Film

Like many people my age, I first learned to shoot pictures on film.  I was lucky enough to have a photo lab in my high school, where 1 semester was Intro to Photography and, if you wanted, you could take a second semester for Advanced Photography.  I didn't have more fun in any of my classes.  Except for maybe my videography classes, but I put videography and photography in the same category.  I think I especially enjoyed photography because you're physically manipulating something from start to finish.  I even learned how to load a new roll of film.  I don't mean loading a new roll in to a camera, I mean loading a strip of film in to a roll to be put in a camera.  It was great!  No other class I took was like that.  It's not like I could go back and watch the outbreak of World War II in my history class.  I couldn't physically move things around to perform equations in Algebra.  But in photography I was using all of my senses, except for taste, to get a project done.

Digital photography is obviously different.  The biggest difference is changing ISO on the fly.  ISO is the film's sensitivity to light.  Once you load a roll of film, you're stuck with that ISO until you shoot the whole thing.  This last weekend I loaded a roll of 400 ISO in my dad's old Nikon FG-20.  I had to work within those limitations.  But on my digital 5D mark II, I can change ISO from 100 all the way up to 5000 and higher, all on the fly.  Also, my film camera has a limited range of shutter speeds.  The fastest being 1/1000th of a second and the slowest being 1 second.  On my 5D, the fastest is 1/8000th of a second and the slowest being 30 seconds.  There are also more increments between shutter speeds.  The FG-20 has maybe a dozen shutter speed options and the 5D has probably 10 times that.

Shooting digital is all about "how do I manipulate my settings to get the shot I want?"  Film is more about "how do I manipulate my settings to get the shot that works."  For instance, for a very shallow depth of field, you need your aperture as open as you can get it.  I have a 50mm prime for my 5D that opens up to f/1.8, and my FG-20 can do something similar.  But the 5D can change ISO and shutter speed within huge margins, the FG-20 can't.  So if I were outside and I wanted to shoot at f/1.8 for a super shallow depth of field, I might put my 5D at ISO 100 with a shutter speed of well over 1/1000th of a second, since so much light is coming in.  The FG-20 can't go above 1/1000th of a second, so if I'm at f/1.8 and the shutter is at 1/1000th of a second and it's still over exposed, I have to adjust the aperture, since my ISO is locked in to whatever the ISO of the film is.  So I might have to stop down to a f/5.6.  My super shallow depth of field is now gone, but that's the only way to get proper exposure on the film.

What I ended up doing is waiting for the right light, or finding the right light, to get my shallow depth of field on film.  Shooting film is all about timing.  I had about 2 hours where the window of light was right.  And I mean literally the window.  My kitchen had a nice soft light coming in and I was able to take some test shots on my kitchen table.  The whole point of this roll was to see if the camera was functioning properly, since it's over 30 years old.  Here are some shots from that roll.

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Clare was nice enough to allow me to photograph her to test out my camera.  We were sitting in my kitchen when I realized there was a nice light coming through the windows (as I mentioned earlier.)  Her cheek is maybe a little over exposed, but I like the glow effect.  I also like the things going on behind her.  I think it adds some nice depth.  Had it been just a white wall behind her it would be kinda boring.  But the fridge with the magnets, the pack of frozen waffles, the cake mixer, it all adds a bit to the picture.

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And of course, I had to photograph my dog.  Here he is gnawing on his rope toy, wondering if I'm going to take it away from him.  I had the lamp on in the back of the room by the chair and I had Clare angle another lamp toward his face.  I really like the splashes of light and the overall clarity is pretty awesome.  

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This looks like a picture I'd find in an old photo album from the early 80s.  It's nice and soft, and like the kitchen picture, there's a lot going on but with only one thing in focus.

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My room mate's dog, Gertrude, is a fast little creature.  Getting a picture of her sitting still took about 10 minutes but we finally got it.  I'm not sure if I got the focus right, but everything else looks nice.  I wish I had gotten more light on her face, but I'll take what I can get.

While shooting film I kept pulling the camera away from my face and looking at the back of the camera expecting to see the picture I had just taken.  A habit, called "chimping", from shooting digital.  You can't chimp on film, you have to believe in what you're shooting.  Take time to think about what it is you're setting up, and hoping your knowledge will deliver the product you want.

I used to scoff at the cool dudes and ladies walking around with their film cameras.  But now I get it.  It's a way to keep your mind active.  Like doing a puzzle, or sudoku, rubix cube, building a model, programming a game or coding a website, it's exercising your brain.  While I had my camera in my hands, I kept my eyes open, looking for my next shot.  With my digital camera, I'm shooting whatever I feel like while looking for my next shot.  I'll rip through thousands of pictures just to get my 10 or 20 I wanted when I started.  With film, you have 24, or somethings 36 tries to get your 1 shot.

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What Does Instagram Like?

