Film vs digital quiz...

When I posted some of the photos that I took in Paris with my Yashica Samurai and the portra film, a few commenters were surprised by the quality of the photos that came from the SLR and professional film... so I thought I would have a little fun with you and put together a little quiz to see if people could really see the difference from quality film and digital photos..

So here goes, each set of photos has a digital photo Thomas and a film photo by Me from Paris but which side is the film and which side is the digital?


Set 1 - The Sacre Couer


Set 2 - Seine State along the river


Set 3 - Elephant outside the Musee D'Orsay

 

Set 4 - Arc de Triomphe detail 

 Set 5 - Inside the entrance of the Moulin Rouge.

If you click on the images it should show them bigger for more detail.

I would love to see your answers in the comments and I'm really intrigued to see how people will do, a couple of these look quite tough to me...

I'll post the answers next week, I want to try and get as many people to try this as possible so feel free to share the link with your friends :) and

good luck!!

p.s. Out of all our photos, these were the most similar that we took - 5 sets out of over 1500 photos. I still love seeing our photos next to each other, as even though they are the same subject they are still so different.

(apart from maybe the elephant one lol. I'm not even sure how that happened haha)

Films I use on my blog...

As I got more adventurous with my cameras, I got more adventurous with the films that I started to use. Here are the films that I've used on my blog so far...

~ Kodak ISO 200 ~
A simple colour negative film that I buy in bulk whenever I see it in Poundland. It's the first film I tend to use in my cameras, as its so cheap and I'm always happy with the results. My holga loves this film, whilst my Diana Mini, not so much...

~ Lomography Colour Negative 400 ~
It took me a little while to realise that colour negative is just colour film, but it does sound posh I guess. This film has an ISO rating of 400 so is more sensitive to light than the Kodak 200 film. I really like the results from this film in all the cameras I've tried it in, and my Diana Mini likes it too which I like. It also captures yellow extremely well, hurray.

~ Lomography Colour Negative 800 ~
I've only used this film a couple of times and both of those with my actiontracker but I think its the perfect film for multilens cameras due to the tiny aperture of the lenses and the sensitivity of the ISO 800 rating of this film.

~ Lomography Redscale 100 ~
I'm a little undecided about this film. I love how dramatic it is with the bright yellows and the deep reds... but it does look a little creepy at times.

~ Lomography Redscale 50-200 ~
I will admit that I love this redscale film more than the 100 redscale film. So much more.
The tones are just beautiful and it works well in all weather conditions and I have had the best results with it in my Superheadz Wide and Slim camera. Love it!!

~ Ilford XP2 ISO 400 ~
Another film that I completely love. This is the first black and white film that I've tried and although its developed with C41 chemicals rather than true black and white chemicals, I still think its fantastic. The tones are soft, yet there are strong contrasts when you need them and combined with my Diana Mini, this film is truly artistic.

~ Expired film ~
Expired film is a bit of a risk but I love using it and so far my results have been beautiful, very soft with subtle colours and tones.
I need to use expired film more.

~Lomography Xpro Chrome ~
This was the first ever cross processed slide film that I tried and in a word it is gorgeous. Seriously, just gorgeous. The colours are deep, the tones are dark and sultry and the colour shift is subtle with beautiful blues and richer reds. Another film that I really love.

~ Lomography Xpro ~
After trying the Xpro Chrome I was very excited about trying other cross processed film but I'm still not convinced with this film, its very green. However, the colour shift with sunsets is impressive and the distortions are much stronger in comparison to the Xpro Chrome... I think it may be a grower.

~ Kodak Portra Neutral Colour (NC) 160 ~
This film is a dream. I'd heard so many good things about it before I used it and it turns out they were all true. The grain is fine, the colours are soft and gentle and it is happy with a SLR or a toy camera which makes me happy. A wonderful film, yet a tad bit expensive for my budget, so its my little treat to myself.

~ Kodak Portra Vivid Colour (VC) 160 ~
Like the NC version of this film, it is a dream. The colours are definitely more vivid in comparison but the grain is still perfect and the quality of the results is wonderful. Another amazing film.
(photos and link to come)


~ Kodak Elite Chrome ISO 100 ~
 I'm honestly a little bit disappointed that I've only just discovered this film, as Kodak have recently announced that they will stop producing slide film... and I absolutely love the results that I've had from this film so far. The colours are so gorgeous with warm orange tones and stunning blue skies. a truly delightful film that I'm sad to see discontinued.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So there is the round up of the films I've used so far. It was more than I thought but I can still think of others that I want to try. If you have any recommendations, definitely let me know.

p.s. I was going to make this a page but you can't comment on them and I like comments,
especially if we're discussing film.

Elle: Paris through film...

All photos by the incredibly talented Elle from Everything Reminds Me of You.
Taken with an LC-A and Diana F+
For more of her Paris film photos check out her Flickr page.

Forgotten Scarborough panaramic photos...

I always forget I have this fun little 35mm panorama camera...



and I completely forgot that I took these photos too, oops.

The first photoswap photos are in...

...and they are beautiful :)

All photos taken my Margrethe with her LC-A and redscale film in Norway
and sent to one of my dearest friends Gee in England.

This is my favourite part of the swap - getting to see the photos.

See the entire film in the Photoswap 2011 Flickr group.

p.s. The winner of last weeks Much Love Illy giveaway is Mama Bear :)
Yeay! Email me with your address lovey.

'Why do you shoot film?' blog series...

