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seanmoran

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Posts posted by seanmoran

    k1000 guzzles batteries

    in Pentax

    Posted

    No - my batteries last for years. You are right to cover the lens when not using the K1000: this switches the meter off. I wonder if light entering through the viewfinder might keep the meter on? Perhaps keep it in a case between outings?

     

    Best wishes,

     

    Sean.

    Wanted: ultra-cheap, photographer-tolerant country outside U.S.

    in Travel

    Posted

    Surprisingly - Karachi is a fabulous city for photographers. It is not the first city that would enter the head of a would-be tourist and this , paradoxically, is what makes it a good choice. Eat like a king for a dollar, speak English to many of the locals, meet the most amazing people (many of whom would be honoured to be photographed). Accommodation is cheap, and you might even try Indian massage for your back. I was there last Christmas and I will be there again this coming Christmas (Insh'Allah).

     

    I am of obviously Western appearance and met only with friendliness from the Pakistani people.

     

    Good luck,

     

    Sean.

     

    PS If you read the US or UK foreign office advice on their web-sites, you will be put off and miss the experience of a lifetime.

    Sigma 105mm 2.8 vs Nikon 105 2.8D-decent portrait lenses?

    in Nikon

    Posted

    I'm not sure that there are any bad lenses for portraiture in the 85mm, 90mm, 105mm range. The 'worst' lens I possess (a Takumar-M 135mm f2.5) is a great portrait lens for women of a certain age, for whom the 'best' lens I have in the portrait range (a Tokina 90mm f2.5 macro) is too cruel. The Sigma would be fine.

     

    Good luck,

     

    Sean.

    Does Ilford still manufacture perceptol?

    in Black & White Practice

    Posted

    I've been using Moersch EFG from retrophotographic as a replacement for Perceptol and it is wonderful with HP5+ rated at ISO 200. The only slight downside is it makes 2 litres and there are no instructions so you need to download the Perceptol information sheets from the Ilford website. According to this month's 'Black & White Photography' (superb UK magazine) Ilford are outsourcing liquid chemicals and are seeking a supplier for the powder range.

     

    Roger Hicks (he of the curmudgeonly but highly readable column in Amateur Photographer') usually has good industry intelligence. Roger?

     

    Best wishes,

     

    Sean

    Any props shooting portraits

    in Portraits & Fashion

    Posted

    I've been thinking about this ... don't laugh ... my ideas was to take along a selection of objects for the sitter to chose from and to subsequently hold in an interesting way. Perhaps you can help me with my list? The criteria are that the objects should be small, cheap and visually interesting in combination with a face. Props so far: chopsicks, a briar pipe, a dagger, a candle, a magnifying glass ...

    Asian Skin Tones - Filters and/or Exposure??

    in Portraits & Fashion

    Posted

    Hope this doesn't sound too pretentious, but I use a sort of zone-system approach to this.

     

    Here in Northern Ireland, many of the caucasian inhabitants would have pale, untanned faces corresponding to zone VI (ie one EV above mid-grey). So, I meter from their faces and open up a stop.

     

    For Asian people (eg Pakistani), I decide where their skin-tones fall on the zone-system. This is usually Zone V (mid-grey in B&W), so an uncorrected reading from the face is fine.

     

    There are other considerations, though. If you look at Bollywood films, you will notice that the predominant media notion of beauty is pale skin (in fact the Urdu/Hindi word 'Gori' means both 'white woman' and 'beautiful woman'. Whether or not you want your photography of Asian (UK sense) women to conform to this stereotype is up to you, but some sitters might not appreciate being portrayed as dark. It is ironic that many NI women wear fake tans or use sunbeds, while some Asian women use preparations (some of them containing dangerous mercury compounds) or make-up to look lighter. These are dangerous waters for me - a 'gora' - to enter, but I hope you find my comments useful.

     

    By the way,HP5+ is a great choice for tonality. If you can get hold of Ilford Perceptol (or the Moersch equivalent), you will get excellent results, rating HP5+ at 200 ISO.

     

    Perhaps you could print the same negative to slightly different densities and contrasts and ask your sitter which she prefers. Then, you would print the others to have the same 'look'.

