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In today’s world of digital photography “instant” means looking at the back of the camera at the screen.

Yet even in today’s world there are still those to which “Instant Photography” is a physical image, you can hold in your hand. Polaroid used to have the strangle hold on instant photography, Fuji managed to sneak into the market also (and have survived). But in 2009 Polaroid ceased making instant film and cameras.

SX-70 Sonar OneStep

Enter the Impossible Project, which earlier this year re-introduced the film to the world, after buying out the last Polaroid factory in the Netherlands, and began selling off whatever stock was left behind while working to re-invent the integral film. And earlier this year they brought around film packs that allowed the thousand of users to once again make use of their old Polaroids, such as the SX-70 (film for this camera stopped in 1996), and 600 series. The PX series film, the first flush was unstable at the best of times, maddening at others. The second line of the film doesn’t suffer as poorly from the issues with the first run. I haven’t had a chance to use the second version of the PX100 series, or the new colour film they just brought out last month. I will probably wait until the second version of the colour (and maybe a third version of the PX100) to come out before making another order from the Impossible Project.

Downtown Milton - PX100 First Flush

Out the front window of my place - PX100 First Flush

SCAET Building Sheridan College - Artstic TZ

Stairs - Artistic TZ

So why did someone who has a couple digital images go back to Polaroid, especially when the film doesn’t produce a “good” image. Well yes, it does seem strange, but it’s about the technology. A digital image is just that, digital, which a computing background, it’s 1’s and 0’s arranged in pixels, it’s no more real than the games we play on computers. A Polaroid Image is real, you can hold it in your hands, it’s unique, you cannot duplicate it, it’s a single moment seized in time, a moment never to be seen again.

And of course, now that they were out of the game, Polaroid decided to get back in.

Next up, moving into the world of the even older Pack style Instant Photography. Watch for a new project.

The Impossible Project
Save Polaroid
Polaroid
Film Photography Podcast

Customer - Wow, I’m surprised you still stock film, I used to shoot a lot of Fuji Chrome back in the day
CSR - We still have a few customers that shoot film, we don’t have a big a selection as we used to.
Me - I still shoot film, a lot of film. I like the look and feel of it, the need to really pick your shots.
Customer - Really? I would expect someone of my age to say that, not a young man like you.
CSR - This one probably shoots more than the “old guys”

This little conversation happened yesterday at my local Henry’s store while I was picking up one of two rolls of film that I had dropped off earlier that week for developing. Most people give me a strange look or question the fact why I still shoot with film saying it’s old, obsolete, and not really needed these days with the wonderful world of instant digital photography. (Oh and yes, I have a Polaroid camera as well, two of them, which I also shoot when when I have film from the Impossible Project on hand. The birth of instant photography right here.)

Why I still shoot film, because it’s a unique look, there’s something special about looking at a slide negative, there’s a depth and sharpness of colour that I can only achieve on digital with a certain amount of tweaking in post processing, or using various filters and in camera tricks. I remember when I saw my first 6×6 colour slide, and then of course my fellow film nerd and friend Julie showed me one of her dad’s 8×10 slide film shots….yeah.

Also with film it makes you think, since you are very limited in the amount of consumable media you carry, and the amount you get per roll you have really make sure you are shooting what you want, and how you want it. Black and White is great for that because the colours won’t matter (much, everything is in shades of gray) so you really have to make the composition of your shot carry what the image is about.

That’s why I shoot film, not only that put the selection of film cameras out there is amazing, large format crown graphics, medium format Twin Lens Cameras, to sleek 35mm range finders.

And if you’re a film nut like me, you might want to check out the Film Photography Podcast, produced twice monthly by two awesome guys from New Jersey.
You can find them on:
The Official Website: http://www.filmphotographypodcast.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Film-Photography-Podcast-Internet-Radio-Show/382315292393?ref=ts
Flickr: http://www.filmphotographypodcast.com/

Eat your hearts out digital users, this one is strictly for those of us or still like and use film. Welcome to film types 101. Today there are three main types of film. Colour Negative, Slide (Colour Positive), and Black & White.

