Why You Need To Shoot Provia With Flash Outdoors

I shot these on Provia 100F, as a continuation of the shoot I did with Evie at the Mansion. Stick around and I’ll show you how I got these amazing shots.

I shot both with my trusted Bronica Zenza ETRS with the 75mm f2.8 lens. As I shot with and without flash, each shot was carefully metered, with apertures and shutter speeds adjusted accordingly.

Let’s dive right in, the garden was perfectly manicured with this beautiful chair/bowl style golden hammock which was not going to be left out this shoot.Luckily Evie's friend Sammie had turned up and I wasn’t going to pass up on an opportunity to take some duo shots!

I setup a beauty dish with a single Profoto light angled 45 degree angle and then took some time choreographing the shot. In these situations having some knowledge and experience with light shaping tools certainly helps. An assistant would be an additional benefit but alas this was not the case today.

You can almost feel the detail in the images. This is the real benefit of shooting with slower films, the extremely fine detail and clarity of the image is unrivalled. The lights and shadows are perfectly balanced, one criticism could be the flowers have been heavily darkened. However it fits in with the mood and atmosphere of the image itself. In a sense of suspense and waiting, the darker rendition of the vegetation certainly adds to the textured drama of these shots.

Question for you, if you were in my place, how would you have shot this scene with Evie and Sammie or Evie alone? How would you have created this shot differently? Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you Sammie for jumping in a few of these shots! Sammie disappeared off to sort out a few things and Evie and I continued working in the garden as the light started to diminish more rapidly.

I wanted to get in a couple of more sets while we still had some time left. I wanted to see how this film would perform under lower natural light conditions. These two image images show that the images come out with a much cooler palette and tones. The isn't that burst of energy or color that you may get with off camera flash.

The natural light was disappearing too quickly and I reverted back to using the beauty dish and profoto light. In these images you can see that perhaps the touch of light was too strong and I could certainly bring that down a little in lightroom.

Purely for demonstration purposes it has done its thing. For me the light is quite overpowering, if there was a little light on mansion in the background then perhaps it would add a little more depth to the image.Or perhaps even in the foreground, there needs to be something going on just to add to the story and texture of the image itself.

Apart from the technical elements, clarity and detail, you can see, what really makes this image is the composition, pose, textures provided by the foreground and background create much more to the narrative of this image.

You have seen a couple of different setups here all using a single light source throughout. How would you have done things differently? What type of light would you have used? Would you have added in a second light? If so, where? What was missing that could have made these images be even more impactful? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Seeing it in film strip itself is another thing all together. The runner up shot for me was Evie resting he arms on her right knee wearing the pink dress near the end. With or without flash, be mindful of the foreground and background. What are you using to separate your subject and what narrative are you creating with your image.

I am loving shooting with slide film, its not just the detail and depth but also seeing your image in your hand. It's something else altogether. Get out and shoot some!

Thank you for watching all my videos, do go ahead and comment below. Have you shot with the Bronica Zenza ETRS or similar 6by45 camera or with Provia or any other slide film stocks?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this shoot, the images, how you have shot with Provia? What are your likes and dislikes about them? What do you recommend I shoot next with it?

You can grab a copy of the book here

Acing Blur Right In Film Photography

When Oskar Barnack publicly introduced his first Leica camera, in 1925, at the Leipzig Springfair in Germany, it was the culmination of many years of refinement since he joined Lietz in 1911.

Barnack was a design engineer by profession and was originally working on a movie camera when ran into a problem. Emulsion speeds of films were unreliable and accurate metering was all but impossible. Barnack took it upon himself to build a small device intended to test small batches of movie film.

The film complete with its iconic sprocket holes, formed the beating heart around which Barnack designed the system which revolutionised photography - it is without a doubt that he was the creator of miniature 35mm was known for decades. 

These sets of images were taken on a Yashica Mat 124G with a roll of the wonderful Kodak Tri-X 400. I know you’re probably hopping out of your seat at the minute thinking well why did you start off by talking about the 35mm camera! Well its kind of ironic that Barnack’s system was developed out of cinematography and just shows how this innovation has moved and developed over time! 

