A Film Spent 35 Years Inside a Camera. The Frames Were Successfully Developed
Sometimes our students bring us old cameras inherited from their grandparents. Once, we opened such a camera and were very upset to find a roll of film inside. There might have been photos on it, but they were ruined by light exposure.
After that unfortunate experience, we started opening the next cameras brought to us only in complete darkness to check if there was film inside.
One day, we were given an old FED camera. Inside, there was a surprise â a roll of film, which we sent to the photo lab for development the very next day.
To our delight, there were photos on it, and we were able to scan and enhance them in Photoshop (boosting the contrast).
We found out from the former owner of the camera that the film had been sitting inside for about 35 years! With the ownerâs permission, we are sharing these photos.
There was another similar case: when Viktor bought a film camera second-hand, he also found undeveloped film inside. After developing it, it turned out to contain frames from the set of a Russian movie.
It turned out that the camera had once belonged to a well-known cinematographer. Unfortunately, we canât share those frames here because we didnât obtain permission to publish them. However, that case wasnât as remarkable, since the film had been inside the camera for no more than 5 years.
How long has film stayed inside your cameras? Weâd love to hear your stories about similar accidental discoveries if youâve had any.
Take a look at your old storage spaces â maybe youâll find something important. It would be great if you or your friends uncovered forgotten photos that no one remembers anymore.
Just remember: always open cameras in complete darkness to avoid exposing the film. If youâre unsure, ask someone experienced to help. Sometimes, itâs not easy to figure out how to remove film safely, especially in the dark.
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There is a common problem that more and more photographers are facing when shooting with flashes in a photography studio.
The fact is that on mirrorless cameras (as well as on DSLR cameras in live view mode) there are two ways to display the image in the viewfinder:
1. The camera displays a picture with exactly the brightness that would be obtained with the given camera settings. The camera does not take the flash into account, and without a flash the picture will turn out black (try in the studio without a flash to take a picture at ISO 100, 1/125 s, f/8). Therefore, it is impossible to shoot in this mode, although I have seen people who managed to shoot essentially blindly in this way :-)
2. The camera always shows a bright picture, no matter what shutter speed, aperture and sensitivity settings you set. This is the mode you need to turn on in the camera when shooting in the studio.
But the big problem is that switching between these two modes is very often hidden deep in the menu, and is called differently in different cameras. We made a video about where this mode is hidden in the FUJIFILM X-T20 camera, but in the comments under the video you can see how kind people write where to look for this setting in their cameras.
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A useful life hack for taking selfies!
We will talk about photographic things, and not about how to fold your lips into a bow.
When you take a selfie with the front camera of your phone or tablet, many devices turn on the white screen as a backlight. It lights up the moment the camera takes a photo.
Not everyone realizes that a face illuminated in this way can look different depending on the position of the camera on the device. The most important rule is that the light should shine from above, then the face will look better.
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How to improve your photography skills. "Grandfather's method"
Photographers can be divided into two camps:
1. I shoot a lot, and then choose the best.
2. I check every frame.
Each has its own pros and cons. The first one risks not catching anything interesting during the entire shooting. The second one may miss the most necessary unique moment. Of course, as elsewhere, the golden mean is important. Sometimes you need to shoot a little faster, and sometimes you need to think ten times before pressing the shutter button.
In the era of digital photography, there is a great temptation to become a quick-shooting photographer, having an almost unlimited supply of frames on a memory card. This often leads to less conscious choice of shooting point, lighting conditions and composition.
When I find myself taking too many shots during a shoot, I use a simple but effective trick. I take out a film camera, load it with film and go shoot. It is advisable to shoot something important, for example, a portrait. It is advisable to buy more expensive film to increase the value of each frame. For example, for me the cost of one frame (including development and scanning) is about $1-2.
This method always works, which is why I constantly recommend it to everyone. Unfortunately, few people use it, although all the conditions are there. Getting hold of an old working film camera is not a problem. Films are still available for sale, and darkrooms with developing facilities can be found.
Those who took the time to do this note a significant improvement, both in terms of the quality of the pictures and in the general creative mood. Especially if you've never shot on film, do it now. Then it will be too late.