Film Sizes
In the photography world today there are three categories of film sizes that are still available for use as new stock, some rarer than others, but still there.

Small Format: This is the film that replaced medium format for the hobbyist, commonly called 35mm or 135, very easy to load into cameras, and available everywhere photographic equipment is sold, even convenience stores and drug stores. You can get it in Black & White, Slide, and Colour Negative forms. Very clear results, does well for enlargements but at higher speeds a very noticeable grain. It was first introduced in 1934 by Kodak, and by the 1960s surpassed Medium format film as the film of choice. Very few companies these days still produce film cameras, but Nikon and Canon both have new SLRs available, not to mention a large selection of used equipment available. 135 film is 35mm in width and produces an exposure of 24mm x 36mm.

My Nikon F3 surrounded by rolls of 35mm film

Webster’s Falls in Dundas, ON captured on Kodak Ektar 100 35mm format

Other film sizes that is classified as Small format are: APS (Advanced Photo System), 110 (Pocket Cameras), 126 (Instamatic), and 828 (Similar to 135, but lacks the sprocket holes)

Medium Format: This was the original film for the camera enthusiast, and came in many different sizes and types over the years since it was first introduced in 1890. Today the two most common medium format film in 120 and 220, the only difference between the two, which both are the same width (120mm), but the 220 film lacks the backing paper like 120 has, and as such you can fit twice as much film on a spool. Also with Medium format you can produce many different sizes of exposures, the most common are 6×4.5, 6×6, and 6×7, but in the past there have been 6×9, 6×24. Of course the larger the exposure the smaller number of exposures per roll you can get. 120 and 220 are both still available from photography specialty stores, online stores, and even Ebay. But good luck finding it at your local Walmart Lab.

A Yashica-12 with a 120 roll of Fuji Velvia (RVP). The Yashica-12 is an example of a Twin Lens Reflex Camera producing a 6×6 exposure.

An example of a 6×6 image taken on a Rolleiflex 2.8F camera

The Pentax 645 is an example of a Medium format SLR, producing an exposure 6×4.5, and can use both 120 and 220 film depending on the insert

An example of a 6×4.5 image taken with the Pentax 645

The Agfa Box (circa 1930s) produces a 6×9 exposure. And yes, this camera still works.

An example of a 6×9 image taken with the Agfa Box.

Other older Medium Format sizes are: 127 (still available actually) and 620 (discontinued but if you have 620 spools you can re spool 120 film onto them).

Large Format: Also known as sheet film, these hark back to the days of wet and dry plate photography and can still be purchased new, the two most common format are 4×5 and 8×10 (and that’s in inches). In fact Kodak just released it’s famous Ektar 100 film in 4×5 format. I can’t really speak much on large format, expect that they have incredible detail and next to no grain, and when using slide film, the colour reproduction and saturation is incredible. However the cameras are huge, and it’s awkward to load up film as you can only have one exposure in the camera at a time. And developing when you don’t do it yourself can be expensive. There are even larger sizes that have been available in the past for large format photography, even up to and beyond 11×14.

Film Types
Colour Negative film is the most common type of film and is readily available from any photographic store to your local convenience and drug store. It is usually processed using the C-41 process, which can be done at a local lab using an automatic machine and is available in all three formats, Small, Medium, and Large. When you get the negatives back they will appear as a brown translucient image with the colours looking rather strange, because they have been reversed, hence the term “negative.” These types of films process very normal colours, similar to what you’d see through your own eyes, often cheaper to buy and develop. Some good films to try of this type are: Kodak Ektar 100, Fuji Reala 100, Portra 160VC, Portra 400NC, Fuji Pro 160S, also Kodak Max 400 and Fuji Superia 200.

