Raghu Rai

Raghu Rai is a documentary photographer i have recently come accross. I didnt feel his work really distinguished him from any other photo journalist/documentary photographer, i was realy drawn in by the emotion in his images. I think his use of black and white as opposed to colour helps him create these moods and accentuate emotion as there are no colourful distractions and the focus is much more powerful.

Bruce Gildent

I love Bruces work, it reminds me very much of martin parrs gritty almost humours but true to life imgages. He captures real life perfectly and by no means trys to glam it up. The images have perfect contrasts and a crisp and clear to view. I love black and white and i love martin parr so this guy was a real find for me.

Influences

Thought it was about time i blogged some of my favourite photographers and artists. Ive decided to focus on photographers that shoot mainly in black and white as it would seem most relevant.

Never developed a medium format film before. its pretty straightforward really, just like 35mm but a little more fiddly in the dark. I was pleased with most the images. I wrote down all the speeds and apertures as i was taking the photos so ill be able to work out which came out best and why.

I feel very comfortable in the dark room now and i understand a huge amount more than i did before. I wreckon all i can do now is practice practice practice and keep developing. That way my photos will improve more as i get the nitty gritty things spot on.

The next thing on my to do list is to book the lighting studio! although i had an incredible induction to it, i havnt yet had free roam of it. I want to produce a number of photos that demonstrate the model lighting techniques we were taught.
Im going to have to book it for a wetnrainy day because the weathers smashing today so ill be out geting to grips with my tlr.

Studio Lighting

I had an incredible introduction to studio lighting on friday. I learnt WAY more than i expected and i feel im getting the grip of the term 'f stop' and how it relates to more than just the aperture. I also learnt a number of different ways to light portraits. These were set up like the following:

Broad Lighting
Have your subject sit about 3/4 turned towards the camera, so that a main side of that person's face is showing. Shine the light on that largest portion of the face, towards the side that's closest to the camera. This offers a more feminine look to your subject's face, as it also adds weight to a thin face.

Rembrandt Lighting
After seating your subject, shine the main light above the person's head. You can point it at any particular direction of the face, although you will need to angle this light at a 45 degree angle. A traditional aspect of Rembrandt lighting is a triangle of shadows that will appear on the face of your subject, where the light is being directed.

Short Lighting
This lighting style is similar to broad lighting. When your subject is seated, you will also turn this person's head about 3/4 towards the camera. But instead of shining the main light in front of the face, shine it on the furthest point of the face on the "shortest" part that's partially being revealed. This will make a person's face look thinner, and offer a more masculine
characteristic to the subject.

Butterfly Lighting
Seat the subject in front of the camera, and place the primary source of light in front of the person's face, similar to Rembrandt lighting. Angle it above the person's head at a 45 degree angle. You will create a sort of "butterfly" shadow right under the person's nose. What helps dramatize this shadow is by slowly raising the light in front of them, to create shorter or larger butterfly shadows.

Catch Light
A catch light is the light that reflects off your subject's eyes. Most studio lighting requires that a small amount of light is found in the eyes of your subject. It offers a dimensional look, that brings out the color and emotion in your subject's eyes. Catch lights for portrait photography make your studio picture less flat.

Thought these water relections were BOSTIN!

Did some more printing today think im getting there...

How to Use a TLR Camera
By an eHow Contributor
Many photo enthusiasts favor the medium format photography and the square frames it produces. While there are several ways to produce pictures in this format, using a TLR (twin lens reflex) camera ranks among the more popular methods.

Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions

Things You'll Need:
TLR camera
120 format film
Tripod (optional)
Shutter release cable (optional)
Hand-held light meter
Loading the Camera
1
Slide open the latch at the back of the camera. This will pop open the back door and expose the film-loading compartment.
2
Take the empty film spool out of the bottom portion of the camera by gently pulling the film retainers apart. Move the spool to the film retainer at the top portion of the camera. Be sure it is properly in place before proceeding.
3
Unwrap the new roll of 120 film and place it in the film retainers at the bottom of the camera with the tapered end of the paper on top and facing the top of the camera. Gently pull the film forward and insert the paper tail into the slot of the empty film spool.
4
Turn the wind knob until the film holds firmly in place, using your thumb as a guide to keep the film in the slot. Close the back door of the camera. Make sure it snaps into place.
5
Slide back the door of the red film viewer window. Continue advancing the film with the wind knob until the number 1 appears in the window. You are now ready to shoot.
Shooting
1
Figure out shutter speed and aperture settings by using your light meter. Simply point the light meter toward your subject and line up the dials. You will get a reading on which F-stop and shutter speed you should set the camera. Adjust the 2 dials at the front of the camera (on the lenses) accordingly.
2
Mount your camera onto the tripod. This is a good idea for beginners who don't want camera shake ruining their photographs. Even experienced photographers usually will mount a TLR onto a tripod.
3
Get your subject into focus. Do this by flipping up the top cover of the camera to reveal the viewfinder. The image will appear upside down in the viewfinder. Pop out the small magnifying glass and train it on the image you are focusing on.
4
Turn the focus knob until the area in the magnifying glass becomes clear.
5
Press the shutter to take your picture. Pull out the winding knob and advance to the next exposure. Return the knob into place before shooting again.


Read more: How to Use a TLR Camera | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2105766_use-tlr-camera.html#ixzz12tMhMkTj

TLR first roll

Chinese Twin lens

As part of my Com Tech. brief ive decided to learn how to use a twin lens camera. I recently bought a peyona chinese camera that is based on a rolleiflex. Its absolutely beautiful but is difficult to use as everything is manual. The hardest part of taking a good photograph is interpreting the light levels and setting the aperture and shutter speed accordingly.
I got my first film developed recently and was realllllly realllllly impressed with one or two of the photos that came out in focus but unfortunately about 80% of the roll was crap.

I want to be able to use the tlr with confidence so i'm going to have to spend a fair bit of money on film and developing. To keep it to a minimum i have started writing down every manual setting i set for each photograph. That way once developed i can see how each shot was set up and where it might have gone wrong.

I think it may be helpful to get a few photos printed professionally so i can use it as a sort of benchmark. This way i can compare my printed images with a standard good quality professional print.

First attempt

CONTRAST FILTERS

Contrast filters are necessary for increasing or decreasing the amount of contrast in your print. If your test prints are coming out much too gray, then increasing the number of your filter will increase the contrast, making the whites whiter and the blacks blacker. Everyone has a different preference when it comes to deciding which contrast filter to start with, but I have always found for my purposes that a contrast filter of 3 suits me well when I’m working on a black and white enlarger.

Changing your contrast filter as you do test prints will also affect your exposure times, so don’t expect the same results in exposure when changing from a 3 to a 3 1/2 or a 4.

The first photograph here mimics the effect of a lower contrast filter. The second illustrates the effect of using a contrast filter higher in number.

Wet Process

Ive decided to focus on developing my skills in the dark room using film. I particularly want to master the correct techniques needed to produce deep and beautiful contrasts.

Today i went and processed my first role of black and white film. I was a little rusty but the roll came out perfect. I then went about exposing my negatives for different amounts of time as well as using contrast filters built into the enlarger to create different contrasts.

I think theres going to be a lot of trial and error before i create a perfect image....

So far i know that exposure time, amount of time spent in developer and filters are all variables in which can be changed to create different contrasts.

Yesterday i went out to kirkstall abbey to shoot a role of B+W film to play with in the dark room. It was a cracking day so crossed fingers the light was good and the photos come out well. i think ill develop them later today.

Com Tech.

For my Com Tech brief i decided to improve on my black and white photography skills. I am capable of taking a decent black and white image already however id like to become fully competent in creating perfect contrasts using filters in the dark room. i feel i know the basics of darkroom developing however using filters is a technique i know little about.