Paul's Film Photography Blog

Moonrise, Roanoke Virginia

Paul Glover — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:37:30 +0000

Moonrise, Roanoke Virginia

A chance bit of ideal timing put me in just the right place to capture the Wells Fargo office tower in downtown Roanoke, with the crescent moon nicely positioned in frame.

Available in small, medium, large and huge print sizes.

Backlighting transparent objects with strobe

Paul Glover — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:03:16 +0000

As a film shooter, I can’t just make a rough guess at flash exposure and then dial it in from there by test shots. Well, I can, but the turnaround time is a little high using regular film and doing it with Fuji pack film like the commercial shooters used to do isn’t cheap even if you do have a camera which accepts a Polaroid back (I don’t).

This is why, when I splashed out and bought a handheld meter, I made sure it also had flash metering capability. This makes it very easy to get a good exposure for reflective subjects, just point the meter back at the flash and have at it.

But it wasn’t at all clear how this would translate to subjects which allow light to pass through. Would metering as normal produce a transmissive object with the right amount of “glow”?

So as any good science-and-logic oriented person would do, I performed an experiment, with 5 shots bracketed at -2 through +2 stops from a normal meter reading, in 1 stop intervals. The flash was aimed from behind and to one side of a clear lead crystal candlestick, and goboed to prevent any output directly striking the lens.

The results were as follows, all shots being straight “proof scans” from the negative (made through the clear binder sleeve, so disregard any hairs or dust) with standard setting of white and black points for the film and development used; my normal method of proofing a complete roll.

The shot as metered (center) has a very good overall “glow”, but depending on intent -1 would also work and +1 might be OK for some cases. This is good enough to satisfy me that I can get the result I’d like. I haven’t tried lighting from beneath a clear object but this would obviously be a good point to start from as it’s the same basic principle.

A more complete shot would usually also include some degree of lighting to fill in the shadows, of course.

Light on wet asphalt

Paul Glover — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:59:54 +0000

Light on wet asphalt, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Light on wet asphalt

Wristwatch macro

Paul Glover — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:07:33 +0000

Wristwatch macro, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Testing the combination of 50mm FD macro, 25mm extension tube and 2x teleconverter. Close to 2:1 here.

Bark

Paul Glover — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:55:46 +0000

Bark, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Fallen Tree

Form an orderly line

Paul Glover — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:24:09 +0000

Form an orderly line, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Plenty of bread for everyone

Sweet Heart

Paul Glover — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:38:30 +0000

Sweet Heart, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Love is everywhere if you look closely.

Hooked and Tied

Paul Glover — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:54:43 +0000

Hooked and Tied, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Testing the Canon FD 50/3.5 macro lens.

Night Tree

Paul Glover — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:16:00 +0000

Night Tree, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
About a 1 minute exposure on a cloudy night. Moving clouds give a smooth backdrop effect.

Not Your Typical Art Car

Paul Glover — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:38:19 +0000

Not Your Typical Art Car, a photo by Paul Glover on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
First time I passed this, I thought it was an actual vintage car being used as some sort of lawn ornament.

Looking closer, it’s made from scratch, an arts and crafts project on a grand scale. Wood, large tin cans and the remains of a 55 gallon oil drum feature prominently.

Shot just before Christmas, it also has lights draped over it. They weren’t on when I passed by in early afternoon, of course.