have any special skills to utilize these creative techniques.
The third section includes an article about Print on Demand, selected entries from my photography blog, and final thoughts.

All the processes shared in the book are the product of many experiments, endless trial and errors, I made in the last couple of years. I hope you will find these techniques easy to do and most of all they will inspire you to create your own photo-art work.


So Much More than Photography [PDF]
PRICE: $10


Thank you for your support!

BOOK CONTENTS

Part one: Why you don’t need to follow the rules – Intro to non.photorapy – no rules – The science (art?) of photography – Abandoning the rules – Street photography – Accidental Work – Unplanned and unstaged photography -The challenges of street photography – Photographing on the move – Constructing a street photograph – Alternatives in street photography – Photographing in the rain – Shooting in the fog – Sky, sunset & sunrise
Photographing at night – Long exposure – Flash effects – Motion panning – Zoom lens effect – Shoot different cameras
Part two: Unconventional and creative photography techniques – The cameras we use – Polaroid – Holga – Other toy cameras – expensive cheap cameras – Diana – Lubitel 166 – Holgaroid – Classic cameras – Best camera for street photography – Film and scanning techniques – Cross processing – Tungsten film – Time Zero film – Multiple exposures – Expired and damaged film – Extreme and creative scanning – The negative as a frame – Computer techniques – Canvas background layer – Aging a color photo with coffee – Adding texture to a photo – Make your own textures – Texture from a mixed media collage – Working with textures and layers – Fake HDR – Positive/negative composite – Inkjet transfer – Basic image transfer (inkjet) – Perfect photo transfers – Transferring with transparencies – Xerox (photocopy) image transfer – Test transfer – Packing tape transfer – Paint transfer – Mixed media transfer – Transfer to mirror or ceramic tile – Gel Layer transfer – Aluminum foil transfer -Transfer to Polaroid – Paint a transfer – More transfer ideas – Hand coloring and painting photos. – Modified negative – Distressed prints – Mixed media and journaling – Slicing and reassembling a photo – Print on Demand – Which Print on Demand should I choose? – Standard books POD (Lulu & CreateSpace) – Publishing a Photo book – Lulu Studio – Blurb BookSmart – Publishing on Amazon – Marketing your book – Selling at your local bookstore – Online Marketing – Website/Blog – Search Engine Optimization – Join an Online Network – Link exchange – Book review – Social Networks – RSS feed – Marketing services – Paid advertisement – Document sharing services – Tools you can use – Photo editing: Paintshop Pro – FTP Client: FileZilla – Blog: WordPress

Preview selected pages from the book here

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Aug 11

Make your own texture 3

Texture from a mixed media collage 2

You can choose any surface for this mixed media background but I prefer wood surfaces such as artist wood panel or any type of wooden blocks.

What you need:
wood panel.
An old newspaper or pages from an old dictionary.
Gel Medium
White and black Acrylic paints
A big nail

1) Thoroughly cover the wood surface with acrylic black paint and let it completely dry.
2) Use white acrylic paint to cover over the black paint, but let the black paint show through in some areas.
3) Use a big nail or a screw or any other tool to scratch and distress the surface.
4) Using gel medium adhere a few pieces of old newspaper or old dictionary pages and lightly cover them with white paint.

homemade texturecountryside PA

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Jul 26

Film Photography Podcast Website Review

(This website review posted by inwardstudio)

Looking to learn more about shooting film? Appreciate and irreverent approach to life? Love the New Jersey accent?

Film Photography Podcast is for you. Michael Raso and Duane Polcou head up the cast of characters that explore many aspects of film photography. The Impossible Project, Kodachrome and old cameras fill much of the time in this bimonthly podcast.

Each episode also includes a camera giveaway. Now, these aren’t the lastest high pixel count cameras coming from Japan. These are Ebay finds and listener donations. Canon AE-1s and Agfa Clacks are some of the more poplar giveaways.

Raso also gives away film from his personal stash to anyone who will write in. All he asks in return is some info about yourself and that you load the images to their Flickr group. I’m personally waiting on a roll of Kodachrome to come my way.

If that weren’t enough, the part I find most interesting is Raso’s progression as a photographer. Even though he has worked in the B movie genre for many years, he only recently started shooting still images on film. In each episode he talks about the “new” cameras, films and processes he’s discovered. His newby nature is balanced by Polcou’s many years of experience as a photographer. The combination is perfect.


