My everyday life.
Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg
Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, is a UNESCO World Heritage site with baroque churches, palaces, and narrow streets. Visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress for panoramic views. Nearby, the picturesque village of Hallstatt is a fairytale come to life with colorful houses and shops on the shores of an alpine lake. ✨
In a previous blog post, I wrote about developing film cross-processed. In short, it means developing a film in the "wrong" chemicals. Today, basically, there are three different ones with a few minor exceptions. We have chemicals to produce black/white film, one for color negative, and a third for positive film, also called slide film.
Botanical Garden, Lund Oct 19th 2020
For color negatives, you use a C41 process, and for a positive film, it is normally E6. When I do a cross-process development, I almost always do it with a slide film that I develop in chemistry for color negatives, C41. When I mentioned this last time, I took the pictures with the Kodak Ektachrome E100 and was not completely happy with the result. I then wrote that I would try Fujifilm Provia 100F instead, based on a feeling that the result would be more as I wanted.
So now, I have developed Provia 100F, so it has become color negatives. I have been using Negative Lab Pro software for some time now to convert negatives. Or actually, I only use it for color negatives. For black/white images, I still let SilverFast 8 do the job. I am pleased with the result NLP gives, but it means a slightly more difficult workflow, so we will see if I think it's worth it when I have used it a little more. SilverFast is extremely smooth and also gives a good result, no doubt about it.
I was delighted with the pictures, and I think I will continue to use Provia 100F for cross-processing but Kodak Ektachrome E100 and Fujifilm Velvia 50 when I develop the pictures in E6.
Provia 100F CP
Ektachrome E100 CP
Provia 100F CP
Ektachrome 100E CP
Canon EOS 30, Kodak Ektar 100
I did a completely unscientific exercise a few weeks ago. Mostly for fun, I took my digital camera and two analog cameras with me on a trip. I had loaded one camera with color film and the other with black/white.
The idea was to photograph the same subject and similar composition with these three cameras. It would not be exact because I did not use the same lens on all three cameras, and I took many pictures handheld. I chose not to change lenses because I wanted each scene to be relatively quick to capture with all three.
The analog camera with the color film had a 35mm f/1.4 on, the other one got my 24mm f/1.4. On my digital camera, I used the RF 15-35mm f/2.8. I tried to stick to the same aperture on all cameras, and I sometimes took both 24mm and 35mm pictures with my digital camera.
In advance, I had thought out some scenes I would like to capture. Of course, there are lots of other styles and types of photography. For example, I have not photographed portraits or wildlife. I could have used different filters, chosen subject better suited for black and white and for color depending on film type and so on. Maybe I do a walk with some filters in my bag another day.
I started with a photograph of "my" tree early in the morning. It was quite thick fog, the sunrise had a hard time penetrating. When the sun took over the sky, I went to the botanical garden in Lund and photographed some intense colors. In connection with that, I went for a walk in the city and took some pictures of, among other things, the Cathedral.
Canon EOS R5
In all cases, I started by taking the picture with my digital camera. Used it to find the right exposure, which I then used on my analog cameras. That way, I did not have to waste film by taking several pictures with slightly different exposures to be sure to hit the right one.
So lots of different conditions. The film I used was Kodak Ektar 100 as a color negative film and Ilford Pan F Plus 50 for the black/white. Pan F is a bit difficult, I think, and it is also challenging to handle when developing, at least for me.
Canon EOS 3, Ilford PanF Plus 50
When I looked at the pictures afterward, it became apparent that I quickly found my favorites. And the scene decided which of the three I fell for. Under challenging conditions, less light, fog, ND filters, and long exposures, I undoubtedly choose my digital camera. With one exception, and that was for the cars from the bridge at night. When it comes to images with sharp colors, such as the red flowers, I choose Kodak Ektar, and for the city with the Cathedral, my choice fell on black/white film.
Unfortunately, the problem with this result is that I have to continue to carry three cameras with me if I am out for a day or longer. Now I am sitting in our motorhome on Österlen. A couple of days of relaxation, spending time with the family, hiking a bit, and of course, taking photographs.
Next to me are three cameras. One digital, one is loaded with Kodak Portra 400, and one with Ilford HP5+.
It feels like we just thought it was too late to photograph the sunset when it was a work or school day the next day. The sun goes down here in southern Sweden around ten during summer. Further up in the country, it is much later, and above Arctic Circle, it never sets.
Lomma Lighthouse, Sep 2020
Now it becomes rather stressful to manage to eat dinner before you have to leave home. Later in the autumn, you will not have time to get home from work before you have to drive to get to a location before the darkness has completely put the day away—also, there are a lot fewer days with great potential during the autumn and winter. But when you get those beautiful autumn days, they are often more rewarding than most other days.
Last night there was potential for a beautiful sunset, and I even stopped an hour after the sun went down to take some twilight photos, which was a long time since I did. I often return to Lomma harbor and the lighthouse, as I did last night. The sun goes down behind the lighthouse this time of year if you stand in the right place. The only ones there was a lone fisherman and me. No bathers and all the tourists had left. That is on the plus side.
After the sun went down, I turned around and photographed a small part of Lomma as well. I'm impressed with how well my Canon R5 handles low light and thus higher ISO speeds. But I must also say that the dynamic range of the camera is excellent. I do not know exactly how many stops there are, but I like what I see.