Yesterday Shokoofeh posted about a blog series that she was taking part in... and as soon as I saw it, I honestly couldn't believe that I hadn't seen it before.

Astrid from Hei Astrid has the most amazing collection of over 60 photographers taking part in her blog series
'Why do you shoot film?'

With each photographer giving their reasons with a supporting photo and I am completely smitten.

Here are a few of my favourite photos and quotes from the series so far. I still haven't looked through them all yet...

{Click on the individual photos to go to the flickr page or blog of each photographer}

I can relate to every single photographer and I love how film affects everyone differently!

Wouldn't these make the most amazing book?

See more of Astrid's series here.

I have no idea how this happened...

It looks like a double exposure - but it was taken with my superheadz yellow peace so that shouldn't be possible. You can just see Bolton Abbey underneath the swirls but I have no idea what the swirls actually are... this was the only photo on the film like it...

I love film!

First roll fail...

I had no idea what to post today (I'm putting together future posts but totally forgot about day to day... oops) then I saw Elle's post about her first roll of film from her Diana Mini on Diana Mini Love - so I thought I would share my some of my shocking first photos from my diana mini and holga 135bc - you know - the ones that you wouldn't normally share...

I shared some of the most acceptable ones from my first diana mini roll around Cromer here - but here are some of the truly bad ones

You can see the whole set on my flickr here.

The main issue I had with my diana first film was that really - I should have known better - I took 10 (maybe more...) films with my holga before I got my mini... at least with my holga I had a good excuse lol.

I posted the best photos from my holga first roll here and honestly, they were the only photos that I scanned in from that roll - none of the others seemed worth sharing - they were shocking. However I do have the index photo... try not to laugh too much, it is nearly two years ago now.

So there are my Lomography woes... if you want to see more links to first film woes check out the comments Elle's post again on Diana Mini Love.

p.s. Adele has done a lomography love post today too... I love her photos!!

Searching for something...

"No one needs to tell you you're in love, you just know it, through and through."

The Oracle - The Matrix

{First, I've included a quote in my post, thats pretty amazing right? Alyssa and Nicole have obviously had some influence on me! It is from The Matrix though so don't worry, I haven't gone too mushy on you and it's relevant, honest.}

I've been thinking about my photos for a while now - why I take them - why I enjoy it...

why I can't stop.

The best way to describe it is - it's like I'm searching for something - I'm constantly looking around, searching for 'it'. Sometimes when I take a picture, I know deep in my chest that I've found it - with a simple click, it's there, locked onto a negative and I know it's going to be amazing. The two photos above, taken in Leeds, are perfect example of that - as soon as I took them I knew they were going to be beautiful... and they were. Everytime I look at them I feel happy.

Sometimes I don't find it - there's a click but I know it's not right - and I'm happy with that too... I get the results, I look at the photo, learn from them, think 'right thats fine'. I appreciate them for what they are and leave them, it wasn't there, I could tell. Above are another two examples of that from around Norwich with my Mum... Normally I wouldn't even share these ones on here.

However, one photo has thrown me... I took it and knew it was amazing... I felt it. The framing was right, the focus was right... I went all the way to Manchester to take this one photo. I could feel it.

But when it was developed... my heart sank... it wasn't right, something was missing - it was there, I could still feel it - but I couldn't quite see it. So I did something that I rarely do with my film photos - I edited it.

For some reason editing my film photos riles me up. I love photoshop, don't get me wrong, I used it for years at University to create visuals and edit my work and I'm more than happy to edit any digital photos I take. Thinking about it, I'm not sure if this distaste for edited film photos is my stigma - or perhaps one I've gained from the internet over the paste couple of years.

Either way, I tried to leave it - to accept it as a loss - but I couldn't. Something was nagging me, a part of me was not happy and hadn't finished searching... and it needed to find it.

Two simple steps - desaturate, adjust brightness/contrast... and there it is.

Can you see it?

I can! Its beautiful, it makes my heart skip... I knew it was there and in two simple steps, there it was. This one photo has completely changed my mind about editing film photos and made me so much more aware of my photography process. It's amazing how one just photo can do that...

To me, each photo I take is like falling in love - you're constantly search for it - everywhere you go - even if you aren't aware that you are... sometimes you can't see it, sometimes you find it in one step, sometimes you have to work a bit harder, perhaps challenge your preconceptions and break some of your own rules... but just like love - no one can tell you when you've found that perfect photo, you just know it... through and through!

p.s. Each photo in my shop has it! Thats why they are there... and this ones going in too! It took me a while to get past the editing film issue - but this photo is still mine - a part of my process and it was taken with film - it just needed a little more love than the others to reach its full potential :) and I'm fine with that. I hope you are too.

p.p.s. I told you it was a relevant quote - though I perhaps lied about the not being mushy...

Remembrance Day

Last year I shared In Flanders Field by John McCrae in Remembrance, however this year I have dug out my photos from ten years ago(!) from a visit to Ypres in Belgium with my High School when I was 15.

I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere (perhaps here) that I always used to use 35mm film until I went to university - and here are some of the photos from my Dad's old Canon 35mm camera that I borrowed just for the trip. I remember I used one film a day which goes to show things haven't really changed that much in 10 years...

At 15, I didn't really understand the scale of lives that were sacrificed during the World Wars, both soldiers and civilians, and I remember being completely overwhelmed with sorrow at each cemetory and museum we visited.

Having visited Auschwitz this year - I am still overwhlemed with sorrow yet I was also reminded that it is so important to learn from history and to remember.