The Magazine

[cigrainger]

Pentax ME-F, SMC Pentax M 40mm f/2.8 pancake, Ilford HP5. What do you think?

 

[DSLR noob]

noisy

 

[schumionbike]

Good composition and good DOF. For some reason, I kind of like the noise in the picture cause it make like it's older, time before the internet I guess. Did you intended to make it noisy?

 

[LaFoto]

A) you found a very nice looking girl as your subject.
B) she is sitting in a place that looks like one I would like to go to, too.
C) the shallow DOF of f2.8 is sweet

I really like this photo!

Do you make your own prints in a darkroom you can use yourself now or do you have to have a lab develop the film and make prints for you?
Do you scan your own PRINTS or do you scan the FILM or do you have the lab develop the film for you.

 

[danalec99]

I like the grain here. It adds life. This would have been a bland shot without it.

 

[Stan (AG)]

I like the grain here. It adds life. This would have been a bland shot without it.

So true. I forgot about what grain does. This is a very artistic photograph. Very good.

 

[cherrymoose]

What do you think?

I think I know her.

But other than that, nice shot. Yes, I agree, the grain does add to it-- a lot. And for the better. :thumbup:

 

[loser101]

It might be a good picture but it looks flat and plus the back ground is blown out and her face is kind of too dark. i keep looking at the background instead of her.

Is this a negative scan or a print? I just developed and printed two rolls of HP5 and mine didn't seem to be that grainy. Great film by the way i like it a bit more then the tri-x.

 

[LaFoto]

We'll have to wait for cigrainger to land in Florida and get settled .... He's only just left Scotland for some months at home. And then he can tell us how this photo came about and if he made his own prints and if this is a scanned negative or print and all that .

 

[loser101]

but i want the answer noooooooooooooow......

hehe

 

[cigrainger]

Thanks for the comments guys. I got this roll processed by my lab, and they scanned the film to CD. The scans from them sometimes seem grainier than the actual print, and this is one of those cases. I actually prefer the grain.

I appreciate the comments and criticism, I haven't gotten much lately, and it's nice to see some.

As far as the blown out background, I was aiming for that. This isn't necessarily a picture of a girl reading a magazine, but the coffee shop in general. She just happens to be the focal point. I was going for the contrast of her up against the light shining into the cafe at an extreme angle. I exposed it so that the windows would be blown out and some highlights on the furniture.

I figured that a normal shot, taken from a different angle so the exposure could be "right", would be completely boring. But with this you have a girl that sort of melts into the image of a cafe with light pouring in onto the everyday people going about their business. At least that's how I imagined it.

I'm getting a brick of HP5 for Mexico that I'll be developing myself, so we'll see how my b/w skills improve.

Thanks again.

BTW, LaFoto, thanks for the comments -- it's my girlfriend, and I specifically chose the 40mm f2.8 wide open, because it's a bit wider than the 50mm f1,7, so I got more people, and I think anything below f2.8 would have pulled the people in the background too out of focus.

 

[loser101]

Oh i see........ i guess you were going for something else then what i thought.

Yeah if you do this print in a dark room i think you will be surprised by how much you can get out of it.

 

[abraxas]

Pretty cool shot. I think it could stand cropping the light above her head out.

 

[mec621]

i like the picture but it could be a bit sharper