Sad day for taking photos, but a good day on the film scanning front!
More down in Stray Pixels about the film journey.
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Film Journey:
Today was mostly an office day to see if I could do my own scans of my negatives and get them close to the professional lab results.
I’m going to post the professional lab scans, then my camera scans. My goal is to be able to scan my own negatives and at least come close to lab-quality. I know labs vary widely, and I only have one lab to compare to right now, but I don’t think mine are that bad, especially for my first attempt. There is a pretty steep learning curve, and I’m sure I’ll get better as I learn more and practice. Please ignore the photo content; these were test shots to make sure my grandfather’s Rollei was still working, and my light metering technique was working. I was just shooting random stuff around the house. Oh, and ignore the dust! My word, the dust on my black-and-white negatives was horrible. I’m going to have to be way more careful in the future.
I’m also going to have to decide where I’m going to document my film journey. Here in Stray Pixels, or I should probably just make a proper page over on Cliff538.com. I will give this some thought.
The last photo is a Vlads Test Target. It’s a simple concept that works really well for testing sharpness, especially in the photo corners. Setting up your camera and film scanner so that everything is straight and parallel is really important. Then figure out which aperture setting on your lens gives you the best focus, especially in the corners. I was using f/8 on my lens, and there is some softness in the corners. This warrants some testing with other apertures.
I used my Nikon Z8 with an MC 105/2.8 lens and a Valoi 360 system. Processed with LightRoom Classic and Negative Lab Pro.
All shots taken with a Rolleiflex. The color film was Kodak Portra 400, and the B&W was Ilford HP5 400.
Professional Lab ScanProfessional Lab ScanProfessional Lab ScanMy First Attempt at ScanningMy First Attempt at ScanningMy First Attempt at ScanningMy First Attempt at ScanningVlad's Test Target
Four A.M. sharp is van time. I was out by the curb early with a cup of coffee, sitting in the dawn’s first light, all alone, listening as the birds slowly woke and began announcing the day. A peaceful little pocket of quiet before the hectic day ahead: airports, crowds, and full aluminum tubes streaking through the air at 500 miles per hour.
Four legs today. Only an hour late by the end of the day. Not too bad for Summer flying.
Pro Tip: If you are traveling by air, take the first few flights out in the morning. Morning flights always leave on time. These planes fly all day long, and by early afternoon, they are running hours late due to mechanicals, weather, and a hundred other reasons. Do yourself a favor, and fly out early. I know it’s hard to get up early, but it’s better than getting to the airport only to be 3+ hours delayed or canceled.
What a day. Full airplanes, lots of thunderstorms, delays, holding, waiting, plane changes, and more! Glad to be done. 10 hours' rest, and let’s go do it again. Let’s get people where they want to go!
Weak photo today, but it’s the only one from today.
Hope it was a great day, thank you for stopping by.
Nice day at work. Good weather and easy flying. Overnighting in SJC, and it’s crazy busy here. I guess there is a World Cup game(s) going on right now.
Ah, road life. Not always fun or pleasant. Another rough night’s sleep. The resort limits how cold you can make the room, and it’s just too hot for me. I like to sleep cold. But mediocre coffee and a good breakfast shake off the lack of sleep this morning.
Out walking this morning, I was wondering why some bushes are filled with purple flowers while another right next to them is bare. You can see down in Stray Pixels, why.
Well, the plane is already over an hour late; it might be a long day, life on the road.
Back in Cancun. Hot and humid, and the resort is dead. Nobody is here. It’s so nice and quiet. Walking back to my room, I came across this male Baltimore Oriole. Blurry shots, but he was moving fast, and all I had was my iPhone. Such vivid colors.
Pretty sad day on the photo front. Had a terrible night’s sleep, got up at 2:30 in the morning, and had a long day. My only shots were early this morning, thank goodness I took those. Time for sleep.
Another crazy busy day. Up at 4 am, to drop my better half off at the airport to go see the grandkids. So that leaves me with dog-walking duty. Out into the heat for a 4 miler. The dogs looked at me funny because “Mom” always does 7+ with them. Hey, I got things to do.