Colour Negative Film, in this case Fuji NPH 400, 120 Format

Slide Film, or Colour Positive film, when viewed the colours will be as you normally see them, and often come pre-cut and mounted (in the case of 35mm slides). The most common process to develop slide film in E-6. However the older Kodachrome films used the much more complex process called K-14, currently only Dwayne’s in Kansas can process K-14 and then only until the end of 2010. Even Kodak has stopped producing the film and the chemicals for this process. Slide films have a very rich contrasty colour, and often aren’t available at anything over ISO-400. Most slide films these days are only avalible in colour, however you might still be able to find some Agfa Scala, which is a black & white slide film. Some good films to try of this type are: Fuji Velvia 100F, Fuji Provia 100F, Fuji Provia 400X, Kodak Ektachrome.

Colour Slide Scan, Fuji Velvia 100F, 120 format.

The film and the most classic film is Black & White, as the name suggests this is monochromatic film, no colours at all, but rather colours are represented by different shades of gray. This is also a negative film, so when you look at the film they are reversed. There are two types of Black & White film, there is the traditional style which you can develop yourself if you have the right chemicals and equipment, and there are C-41 process b&w films. The C-41 films will often have a colour tinge to them because C-41 is by its nature a colour process. B&W is the oldest film type still available, with several classic films still available to be purchased new (the chemicals have changed over the years of course as newer safer ones become available.) Some films of this type to try are: Kodak Tri-X 400, Kodak TMax 100, Ilford Delta 100

An example of Black and White, in this case Kodak Tri-X, 120 Format.

And on a final note, Polaroid. Instant film was first introduced in early to mid 20th Century, where all the chemicals needed to expose and develop the image was contained in one simple package. However in 2008, Polaroid announced it would cease production and shut down all it’s plant, Fuji still produces instant film and cameras. But Polaroid had developed (pun intended) a cult following, and the Impossible Project was launched and has now started producing new instant film for the thousands of Polaroid cameras still around. Keep an eye here to see how my results with Impossible Project film goes.

Did some outdoor promo shots for a new DJ in Toronto, Chris Till

Today we’re going to discuss aperture. Not the popular Apple software product for cataloging and editing photos.

Your camera’s aperture controls how much light is let into the camera, but also and more importantly how much of your image will be in focus. But first, covering how aperture is noted.

You will encounter the aperture noted in terms of f-stops, or more commonly f/2.8. Unlike many things, the smaller the f number on a lens, the wider the aperture is. It is based on a logarithmic equation, seen below.

The f-number f/#, often notated as N, is given by the above equation. Where f is the focal length, and D is the diameter of the entrance pupil. By convention, “f/#” is treated as a single symbol, and specific values of f/# are written by replacing the number sign with the value. For example, if the focal length is 16 times the pupil diameter, the f-number is f/16, or N = 16. The greater the f-number, the less light per unit area reaches the image plane of the system; the amount of light transmitted to the film (or sensor) decreases with the f-number squared. Doubling the f-number increases the necessary exposure time by a factor of four. Equation and following text is care of Wikipedia.

But enough math…you’re probably wanting something more concrete and practical. So let’s use my handy manual focus 50mm lens for that. The lens is rated at f/1.4, it is the lens with the widest aperture that I own.

To the left is the lens wide open (f/1.4) as you can see, it will let in a lot of light, to the right is the lens at f/16.

So while having the lens wide open lets in a lot of light, which is great for dark places, there is a downside, you loose how much of the image will be in focus, this is called Depth of Field (DoF).

How does this translate into your photos.

Let’s call in my friend Jay for a bit.

(50mm ~ f/1.8 ~ 1/50″ ~ ISO-1600)

As you can see, very little of the image is in focus, pretty much the only thing in focus is the “Hold” tag on him. Opening the aperture can create some pretty dynamic effects and can really help make the subject pop out of the rest of the frame.

So now we’ve had it wide open let’s close it all the way down. Here’s one of my favourite shots, in fact it’s the one used in the banner for my website and this blog, taken using the same lens as the above image (just to be fair).