This website review posted by inwardstudio

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Jun 29

Shooting 35mm film with a Holga

Funny thing happened to me yesterday when I picked up my film from the lab. They apologized and said that sadly two of my negatives were blank or just didn’t develop right and therefore they didn’t charge me for the two. Obviously I was disappointed but oh well, this is the risk of the trade, so I just took the negatives home. But before tossing the failed negatives away I placed them over a light table, you know, just to be certain, and sure enough the negatives looked quite weird with light leaks all over the place but I could definitely see a few faint images… So I scanned the negatives and was pleasantly surprised to discover these soft beautiful images of the east side of Hollywood.
The camera these “failed” negatives were taken with was a modified Holga that was adapted to accept 35mm film and make some cool pictures. The best thing about this Holga modification is that the original Holga’s medium format exposure area is larger than a 35mm which means that the entire negative is exposed including the sprockets. Also since the 35mm does not fit tightly the images often come out very soft with lots of light leaks.
Modifying your Holga to accept 35mm is actually quite a simple modification and there are plenty of easy tutorials on how to get it done available on youtube. Check it out.


hollywood /  35mm modified Holga hollywood / 35mm modified Holga

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Jun 23

Yashica D

My latest find is a twin lens camera made by Yashica during the 50’s and 60’s which needed some TLC and lots of cleaning but looks like this camera certainly worth the effort.
It has 80mm f3.5 lens, Shutter speeds of B to 500 and it takes 120mm film.
Drawbacks: 1. it took me a while to figure out I need to press the film release button located at the center of the winding knob EVERY TIME when I want to advance the film to the next frame. 2. Gotta push down the shutter cocking lever EVERY TIME you take a picture.
3. The camera is on the heavy side.
Benefits: 1. The highly sophisticated automatic counter is a really nice feature and makes it easy to move on to the next frame. 2. The TLR viewfinder is clear and has a grid to help with the framing.
3. There is a neat little window above the lens where you can set the F-stop
and Shutter speed.
If you need the user manual for this camera you can find it on this page: Yashica D user manual (which is a part of a wonderful website that has tons of free camera manuals.)
I pretty much over-exposed all the photos on the first test roll so it’s definitely something
to pay more attention to next time.

You can find classic camera reviews and many photo processes in my new book:
So Much More than Photography – eBook edition is now on sale for $10.
Get it here

jack in the box.  Camera: Yashica D Film: Kodak Tri-X Pan 400

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Jun 08

The classic camera experience

Pink's, Los Angeles.  Camera: Kodak Brownie Film: Kodak 160NCI’ve always loved my Kodak brownie but I guess I love it even more now after I flipped its lens and found an entirely new dimension of charm and mystery to the whole experience of shooting a classic camera.

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Jun 02

photo details / cross processing

Santa Monica 3r Street Promenade / Cross processed + Positive /Negative

Camera: Nikon N75
Place: 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA
Film & processing: Cross-processed Fujichrome Provia 400X (RXP III) 35mm color slide Film
Additional details: Negative/Positive composite.

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May 29

Get yourself a classic camera!

One of the greatest benefits of shooting FILM is that most film cameras can be purchased now days for very low prices. It is even more so when it comes to Classic Cameras which can be found for ridiculously low prices in second hand stores, flea markets, garage sales, and on eBay.
This little fact means that you can have as many cameras as you wish (or at least as many as your partner will put up with) and have fun playing around with them.

My first classic camera was a 1952 Kodak Brownie Hawkeye
I found it in a garage sale and even though I wasn’t sure it was working I took it home ($8), loaded it with a black & white 120 film ($2.49), and took it out to the streets. The images turned out beautiful, soft and dreamy ($ priceless). The Brownie was a definite keeper and the beginning of a beautiful relationship with different classic cameras.

If you too are interested in using an old classic camera such as the Brownie, you have to keep in mind that most of these cameras use some type of film that might not be available in stores anymore.
The Brownie, for instance, uses 620 film, which is obsolete. But have no fear; there are a few ways to use 120 film instead. One such way is respooling the 120 film into a 620 spool, in a darkroom, a changing bag (chekc out this tutorial: www.brownie-camera.com/respool/respool.shtml) or even inside a camera that can take both type of reels (The Brownie Hawkeye is in fact one such camera).

Classic cameras gallery

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