I decided last year I should push my exposure on social media.  Instagram seemed like the obvious choice - I'm a photographer and Instagram is photo based.  I had been using Instagram for a while but mostly as just a way to see pictures of my friends.  I never really used hashtags, unless I was posting pictures of board games, in which case I'd use hashtags like #boardgamegeek or something like that.  But then I realized I could post pictures that I take with my camera and use Instagram as a platform for exposure, so I started to post using every photography related hashtag I could think of.  Some of my posts would get maybe 15-20 likes.  Sometimes they'd get upwards of 70.  I could't tell what people on Instagram liked and didn't like.  It seemed like my taste and the general taste of Instagram users were pretty different.  I did non scientific experiment with 4 pictures.  Two I really liked, and two I thought were pretty cool but pretty cliche.  Here are my findings.

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                                                                                           1/2000 sec f/8.0 ISO 800

I love this picture.  I was so proud of it when I was finished, I was certain I'd blow up my Instagram with this single image.  To me, it looks like something I'd find in National Geographic.  You can see detail in the eye, through the wings, it's an almost perfect profile shot, time is frozen but you can still see movement, especially in the angle of how the bird is flying.  I have a hard time believing I took this picture and not someone else.  I didn't go crazy with editing on this one either.  I brushed the background so it would be blue again, but that's pretty much it as far as fancy tricks go.  Pretty happy with it!

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                                                                                                   1/8000 f/7.1 ISO 100

This picture is kinda boring to me.  I mean, it looks cool I guess, but there's not a lot going on.  I didn't think about this one too much much when I shot it.  I saw a flock of pigeons flying horizontally in front of me, about to cross the sun, so I quickly put my camera in to almost random settings and began firing, hoping something would be in focus.  Then when I put it in my computer it looked like garbage.  So I did what I always do when a picture I take isn't what I want it to be - I made it black and white.  I cranked up contrast and clarity almost all the way up and brought the highlights almost all the way down so you could see the shape of the sun.  In hindsight, I kinda wish I had kept the sun just a big bright wash in the middle, rather than bringing the highlights down so you could see the circle of the sun.

Picture 1 got 35 likes.  Pretty respectable for my account.  The black and white one got almost double that with 66 likes.  I did a test with a similar set of images, both posted around the same time.

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                                                                                                1/2000 sec f/8.0 ISO 800

This is actually the same bird from the first picture, so the settings are the same.  Again, I love this because it's sharp, you can see loads of detail in the bird, it shows motion but it's not blurry.  I think it's great.

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                                                                                                   1/8000 f/7.1 ISO 100

This is one of the test shots I did before the flock of pigeons came by.  Same settings on my camera, almost same editing done here.  The only difference is I didn't bother taking out that little splotch just to the right of my watermark!

Again, picture 1 got a respectable 41 likes.  But picture two got 56 likes!  From what I can tell, my most successful pictures are insanely high contrast black and white photos.  Also, if I ever post an HDR image, I can guarantee at least 50 likes on that.  My favorite shots of animals barely break 25/35.  

Getting Instagram likes and followers isn't incredibly important to me.  I just noticed a trend in how my images are responded to.  What do you think of these pictures?  Do you prefer the black and white or the color images?

New Year

2015 was strange and wild.  I made a lot of major decisions to hopefully improve my life.  These decisions didn't come without a cost though.  I had thrust myself into tremendous stress and financial insecurity.  I've never exactly been the type of person who oozes confidence either, so entering a new career where I'd be judged frequently was extremely nerve-racking.  I wasn't sure if I'd be able to survive with that kind of stress.  Slowly but surely, I found a rhythm.  I'm no longer fearful as I start shooting something.  I'm confident I'll do a good job and I won't be a disappointment to myself or the client.  This is only a recently revelation.  For the past 6 months I've been sweating every gig and opportunity.  But seeing so much success, not necessarily financial, but practical success, I know I made the right decision this year.

I took a few pages out of both my brother's books.  They've both been amazing sources of confidence, encouragement, and inspiration.  I'm endlessly impressed with their ability to churn out amazing works of art at such a high rate.  My brother Michael created a narrative, drawing a new page every day for the entire year.  I knew he would have the drive to finish it, but I'm still blown away that he made it to the end.  For three months I posted a new picture on Instagram every day, and that was no easy task!  I can't imagine trying to do the same for 365 days.  It's interesting going back and looking at Winston's earlier work from this year, and what he has put out in the last few months.  He somehow changed his voice.  He's a chameleon artist.  I don't know what he's done differently, but to borrow the title of a podcast of which he has been a guest, his latest work is "Almost Educational."  Whether he's aware of the change, I can't be sure, but it inspires me to constantly try to new things and evolve my work.

The New Year is used as a time to look forward and plan for the future.  Resolutions for how you're going to change your life.  But I did that back in June.  I think every day should be an assessment of what you're doing and how you're improving yourself.  I jokingly told my friend Nick that "each year features its own challenges. If you have an easy year, you aren't trying hard enough to make your life better."  The more I think about what I said the more I believe it.  I look forward to the challenges ahead.  I know they won't be easy, I'm sure I'll shed some blood and tears along the way, but I'm thirsty for more.  I'm proud of what 2015 turned out to be, despite, or maybe, in spite of the stress involved.  

2016 may be my most difficult year yet.  Good.

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Please take a moment to visit my brothers on Instagram.  You can find their work @michaelwconrad and @winston_conrad.  I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

http://www.mwconrad.com/
http://www.winstonconrad.com/