19 March 2006
Size counts
Just in case anybody's actually looking at this blog (well, there are so many) and is interested, I'm setting the graphic of the photos shown size to 500x500 pixels or so. This works well on my 12" iBook and pretty well on my 17" screen at work, but if it's too big for anyone, please let me know. I'm keen to set sizes that everyone can see, without making the photos too small.
Show us your twin-lens
This is a long post on photo.net. It contains quite a number of mostly 6x6 photos produced on twin-lens cameras: Mamiyas, Rolleiflexes, Kodaks, Yashicas, Zeiss Ikons, Autocords, etc. The work includes landscapes, portraits, street photography, macro work, everything. If you want to see what medium format photography is all about, this is a good place to start. It takes a while to load this page, especially on dial-up but it's worth it.
05 March 2006
Ottakar's window
The shot below is of Ottakar's window, in Folkestone, taken with my Holga. Ottakar's is a UK bookshop chain. I'm pleased with this shot because it's pretty much in focus, which was what I wanted. It'd probably be nicer in colour in some ways, but I like it in monochrome. It's an odd thing about the Holga. It's a toy and it's fun. Sometimes, it can come as a surprise that it can be a good camera, when the default exposure value happens to be right for the light. This shot is a lovely print.
Those Holga soft filters
My Holga came with the optional filter sets. One of the sets is a set of coloured filters. They're square and slide in. Kind of like Cokin filters, except they're plastic and probably cost about a penny each to make. I posted a while back that someone on Flickr has taken four photos with the coloured filters to see what effect they have.
The other set also contains coloured filters, plus one non-coloured filter. These filters have a clear spot in the middle and a translucent coating elsewhere. The idea is that the centre of the photo is clear while the edges are in soft focus. Added dreaminess, you might say.
I'd never played that much with the soft-focus filters, but I recently ran a roll through the Holga where some shots were taken with the clear soft-filter. I thought I'd put a few online. I've seen at least one post on this topic elsewhere and someone is bound to ask again.
This is my favourite. It's Django's coffee shop in Folkestone. Folkestone has several good coffee shops and it's an idea of mine to photograph them all with the Holga after I saw this one. As you can see, the centre of the photo (the table and the menu on the wall) are quite clear. The rest is progressively blurred.
The other is of my back garden. Gardening isn't a hobby, so I let the garden do its own thing, mostly.
I have a photo of the Holga with a filter fitted elsewhere on this blog if you're interested. The filter holder is push-on, pull-off and weighs almost nothing. The filters are plastic, so pretty unburstable.
The other set also contains coloured filters, plus one non-coloured filter. These filters have a clear spot in the middle and a translucent coating elsewhere. The idea is that the centre of the photo is clear while the edges are in soft focus. Added dreaminess, you might say.
I'd never played that much with the soft-focus filters, but I recently ran a roll through the Holga where some shots were taken with the clear soft-filter. I thought I'd put a few online. I've seen at least one post on this topic elsewhere and someone is bound to ask again.
This is my favourite. It's Django's coffee shop in Folkestone. Folkestone has several good coffee shops and it's an idea of mine to photograph them all with the Holga after I saw this one. As you can see, the centre of the photo (the table and the menu on the wall) are quite clear. The rest is progressively blurred.
The other is of my back garden. Gardening isn't a hobby, so I let the garden do its own thing, mostly.
I have a photo of the Holga with a filter fitted elsewhere on this blog if you're interested. The filter holder is push-on, pull-off and weighs almost nothing. The filters are plastic, so pretty unburstable.