I digress, this picture was taken in Central London, using a shutter speed of ten seconds. The film has recorded the motion of the skaters jumping over obstacles conveniently placed for them to practice their skills and tricks. The skaters blurred, of course, producing a soft and gentle abstract pattern which contrasts greatly with the crisp detail of the obstacles, and which suggests the neverending and timeless flow of movement. 

It is not an effect that could have been produced by using a high shutter speed to freeze the skaters: in any case. In any case, if you did what to do that you would have had to use flash in these extremely low light conditions. With the obstacles crisp there would have been a powerful focus of attention on the foreground and background and consequently all character and depth in the image would have been lost.  

In this picture there's a strong feeling of the passage of time. Blur is very powerful - especially when designed into an image or photograph. When it happens such as through camera shake it is nothing more than an obvious mistake or lack of knowledge. Therefore for blur to work effectively it has to be planned. And you can make effective use of it by showing it in the main subject or in supporting elements of the picture - such as the background - and for a variety of reasons. 

Some fun ways to explore a purposeful blur might be trying to shoot cars or motorbikes on the move. Or perhaps even at home with your children, nephews or nieces while they are running circuits around you in their ever boundless energy. Can someone please tell me how I can get that back again! Blur can very much enhance your photography but has to be used appropriately for every subject to maximise its effect.

The human eye is not like the eye of a camera lens. When you are watching a fast object moving your eyes are able to focus on the object and blur away the less important information in the background. Unfortunately, the camera lens if used with a fast shutter speed will most likely capture everything in sharp and vivid detail. 

The problem with this is that your image will look dead static. Consequently it won't look natural to the subconscious mind and your rational mind will most likely dismiss the image. You can get around this issue by using a technique known as 'panning'. 

As soon as a moving subject such as a motorbike or car - is clearly framed in the viewfinder you must swing the camera to follow the subject, and press the shutter while still moving. As a result the photo will show the subject against a background which blurs in horizontal lines - and the effect is a very convincing impression of motion in the image. Don't forget, for panning to be successful, you must keep the subject in the same spot in the viewfinder during the move, and to fire the camera shutter smoothly, carrying on swinging till the shot is well and truly finished. 

If you dont pan correctly or at all the background will come out sharp and the subject you wanted in focus blurred. The motorbike, car or your nephew running will attract far less attention. Ultimately, photography is another means of communication between you and the viewer. 

The use of blur in photography not only shows motion but through it the passage of time. As any object that is moving is still taking time to move. As a result you can see the difference between each second in time which goes against the grain of Henri-Cariters Bresson’s instruction to find one split second in which to take the shot. 

Cartier Bresson's 'decisive moment' refers more to the arrangement of his subject than to the timing. Time and its passing can be suggested in one shot -  such as these skaters- but there's no need to stop at one. Perhaps shooting with a 35mm camera you will be able to capture a set of images which makes this a more practical way of shooting blurred images.

You can grab a copy of my Photography Book here!

Nikon Lite Touch with Ilford XP2 Super

Nikon Lite Touch Zoom 120 ED AF Review with Ilford XP2 Super

The Nikon 120 ED AF, it packs a punch for its compact size.

How much does the Nikon Lite Touch weigh?

I decided to do my own weight test for the camera. It’s label says ‘Lite.Touch’ so there was only one way to show this from an empirical point of view!

Popping it my scales it came in a featherweight 250g. The camera was weighed with it's film inside as well as its battery (Duracell CR123) as well.

The images you can see in the video are from a recent visit to the coast and were taken with Ilford XP2 Super. It’s a 400 ISO BW film which requires C41 processing.

Overall quite light, something that you can really chuck into your handbag or your man bag, whatever it is, or even to your pocket. And it should be pretty good to go.

How compact is the Nikon Lite Touch?

Getting my tape measure out to measure its width, a little bit unusual but important to give a greater idea of scale from a perspective point of view.

The Nikon Lite Touch comes in at about 11 centimetres wide. If you look at the pen in comparison as well as the 35 millimetre roll, you can see that it is a pretty compact piece kit. From above again, pretty narrow.

It is not as narrow as other compact film cameras, but is still up there. Overall, very easy for you to be able to pop this into your man bag, your hand bag, pop it into your pocket, and you'd be good to go.

What are some pros of the Nikon Lite Touch?

