Photography Thread

[Philligan]

I took the Fuji to a local show and shot a bit last night. It was ridiculously dark - 3200-6400, 1/125, and 1.4, and I was still underexposing some stuff. Anything off the stage was pretty much black.

DSCF0150 by philbabbey, on Flickr

DSCF0091 by philbabbey, on Flickr

DSCF0077 by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[Philligan]

I have to get my passport renewed, and got talking to the girl at the Walmart photo studio. She turned out to be the manager, and basically offered me a job. She said they won't be hiring officially for a few weeks, but she'd like to interview me and get a resume beforehand, so when hiring time comes we won't have to waste time then with the interview process. It's just part time, and not much more than minimum wage, but I'll take what I can get right now. I'm having trouble because I'm over qualified and I think it's scaring most minimum wage employers off (in their defence, I'd be ditching a minimum wage job as soon as I got something with my degree, so I can't blame them), so I'll take anything right now. I'm sure it'll suck doing pre-setup portraits for young kids and crack heads, but at least taking photos will be better than stocking shelves or working as a cashier. The manager shoots for a couple magazines on a semi-regular basis, so I'm hoping maybe I'll be able to meet some people through her.

I just organized a portfolio album on Flickr. I don't have the money for a proper print portfolio at the moment, and wouldn't be able to decide on one quickly enough anyway. She asked if I had one, and didn't want to whip my phone out and sift through my mess of a Flickr feed. When I bring in my resume next week, I'm gonna bring Dawn's iPad and at least have something more streamlined to show her.

This is what I've got at the moment. Thoughts? I know a lot of them aren't portfolio worthy, and are probably at least a little out of place, but I figured it at least shows a few different styles. This isn't anything serious, and she doesn't technically require a portfolio, it's more just off the record to see what I'm into. So I figured variety is the safer bet.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/philbabbey/sets/72157651908482525/

 

[Philligan]

My friend (who happens to be my barber) and I went to see a local cover band play. The bar ended up being a total dive and only a few other people showed up, but it was laid back and the band was great. I shot this of him outside between sets and processed it on my phone. I'm really happy with how it came out.

 

[Tang]

Another from my portrait series:

one spark #8 by nrrfed, on Flickr

 

[Rook]

I just posted my RG for sale because I never play it. If it sells, I'm gonna get a Pentax 645, probably the 55 2.8, and some B&W film and a developing kit.

I really like the medium format look and think I want to give it a shot. I like shooting film, so I've been meaning to get the developing stuff anyway. I'm gonna order film with my developing stuff to qualify for free shipping from B&H, so I'm gonna wait a bit and see if I get the camera. If so, it'll be some 100, 400, and 3200 Ilford 120, and if I don't get the camera, I'll probably order some 100 and 3200 135.

I found out my grandpa has a slide scanner that cost him around a grand, so I'm gonna check it out and find out how good it is/if it'll do 120. Here's hoping.

Any particular reason you're going Pentax 645? The Mamiya stuff is both better *and* usually cheaper IMO, you could probably get a proper 6x6 for your money then.

Or buy a Pentax 6x7 because frankly the bigger the format the better hahaha.

 

[Philligan]

I was seriously looking at the 67, but I need to find out exactly what my grandpa's scanner can handle first. My dad bought it with him a few years ago and said it'll handle 35mm for sure, but that's all I know at the moment. Mailing my rolls out to get developed and scanned really isn't something I can afford to do on a regular basis right now, hence my plan to buy B&W and develop it myself.

Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places, but all the Mamiya bodies I found were running $500+. The Pentax 67s are $700+. I've found good condition Pentax 645s for $250-300 with a back or two, and in some cases a lens. I'd prefer both of those (I've had my eye on the Pentax 67 for a month or two now), but I can't afford it. And paying more for a Mamiya 645 won't affect the image quality, which is the main reason I want to start shooting medium format.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Retouching Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eylH7O0DB-g

 

[Rook]

Weird, Mamiya 645's about as cheap as you get here!

Usually if a scanner can do MF, exact format won't matter, there are so many variations.

Pentax has some good lenses, $700+ for a 67 sounds a lot but if you can get a 645 for the money you're talking about it's a great option.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

I haven't had much time to shoot due to school and some health issues, but I got to retouch this shot from December. At first I was put off by the softness, but it grew on me as I saw it more in the files I had set aside for working on.
Click for a closer look at that vintage softness.

