“The Little Cloud who Could” in IR Film

We’ve been busy in the darkroom so have been slacking off blogging regularly.  We’re also trying to get a lot of film shot as we won’t be going out in the heat of summer, which will be upon us before we know it. 

Here’s the last two from my second roll of infrared shot with the Mamiya 645 Pro TL.

Put Put Cloud

This little “put put” cloud (the Smart car of clouds) came puttering along just as I clicked the shutter. It almost looks like a little cartoon.

Technical details and timings can be found on my Flickr site:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8731788125/in/photostream

Along Bulow Ditch

Technical processing and timing can be found on my Flickr site:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8706594041/in/photostream

Happy weekend everyone.

Happy Mother’s Day

Hope all the mom’s are enjoying their special day. 

Here are a couple more from the infrared roll I shot at Bulow Ditch.

The Path in IR

Here’s all the technical information on this shot:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8725823199/in/photostream

Against a black sky

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8725802333/in/photostream

Enjoy everyone. We’re hopping on the Harley for a Mother’s Day ride.

Behind the Scenes at Princess Place Preserve in “Digital”

The weekend is upon us again.  Soon it will be too hot and uncomfortable to be outside photographing so we’ve been making good use of the somewhat cooler temperatures. We’re trying to get ahead so that we have enough film to keep us in the darkroom when it gets really hot. 

Wednesday found us at Princess Place Preserve in Flagler County.  A couple of friends came along and took some digital images of us shooting film which we thought you’d like to see.  You’ll notice from these shots that we weren’t out in the wilds of Florida. Instead there are concrete walking paths. We still go prepared though, as we do often meander off the path and will end up standing in a area of palmetto bushes which snakes just love to hide in. 

Marks looking through my lens

Checking composition and framing

I think you’re going to like this shot

Using the incident light meter

See what I mean? Marks in the Palmettos

Waiting for the wind to die down

MMM…. Would this look good in infrared?

Marks framing the shot

The image through Marks’ waist level view finder

This was the image Marks was getting ready to shoot. His camera has a waist level view finder which I find more difficult to use. He also has a #25 red filter on his lens which makes for interesting viewing through the view finder. For the black and white film image, it really darkens the leaves and accentuates the clouds. My camera has a diopter type view finder which I can adjust for my vision when I’m wearing contact lenses.

Ready…Aim….Fire

Thanks to our friends for taking these for us. A great memento to have, share and keep. We have a bunch more which will be posted at a later date.

Have a great day and enjoy the weekend. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florida in Infrared Medium Format Film

Bulow in Infrared

Taken along the creek in Bulow. 

Technical details can be found on my Flickr site:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8715461930/in/photostream

Reflections in Bulow Creek

Both are scanned from the silver gelatin prints we produced in our darkroom. Other than a few specks of dust which were removed after scanning, no further manipulation was done.

Technical details and timings can be found on my Flickr site:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8715461844/in/photostream

Enjoy and have a great day.

Some More Infrared

Some more from the second roll of infrared film shot in the Mamiya 645 Pro TL. 

Along Bulow Ditch with IR

This was taken with the sun at my back and I can see that this is ultimately the result I’m looking for. That almost surreal other worldly look to the leaves. You can see the different way that different leaves reflect the light and provides many different layers to this image. I really love the way this one turned out.

Technical details can be found here:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8706594041/in/photostream

This next image is interesting and shows dramatically why the angle of the reflected light to the lens is crucial.

Frosty Trees in Florida?

This view took on a frosty appearance because this was taken facing Southeast. The sun was high in the sky, putting it just to the East while I was facing South.  

At this time of the year in Florida the sun is almost always slightly South and never directly overhead. I still really love the effect that this gave.

I took a photograph several years ago of this same view which we did in Lith. Apart from the Lith processing, the only difference to the image is that the tree limb in the very front has since broken. Next time it will probably have fallen off altogether.

I’m loving experimenting with this film. The ethereal images I am getting are right up my alley.  