First of all, it's lightweight and very easy to take with you when on the go or in a rush. It's really easy to load like any other film camera or compact camera. The advantage of a compact film camera is that loading film is an absolute breeze with its automatic loading mechanism.

It's got an automatic zoom function, which works from the back of the camera. And you can go ahead and press the zoom in and the zoom back. If you are interested in using that, I probably would refrain from using it as much as possible. But if that's your sort of thing then you can go ahead and use it. You've also got a number of different functions.

On the top of the camera, you've got the flash priority mode, which automatically pops up every time the camera is opened. It might just be my camera but it won’t sit if manually pushed down. However, it can be switched off manually by pressing the flash button.

There are inbuilt options of swtiching to portrait mode or having a landscape mode. Another cool feature is being able to change the date and the time that you're taking the photos. Once manually set, they will get manually printed onto the film itself when you get them developed.

The Panorama function at the back of the camera is another creative feature. Simply slide the button and it will start taking your images in panorama mode. I'll discuss this feature further down the blog.

The camera has been labelled ‘Lite Touch’ and the shutter release button is very, very light touch from the top. When very lightly depressed it will take the shot, which in some ways is great and other ways not. Certainly it is a promise to its word. What else is there to say, besides the fact that it is a beautiful champagne gold colour?

This camera is great for something casual. It is very easy and cheap to pick up online. You can go onto somewhere like eBay and probably pick up one of these for about £40-50 mark. Maybe a bit more than that. A ‘newer’ less used model is probably going to cost a little bit more for its premium.

Highly recommend it. Really great little, nifty little camera, pop it in your camera bag, put it in your pocket, whatever, and you're good to go.

What are some cons of the Nikon Lite Touch?

It is made out of plastic and it's not like the old Nikon cameras, which you could just literally pick up and throw against a wall and nothing would happen to them. The plastic body, if dropped will most likely crack or worse break it. It’s not worth your time and money getting it fixed so look after it carefully!

When opening the camera up to shoot, it takes about two seconds for it to become ready to shoot. Two seconds is a lifetime, especially if you're trying to capture the moment in particular. So bear that in mind, if you are going to be out somewhere, having fun, having a good time with someone or having a good time with some family, friends, whatever it might be. You want to make sure that your camera is actually ready to shoot rather than being in a closed mode. And it gives you that a bit more flexibility when you're shooting as well.

The Panorama mode is a little bit misleading because whilst it might do that in the camera, all it's doing is cropping the top and the bottom of your frame completely off. Ultimately losing negative space, which could have more information in. Why would you do that? I don't know, unless you're really, really lazy, then definitely use the panorama mode because it will help you to just make sure those images are in that beautiful wide angle look. However, I would prefer to just get a little bit more information and then if I wanted to, I can crop it later in post. And that way I've utilised a full body of the frame itself when taking the shot.

Who is the Nikon Lite Touch for?

Anyone who just wants to shoot some film, wants to have fun with it, doesn't want to have to think about ISO's. If you like keeping it simple, want to enjoy the medium of film, bring back the old times, trying to get an experience of what it was like to shoot with film in the past. It's a great camera to take to a party, social event, somewhere where people are gathering.

Certainly capable of taking beautiful candid pictures with this camera particularly when shot with ISO400 film. It's very reliable, very durable. As long as of course you don't throw it about. You're gonna keep this camera for quite a while to come. Cheap to get. You will have a tonne of fun with this compact camera. Strongly recommend it, go out there, shoot compact, and you won't look back.

Go ahead and like as well as punch the subscribe button on my YouTube Channel. Get in touch. Write down any comments that you have about the video, something that you want to see that I haven't covered, or you're interested in, you're not sure about the film, or you're not sure about the particular camera. Or whether to shoot 35 mil, or medium format, or large format, or whatever it might be. It might be a digital camera question. Punch it in. Let me know. I will try and produce a video on it.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, go out there, enjoy the summer and enjoy shooting with your camera, whatever camera you've got!

Journal RSS

How to get the best results with Kodak Portra 800

We'll be looking at where it performs best, pros and cons of Kodak Portra 800, and how you can use the film to get the best results.

Kodak Portra 800 is great for commercial photographers. It's a fast film, ISO 800, which means that it's ideal for all or no light conditions such as in the evenings or indoors. It's not to be confused with or compared with CineStill 800T, which is a very different film stock. Portra 800 is very similar to Portra 400 but with notably more grain and slightly more contrast. It has warm tones, very good exposure latitude, and while its grain is more noticeable, it's very pleasant looking.

