Posted by Tom Stermitz on March 21, 2011 at 10:29 PM
Arches National Park last weekend was overcast and hazy. I liked this picture with all the tourists in it better than all my attempts at landscapes without people.
You can follow the link to my smugmug gallery to see a larger version of the photo.
The shot was taken with my new Pentax K-5 and 50-135mm lens, so this is at 200mm equivalent cropped by maybe 50%. Resolution and sharpness is still good enough to see all the little people. I also took my MZ-S which is a lot more fun than digital. The low-cast light let me safely use contrasty "velveeta" film; of course, it will be a while before I get back my slides.
Posted by Tom Stermitz on March 21, 2011 at 10:33 PM
Posted by Tom Stermitz on March 23, 2011 at 11:56 PM
Inside joke! Velvia is Fuji's high-contrast, high saturation slide film that is so popular with sunset photographers. At least half of all calendars and 90% of all Fall calendar images use this film. Some people criticize Velvia for being over-saturated; this is a matter of religion or taste.
Personally, I love the saturation and contrast. Specifically, Velvia really glows with warm yellows and reds. Also, Velvia gives us a specific use-case where film "might" be better than digital. Digital blows out the highlights if you aren't careful. Slide film can also blow out, but has a "shoulder" non-linearity which protects you a bit against this. Red flowers in the sun are a specific problem. Also, the grain of film is quite pleasant.
Here is a 100% lily pad blow up which nicely demonstrates this quality of film (Leica M6). Also, note the pleasant quality of the film grain.
Discussion
3 repliesYou can follow the link to my smugmug gallery to see a larger version of the photo.
The shot was taken with my new Pentax K-5 and 50-135mm lens, so this is at 200mm equivalent cropped by maybe 50%. Resolution and sharpness is still good enough to see all the little people. I also took my MZ-S which is a lot more fun than digital. The low-cast light let me safely use contrasty "velveeta" film; of course, it will be a while before I get back my slides.
Delicate Arch at PhotoKinesis.US
Personally, I love the saturation and contrast. Specifically, Velvia really glows with warm yellows and reds. Also, Velvia gives us a specific use-case where film "might" be better than digital. Digital blows out the highlights if you aren't careful. Slide film can also blow out, but has a "shoulder" non-linearity which protects you a bit against this. Red flowers in the sun are a specific problem. Also, the grain of film is quite pleasant.
Here is a 100% lily pad blow up which nicely demonstrates this quality of film (Leica M6). Also, note the pleasant quality of the film grain.