Unconscious conformity - the trap of default camera settings

When we get a new camera, especially digital ones, we often change various parameters to make the cameras “ours”. A couple of examples: setting back-button focusing; turning off the focus confirmation beep; picking RAW output rather than JPEG.

The default image orientation of the Olympus FT is in portrait, so the majority of images end up being taken that way.

But what about all the things we don't change? Or can't? As much as different cameras appear to be designed very differently, there are some common traits that make a lot of photos very similar. A lot if this applies to film cameras, too.

Image orientation

I find it very interesting that when I use my 35mm Pen FT, most of my shots are shot vertical. The images are exposed this way in order to fit 72 images on a usually 36 image roll of film. Same for my iPhone. Notice how people take vertical orientation videos on their phones? It looks awful when viewed on a computer or TV, but the phone is intuitively held that way, and they look acceptable when viewed on the device they were taken on (and most pictures will never leave the phone anyway).

We can switch things up by consciously turning our camera 90 degrees, or switching our image capturing devices for certain situations. I often use a Hasselblad 6x6 film camera for portraits because the square frame doesn’t demand an image orientation decision.

Aspect ratio

A 35mm frame is in the ratio of 3:2, and is the final resting place for most photos. It is interesting that we feel compelled to fix the aspect ratio even when we crop. Medium format digital sensors currently provide a closer-to-square 6:4.5 ratio. You can see what these aspect ratios look like in the blog post I wrote comparing sensor sizes.

Shooting film opens up some alternate restrictions. Some medium format cameras like the Hasselblad 500 shoot in a square format. Some dedicated panoramic 35mm cameras exist, such as the Widelux. Changing the aspect ratio can be refreshing, and can completely alter the feel of a composition.

Ironically, the beauty of digital photography is that we can manipulate images in an infinite number of ways very easily. From square format to super-wide stitched panoramas. It is just hard to pre-visualize these things when the viewfinder is always selling you 3:2.

Of course, aspect ratio and cropping go hand in hand. The image orientation should serve the image. The final use of the image is important here - where will it be displayed? Imaging a great 16:9 composition filled with the subject, but then it needs to be cropped square for Instagram!

One reason most people avoid custom aspect ratios that work for their specific image is that they might be difficult to frame. This is easily solved by custom cutting a mat to fit within a standard frame size, such as cutting an 8x8 hole to mound in a 16x20 frame. I describe this simple process further in this custom mat cutting blog post.

Man waling in Oculus in New York

A long 16:9 or a 3:1 (shown here) aspect ratio is really useful to convey a cinematic sense of space. This crop works great for web-page headers or a custom framed print in a long hallway.

Colour

With film, choosing between colour and black and white is a conscious decision. With digital, most cameras shoot colour out of the box and so most images stay that way. 

With digital, it is claimed that “best practice” is to shoot in colour even if you want a black and white final product. Reason being that you can control the tones of each colour individually when making the conversion.

The problem with using a color photo for a final black and white image is that monotone requires a decision at the moment the shutter is pressed, not days later on a whim. Reason being that a satisfactory colour photo may be pleasing, but if each hue is at the same brightness then it will lead to a very flat black and white conversion. Then we spend hours trying to make it look good, or worse, expect a photoshop plug-in to do the work for us. A good black and white photo needs tonal contrast from the get-go. If you are interested in black and white photography, I suggest you immerse yourself in it for a period - you’ll be looking for different things than you would have with a colour mindset. Film might be the best way to do this as you will have to commit to black and white as soon as the camera is loaded.

 If you have ideas on default ways of thinking that hold us all back, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

A camera-horder’s guide to picking a camera for a trip

Shooting film opens up a world of beautiful and affordable cameras from the past - but once you’ve started a small collection (or a huge one) the moment we dread is when we need to pick a camera setup for a personal trip.

The thought process always starts simple but highlights the compromises we make in every aspect of photography: portable 35mm or epic medium format? Compact slow lenses or carry big heavy fast ones? Will I only carry black and white film or try to mix in a colour roll? If I leave the tripod at home, then I’ll regret it, right? Should I bring a digital camera as backup, or will my phone do the job?

Turns out, I’ve chosen a different set up for almost every vacation, and each time it works out just fine. I’ve hauled around a Hasselblad 500 with an 80mm lens on one trip to Yorkshire, a Leica M2 with a compact 35mm f3.5 around Rome, and I’ve spent a weekend in New York with a Stereo Realist and came home with great shots.

Here are some tips to make the most with what you have:

  1. One lens can imitate three. You can crop into a frame to effectively increase your focal length. You can stitch images together to create a wider shot. A normal lens can be very versatile for this purpose, as well as often being quite compact.

  2. Carrying two cameras can make you feel overwhelmed, and you could lose shots and enjoyment as a result. If you are travelling with family, they will love you more if you have only one camera and one lens.

  3. Leave any ‘just in case’ items at home. Unless you are intentionally out to get some night shots, a tripod will just weigh you down. The light meter can stay at home, too, because you can get a light meter app for you phone that will do the job (or just use sunny 16). Extension tubes and tele-converters never seem to be worth their volume in my bag either. Some exceptions could include red or polarizing filters that can help reduce shutter speed in bright sun, as well as provide some creative possibilities.

  4. No camera is too crazy or too limiting. There is a lot to be said for being creative with something unusual like a Box Brownie or a stereo camera. The problem-solving required to use a restrictive or quirky camera will pay dividends when you get back home to your digital rig.