Its higher ISO also makes it ideal for lower light shooting. The emulsion colour response isn't the greatest in tungsten or in dusk light. Its a bit too "green-y", "cyan-ish". On the other hand, it is the perfect emulsion for indoor situations` which are well lit. As you can see from this image. I guess that is to say that it's very sensitive to colour temperature shifts. So if you're organised and sort out your filters and your lenses, then you can overcome this issue if you're well prepared. It may seem too grainy for some, but it's no better or worse than 400 speed film pushed one stop. But from my experience of shooting both 35 and 120 formats, I feel that the 35 millimetre version lacks the sharpness of the 120 Portra 800. And obviously that's got a lot to do with the format that you're going to be shooting, however you might be able to still get better results using Portra 400 and pushing it one stop. Having said that, would it be cheaper to shoot Portra 400 and push it one stop? Let me know your thoughts.

As with other portrait films, it scans nicely. However, as a typical colour native film, the colours might come out a bit muddy, especially if you are underexposing your film. So make sure you take the time to expose the film properly before you start shooting.

How do you use this film to get the best results each time?

You've got to make sure that you're exposing the film properly. There are several ways you can do this.

The first way is to use a dedicated light metre such as this Sekonic that I have here. They're really simple to use, will save you time, money and most importantly, get you a correctly exposed image every single time. The second way you can do this is by using applications on your phone with the Android and iPhone. On the iPhone, you can download two applications, a pocket light metre. And here you can plug in your ISO setting on the far right hand side and then you can go ahead and take a shot and see how it comes out and then auto adjust it, so you can get the correct exposure settings. It will automatically do it for you as well.

The other way you can use the iPhone is by using something called Viewfinder. Now this one you can go into the settings and manually set it so you can put in your ISO, your aperture, whatever you want to use. You can also go ahead and click on the side and then you can choose film emulsion. So it will emulate what the image is going to look like if you're using a particular film stop, which I find particularly useful, but it's not always very accurate. If you choose to shoot this at day time, you can reduce the graininess by using an ND filter. But like I said before, try your best to get the exposure spot-on, particularly at nighttime, where images will come out that little bit more tinted green. We are at the conclusion.

What more is there to say about this wonderful film emulsion?

I think there are four key points to take away from this video. Number one, flexibility. I like the flexibility of this film. It performs well in a broad range of conditions. However, when it comes to dedicated night shooting, I would probably still take a tripod with me. If you're going to shoot landscapes, this will become even more important.

Number two, portraits. When it comes to portraits this film absolutely smashes the competition. It would seem to me that given its name is "Portra", that its original purpose was for taking portraits. The skin tones are second to none. If you're shooting portraits in the evening outdoors, I would highly recommend taking a tripod with you. However, if you have an external light source available or off-camera flash available, then you should be able to just go straight and shoot. Number three, low light.

As previously mentioned, it's absolutely fabulous in low light. In 35 millimetre it's great, but in medium format, it just goes up a notch. Minimal grain with excellent saturation. If you love shooting neon lights at night, or you're looking to get some candid street snaps without those sinister halations then look no further.

Finally it's unmatched. Unlike Kodak Ektar 100, Portra 800 has greater versatility with an ISO speed that helps that little bit more, when the sun goes down. Especially if you don't like lugging around a tripod, like me. Although the grain is much more noticeable, the colour rendering is exquisite, giving each image a much more atmospheric look.

Thank you for watching this video guys. I hope you've got the main takeaway point is that you've got to expose this Portra 800 film properly, and if you do that, you're gonna get fabulous images every single time. I hope this video has been really helpful for you. And please do add any comments or questions that you might have about this film stock. And please do go ahead and subscribe to the channel. And I look forward to seeing you in the next video.

Fuji GSWiii Simplified with Fuji Pro 400H

I will be using my Fuji GSW690iii 6x9 medium format camera in this video. 

This camera is also known Texas Leica. It is big camera, you will see as I walk along this beautiful riverside on this overcast this afternoon. 

On occasions there is a break in the cloud as the blue sky seeps through. I wonder if this would have an affect on the Fuji Pro400H. 