(50mm ~ f/22 ~ 1/60″ ~ ISO-200)

As you can see, the image from the CN Tower in the background to the houses in the foreground everything is sharp and in focus.

How do you apply this to your photography, well again it’s all about your subject matter. When it comes to portrait work you want your subject(s) to be the only thing in focus in the frame, so you want a shallow depth of field, for group shots, a deeper depth of field so that poor Uncle Bill isn’t out of focus. When it comes to landscapes, you want all the details to be in focus so closing the aperture is desired.

Good Morning, and welcome back. I was thinking last night how to improve and expand on things I post here, and came up with the idea to do a series of posts titled “Mastering the Basics” sort of a refresher course for photographers and myself in creating these. There will probably be some sprinklings of technical and slang terms in here, but I hope I have explained them well. If you have questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll work on explaining things further or answering them.

So why not start right at the beginning on how a camera works.

Here are two examples of Nikon cameras. The one on the left is a Nikon F3, the Professional camera from the 1980s, on the right is a Nikon D300, my current main camera. Now the question is, do these two camera work in the same way?

Yes, they do.

One fact that is often lost is that all cameras, from the very first camera to the latest and greatest work on the exact same principle. Light, reflected off an object is directed through a lens or hole onto a light sensitive recording medium, and stored. The only difference is what the medium is and how it’s stored. In the case of the F3, it uses Film, which both records the image and stores it. The D300 using a sensor and then stores the image on a Compact Flash card. Yes, even your point and shoot camera works with these same principles.

Controlling Light. As I mentioned earlier, a camera directs light through a lens onto a light sensitive medium. If you just let all the light into the camera onto the medium you’ll just be seeing white. Lots of white. This is why you need to control the light being recorded. There are three things that do this, they are aperture size, shutter speed, and senstivity.

Aperture controls the amount of light going in, shutter speed determines how long the light is let in, and sensitivity determines how receptive to light the medium is.

Aperture: when you look at an eye, notice how in bright light the pupil goes smaller and in darkness opens wide, the camera’s aperture works in the same way.

When you look at the lens you’ll often see a series of numbers and letters. Of course there’s the 105mm, this is the focal length. But the one that we’re going to focus on is the 1:2.5. This indicates the maximum aperture the lens has, or how wide open it can go, these numbers are called F-Stops they are also written as f/2.5 or f/4. You might also see 1:3.5-4.5, this means that the maximum aperture is variable based on the focal length, this is often found on point and shoot lenses, or lower end zoom lenses. So while at the one end of the focal length you might have a maximum aperture of f/3.5 when you zoom all the way in, you’ll only have a maximum aperture of f/4.5. The lower the number the larger the maximum aperture, so a lens marked 1:1.8 will be able to let in a lot more light than a lens marked 1:5.6, so the f/1.8 lens is called faster. But the more open the aperature is the less of the photo will be in focus, this is called depth of field, which I will discuss in a later posting.

Shutter Speed: The shutter is often a piece of cloth or metal that protects the light sensitive material, the shutter speed determines how long this curtain is open. This speed is often listed in fractions of a second, noted by a quote mark so 1/60″ would indicate that the shutter was open for one sixtieth of a second or 30″ would indicate the shutter was open for thirty seconds. On average a person can shoot at speeds of 1/60″ or faster (1/100″ ect), this eliminates the appearance of camera shake in your images. See the photo below.

This is an example is a little extreme (6.4″ shutter speed), but shows off what camera shake is, most people will see this when shooting at speeds around 1/30″ or slower (1/15″). Of course camera manufactures have been working on new ways to assist by installing Image Stabilization (There are many names for this, Nikon uses VR or “Vibration Reduction”) on lenses or in camera.