  5. Lastly, don’t worry about the equipment you didn’t bring. Play to your setup’s strengths. For example, I’ve often carried an Olympus Pen FT for its compactness - the images can turn out grainy because of the small negative size, but doubling the number of shots on the roll meant less fear of wasting film for an experimental shot.

And if you totally made the wrong decision for the trip, there’s usually a camera store with used film equipment in a nearby city. One more for the collection, right?

Reality is distorted, and photographs correct it.

When you look up, the parallel sides of tall buildings seem to converge into the distance due to perspective.

A large format camera, as used to take this picture, can correct the verticals back to parallel for a more stable-looking architectural picture.

But in shots such as this, the camera is too close to the buildings to completely correct the lines. As a remedy, the image has been scanned and a second correction is made digitally to finish the effect.

Digital and film are working hand in hand here because the camera wasn’t able to complete the correction, and a digital correction alone would have degraded the image quality dramatically.

An interesting paradox of architecture photographs is now uncovered – what we call ‘corrected’ is actually a highly processed and distorted view that never existed in reality.

Below are a few examples from my series of Houston architecture images ‘Dueling Towers’. Fine-art pigment prints using high quality metallic paper are available for collectors - contact me for more information.

Camera Kit: Large format 4x5

Large format seems like an extinct branch of photography to the uninitiated, but the format never went away. Actually, it is finding a new wave of appreciation among film photographers. There are a few reasons for the resurgence - there is no digital equivalent sensor size, nor is there a digital camera body capable of tilts, shifts, swings, rises and falls (with the exception of some specialty lenses). Used equipment is found online in abundance, and some entrepreneurs are even making new cameras such as the Intrepid Camera Company, Stenopeika and others. 

Intrepid 4x5 large format camera kit

The jump to large format

As for major changes in your photography workflow, the jump from digital to film is the biggest. You need to find a lab or learn to develop film yourself and then either scan the negative  or darkroom print your images. Most people will start with either 35mm cameras (because they are the most similar to consumer digital cameras) or medium format systems such as the Hasselblad 500 (because the cameras work in the same way as 35mm ones). 

The jump from small to large format film is a little easier. With large format, a few things change. Firstly you no longer need to get emotionally attached to a single manufacturer. You can pair anyone's lenses with anyone's bodies and choose any film holders for the negative size you have chosen. For bodies, you can choose between studio monorail systems which are the cheapest way to get going down the rabbit hole, or fold-able field cameras that have more restricted movements, but can fit in a backpack.

There are also a few extra pieces of kit your smaller camera systems may not have needed - lens boards, sheet film holders, a focus loupe and a dark cloth. Tripods and cable releases are no longer optional - you are going to need them to get even basic shots.

What is it good for?

  • Taking one photograph really well. This process is the antithesis of 'spray and pray'. A lot of time is spent picking and tinkering with the composition. It takes so long to set the camera up that you don't want to waste that time on a mediocre image.

  • Tilts and shifts by design. And rises and falls, too. The cameras are made to move the lens around for perspective control and plane of focus manipulation. 

  • MASSIVE negatives. They dwarf the grain even in 400 speed film.

What's the compromise?

  • Large format is not small. No way are these cameras going to fit in your pocket. Or small bag. Not even a medium bag. With a monorail camera, even a large bag is often insufficient. The compact Intrepid camera, on the other hand, easily fits in a backpack with a couple of lenses.

  • Forget about a quick snapshot. By the time the camera is set up, focused, shutter cocked and film holder inserted, a good deal of time will have passed. If you have a human subject, you have to keep their attention during setup and focusing or else there will be some long silences.

  • Lots of lens research required. You need to figure out which lenses cover your negative, and if you want extra coverage to accommodate small or large movements on the camera. Fast lenses allow for easier focusing via a bright image, but slower lenses are siginificantly smaller and lighter.  You also need to make sure your body can cope with ultra-wide angles (75mm or less) or very long lenses (300mm or more) or if it needs special bellows or lens boards to cope with them. A great list of lens stats to get you going can be found  at www.largeformatphotography.info.

What's in my camera bag?

  • Cameras: Intrepid 4x5 folding field camera

  • Lenses: Schnider 65mm f5.6, Schnider 90mm f5.6, Calumet 150mm f5.6, Rodenstock 210mm f5.6, Rodenstock 300mm f9

  • Accessories: Lens board for each lens, film holders (9), focusing cloth, cable release

One too many cameras - the Olympus Trip 35

The acquisition of  a camera with no intention to use it. A classic problem. This is a camera addiction, I guess. 

I can quit anytime I want. I'll quit tomorrow. 

 
Olympus Trip 35
 

what is the offending camera?

I picked up an Olympus Trip 35 as an impulse buy while on vacation. Why won't it get used? Because it is designed to be used as an automatic. There is no way to set the shutter speed, and the aperture settings are supposed to be used only for flash photography (find the manual here). It has a passive light meter that dictates exposure settings for each shot. Can I trust the way the meter is calibrated? Has it lost accuracy with age?

So why keep it?

Because it looks iconic, in keeping with the PEN line of cameras, and this is full rather than half frame. It is very small and pocket-able. Lightweight. And automatic exposure isn't always a bad thing - sometimes taking pictures quickly for memories is desirable. Not every shot is for a project or portfolio. 

Ok, ok. I'll put a roll of film through it.