Kodak Portra 400

Most of you readers know that I shoot in black and white film exclusively and extensively for my street photography as well as night photography, with Kodak Tri-X 400 and TMAX 400 respectively. I have used them for almost 5 years and I do love these films, especially from Kodak.

Lately I came to know about Kodak's popular professional color negative film, Portra 400. I've read the product reviews and saw images taken by many photographers around the world, and I thought maybe it's time I should shoot color pictures. Well some of my color street photographs were taken digitally with my Nikon D70s. I had shot Agfa Vista 400 color negative film on my Horizon Perfekt panorama camera. Didn't like the colors and image quality.

The latest batch of Portra films are all new mixture of the formerly VC (Vivid Color) and NC (Natural Color) films. As a first time user, I can't say much and so I've yet to load up a roll of Portra 400 into either my Seagull 205 rangefinder camera or Horizon Perfekt. The sales person at Ruby Photo said this new Portra produces rich colours with lesser or no film grain. Yeah will find out for myself soon.

Until then, I will send a couple of rolls to the photo lab for film development and scanning. Will definitely post some good street photos here. So do subscribe to this blog site to get future updates.

All photos are taken with my Samsung S3. Post in Snapseed.

Cheers for Beer! (An Experimental Fun Shot)

Cheers for Beer

My mother went for a cooking event held in City Square Mall yesterday afternoon and in the goodie bag, there are these two mini cans of Asahi Japanese beer. Yes one cannot tell how mini they are from the above picture unless I placed a regular size beer in scale comparison. The mini can measures 3 inches (7.8 cm) height 2 inches (5 cm) diameter. The whole can is in silver tin color which makes it very glossy and reflective.

Well I just thought why not do a simple photo shoot so I did a quick set up with a lighting diagram after the jump.

Read more

Street Photo - Daddy's Little Girl

Daddy's Little Girl

Made with Nikon D70s on Tamron wide angle lens. Monochrome conversion in Photoshop using Silver Efex Pro 2.

The Alternative Resource

I posted this image on my Facebook page this late afternoon. I was asking viewers to guess what these items are. Have you guess it right?

Make the jump to find out the answer and what I can do with these items.

Read more

Street Photo - Red Dot on Top

Red Dot on Top

This street photo was taken in early March this year. I was walking around Anderson Bridge that links Fullerton Hotel and Asian Civilization Museum across the Singapore River. As I crossed the bridge towards ACM, I noticed this man was standing with his hands on his hips, reading the signboard. As I approached the subject closer to get a better composition, I saw two cyclists riding from my left on the background and right across behind my subject. I anticipated and took that precise moment where I wanted the two bikers to be positioned.

All elements in this photo came together perfectly at the right place and at the right time. Elements of different shapes and sizes consist of the red circular board on top, white rectangular white board, four triangular shapes formed by the subject's arms and the two biker's right legs (both in same pedaling position, forming a symmetrical pattern) and lastly the four circular wheels of the two bicycles. In fact, there are additional shapes formed by the tiles on the ground.

This photo is certainly one of my favorite street photos in color though I did a black and white conversion which looks good. But I believe the color version looks better.. Moreover what I also like about this photo is the red circular board that is in a slight off position, perhaps due to soldering error during construction time. Such minor detail that breaks away from the overall symmetrical patterns in this street photo, certainly works great for me.

Made with Nikon D70s on Tamron wide angle lens. Minor Levels adjustment in post without cropping. Make the jump if you want to view the black and white version.

Read more

Street Photo - Bloated

Bloated

Made with Seagull 205 RF on Ilford Pan 100 and developed in 1+1 Kodak D76 for 540 seconds. Negative scanned on Epson V700 with cropping and tonal adjustment in post.

Trade-in for 2 New Books

Well, this week we're going to take a little break from posting my 35mm film street photos which I have been doing so since February. More to come. But today I want to share with you readers on 2 new books which I traded with my old photography books at a local photography bookstore. The book authors and publishers are different but the main focus or subject is of the same person. That person was none other than Vivian Maier. I've followed Vivian's work since I got to know in 2009. Here are the 2 book covers.

I really love Vivian's work that's truly inspiring. A documentary film was made in memoirs of her, titled Finding Vivian Maier. Here's a trailer. I do hope this film will be showing here in Singapore during some film or photography festival.

Street Photo - Habitual Pattern

Habitual Pattern

Made with Seagull 205 RF on Ilford Pan 100 and developed in 1+1 Kodak D76 for 540 seconds. Negative scanned on Epson V700 with cropping and tonal adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Scalp Protection

Scalp Protection

Made with Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400 and developed 1+1 in Kodak D76 for 500 seconds. Negative scanned on Epson V700 and cropping in post.

Street Photo - Okinawan Ryuso

Okinawan Ryuso

Made with Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400 and developed in Kodak D76 1+1 for 500 seconds. Negative scanned on Epson V700 with minor crop and burn in post.

Street Photo - Indian Ladies

Indian Ladies

Made with Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400 and developed 1+1 in Kodak D76 for 500 secs. Negative scanned on Epson V700 with minor crop and burn in post.

Street Photo - Indian Boy and Four Chariot Horses

Indian Boy and Four Chariot Horses

Made with Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400 and developed 1+1 in Kodak D76 for 500 seconds. Negative scanned on Epson V700 with cropping, burning and contrast adjustments in post.