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<p>Adirondack Mountains at sunset.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks Laura for giving us some knowledge in astronomy. So, here is the first Monday of 2016 on Earth. Happy New Year everyone!</p><div></div>

<p>Still waiting for the snow....</p><div></div>

<p>I’m shooting High speed film eventually but they are not for general use anyhow.<br /> My 1^st choice would be Natura/Superia 1600 usually rated at ISO1250. Wonderful film, with natural contrast. I can yield a nice 8x12 print and you can hardly see any excessive grain. Can’t say it much grainy than Portra800 or Fuji 800Z.</p> <p>The 2^nd choice would be Portra 400 shot at 1250 and pushed 2 full stops. The contrast would be higher than Natura, some minor color shift (easy to handle in PS) and finer grain. Quite saturated also.</p> <p>And the 3^rd choice is Provia 400X (still available on the Global market) shot at 1250 and pushed 2 stops again. More color shift, visible lost density in the shadow areas but the grain is very fine.</p> <p>I shot a couple times with TMZ3200 rated at 1600 and ask my local lab to adjust the processing time accordingly. The result was exceptional. Came out with nice prints. I did the same with Delta 3200 and the result was much less satisfactory. May be it’s just matter of processing.</p> <p>All those examples are related to the low light photography, dusk, night city etc. when I was lazy (or not able) to use a tripod. I agree with Les that for a sunny day (and the proper propeller blur!) it’s better to use a slower film.</p>

<p>Some October memory...</p><div></div>

<p>December...</p> <div></div>

<p>Sorry for your loss E. Loss of friend is always painful.<br> Well, my best shots of 2015 are yet to be scanned. Since I don’t have decent MF scanner I usually outsource them to a local pro lab. But I can use my Canon 9000F Mark II and sometimes it does great job.</p> <p>Geovanni, your “View from Palamidi Castle” is inviting. Sea, mountains and sun… Here in upstate NY, in December we still don’t have snow; it’s relatively warm, but rainy and murky. Anyhow, here’re some shots.<br> Street of Troy.</p><div></div>

<blockquote> <p>I'm a photographer, I know other photographers and I never met anyone who used them. </p> </blockquote> <p>David, I respect your opinion and experience but personalty I always use lead-lined bags and this advice I’ve received from a professional photographer also who travels around the Globe a lot. The bag cost about $20 and holds 15 rolls of 35mm films. Doesn’t sound like a huge investment. Yes, right no film should be faster than ISO400 (color or BW I believe it doesn’t make any difference). For my one trip to Europe I might have 8-10 times X-ray checkups, but never spotted any problems on the films.</p> <p>Regarding high altitude (30,000 ft.) radiation I think it’s pretty much negligible. So if your luggage exposed to the high radiation humans should too during the flight. However as Tim mentioned, crew members don’t have any health issues related to overdose radiation.</p>

<p>Mary Doo: beautiful moon! What is the focal length you shot with?<br> Morning at Pharaoh Lake. All colors gone but it’s not even close for any subfreezing images in NY also. </p><div></div>

<blockquote> <p>So, unless it is for clinical, analytic or evaluative purposes, photography needs not record a natural scene exactly the way it is at first glance. The photographer should make an image that is pleasing to him/her.</p> </blockquote> <p>Mary, can't agree more. That's exactly what I tried to say. Velvia is an iconic film but it's not bullet prove. Sometimes it works sometime doesn't. But for me it works better than any other media helping me to express my personal vision on nature.<br> Dave, I agree that the understanding of “natural color” very much depends on your personal vision and you’re right that it is the pointless discussion. But you also wrote </p> <blockquote> <p>I see images from film these days and think to myself, "Wow, those are really over saturated." </p> </blockquote> <p>I was really surprise reading this. Because I see how many magazines, websites and even Photonet are flooded with thousands over-manipulated, oversaturated, and unnatural looking digital shots that simply can blow out any gamut range or ICC profiles. Many of them got awarded and came from famous names. So, saying the film shots are more saturated than digital ones doesn’t make much sense to me. That I was trying to point in my previous comments.<br> </p>

<p>Thanks Mary. Yes, Velvia is my favorite film too, but in this situation I shot under heavy overcast conditions and spitting rain. Velvia 50 is usually rated at ISO 40 and it’s simply not enough light to execute a good shot. And you’re right- it usually gives some greenish cast. I found that in such situation Ektachrome 100VS might be a better choice.<br> David, despite that the Velvia (and E100VS) is known as a “saturated film”, I believe that it still delivers much more natural feeling than many digital shots that we are seeing nowadays. I would say that Velvia 50 emphasizes colors of nature but not overpowered it.</p>

<p>Laura, congrats on your new 7D. But you’re right: Nature doesn't know or care if our toys are new or old. No matter where the technology goes, it never replaces your vision and your passion.</p> <p>Stony Creek of Adirondacks. Contax 645 (11 yrs old!)</p><div></div>

<p>Street of Tallinn, Estonia.</p><div></div>

<p>Got a boot...</p><div></div>

<p>Mike, have you already got snow? Where is that?<br> Here're some my shots from Europe.</p> <p>Centuries... Tallinn, Estonia.</p><div></div>

<p>The wall. Troy, NY</p><div></div>

<p>Beaver Meadow Falls</p><div></div>

<blockquote> <p> Fall is in full swing </p> </blockquote> <p>Oh, well, Jim. Here, at Upstate NY the autumn foliage is way past peak already. All leaves gone and snow covered the high elevation peaks. Anyhow, I have plenty of shots taken in October - my favorite month for photography.<br> <br> Prospect Park, Troy, NY.</p><div></div>

<p>Stormy sky over Lake George. The sun breaking through dark clouds. </p><div></div>

<p>Right Charles, October is just a memory now...<br> Keene Valley in the morning. Shot from Bald Peak, the Adirondacks. </p><div></div>

<blockquote> <p>See any ghosts or goblins?</p> </blockquote> <p>John, I don't see any ghost or goblins. But it's a beautiful image.<br> I have another shot from Killarney Provincial Park, Canada. </p><div></div>

<p>Killarney Provincial Park (Ontario, Canada) is probably one of the unique places in North America. With its myriad pristine blue lakes scattered across white and pink quartzite ridges it is considered one of the crown jewels of the Ontario Park system. The cold temperature arrives much early to Canada and in the beginning of October the park is already covered in gorgeous fall foliage. And if the weather is right it could be just the paradise for the landscape photography. </p><div></div>

<p>And another one. Stony Creek of the Adirondacks, NY.</p><div></div>

<p>It's October. Let's do some fall pictures.</p><div></div>

<p>Shun,<br> Thanks for your observation.<br> No, I haven’t used any additional source of the light. It was 2 nights trip at the Tongue Mountain Range and I couldn’t afford any extra weight in my backpack.</p> <blockquote> <p>The vegetation immediately in front of the camera seems to be a bit brighter than what is farther away towards the left side of the image.</p> </blockquote> <p> I assume it happened because I might have pushed GND filter a bit too deep since I wanted to be sure it covers the bright area around the sun. The edge of the filter might not be placed straight. Also the top of the mountain (it’s Black Mt) at the left to the sun came out a bit darker than I wanted to be. I dodged it a little bit to open it up. It was quite cloudy morning at the range and I didn’t have much hope to get a good sunrise shot but had my gear ready. Then I spotted a tiny opening above the mountains at the east. I realized that I have a minute or so to create something while the sun appeared in this slot. I fired 4 shots, bracketing at 0.5 stops. One of them appears to be nailed right. </p>