By and By Bluegrass at Gypsy Sally's - Including Some "Dreaming in Monochrom(e)" Shots

I've already posted some shots of the Larry Keel Power Trio (aka Larry Keel Experience) that I shot at Gypsy Sally's in Washington DC a while back.

 

(Click Here) to see my earlier post and link to my images on the live music blog Cosmic Vibes Live. Since that post, which was all digital shots, I've received my film back from The Darkroom. I have more Keel pictures to post, when I get to it.

 

In the meantime, here are some images of one of the opening bands, By and By. The bass player, Matt Iadanza, is a friend and co-worker in my regular job. The first set is digital, all shot with the still-amazing Nikon D700. I processed these in Lightroom using my settings to emulate Ilford Delta 3200 film.

 

(Click Here) to find my Lightroom settings that lead to this look.

 

I'll follow that with a couple of film shots from the Leica M4-2 that I'm using for the Dreaming in Monochrom(e) series.

 

 

 

 

By and By, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor AF-D 20mm f2.8, Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-D Lenses

 

And here are a couple shot with my Leica M4-2 and real honest-to-goodness Ilford Delta 3200 film.

 

By and By, by Reed A. George

Leica M4-2, Zeiss C-Sonnar 50mm f1.5 Lens

Ilford Delta 3200 Film

 

This was Matt's last show as bassist for By and By. He's now in the UK, working at the University of Leeds. Best wishes, Matt! But, the band continues on. (Click Here) to learn more about By and By Bluegrass.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Emulating Delta 3200 Film Look in Lightroom

I've been shooting real Ilford Delta 3200 film in my Leica M4-2 recently. I've been using it at live music events, and really like the look, especially shooting it at iso 1600 and developing it normally (at thedarkroom.com).

 

I've been interested in emulating that look with digital files, specifically with shots from my Leica M9, shot at iso 1600. Now that my M9 is back from Leica Service, I will likely carry the M9 and M4-2 together to some shows.

 

First, I decided to try the preset in Nik software's SilverEfex Pro. I didn't find it to be particularly comparable to my film results. So, I decided to work through adjustments in Lightroom 5 until I got something closer and save them as presets. I've now done that. Here's an example of a shot made with the M9 (at iso 200 in this case). The first version is what I would normally do to process this type of image from the M9 in black and white. The second is done using my Delta 3200 presets.

 

Charlie - "Normal" versus "Delta 3200" Versions, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Leica Summilux 35mm f1.4 v.3 Lens

iso 200, f1.4, 1/125 sec.

 

For this particular shot, I strongly prefer the "Delta 3200" version.

 

I made two separate presets. Here are the adjustments I made in each.

 

Preset #1 - Delta 3200 Contrast Settings 

Contrast = +38

Clarity = +18

Preset #2 - Delta 3200 Grain and Sharpening Settings

Sharpening Amount +2

Sharpening Radius 0.7

Sharpening Detail 25

Sharpening Masking 0

NR Luminance 26

NR Detail 50

NR Contrast 0

Grain Amount 60

Grain Size 17

Roughness 94

 

I find it very interesting that adding this amount of grain and removing gray levels (in the form of increased contrast) can actually improve some images.

 

I hope others find the settings useful.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

VSCO Film - Emulate Film or Just Use It?

Discussing the "Elephant in the Room," Smithsonian Natural History Museum

by Reed A. George

Super Ricohflex TLR, Kodak TMax 400 Film

 

I am interested in this concept of emulating the look of film in the digital world. Purists will dismiss it immediately. Others will wonder why you'd want to emulate an old (inferior?) technology. I won't take either stance.

 

I have the full set of NIK software tools (now owned by Google), which allows me to emulate different film looks. I have only really used it to get a Kodak Tri-X look, which I must admit is pretty darned good. But, I find that I rarely use it, even for that.

 

Now there's VSCO Film, another package that seems to go further in emulating specific film emulsions of the past and present.

 

(Click Here) to read a very nice review of the software with lots of examples on the Aperture Priority blog.

 

So, what exactly are my thoughts on this? First, it needs more investigation. I suppose it's possible that sometime during my lifetime film will no longer be available, or will be prohibitively expensive. I hope that doesn't happen, but if it does, this type of software may be more interesting to me.

 

One thing that the blog post above mentions is that while the look is in some cases very representative of the target films, it isn't really film. You don't get that same anticipation of waiting to see what you get back from the processor. For me, that is a factor. I love opening up my envelope and seeing the negatives, then magically turning them into real pictures on my scanner.

 

But, there's another thing. It's the cameras. My film cameras are simply more enjoyable to use than their digital counterparts. That gap is starting to close, though. My Leica M9 could suffice if film were to go away altogether. The new Nikon Df seems like it has similar potential for me. I have yet to see a Micro 4/3 camera that even approaches the feel of a great film camera. My latest, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7 isn't even close in this category.

 

But, I'm not dismissing the concept of shooting digital and emulating film. I'm quite happy to continue to shoot film, but can certainly understand how not everyone feels this way. First off, it's becoming expensive. Next, film and processing are getting harder to find. I'm very pleased with using The Darkroom (thedarkroom.com) for my processing, so it's not an issue for now. But, I'm not prescribing shooting film for anyone else.

 

For now, I'm happy to use film, rather than emulating it.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com