     

    By the way, do you know the trick of flipping the negative, so that the laterally inverted print looks to the sitter more like the image they are used to seeing of themselves in a mirror? Also, do you know the technique of putting a blob of 'blu-tak' on a piece of stiff wire and using it to lighten the eyes and teeth when printing, by casting a shadow. (Keep the wire moving to avoid distinct wire-shadows).

     

    Good luck.

     

    Enjoy!

     

    Sean.

    Belfast - Donegal

    in Travel

    Posted

    I hope you enjoy Belfast, Charo.

     

    Photographing the gable-end murals should be no problem: no one has ever said anything to me - from either community - about me photographing these pieces of tribal art. They are public statements, intended to be viewed, and many of the residents in the mural-rich areas would be proud of them. The Shankhill and the Falls would be two places to try, but some of the local black cab (taxi) firms offer a guided tour of the murals, so this might be a good idea if time is tight. (Why only a day? Belfast is worth much more time than that. The people are very welcoming.)

     

    An interesting looking pub - both inside and out - is The Crown in Great Victoria Street (opposite The Europa Hotel).

     

    Two good areas I have used for safe street photography:

     

    1. The city centre around the City Hall and Royal Avenue. Buskers, street traders and local characters are all to be found here.

     

    2. The university area around University Road and Botanic Avenue is also a good spot and there is a pavement cafe vibe about the latter that might surprise you.

     

    Hope you have a good trip. Let me know when you are coming and I may be able to meet up with you.

     

    Sean.

    100mm Macro: A Good Portrait Lens?

    in Pentax

    Posted

    Using full aperture can also help. At this aperture, performance is less than optimum and it can be an attractive effect to have just the eyes in focus because of the wafer-thin DOF. If the eyes are bloodshot, however, this could look a bit scary and I have known portrait photographers provide a fresh bottle of Optrex to their subjects to alleviate this.

     

    Sean.

    Best developer with hp5=

    in Black & White Practice

    Posted

    I've been getting lovely results rating HP5+ at 200 ISO and developing in Ilford Perceptol. The latter formulation is now being made by Moersch and distributed in the UK by www.retrophotographic.com. I bought some but I haven't used it yet (still got some 'ur-Perceptol' left).

     

    Good luck,

     

    Sean

     

    PS HP5+ is pretty robust and unfussy about what it is developed in. But:I have found acutance developers [eg Acutol] to be a bit grainy with this film - particularly when exaggerated by the Callier effect of condensor enlargers.

    Where did this spring come from??

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Hello folks,

     

    I've seen many displays of erudition in this forum and I'm hoping it

    extends as far as answering my rather technical question.

     

    A small spring fell out of my newly-acquired Leica M3 D/S (1956

    vintage; S/N 834770) and I would like to know where it has come

    from. It is helical and about 8mm in length by 1mm wide. The actual

    coils part is 4mm long, so the end-loops are 2mm diameter each.

     

    It fell out from the around the shutter-blinds, but I'm hoping it's

    not from there, because the shutter appears to be functioning

    normally. However, the frame-change lever has does not spring back

    by itself when you move it (it has to be returned to its central

    position manually) and I would apreciate your opinion as to whether

    this is a likely source for the spring. If it is, I'm happy. I can

    live without the frame preview facility. If not, where do you think

    it's from?

     

    If anyone can help me with this query, I will be very grateful.

     

    Over to you ...

     

    Best wishes,

     

    Sean.

    3 weeks in March... India, Laos or Myanmar?

    in Travel

    Posted

    Hello Maciek,

     

    I have recently returned from three weeks in Karachi and Lahore and can highly recommend these cities (particularly Karachi) as places to do street photography. The fact that there are virtually no other tourists there means that the locals are not fed up with having cameras pointed at them: they will often volunteer to be photographed and even give you free samples of whatever they are selling. You would be regarded as an honoured guest - particularly if you wear a shalwar kameez (approx. 4GBP) and learn a couple of Urdu phrases. Even when I was mistaken for an American (I am slighly overweight) there was no problem.

     

    Friendly, decent, photogenic people (at least the ones I met).

     

    Just a suggestion.

     

    Good luck

     

    Sean.

     

    PS Don't read the UK Foreign Office or US State Department web-sites too creulously or you will not even contemplate a trip to Karachi.

     

    PPS If you do decide to go, I can recommend hotels, barbers, taxi drivers etc.

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