Then chores and office work. I love the term “Office Work” because for me, that usually means hobby stuff! Today I completed my current printing class and did some more hard proofing. I love holding prints in my hand. If you haven’t printed any of your photography in a while, please do so. It feels good. It looks good. There is NO comparison to looking at a print on screen vs holding a print on good paper. I have a zine from Florian - I love looking at this thing. It’s beautiful to hold photography in your hand.
Trust me.
So, that meant no photography time today, so you get one of the dogs and me by this very pretty flowering bushy thing…
I’m off on a trip soon, but I’m very excited to get home. I’ve carved out 2 or 3 days of just shooting pictures time. I don’t know where I’m going yet or what I’m doing, but I’ll be out there for sunrise and sunset for sure. Even in these nasty 42 °C / 107 °F temperatures. Tickle me excited.
If you’re reading this, you actually stopped by my blog. Thank you. I appreciate you. I hope it was an amazing day.
We went over to Richard’s house to meet with his wife and son. We had a good talk, told some stories, and shared good memories. They were very gracious to let us pick out a few of Richard’s photos to keep in his memory. I will proudly have these on my office wall.
I miss our Flickr chats, seeing Richard out on his morning walk, and talking about woodworking…
Miss you, friend.
Down in Stray Pixels, a few shots from yesterday turned out pretty well for iPhone shots. Craig, Richard’s son, wanted a picture of mine printed that he and his dad had commented on before he passed, as a memory. I’m working on some color correction and testing some new photo papers to get a worthy print for him.
It was nice to fiddle around with photography and printing today while I thought about Richard.
First time in Richmond. Not enough time to explore the city, hopefully next time. Good day out in the skies, only 40 minutes late by the end of the day. Lots of thunderstorms and turbulence today, glad to be done. Ended up in Cancun, time for a good rest.
Great day out exploring and mountain biking. Not very many pictures today, I’m really out of shape, it took all my energy just to stay on the bike. Add in an elevation of 7300', and I was toast.
A little road trip up to Flagstaff, AZ, for some hiking and biking to escape the already oppressive heat in Phoenix. Shot and processed on iPhone. Summer is filling me with dread. I need to move North. Way North.
It’s always been a fascinating topic for me: where you live and why. I’m envious of the people who can say, “I live here, I love it here, and I’ll get the best job I can here, because I love it.” On the other side of the coin are the people who say, “I’ll live anywhere for the job that I love. My job comes first; I’ll make do wherever I am.” Guess which camp I’m in…
I’m seeing a positive trend with younger people I fly with: they’re putting quality of life first. Where they live comes first, and how much they work comes second. They’re putting family and time off first—something we never did, and we’re paying the price for that attitude later in life.
Anyway, I digress. A topic for another day.
I hope it was a good day. Thank you for stopping by.
What a day. The alarm went off at 3 A.M. Dallas time, which is 1 A.M. local time for me. Talk about painful. I was main-lining coffee until I was vibrating. Good day in the training center, then a completely full flight home. I’m still amazed that everyone is still flying. Planes are packed. Which, on the bright side, is good for my job. (but, I’m still going to complain, it would be nice to have center seats open…)
Today’s pictures are dedicated to him. I took them yesterday—Richard’s last day, at least here on Earth. These pictures are for him. Richard may have commented on one or two of them on Flickr. I will miss that.
I will never forget Richard. I did not know him for very long, but he was such an amazing human being—so kind, so talented. Richard was a husband, father, grandfather, teacher, artist, woodworker, photographer, and so much more—a wonderful photographer with a unique style. He had many art shows featuring his work, and I was lucky enough to see a few of them.
We lived close to each other and consulted on projects from time to time. We texted and communicated on Flickr. Richard loved Flickr and had so many Flickr friends.
You will be greatly missed, my friend. You made me a better human. You gave me so many creative ideas and inspired me.
Wherever you are, my friend, take some pictures and send them to me…
Pretty skinny day on the photo front. Got up this morning at 1 am my time. Overnighting East of home is hard on the body. Hard to be creative when you’re this rummy tired.
Well, the mini-vacation and all the extra time for shooting pictures have come to a close. Long day back at work, short overnight to do it all again tomorrow. Couldn’t ask for a nicer place to spend 10 hours, though.
