Advice on photos for baby room

bach_1006 · Jan 5, 2005

My wife is expecting our first child this summer. We are thinking about using the coming months to wander the area (Wisconsin, Minnesota) and take pictures that we might eventually blow up a bit to put in the room. I have a little knowledge about how cameras work, but not as much about the practical aspects of picture taking. I have an EOS 2000 with the standard 28-80mm lens and a 70-200mm lens as well. Neither are very fast, but have taken some reasonably good pictures on 400-800 Kodak film in the last year (a few attached). I might be able to swing one new lens, but this is basically the equipment we will have to use.

We are thinking about pictures of local flowers, plants, birds, insects, landscapes, etc. that might be colorful and cheery. I think using a better film will help brighten up the colors a bit. What advice might you have about subject matter (what works, what doesn't), film type and what I should try to avoid with the equipment I have? Will pictures blow up well from 35mm film to sizes, say, around 8X11? 11X14? I know the question is broad, and I will be looking around for ideas, but thought some folks here might have personal experience to offer for advice. Thanks in advance.

Oops, forgot to upload the photos. The hibiscus photo doesn't have a very good depth of field (or probably, I should have focused more on the outside petals), but there are 600dpi scans of a few pics I took to see how well the lenses would perform.

Alison · Jan 5, 2005

If you want to enlarge, try a 100 ISO film. In general the lower the ISO the larger you can make the photo in the end.

I used to use Fuji for landscapes when I shot film, I liked the saturation of the greens and yellows.

I lived in MN for 14 years, stop by the big spoon/cherry sculpture in Minneapolis for some nice colors

Or Taylors Falls for some nature scenes.

Big Mike · Jan 5, 2005

Welcome to the forum.

35mm film can be blown up quite well to those sizes. I'm no expert but I'll offer some suggestions.

Use a tripod and fire the shutter without touching the camera. This means using a cable release, remote control or even just using the self timer. This will minimize camera shake. I don't think the EOS 2000 has MLU (mirror lock up) but if it does, use it.

Use slow film. ISO 100 or even lower. Lower film has smaller grain which looks better than fast film when blown up.

Slide film is said to be better for clear colorful enlargements but your exposure will have to be more precise than if you were using color negative film.

A nice sharp lens will also help to give you better looking enlargements. I suggest the 50mm F1.8 lens. It will only cost $70 US and it's one of the sharpest lenses you will find for your EOS camera.

Good luck with the photos & the baby.