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About dynamic range
High Dynamic Range (HDR) - extended dynamic range. A technique that allows you to fit a very contrasting story into one frame. It was this technique that forced landscape photographers to almost completely abandon such an accessory as a gradient filter.
It would seem that the technique of shooting in HDR should become more and more popular, but this is not happening. It's all the fault of camera manufacturers who make matrices better and better. Every year we can squeeze more and more information out of the shadow areas of an image. Studio photographers, for example, have become much less likely to use fill light (which essentially reduces the contrast of the image). Even the reflector is losing its popularity.
If things continue like this, then we wonât have to think about light at all. It will be possible to take photographs as is, and the widest dynamic range of the matrix will allow you to draw any light-and-shadow pattern during processing. There are already early attempts to make smartphone apps that allow you to simulate different lighting patterns on a photograph you've already taken. For now, all this is a bit raw, but it will develop quickly.
Where will this all lead? Will this make the process of taking photos easier? We can only guess. In any case, photography still has some way to go, and you and I will have to quickly adapt to many of its innovations.
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Who is a photographer?
A bit of poetry. You can often find photographers with inflated egos. They complain at every corner, telling millions of the same stories about how their friends pester them with idiotic requests, citing the phrase âYouâre a photographer.â âCan you recommend a camera? Youâre a photographerâ, âCan you take a photo of me on my phone? Well, youâre a photographer,â etc.
I am also often approached with such requests, but I calmly respond to them. After all, Iâm a photographer, Iâm really good at photographic equipment. Yes, not as good as a salesperson in a store, but I can guide and advise.
I'm a photographer, I can really take a better photo of a friend on his phone than a non-photographer can. I understand where and how best to stand, how best to compose the shot.
I'm a photographer, I'll really get good pictures from the party, which will be nice to look at later. I will never stop being nice to a friend who politely asks me to take a camera to a party. If itâs suddenly difficult for me, I can also politely refuse and no one will be offended.
What else are friends for if not to help each other? Photographer, doctor, electrician... Normal friends will not ask the impossible from you, they understand the limits of decency, they respect you and your time. And if not, then perhaps there is something wrong with your friends? After all, we form our own social circle, so you only need to complain about yourself.
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For some reason, some female photographers, when working with a model, believe that a woman can touch a woman even without warning. It seems to me that if a woman does not like the touch of others, then it does not matter what gender the person who touches her is. Isn't that how it works?
For example, it doesnât matter to me who will inspect me at the airport when going through security, a man or a woman.
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Itâs great when a person not only dreams of realizing some creative idea, but also does everything to make this dream come true. Looks for new opportunities and like-minded people. He is not afraid to appear stupid, trying to describe the indescribable and formulate the indefinable. Often you have to step over doubts: Am I up to some bullshit? What will they think of me? Will it work?
You need to try everything, sometimes even what you were once disappointed in. Our life experience, like scientific experience, we do not always interpret correctly. Therefore, it constantly has to be rechecked in new conditions and assessed from different angles.
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In my opinion, there are two main types of models:
1) Those who like to âtake picturesâ in fashionable poses. Show yourself to the envy of others.
2) Connoisseurs of artistry and those who want to participate in the creation of something highly artistic and beautiful.
The first type (which I hate) is very numerous, so up to the age of 30 it dominates. By the age of 30, there are fewer hunters for beautiful photos; they seem to fall off. And the second type of models continues to participate in artistic shootings, perhaps even with greater force.
Therefore, among 30-year-olds (and older), it becomes easier to find models with whom it is pleasant to work.
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The evolution of my views on lenses:
1. I shoot what I have.
2. Fixes - cool, I want to blur the background.
3. Long-focus primes are even cooler. The background is not visible at all.
4. I would like to control blur more flexibly. Iâm experimenting with tilt-shift (as in this photo), comparing different bokeh.
5. I want to work with the composition, I need more background. I switch to wide angles.
6. The background doesnât need to be particularly blurred. There are other interesting ways to highlight the main subject.
7. Everyone is good. Each situation has its own lens and its own technical means.
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