Sensitivity to Light: As the name suggests it is how sensitivity to light the medium is. There’s really no real way to explain it. This sensitivity is measured on a scale known as ISO numbers (pronounced Eye-Ss-Oh, not eye-so). The higher the number, the more sensitive to light the medium is. However there are drawbacks to using a higher ISO, you get more grain (or noise in the digital world), this is noticeable aberrations in your images.

So combining aperture size, shutter speed, and sensitivity is how the camera determines how the light is captured. The real trick comes with choosing how to use all three in concert. But that will come with later posts, and a little more about manipulating the each setting to get the look you want.

This past weekend I had the chance to tour around an abandoned mental hospital. The place, closed in 1995, seemed to gain a life of its own after the closure.

Whenever I photograph an event I try to cath the emotion of the event, lots of facial expressions, people having fun, in action, the usually things you see in your daily newspaper. But how do you do that for things that don’t have emotions? Like a building?

Nikon D300 ~ AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm 1:2.8G DX
17mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/20″ ~ ISO-1600

You need to use your eyes, to be able to see a scene within the building that would induce emotion, often times, a trick in the post processing will help, the in above case, the chair looks like it’s trying to escape, the high-contrast black and white gives it a very harsh look. No surprise, this building housed people undergoing Electro Convulsive Therapy.

When you walk into a building, think about what it used to be, let that be your guide when looking for emotion. This was a mental hospital, within my own mind I thought of emotions of loss, isolation, fear, desire to escape. So while I was walking through the halls I looked for scenes that evoked that emotion within me.

Nikon D300 ~ AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm 1:2.8G DX
23mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/40″ ~ ISO-1600

Now, go out and start exploring your world, remember, there is a huge range of emotions that you can shoot into.

The art of candid street photography is a fine subtle one. First thing you need to get over is knowing where it is OK to do it and where NOT to do it. First off, it is perfectly legal to photograph people when their in public space, this includes streets, squares, and municipal spaces. For example, if there was a massive street party happening, you can go around photograph people and post their images on the Internet without fear of legal repercussions. Canadian Photography Laws allow this. (This even includes children!). If it’s a private event on private property, then permission must be obtained (preferable in writing) from the venue owner. Often Malls can be picky about photographers taking photos inside the mall. If approached by an agent of the mall (This includes Security) be open and honest and if asked to leave do so without complaint.

Nikon D300 ~ AI Nikkor 135mm 1:2.8

Now it becomes a question of gear, as in what to bring along? Again it all depends on the situation. Back in Febuary I went over to a local sledding hill on a warm day (warm by winter standards, so zero degrees Celsius). The lenses I brought along, my 50mm 1.8 and 10-20mm. Both strange lenses for such an activity. Sure I could have taken my telephoto lens and stood off at a distance out of harms way. But then I would’ve looked to be up to no good. Hence the ultra wide and very low profile 50mm. The reason? Simple, I could get in close, I interacted with the kids and the parents. By the end of the ‘trip’ I had three email addresses to send the photos to.

Nikon D300 ~ Sigma DC 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX HSM

Out on the street is a different story. But again, the trick is to be able to catch life, without you influencing it. That’s the key to catching people unawares. Most people when they see a camera will either shy away or strike a pose or something between the two. This is where the telephoto helps, either a huge zoom or a short mid-range telephoto.

Nikon D300 ~ AI Nikkor 135mm 1:2.8

Nikon D300 ~ AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G VR

Sometimes both serve their purpose, the 70-200 will get you noticed more as I found out when I ventured into Union Station with the big lens still attached to my camera and was called over by Security. Yeah, they really wanted to know what I was doing. But even with street photography the small unassuming lenses like a 50 or 35mm will get you the results you are looking for. For technique, open the aperture, shoot at f/4 or straight up wide open (my fastest lens is the AI-s Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens, but that has a very low depth of field so I’d usually shoot at f/2 where possible on lenses faster than f/2.8) So that the subject is in focus, everything else is blurred around them. The idea is to catch them!

Nikon D300 ~ AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2D