AuRA Rotary Assist Film Developing Machine by Viktor Falendysh — Kickstarter

Here’s a rotary film processing assistant on kickstarter that looks very well made.   I’m curious about how much difference in processing times a rotary drum makes, and whether drum speed, reversal matter.   I see that the AuRA’s standard processing turns fast for 30 seconds then slows down.  Is this really the equal of agitation?   Should a vane or other protrusion be put in the drum to assist with mixing?   I’m guessing that the film reels will provide enough opportunity forRead more

Getting usable negatives from Fuji FP-100c and other instant pack film

Luckily I’d heard that this was possible from another Eric at the Photocenter in San Francisco and kept a lot of my old negative backings from my shots.  I’m going to have to try this.  I had been mostly scanning the prints to have digital files, but now I’m curious to see if there is more detail in the negatives – sounds like there could be. The bleach needs to have chlorine in it to remove the backing so youRead more

DIY Photo Project: Create beautiful abstract photos with polarized crystals – YouTube

I saw this video on making colorful images of crystals by using a cross polarizing technique and thought I’d save it for reference.   But the principle is very simple – use two polarizing filters  – one on either side of the subject.  Maybe you could actually use anything that has a very small change in thickness that light can pass through – plastic sheet that you heat and press patterns into, whatever. DP review TV produced the video.Read more

Photoshop Color Matching Technique on Vimeo – Great technique!

Russell Brown dropped this color matching tutorial in photoshop using the RGB channels and its really quite amazing – fast and easy.  Maybe this is what I have been looking for to get the colors right on my color negative ‘scanning’? It is easy to shoot a negative over a lightbox but inverting the negative and adjusting black and white points doesn’t get you to the right colors because of the orange film carrier and also because well it’s film.Read more

Pixar in a box Tutorials on Kahn Academy

I spent part of the day reviewing color science and other really excellent tutorials put together by Pixar staff for the Khan Academy.  These were really well done and even though I know color science fairly well, I still felt that there were one or two things to pick up.  Perhaps this is because these tutorials are taught from the perspective of making movies which involve of course the science behind it, but also desired emotive effects as well asRead more

The battle between Pictorialism vs Straight Photography or rather Ansel Adams vs William Mortensen

William Mortensen could perhaps have been one of the most talented but little known photographers in the entire history of photography. Not only did he have incredible imagination and creativity, but he also had insane technical skills.   Even if you’ve been living under a rock, you would know who Ansel Adams was and be able to list off a few of his most famous photos. Both were some of Photography’s greats,   but why isn’t Mortensen as well known?Read more

Perception and Imaging Photography – A Way of Seeing by Zakia

Perception and Imaging: Photograph – A Way of Seeing     by Richard Zakia This is one of the best books I’ve read which deals with how the human mind perceives imagery.  It’s absolutely fantastic!  After reading even just the first chapters, I feel I have greatly improved both my knowledge of how to construct powerful images, and my understanding of how viewers might likely interpret my images.   This book is a must for anyone serious about improving their photography!Read more

Oh no! Learn from my mistakes

Lesson Learned!  Don’t use fibrous blotter paper to dry your prints in neat little stacks or notebooks! And definitely don’t use any fibrous material to wipe your prints dry either.  Perhaps there are better ways to speed up drying?  I was looking for more images to add to my direct positive portrait gallery and came across this old scan.  It was taken in 2013 while trying out the Harman Direct Positive Paper with my Linhof 13×18 Technika III.     Do youRead more