This was the first time I used the opaque filter, the R72. Focusing was done without the filter on the lens. Once everything was all set up, I added the filter. I caught myself each time trying to look through the viewfinder only to find that with the filter on I really couldn’t see anything at all. That was pretty strange for me because before I press the shutter I’ve always double and triple checked my focusing etc. Couldn’t do that this time though.

All the technical detail for this image can be found here:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8706593999/in/photostream

From a soggy wet Florida, have a great weekend from both of us.

Nature’s Porthole Infrared

It’s been a very wet few days here in Florida which has made for perfect conditions for Marks to get some of our film developed and printed in the darkroom.

From my previous post you’ll see I’ve been experimenting with an infrared type of film, Ilford SFX. Not truly an infrared but perfect for practicing. From the results I got using this film with my brand new R72 opaque filter, I have an idea what to do and what not to do.  

As the R72 filter is pretty much opaque, focusing was done prior to putting the filter on. Both of us also noticed that positioning of the image in relation to the sun was crucial for a good result. The first roll of Ilford SFX was shot with the Holga. I pretty much shot away as I had no real idea what to expect. This time I used my Mamiya 645 Pro TL.  Here are a couple of the resulting images.

Nature’s Porthole

Taken from the shade of the path you can see the trees in the sun have taken on this “other worldly” quality. I love the ethereal beauty of this scene. This image was scanned from the silver gelatin print and no post production was done to alter the image. Just dust removal.

Technical details can be found here:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8705269412/in/photostream

The next one was my first shot of the day. This was taken early in the morning (just before we ran into a group of wild hog). It was taken from an observation platform which overlooks the mud flats which are under water during high tide.

Dramatic Florida

This is such a dramatic look to my eyes. You’re going to have to take my word for this, the digital upload does not do this any justice. Actually in most cases, converting analog to digital loses something in the translation. The Moersch Tanol film developer we have been using creates an edge effect. You can see that on this print clearly. The trees look like someone drew them with a charcoal pencil, each edge clearly defined. The sky had a high layer of haze, invisible to the eye, but obviously visible to the film. 

Timings and technical details can be found here:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcsilverspring1/8705269446/in/photostream

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

 

Our Special Little Furbaby

We’d like to share something personal with you. This is our eldest “furbaby” kitty boy, Bucky.  

Bucky has developed a little medical problem. Nothing that can be fixed. Like so many older people/animals, he is losing control of his little bladder. Just like we would look after any of our family, the same goes for him.  We just deal with the problem because other than that there’s nothing wrong with him.  He is also in remission from diabetes which he developed about 18 months ago and suffered from for about one year. He’s bright eyed, loving and eats like a little horse.  

He’s the most laid back and tolerant of our kitty kids, thank goodness. Due to his “little problem” he does have to have a bath several times a week. With minimum fuss, he puts up with this. He knows that after bath comes brushing and treats and Bucky loves treats. It’s amazing to us that this kitty boy who was born a wild cat is so comparatively calm, loving and trusting through all of this. After all, you know a cat’s natural hatred of water.  

As Bucky is pitch black with just one splash of white on his tummy, it’s been impossible to get any good “digital” images of him. We decided to try with film. Now imagine this, bright studio lights and an unfamiliar studio setting and a kitty boy who really didn’t want to be there. The first attempt with the 35 mm camera was not great. He was moving around a lot. Not really wanting to be there and the film was way too slow.

Marks decided to try with a faster film. Using Ilford Delta which has an iso of 3200 which he shot at 1600 he managed to get some that we feel really do him justice.

Bucky and Mama

In an attempt to keep him as black as we could we decided on using a selenium toning on this one.

You might notice that Bucky has a “reverse” coat. In other words he’s black but the hair closest to his skin is white. Very strange.  In this image you can see his little white flash of fur on his tummy.

Marks took this with his Mamiya C330 in our studio.  All the technical information and timings can be found on his Flickr site:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/majo-09/8690284870

We welcome your comments always. Thanks for viewing.