This colour film stock which has sadly been discontinued will give l about eight shots on a 6x9 frame.

The first few shots were take of these lovely swans down, and then I swung around, and took another shot looking in the opposite direction.  

I ran out of shot pretty quickly so I rolled up another roll of Fuji Pro 400H into this camera, looking forward to seeing what else I would capture next. 

Fuji medium format film comes with a little sticker, so you just lift this part up, and then just swing it around the other side you’ll be able to quickly seal your film once exposed. I think they use a little bit less glue than the other film-producing companies and works a treat without you have to lick it seal the film. 

With the film safe keeping for later, I loaded up  the second roll. You’ll see the direction in which film needs to be rolled on the Fuji GSW690iii. Release the pins on either side and then load up your film. Carefully drag the film across until the arrow and close the film back. Always take your rubbish home with you wherever you are.

I hope you have enjoyed watching the video and seeing the images you can create even in less than perfect situations. 

The more you shoot, the better you'll get over time. I encourage you to get yourself a film camera if you don't already have one. 

If you're still on the ropes about getting one of these Fuji GSW3s, I strongly recommend it. The negative size, it's absolutely enormous. And you'll get a lot, a lot of fun out of it as well.

Nikon FA with Ilford HP5+ Photo Walk

Nikon FA was my first ever 35mm film camera. I had been on the fence for quite sometime so when an opportunity presented itself I jumped on board.

It had been quite some time due to our rolling lockdowns since I had an opportunity to get out and shoot with Lucas. We were both chomping at the bit for some time so at our first opportunity we headed out to East London for some film fun!

We started off outside the ExCel Centre with the aim of heading eastward before turning back here. The walk took us through parts decaying through to the ultra modern (and of course, deserted). Nikon FA was my first ever 35mm film camera. I had been on the fence for quite some time so when an opportunity presented itself I jumped on board.

It had been quite some time due to our rolling lockdowns since I had an opportunity to get out and shoot with Lucas. We were both chomping at the bit for some time so at our first opportunity we headed out to East London for some film fun!

We started off outside the ExCel Centre with the aim of heading eastward before turning back here. The walk took us through parts decaying through to the ultra modern (and of course, deserted).The weather was extremely cold, you could feel the windchill working its way through if I stood around or decided to take a break for too long. The overcast weather also helped the film choice. Ilford HP5+ has a wide latitude so you could easily shoot it at any range from 200-800 ISO without much problem. A good idea is to figure out how much grain you want in your image before you get going.

The first few images of an abandoned building which was bought by Newham Council back in 2015. It sits on prime land, opposite the huge ExCel International Exhibition Centre directly across the River Thames. To its east lies London City Airport and to the West the Financial Capital of the World, Canary Wharf. Unsurprisingly, no decision has been made with regards to those abandoned buildings. Although, how long are they going to ponder on it?

The sky is clear, the sun is out as we continue our walk along the River Thames. Just behind the conference centre is plonked a ‘mobile mini’ which makes no sense either. Anyway, a good snap! As we were coming out of lockdown I could help but think why flights were still going out of London City Airport?

A little further along and more abandoned buildings, brand new ones this time. Empty offices with residential complex above. We arrived just at the right time, the light and shadows with the buildings seemingly converging at the end. One of my favourite shots was the reflection of Canary Wharf behind us in the distance, the clouds and the sun at its full brightness.

We took a break for a bit and started to plot out the rest of the walk. A few clouds rolled in and I remember looking up the flight schedule so Lucas could grab a shot on his Canon 35mm. Luck would have it that as we had walked further along we saw a plane taxiing in the distance (not on the rosta!) and he was able to grab a few shots!

We reached the end of the line to find a water pumping station. We hadn’t been walking along the Thames afterall! It was the end of the Gallions Point Marina. The sun was getting lower at this point and we decided to hustle a bit to a spot Lucas had found on the River Thames. The decaying boat would make a perfect subject for a long exposure shot. Which Lucas had prepared very well for with his 10 stop Lee Filter! We worked our way around to North Woolwich through the Royal Victoria Garden, in much more of a hurry due to light starting to go.

