chrisp7091

Some very nice shots here. I am partial to some limited DOF. Here are two of mine. Second one is analogue (Ilford Delta 100 film), the colour shot is digital:

Looks like a lovely place. Somewhere on the continent? My shot was taken with my pint stood on our windowsill :-)!

The weekend.Time to relax. So what's your favourite beverage:-)?

Well, I'm really miffed I didn't actually get to see this, but the sound was just amazing. It's a long time since I went to an air show and I didn't remember just how powerful and thrilling the sound of a Merlin is. Will have to take the kids to an air show soon:-)!

Yep - we're at Stannington. I started the other thread. Knew it was a Merlin, but it sounded 'different' somehow - but absolutely fantastic. Thought the plane might be a Mustang, but didn't see it - I was in the bath and missed seeing it! Darn :-)!!

Just heard a fanastic sounding ww2 plane over the city - but couldn't see it from the house. Anyone spot what it was? P51, I'm geussing?

Cheers for that. Really interesting to finally know what the structure is. I photographed it years ago and used a nearby pile of broken carved stone to give interest to the foreground of my photo. I always thought it was weird to find material like that in the middle of nowhere. Now I know how it got there :-)!.

Not sure what this tower is. It's in the valley above Bradfield and near the Strines. I used to cycle round here when I was young and fit. I threw in a couple of wild flower shots from yesterday aswell. Only colour I could find on a grey day!

Nah that's fine - thanks for taking the time to pass on the tips :-). You asked about the processing of my FP4. I went to Jessops for that, so who knows what chemicals they used. I had no complaints havings said that, apart from the time it took. I don't mind the wait for processing - but 2 weeks? I got a bit frustrated waiting to see the results. Anyhow, I'll look forward to trying some of your suggested films. Just tonight finished a roll of Delta 100. I'm thinking of sending that direct to Ilford for processing. I'm giving Fuji Velvia a go next, but Kodak Ektar sounds like another one for the list. I'd also like to try some Agfacolour film, just because my dad used to like it. As for the resolution of my D70, I can only go by what I see. The results are usually very sharp from this camera with my various lenses. I understand that's because it has a weak anti alias filter? I'm like you - love my DSLR, but you can't beat film :-).

I agree with everything you say about the variables that will affect film resolution. Only thing I noticed is that the information sheet on the sign post in my first picture is pretty much illegible, due to the FP4 grain. That would definitely be clear and readable in a similar shot taken on my 6mp Nikon D70. I think, if the scan res was even higher, it would just have enlarged the grain. I think the Nikon scaner I use scans at around 2700 dpi. The thing is - why does it matter? I had a look at your flickr photostream and you've taken some great shots there, full of atmosphere and mystery. I love the grain and the way your film photos look. I love the grain in my FP4 shot aswell! I think its easy to get too concerned about absolute resolution - terrific pictures like yours would still look great whatever image size they were:-).

I agree with what's been said about film being really good fun and having to consider every frame I shoot, due to cost. It makes film seem more precious. I've taken lots of shots of my kids, just because I love the idea of images of them existing on physical media, rather than just being bits of information on a hard drive. The kids also like to help me take the film cannister in and out of the camera! I'm not sure about the resolution issue. I'm only using 35mm film. The max scan size with my Nikon scanner is about 8-9mp in digital terms. I'm not sure there's that much information in the negatives though, due to the effect of the grain. None of that really matters to me. Film seems to come with an instant atmosphere or mood that rarely crops up in my digital photos. I can never be quite sure what surprises there might be when my negatives come back from processing. I'm currently using Ilford Delta 100 to compare to my previous attempts with FP4. Fuji Velvia next!. Really enjoying the whole process.

Thanks very much. Must say, I'm now a bit of a film devotee. I'm about to upgrade my DSLR to a Nikon D5100 for the technical excellence of its images - particularly the low image noise characteristics. Ironically, what I love about the film shots I've been taking is how, in todays terms, so much is 'wrong' with the images. Lots of grain, unexpected colour balances and even specs of dirt in my camera:

Following on from Jennie 2102's post, I thought I'd post a couple of recent shots I took - using a film camera. I recently resurrected my old Canon EOS and am really happy with the images I got using Ilford FP4. There seems to be something very atmospheric about analogue photos. These are a couple of my early efforts, where I was just tinkering about, so nothing special subject wise:

Very nice shot. I like the white backdrop. Helps the image look stylish and modern in a 'designed' kind of way, if you know what I mean.