Nikon D3 with Helios 44-2 55mm f/2: ISO 200 1/100s f/2

 

[Decreate]

Weather was quite nice today so I went out and took a few pics.

 

[Philligan]

Here we go. My friend just got a DSLR a couple weeks ago, so we got out to shoot. This first one's the bridge to the USA. Everyone in my town has shot it, so nothing special here. I'm amazed at how much I could push the shadows, coming from my Canon.

Bluewater Bridge by philbabbey, on Flickr

And this is one I shot of him in front of the chemical plant. I'm not thrilled with the framing or the look, because it was bare flash, but this was one I more randomly shot while we were setting up, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Josh by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[Tang]

Nice shots everyone

 

[ThePhilosopher]

Love the filaments in that first shot, Tang.

 

[Decreate]

Here's another I shot today

 

[JeffFromMtl]

I've been kind of on the fence about how much I like the Fuji for what I'd been intending to use it, and I think it came down to 35mm not being quite wide enough so I sprung on the wide conversion lens. Given that on my last couple of pro shoots, I've found my sweet spot between 20 and 30mm because of the more cinematic feel, I'm hoping the 28mm swings it for me and I finally feel good about making the decision to spend on a high-end compact. But as it stands right now, I've still preferred the images I'm getting from my 6D. If this doesn't do it, then I'll probably end up selling the Fuji and picking up a 24mm prime for my Canon.

Anyhow, I'm going back to Guatemala on Tuesday and I've decided that this time, I'll be leaving more cameras as home, including the Canon. I'll have the Fuji for digital, along with some compact analog cameras in my LC-A and Yashica T4. It's a great place to shoot street, so these should be the perfect cameras for it and the perfect opportunity to get the most out of them.

 

[rahul_mukerji]

Some of my recent pieces

 

[Skyblue]

Continuing with my love for street art.

Took it with my phone, processed in VSCO.

 

[Philligan]

I've been kind of on the fence about how much I like the Fuji for what I'd been intending to use it, and I think it came down to 35mm not being quite wide enough so I sprung on the wide conversion lens. Given that on my last couple of pro shoots, I've found my sweet spot between 20 and 30mm because of the more cinematic feel, I'm hoping the 28mm swings it for me and I finally feel good about making the decision to spend on a high-end compact. But as it stands right now, I've still preferred the images I'm getting from my 6D. If this doesn't do it, then I'll probably end up selling the Fuji and picking up a 24mm prime for my Canon.

Anyhow, I'm going back to Guatemala on Tuesday and I've decided that this time, I'll be leaving more cameras as home, including the Canon. I'll have the Fuji for digital, along with some compact analog cameras in my LC-A and Yashica T4. It's a great place to shoot street, so these should be the perfect cameras for it and the perfect opportunity to get the most out of them.

IQ goes both ways for me. The Fuji stuff looks great, but in a different way. The colours and grain are awesome, but I think it comes at the expense of some detail at high ISOs. I'd still love a 6D with a couple go-to lenses to go with my Fuji stuff. Mostly for the AF speed, battery life, and size/brickness for certain situations.

Anyway, I just discovered the Fuji colour profiles in Lightroom. Oh man. I heard about them and thought it was like "cheating" by just using a jpg preset, but it's the actual colour profile, and you still have a blank slate for the whole Develop panel.

Here's a SOOC jpg I wifi'd to my phone at the bar. It's Classic Chrome, and I touched it up with about +6 of T1 in VSCO and added a bit of grain to give his skin a little more texture. This is what got uploaded while I was at the bar.

Cory Wifi JPG by philbabbey, on Flickr

Here's a Lightroom'd raw using the Classic Chrome colour profile. I literally did almost nothing to this file. Maybe +10 vibrance to warm his skin up a bit, pushing the blacks a bit in the tone curve, adjust the Detail slider, and about +10 saturation brushed over the lights in the background. Thats it.

Cory Classic Chrome by philbabbey, on Flickr

And just for fun, here's a B&W edit I did from scratch in Lightroom. This is before I discovered the colour profiles.

Cory by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[Philligan]

And here are a few more from the night.

That Dirty Racket by philbabbey, on Flickr

That Dirty Racket by philbabbey, on Flickr

Tyler by philbabbey, on Flickr

 

[capoeiraesp]

Oh boy. This is way too awesome.