We found our way out to a bridge directly underneath the flight path of City Airport after walking along a dead-end footpath. Perfect opportunity to capture the East London Skyline but this time with Lucas’s ND filter. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the right thread to hook it up so decided to take a risk and take the shot with the ND Filter handheld. The first shot needed better focus as you can see in the video, however, the second attempt was far better. I really like that shot, definitely will need to find some time to have a play with these filters in the future!

Scurrying our way past the Tate & Lyle factory as pedestrians stopped and asked us for directions to the nearest tube station. We made our final stop at the Thames Barrier which has been in operation for over 40 years now. Little is known about how crucial this system is in preventing wide scale flooding in London. The question remains whether it can withstand the future rising challenges the Thames will pose.

The light was almost lost now as I burned off my final few shots checking how well the HP5+ can handle these conditions. A tripod would probably have been useful at this point but otherwise a very fruitful and productive day out shooting film!

Massive thanks to IG @analog_square who is always a dream to work with on any shoot for all the little videos along the way.

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Zeiss Ikon Nettar vs Yashica Mat 124G with Ilford Delta 400

These cameras both use the 6x6 picture format on Medium Format film. The Zeiss Ikon Nettar being the older more rustic version in comparison with the Yashica Mat 124G.

You can have a look at some of my previous videos on the Zeiss Ikon Nettar here.

It was time to test out both cameras under the same conditions using the same film (Ilford Delta 400) and settings throughout. This way I could see how they would perform and what differences potentially could pop up.

Taking a leaf from the Thoreau and his wandering walks in the wild I decided to take a walk of my own in the urban jungle. The walk started on a bright sunny but cold and windy Spring day. I saw these newly painted houses and thought that would be a good place to start.

Surprisingly switching between both cameras was quite seamless. Having the Yashica Mat 124G around my neck and the Zeiss Ikon Nettar tucked away in my jacket pocket. I found taking the folding camera out easy to quick take out of my pocket and snap the shot in frame.

Each time I tried to align it as closely to where the lens from the Yashica was pointing and snap it from that perspective. You can see from the first shot the tones have come out darker in the Yashica on the car and trees. This was to become a consistent theme throughout all the images.

I carried on along and found a side entrance to some apartments which I wandered down to see if there was a route to the other side through. After a short walk through some pastel pink coloured buildings (which I was very much tempted to snap but then thought I don’t have Portra 800 loaded!) I came to a dead-end. I turned back and looked up to see this staircase winding down the side of the building with just the right amount of light on it. While I did my best to shorten the interchange time between cameras, the light had changed slightly after snapping first on the Yashica Mat 124G. The tones have come out a bit darker on the Zeiss Ikon Nettar probably due to the reduction of light on the frame. On a side note, I did find framing and shooting the shot upwards a little tricky and fiddly.

I double-backed on myself and got back to the street where I started from and carried on, turning left and find this row of Victorian Houses. I do like a chequered entrance and with a bike in frame it was a winning combination. The images are almost identical here in tonality, although I slightly prefer the framing on the Zeiss Ikon Nettar.

Coming to the end of the road, I had a decision to make, whether to carryon walking straight or turn left. The decision was made by the graffiti on the wall on the left hand side. Be Happy! The clouds were starting to draw over and the light was intermittent and variable. The framing on the Yashica 124G has come out better probably because of the viewfinder which allows for a more intuitive framing experience. The Zeiss Ikon Nettar has a little square viewfinder which is not entirely accurate in giving you a realistic view of what the image will turn out to be.

The low-ish walled bridge was just about reachable to place my camera on top and capture a few snaps of the railway lines. Initially, I had thought about taking the images of the train tracks but then saw these trains coming along and decided to shoot those in frame. Next time, I’ll stick with the railway lines!

London ‘Mews’ streets are just the best to shoot. More recently, I have seen a trend in these little side streets being blocked off to the public which is quite sad. Capturing the vanishing point of this street on the square 6x6 format was a bit tricky. It would be interesting to see how a 6x9 format would fare here.

The architecture was starting to change as I crossed the main road. Moving away from terraced Victorian homes to more detached villa style homes. Notable persons of historical interest even resided in these homes from almost over a century ago.

As you can see from the image comparison, both cameras came out with near identical shots. The only real difference between the two being with the Zeiss Ikon Nettar shots coming out lighter and less constrasty on the blacks.