Creative Photography Pt 2

Yesterday I discussed creativity in photography and showed some photos that I'd taken the day before using a Holga 120 S camera and a magnifying glass.  Obviously just using a Holga means that I'm not after perfection. The Holga has a plastic lens and these are not made using the best quality control in the world, so allowances have to be made for this by me. The viewer of the photograph isn't necessarily going to care what camera was used. They will look at the photographs and decide if they like them or not.

So the Holga is a plastic camera with a plastic lens and of variable, at best, quality.  My magnifying glass is also not the finest magnifying glass available, either. I bought a pack of 5 magnifying glasses of varying sizes from a discount shop called The Works. I think the entire set was £1.99. So we aren't dealing with the planets finest optics at all.

Holga 120 GN and Magnifying Glass 

But that's kind of the point of creativity.  You can use what is to hand and make what you can from it.  In my case the items to hand are a toy camera and a toy magnifying glass.

Before anyone wonders if this could be done with better optics, the answer is absolutely you can! I have done this myself. I have a 6x9 medium format camera that sports a Schneider Kreuznach Super Angulon 65mm lens. I also have a set of diopters, that were made for photographic use. And I have taken photographs of close up detail with that configuration. In fact I have lots of examples of work done with that configuration.

Taken using a medium format camera, a SK SA 65mm f8 lens and a diopter

This photograph was taken using a 4x5 sheet film camera. The lens mounted on the camera is a Schneider Kreuznach Super Angulon 90mm f8 lens. To this I added a stack of diopters to get the  subject in focus but nothing else. An f8 lens isn't going to give a shallow depth of field on its own.

Yes I know the background is distracting...

So I'm by no means saying that the only valid creative work can come from using Holgas and cheap magnifying glasses. What I am saying is that, no matter what camera you have, you can use what you have to hand to create a  photograph that you feel has exercised your "creative" abilities.

improvise->adapt->overcome

Back to the Holga 120S and magnifying glass. This is a fun way to make photos that are different and interesting. The Holga won't cost a fortune and as I've indicated you can pick up a cheap magnifying glass at a discount store.

If you are wondering how you use the magnifying glass, well hold it in front of a subject and determine the distance to the subject where you get things in focus.  Then hold the magnifying glass still and put the Holga lens against the magnifying glass, glass. Then click the shutter.

You may find you need a little practice and some experimentation to get things "dialed" in.  

Don't expect every finished frame to be

1. Correctly focused
1. There is an element of jeopardy and things can move no matter what you do
2. You could put the Holga onto a tripod so that it can't move.
2. Correctly exposed 
1. being close to the subject may cause you to block any source of light
2. Try using a flash if you notice this.
3. Centrally positioned within the frame.
1. Framing can be difficult as the Holga has a viewfinder that may not work correctly at close range.

Above all, have fun, enjoy the process and enjoy any photo that works!

I do like Panoramic Photographs - Part 4

 In this final in the series of panoramic photograph blog posts, I have some panoramic photographs made on the Reality So Subtle (RSS) 6x17 pinhole camera.

Reality So Subtle

The RSS 6x17 make 4 photographs on a single roll of 120 film. The negatives are big. The camera is a bit of a bugger to load though as it has a curved plane for the film.

Still while the struggle may be real, the results are great!

How can I be a creative photographer?

I'm sure that at some point most photographers have wondered how to be more creative in their photography. I suppose that it depends on your definition of creative and to a larger extent your photographic vision. If you are looking to take a photograph that is different from the blob of work that is out there, something that isn't the same record shot made my countless people on their 'phones, then creativity can help. But creativity comes from within the individual and is quite personal I think. It does come back to your personal vision of the finished photograph.  What is your intent?

A good way to be inspired in your creativity is to look at what others have done. Here are a few things that I have done lately, although I am by no means the most creative person around.

• Redscale film
• Magnifying Glass macro lens
• Pushing film

The photographs shown here were taken using black and white film, using the second technique, shown above.  I used a magnifying glass as a pseudo macro lens for a Holga. Now it's not Macro on the scale of taking a photo of a flys eye but it does allow you to get closer than any normal Holga lens will allow (normally 1 meter). Then you can find light, texture and delight in the most unexpected places. 

Here I have taken a photo of the carving on the top of a gravestone. The photo really brings out the texture of the carved stone without needing to be pin sharp.

Carving on gravestone

This photo I have taken a close up shot of a carved fairy that someone had left on a grave. This one uses the light on an interesting ( to me) way.

Fairy sat on a grave

If you are devoid of inspiration the everyday can sometimes be worth exploring. Here we have the bark of a tree in natural directional light. 

Tree bark

Finally a picture of a leaf. This was not intended to be an accurate record of the leaf but have enough detail to feel leafy. The back lighting allows the internal structure of the leaf to be visible.

A leaf

I may enlarge on this topic of "creativity" in future blogs.

I do like Panoramic Photographs - Part 3

 In this , the third blog post in this series, we start with a vertorama. What is a vertorama I hear you ask? Well maybe a dictionary definition will help.

Vertorama

The rest of these photographs are regular panoramic format and once again shot on the Horizon Kompact camera from Lomography

Vertorama - taken in Hayle

Panorama - taken in Hayle

Panorama - taken in Hayle, Godrevy Point

Panorama - taken in Hayle, Godrevy Point

I do like Panoramic Photographs - Part 2

Here are another 4 panoramic photographs taken using the Horizon Kompact camera. This time while I was on holiday in Cornwall. The horizon Kompact camera is great fun to shoot and very easy to use, being a single aperture and shutter speed.

These photos were taken in Charlestown and St Ives.

Charlestown

St Ives

St Ives

St Ives

I do like Panoramic Photographs - Part 1

I have a camera that was made for Lomography called the Horizon Kompact. It is a camera that takes a panoramic format photograph on 35mm film.  The lens is a swing design and is very wide, you need to remember to keep your fingers out of the way.

Horizon Kompact

These four photographs were taken earlier this year, in the spring. I was on my way to have Sunday Lunch with my Mum and I diverted through Chew Magna and Stanton Drew, which is where these photos were taken.

Holga 645 Mode

Back in the day the Holga was supplied as the Holga 120S. The glass lens version was called a Woca 120. This was all before the factory stopped production.  Interestingly when I ordered my Holga, a boxed Holga 120S arrived from Hong Kong. The Holga 120S only came with a 645 mask and the selector on the camera back was glued in place for 16 photos on 120 film. 

Later I bought a Holga 120 GN, the successor to the Woca 120. The 120 GN has a glass lens but came with a 6x6 mask and a 645 mask. Also the selector on the back was free to move. It's rare that anyone uses 645 as most people use the 6x6 mask and shoot 12 pictures on the film.

All that history is a long winded way of getting to the point of this post, which is to shoot my Holga in 645 mode.

I shot a roll of Kentmere Pan 100 film.

I enjoyed the format and its definitely an option in future.