Impossible Saves the Day

I went out to photograph my friends Danny and Melissa who are the band "Mink.". I shot mostly with my Nikon Df, and got some images worthy of the effort. But, guess which shot was most favored by Melissa - an instant shot on Impossible Project Color 2.0 film in my Polaroid 600 camera. Here it is:

 

Sometimes, many times, simple is best.

 

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Mink at Jammin Java

I haven't been able to make it to a lot of live music events recently. I did get out on a Tuesday night (!) to see my friends Melissa, Danny, and Rudy of the band Mink play at a local venue, Jammin Java, in Vienna, Virginia.

 

I brought out my new Nikon Df and three prime lenses - 24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4, and 85mm f1.8.

 

Mink, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AF-D

iso 5600, f2.8, 1/125 sec.

 

Keeping the camera in Auto-ISO mode, was able to set a relatively fast shutter speed (1/125 sec.) and shoot wide open with any of the three lenses. As you can see, iso 5600 is just no problem at all for the Df. Actually, 12,800 isn't too bad.

 

Melissa and Danny, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-D

iso 2800, f2, 1/125 sec.

 

It felt good to get out and see my old friends, even for a quick set on a weeknight.

 

(Click Here) to find out more about Mink.

 

(Click Here) to find out about Jammin Java.

 

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Small Music Venue? Try a Fisheye!

 

Jake and the Burtones with Melissa Wright, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7, Rokinon 7.5mm f3.5 Fisheye Lens

iso 3200, f3.5, 1/50 sec.

 

I'm getting ready to leave on a trip, and pulled the card out of my GX7 to download what was on there, before formatting and getting ready to leave. I remembered this shot of local band Jake and the Burtones and guest Melissa Wright when it came up.

 

They were playing at the Mad Horse Brewpub in Lovettsville, VA when I decided to give this shot a try. It's not really a small venue, but the band was tightly packed into the corner. I also wanted to try to get the whole group and include some of the artwork on the walls in the shot.

 

One of the challenges I've had shooting these guys is that there's a single microphone for vocals, which you see just left of center in the image above. This means that they spend a lot of time facing each other, with the microphone in between them. My real goal is to get the fisheye right up to that mic, with all of them looking in to sing at the same time. This was really just a test shot to see how the fisheye renders a group close up.

 

Apart from the extreme distortion at the edges, which is par for the course with a fisheye, it looks pretty good. I'll have to pursue the shot I really want soon.

 

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O'er the Beautiful Snow

It's another snowy, stormy day here in Northern Virginia as I write this. Rather than let it keep me inside, I decided to take a walk in the woods and try to capture the mood. Choosing a simple and durable setup, I grabbed my Lumix DMC-TS5 (waterproof, everything-proof compact camera) and figured out how to set long shutter speeds manually. I wanted the longest exposures I could get, so that I could get some nice motion blur as I walked.

 

In order to use 1 second (or 1/2 second in some cases), I had to hold up a 3X neutral density filter over the lens on the TS5. No problem.

 

I've set a short selection of the images (unedited jpegs from the TS5) to one of my favorite songs, "O'er the Beautiful Snow," by Melissa Wright and the Acoustic Burgoo. The mood of the song is perfect for what I wanted to portray.

 

O'er the Beautiful Snow, by Melissa Wright and Acoustic Burgoo

Images by Reed A. George

 

(Click Here) to see the slideshow set to the music (~4 minutes playing time). Be sure to have your volume up to hear the music!

 

Melissa was nice enough to give me permission to use the song for this purpose. I hope you enjoy.

 

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Dreaming in Monochrom(e) - High ISO Analog!

I've been playing around, using my Leica M4-2 film camera as a test to see if I really want a Leica Monochrom digital rangefinder. (Click Here) to read more about it.

 

I said at the outset that I understand that shooting black and white film in a Leica M4-2 has its limits in terms of emulating the amazing new Leica Monochrom digital black and white rangefinder. For example, the Monochrom is noted for its great performance at high iso settings.

 

Well, I decided to "push" (quite literally) the high iso limits of the M4-2 by push processing Kodak TMax 400 film to iso 1600. It was quite simple. I just shot at exposure settings for iso 1600 instead of 400, then instructed my favorite processor (The Darkroom, www.thedarkroom.com) to push the film two stops. This cost an extra $2 in processing costs. Pretty reasonable.

 

Here are some results from a concert I attended. I'll start with one of my favorite local performers, Melissa Wright and her band Mink:

 

 

Mink, by Reed A. George

Leica M4-2, Kodak TMax 400 pushed to 1600

 

And a few more, these of the band Dry Mill Road:

 

 

 

Dry Mill Road, by Reed A. George

Leica M4-2, Kodak TMax 400 pushed to 1600

 

All of these shots were made with my Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f1.5 and Leica Elmarit 90mm f2.8 lenses.

 

As you can see, the contrast is pretty high in these shots. They don't have the amazing dynamic range of the modern digital monochrome. But, the film grain is quite nicely controlled in my opinion. In fact, I think these look better than equivalent shots with my digital rangefinder Leica M9 would at iso 1600. I may have to do that comparison to further convince myself. Already this little project is teaching me something about how much I can do with film and the M4-2. I haven't pushed a roll of film in years, and I feel that it frees me up to take the M4-2 along for shooting musical events that I would have only really considered the Nikon D700 for in the past. I'm pleased with that.