Terrific. Think I've waited at the lights for some of those low loaders to pass across Brightside Lane on various occasions :-). I've only worked at Jessops for a few years since my company bought a unit there. Great to see Forgemasters is still so busy!.

Yeah - the steelworks shots are great. I Really like the one with the foundry worker in front of the smoke. Do you work at Forgemasters? Our office is right next door on Jessops Riverside.

Thanks. Really glad you liked them.

I thought the storm looked pretty dramatic, so I took a couple of snaps. The sky was very dark, so I had to increase the contrast a bit to pick out some detail.

Very nice photo. I like the near symmetrical comp. I think this view is just begging for a long exposure using a 'big stopper' type filter. I'd love to see how that would work when the overflow is going strong!

Thanks. I thought it was an interesting discussion of what does and doesn't work, in terms of composition. There are no hard and fast rules dictating how anyone should organise the elements in a shot. I'm glad my pics provoked comment. I suppose that's why we all post our efforts onto the forum. I always feel chuffed to get some feedback, anyhow :-) . I agree about the crop on the picture of my little lass. Making someone's head or eyes the focus of an image always seems to work, so as you suggest, having her head on a 'third line' seems to make sense - cheers for that!.

Yes, 'The Golden Section' or 'Golden Mean' is a very useful tool that I've sometimes used in my pics. To be honest, these snaps felt about right to me as they were, at least as far as composition goes. I wouldn't have been able to make the tractor tracks in the rapeseed stand out so much if I'd squeezed them down into the bottom third of the image. I can't explain why, but I thought there was a sort of 'tension' in the picture that came out of the elements being placed where they are, and if anything, I would have preferred the tree to be more exactly central in the horizontal than it is. As for the photo of my daughter, this is a slight crop of the orginal and I intended her to be roughly a third of the way in, but I might have not got the crop quite right. I wouldn't have wanted her a thrid from the bottom. I prefer her to be placed centrally in the verticaL Anyhow, these were all taken on my ageing nikon D70. I still love using it after all these years, but this week someone at work bought a 5d mk3 and I had a play with it. What a machine! I was so envious!

Thanks Paul. Yes, I agree the first one would have had more impact in colour. Only reason I went to b+w was because of the rapeseed in the foreground. I thought the yellow of the plants would work well with the other elements in the picture, but when I got the photo on my computer they had an unpleasant yellow/green tinge to them that spolied the composition. Pity.....

We came back from our usual holiday in Dorset last weekend, and here are a few snaps from the trip. It's a lovely area. We will be off to Swanage next year, which is a beautiful 'old fashioned' town. Fully recommend it for a family holiday. No major supermarkets that we could see and 3 small independant toy shops on the high street. One even has a life size Dalek in the window!. Honestly, what more could you ask for than a seaside town with Daleks on a proper old fashioned high street :-).....

Yeah, I felt like I was taking a risk, so I thought I'd check here. Seems like they have been back again selling to the neighbours, so they seem to be Ok. The fish was nice enough, but I'm not sure its any better for the price than from M&S or somewhere.

Seems so :-). Funny thing is, I never suffered from anything Mrs T did. I was in continuous employment through the 80's, got promoted, earned good money (got an inheritance of my own along the way - I'm living in it now) and then completely changed my career, got a degree and carried on earning after. I'm not really responding to the effect the demon woman had on me - I can just see how bad she's been for the country in the long term and haw many lives she's wrecked along the way. Mind you, I never understood why union leaders acted the way they did either. Why on earth did Scargill not ballot his members and thereby allow Thatcher to declare the strike illegal?. I remember hearing that on the news and being amazed that he could be so daft - or ego centric. Allowed her to destroy his industry!!. Why?.