Tiny but Tough

Looks like a "natural" way to desaturate the background! Pretty cool how this looks like a PS effect, Walter. Nice detail.

Hi Walt, great detail in the larger view. You can see the finely textured color on the tips of the needles. I also like the natural lighting. As always nice work.

Great image with wonderful use of PS. As a fellow Pentax user, I have some sense of what was involved in this setup. I particularly like how you handled the color, which gives this image great interest and a three dimensional effect, with the flower seemingly reaching out. Beautiful.

I like the idea here Walter. A couple of suggestions that might improve this a little in my mind, would be to either focus in a little closer on the colorful flower so that we can see a little more detail, or perhaps crop out some of the white flowers for this same purpose. Here is a quick idea attached. I may have to try something similar one day. Nice. Aloha.

 

PS- AFTER RE-reading the title, perhaps by minimizing the red flower as you have done, you actually accomplished your purpose of "tiny but tough".I should read these things first, I guess.

Very unusual and interesting composition. I understand you did the desaturation of parts of the photo while taking the shot. Well, this is an eye opener for me as I'm a not a camera geek but somewhat of a digital effects one. Beautiful effect, in my opinion.

Thank you all for the input on this. It is an interesting comment that Bob Hillman made above referring to the three dimensional quality. The first time I posted this I had similar comments. Fuji advertises this emulsion (NPH 400) as having a 3D quality. Well that is the sales pitch, but I have to say that I have not had similar results with other films.

Mahalo Vince for the crop version.

Regards.

Great composition. Striking pink against the desaturated background. Love it.

I think the photographer rather Fuji gets the credit for this. It is accomplished by the effective use of selective color and also the very precise angle and relationship of the white lines reaching under the flower.

Thanks Bob. Regards.

You always come up with something new. This is very creative. I did not know you could do this with the camera. Nice option. Nice image. Regards.

Walt, this is great work. I just bought an old Mamiya C3 TLR to try to get my feet wet with MF, but I am a little intimidated as to how to get good scans--but also good exposures. I mean by that that the prospect of nailing exposures on slides is a bit intimidating, and I don't know which way to go about getting a scanner. I only have a flatbed at present that invariably requieres a lot of cleaning of images of dust. Is there someplace I can go to find out how to do good MF scans without investing an inordinate amount of time in each scan?

 

While I'm on the subject, do you print your own photos, or do you send them off, and, if so, to where?

 

Sorry for all the questions, but this whole new venture is a bit intimidating me after three years of shooting mostly digital. If I like the process, I might move up from the C3, but right now I am hesitant to do anything until I see how it is going to go.

Hi Lannie. Well congratulations on seeing the light and investing in a MF camera. It will present a bit of a challenge but the effort will result in a worthwhile experience.

Both of my 6x7's have TTL metering, but I still occasionally use a handheld lightmeter. I use a Gossen Luna Pro SBC. It does a nice job but it is somewhat weak if I need to make a spot reading using its accessory variable angle attachment. I understand Minolta makes a great combo meter.

I use a Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro dedicated film scanner. It will scan a variety of film formats with an optical resolution up to 4800dpi for 35mm and 3200dpi for 120 film. It will also go to an interpolated 4800dpi for 120 film. More importantly, it has a very high dMax rating, so it is capable of extracting some good shadow detail. I like it a lot, but there is a learning curve (as with anything worth pursuing). Unfortunatley, I think that Minolta has discontinued it.

The Digital Darkroom Forum right here on PhotoNet has tons of information on scanners and scanning. I visit that forum almost everyday. Another good place is the Norman Koren site.

When you shoot film you are going to have to contend with dust. That is just the way it is. But you can ameliorate the problem if you have a scanner that has the ICE infrared dust and scratch removal firmware. If I am careful in handling the chromes and negs, I almost never have to spot in Photoshop when I use ICE.

You also have to contend with storing your chromes and negs. I use the Print File line of archival products a lot. They have many good sleeves, pages, and binders for MF film. If your interested, I can send you an email of the details. This is a side benefit of shooting film; properly stored, you will have a permanent backup of you work.

A thousand years ago I use to print in my own darkroom. I have given that up, primarily because of time constraints. So now my darkroom resides in my computer. I have been sending the files to a couple of places for printing. West Coast Imaging, in California, does a really great job, with prices that are competitive. I use their Pre-Flighted do-it-yourself service. They have downloadable ICC color profiles for their printers. Their shipping is better than first class and you will pay for it. I wish I could find a local printer who is comparable.

Finally, I would not limit myself to just shooting reversal film. Velvia is fantastic under the right conditions. But I have found that print film is great too. That is what I used for the above photograph.

Any way, thanks for your comment Lannie. I wish you good luck in your new adventure. Regards.

Thanks very much for the extended commentary, Walt. I have spent most of the day playing with a Gossen light meter that I bought some time ago. I think that I can do the basics there now, but getting good with a meter could be something else again.

 

The scanner is the big impediment at the present, assuming that I get anything from my C3 that is worth scanning. Not only cost, but the learning curve, is precisely what I have been avoiding, but, as you know, there are no quick fixes in photography. If you want good results, you have to put the effort into learning and preparation. How to do that and pursue a career in something entirely different is another question.

 

Thanks, again, Walt. My 120 film has come (both color and B&W). My meter works (I want to try incident light metering first), and I even have a big ball-head mount for a fairly flimsy tripod that ought to give me enough support for some test shots very soon. I've run out of excuses.

 

If this works, I might get serious about the 4x5 that has been sitting on its tripod since I bought it a very long time ago.

 

I intend to learn to shoot manual with some proficiency, in any case.

Comments are appreciated

 

 

Prints are available on my website at Yarmouth Lane Photography.

Hi I like this pic a lot. sharp good details and been off ballance makes it more interesting

Thanks John, your visit, comment, and rate is much appreciated! Regards.

Walter, great idea for making the flower pop yet show the detail of the rest of the cactus. I am going to try one like this due to your sharing of teh idea. Thanks. Happy shooting, Dave

Thanks Dave, good luck on your efforts! Regards.