 

I also want to continue to extend this, seeing how TMax 400 holds up at 3200 and maybe even 6400. I'm sure it will start to degrade significantly at 6400. But, I think I may be able to pull of 3200 with no real problem.

 

From what I understand, Kodak TMax 3200 is no longer being produced, but Ilford Delta 3200 is. I used the Ilford film in the past, but found the grain to be very high at 3200. I liked that film much better at 1600. Considering that the Ilford 3200 is more than twice the price of TMax 400, I'm not sure I have much motivation to give it another try, especially when I can get this type of performance from the TMax.

 

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Skeletons From The Closet - More Results From May's Autocord TLR in the Studio

I had a roll of film in the Autocord since May. I finished it up, and share some results today. These shots were made during my studio session with musician friend Melissa Wright.

 

(Click Here) to see the images I made of Melissa with the Nikon D700.

 

Near the end of our session, I asked Melissa if she minded being patient with me, long enough to shoot some pictures with my old film camera. She agreed. This entailed connecting up my sync cord to the studio wireless transponder (what a combination of technologies, huh?), putting my Rolleinar closeup lens on, and transferring exposure info from the D700 at iso200 to the Autocord, where I was shooting Portra 160 film. Here's the result.

 

Melissa Wright, by Reed A. George

Minolta Autocord, Kodak Porta 160 Color Print Film

 

I think I did okay on exposure and focus. This was at the end of our session, so Melissa was undoubtedly tired of being photographed, but she hung in there. The old Autocord did a pretty good job.

 

Here's a shot that I've rendered in both color and monochrome. Which do you prefer?

 

Monochrome or Color?, by Reed A. George

Minolta Autocord, Kodak Porta 160 Color Print Film

 

It really was pretty hard to see through the Autocord finder to focus, even though this camera has the brightest finder of any Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) I've used, including several Rolleiflexes. I have trouble imagining shooting the whole session with this camera, but it sure added to the fun. I suppose brighter modeling lights, or hot lights (instead of strobes) would make focusing easier.

 

That said, the Autocord is a joy to shoot, especially in good ambient light. It's one of the cameras I have trouble putting back in the closet after its month in the sun.

 

Avedon did the bulk of his shooting with a TLR in the studio. He must've figured it out.

 

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My First Experience Shooting in the Studio - Headshots For A Friend

So, one of my friends and favorite local musicians, Melissa Wright, inquired about my interest in shooting headshots for her. Having never done any studio work before, of course I was excited to give it a try. It took a couple of weeks to find a rental studio and get our schedules in sync, but we finally pulled it off.

 

(Click Here) to see all the full resolution images on my site, creativeobjective.com

 

We met at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, at which time I was still fooling with lighting setup. Both a little tense, we jumped right in and started shooting. I think the tension shows in the first shots.

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f8, 1/250 sec

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f8, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f11, 1/250 sec

I've known Melissa for a few years now, so it didn't take long for us both to loosen up. With headshots, by the conventional definition, your main goal is to show a person's face, what they really look like, without cheesy grins or fake expressions. Once we both felt that we had that covered, my goal was to experiment a little, and see if we could capture a range of expressions. As I've read many times, the trick is to get your minds off of being on both sides of a camera, and capture the model in her own mind, thinking of things. I think we did that pretty well. You be the judge.

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AiS Lens

iso 100, f16, 1/250 sec

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f9.5, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AiS Lens

iso 100, f16, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f9.5, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 Lens

iso 100, f9.5, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm AF-D f1.4 Lens

iso 100, f5.6, 1/250 sec

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm AF-D f1.4 Lens

iso 100, f5.6, 1/250 sec

 

Melissa is a very talented singer and strummer of many instruments. Her latest effort is called "Mink."

(Click Here) to see the Mink page on Facebook, and determine when and where you can see Melissa perform.

 

Melissa, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm AF-D f1.4 Lens

iso 100, f5.6, 1/250 sec

 

As you can see, I chose to shoot with my Nikon D700, 50mm/f1.4, 105mm/f2.5, and 85mm/f1.8 lenses. The studio was set up with multiple backgrounds (we used black and white only), two large light boxes, and a somewhat improvised hair light. It was also setup with a wireless trigger system. It took me a few minutes and tries to get everything right, but once that was done, I could leave it as-is and worry only about composition and getting the right expression. Focus was pretty quick and easy, even with the manual focus 105mm AiS lens. Because there was so much light, setting f5.6-11 for appropriate depth of field worked well.

I took a few shots with my medium format TLR, the Minolta Autocord, but it was really more of an afterthought, far into our session. I haven't gotten those processed yet, but my expectations are not that high. The Nikon really pulled through for me.

 

I found that I really enjoyed shooting this way. It is quite different than my normal shooting experience. I liked having full control of the lighting, and the challenge of capturing who Melissa really is. I'll do more of this as opportunities arise.

 

Thanks, Melissa! I hope the images are useful to you.

 

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