classcamera

What I like about this photograph:

I like the nighttime composition; I like the low angle, and the truck; I also like the way the street channels the viewer to the building in the background.

What I think needs improvement:

There is not one hint of shadow detail in this photo (yeah I know it is digital) they are all black; the color balance is off, the green lights are blue; and I am so utterly bored with the tilted architectural image that I fell asleep looking at your.

Sometimes mass appeal means you have dumb things down--this is one of those cases.

This is a very nice photo to look at, and is a very interesting landscape for most of us in the US. I think the clouds are awesome, as is the rain; also good are the colors of the sky and the contrast with the mountains. What is not working in this photo is the complete lack of foreground interest. Lower the camera a bit more and bring in the base of the tree in the foreground. This will bring the viewer into the picture and give them a feeling of actually being there. The sky in this picture would be just as good with the tops of the clouds at the top edge of the photo, so it would not hurt it one bit to have more foreground.

Aside form the above, excellent photo.

Hello,

This is an excellent photo in every regard. However, I do want to know where you got Kodachrome 200 in 120, and had it render a fine black and white image?

Marm

Check out the graffiti on the pole in the middle of the pict.

regardless of your politics it is funny that someone tagged a three

inch wide pole.

Mark

This is an overall excellent photograph. The exposure is very good, and the tonal gradation is very pleasing. I think it could be improved by cropping it so the railling is coming from the lower left corner, and there is more of the walk way--Get us on the walkway! Otherwise this is a very strong photo. Well Done!

Mark

Shot using a Zeca Goldi on E-200 color slide film, the exposure was 9

seconds at f:16. I like the drop off of the light above the street

lamps that illuminate the platform. I also like the mid-ground and

the tower in the back-ground.

Please give me some ratings. This was shot with my Ricohflex

Holdiay camera with Ricoh Anastigmat lens and B,25,50,100,200

shutter speeds. The film was Ektachrome E-100G and the exposure was

1/100 at f:16

Shot with a Zeca Goldi 4cmx6.5cm on Ektachrome E200, which I custom

cut to 127 size. The exposure was around 3 minutes at f:11. I love

the trolly and the crane, also how new the tram feels while next to

the ship yard crane that is probably vintage WWII!

Shot on Portra 400NC cut down to 127 size, the camera was a Gray Baby

Rollei with 6cm Xenar lens. Exposure was 1/100 at f:22, camera was

hand held. Other than a slight crop this is an un-manipulated image.

I was in this case only left to assume that the image had been digitally manipulated before submission, and therefore what I was looking at, was the finished product, which had been scanned. Keeping in mind I submit many comments at the end of a long work day (at a really dull production job) and sometimes I seem a bit curt.

To be more constructive, I will give how I would have approached the capturing of this image. Please keep in mind that I almost never expose film in the light of day, and have taken somewhere in the area of 200 sheets of 4x5, and 75 rolls of 120 at night in the last year (I don't own a scanner otherwise I would share). For this scene I would start with the now unavailable Verichrome Pan, meter the shadows, and the distant highlights, record both of these for later use (pull 10% for each stop difference). Set the exposure for the shadow reading and bracket one stop under and three stops over in 1/2 stop, increments. Yes, I get cold standing around for all that time. On camera setup, I would probably have used a sun shade, maybe a 1X UV haze filter, leveled the camera, and made most adjustments keeping the cameras as level as possible.

In the dark room, I would have looked at my notes (sometimes I write information onto the roll, other times in a notebook), and determine the amount to pull the development. I like either Micordol-X, or PMK-Pyro, because they give the most printable highlights and the most shadow detail. Times and agitation are by the manufactures recommendations. Despite mentioning a super proportional reducer, I rarely use such a chemical, with the massive amount of bracketing they are usually not needed. Once the negatives are dry I select the exposure that has the least blocked high lights, and the best shadow detail, this is usually in most cases, 1.5-2.5 stops over exposed.

In printing, I use only graded fiber based paper, usually gravitating to a warm tone emulsions such as Ektalure, Or Portriga Rapid (which I purchase used at swaps and off ebay, since neither of these is in production), usually a grade 2 is as contrasty as will print well, but sometimes the 2.5 of Ektalure is more pleasing. The Ansco 130 I mentioned is way too contrasty in stock form so I have found it to be best 1-3. For exposing the print, I take a full sheet of paper (not a strip) and expose it in 10 second increments at f:11 for 2.5 minutes; develop this as you would the final print. The full page size allows me to judge the amount of time to give each part of the print, foreground, sky, etc. If the times for the test print are okay then I make two more exactly the same way to be used to judge tonal change for Sepia toning and Selenium toning; this really takes the guess work out of toning prints. I allow these to dry overnight and then, press them in my mounting press to allow me to totally judge dry down. Once all this is done I am ready to print the final image and get the final result I wished.

I hope this has cleared up some of the mystery of nighttime photography.

As for the choice of film, exposure, and development, they could use a little work. There is a loss of contrast in the background indicating a need for more pull in development, a better compensating developer, or a super proportional reducer. The film choice is not a particularly wise one, because the delta (T-grain style films) are very fine grained but suffer in giving a full tonal range negative; they also (as with T-Max) tend to block up on the high lights, as is evidenced by the gray (Read as over burned) street lamps in the foreground. Also, I wish I knew what paper this was printed on, so I could steer clear of it in the future. What I expect to see a paper do on a night time picture is give rich deep lustrous blacks (read as a good thick layer of silver) and have crystal clear dazzling whites. The above print has only a few dark grays and the whites are less than stunning. Just by looking at this print I would guess it was developed in Dektol, I prefer Ansco 130 for my night time shots. The 130 renders stunning tonal gradation and breathtaking contrast, while still having a good shelf life and being cheap to whip up.

Otherwise this is a perfectly fine first attempt.