Actual final six

Printing Colour

Looking Around The Darkroom:

This is a photograph showing the view that you can see while working inside the darkroom. It is hard at first to get used the lack of light and the constant in and out into the light to check prints and test strips.

What I Think Of The Darkroom

The first time I went in I thought I was going to really struggle with using this darkroom as I could barely manage to find the booth that I was sharing with my friend, so she helped guide me around the room and setting the paper up for contact sheeting was confusing me as I did not always get it straight in line. But the next time we went in we got more of it right and I started to become more comfortable with printing contact sheets, so I went and collected some more equipment from the technicians and set up my own enlarger so that I could print on my own. I really enjoyed the printing and I got into it once I was comfortable with the room and the process, I surprised myself at how easy it was now compared to the first time printing once I stopped and realised what I was doing.

Issues

First getting shown around the darkroom the first thing to note was that it was a lot smaller than the black and white darkroom, this meant there is less available machines so getting time to use the machines could have been a problem, this was resolved by the fact the photography store did not have enough paper boxes to give everybody a box so the people who did manage to get paper were able to print before there was a mad rush to the machines, another factor that helped calm the mad rush was the timing of a week long trip that meant some of the course was abroad so there was less people wanting equipment out.


Using The Machines

This is one of the machines that is in the colour darkroom, this particular machine is outside in the print viewing room and is not set up but it shows the machine.

Inside the darkroom is both LPL machines and Devere machines, I have been using the LPL machines as I have mapped out the room to and from the side they are on.

Filters

When starting printing make sure the filters are first of all switched on and then set them to 0 Cyan, 50 Magenta and 50 Yellow.

After looking at your print then decide if there is a colour cast on them and change the filters accordingly.

Shooting Colour - Half faces

How I Did It

For these two different shoots I have photographed in the same style, I have taken three images of the person; a full face and then the two different halves of their face. I have done this because I am not sure how I will be able to print the two halves in the darkroom, I may be using a sheet of card with two squares cut out to allow the light to shine through on it or I may talk to the technician to get it printed on the digital enlarger so that I can create the layout digitally from scans of my negatives.

I set the camera up on the tripod and asked the model to sit down so they were comfortable to sit for a while, then I aimed the camera for half the face; I tried to include more than half the face so this would give me movable room in the darkroom if I needed to rearrange the framing. I also thought that putting them next to each other may look strange so I wanted them out of line with each other and having the middle of the face in the frames would give me this.

Shoot Two

Shoot Three

Shooting Colour - strangers

Pre planning

After my first shoot that I did I wanted the subject to fill more of the frame so that the details in their face were more clearly visible and you can easily see "who they are" (play on the title of the brief). I knew from using the Hasselblad camera before that there are extension tubes available from the store so that although the person does not feel as close as they are they still fill the frame and they do not look too uncomfortable being infront of the camera.

Because of the timing of this project the weather is a vital pre-check step, I checked to see if the weather would permit me too shoot on the day I wanted and luckily it did not rain that day however it was still cold so I did not want to be out shooting for very long (I lose feeling in my hands and feet very very quickly, and working the camera with numb fingers is not very quick) I was also worried that because of the cold the models would not want to stop and have to wait in the cold for longer than necessary.

Camera

I used the Hasselblad camera with a 150 lens (which is the closest the store has available) and either the 16x or the 32x extension tube. I also took a prism viewfinder so that I was not limited to people who are smaller than me as I was shooting from the hip and trying not to shoot from down below their face line on my last shoot. I managed to load the film with no problems (thankfully, as I was halving a roll with my friend). We set up the camera onto the tripod while we were sat in the reception area of the university, this was because we wanted to make sure we could just get out and shoot straight away and we were close enough to the photography dept. still if we struggled with something (but we didn't) another reason we did this is because both our hands lose feeling quickly and we weren't sure if we would manage once we were cold). Then we took the camera, decided who was shooting first and where we wanted to be and started shooting.

Shooting

Once the camera was set up the major problem started; I have zero confidence in asking people.

I knew before the shoot I was going to struggle with asking strangers if they wouldn't mind modelling but I had hoped once I threw myself outside infront of people I would be alright with the asking part, I wasn't.

If my friend asked the model then I was comfortable talking to them about the project and directing them where to stand and to look directly into the lens.

Shoot one

This is the contact sheet from this shoot, there is only six photographs as I shared the roll with my friend. I think these images are successful and the woman and the man underneath may become my finals because of the way the colours in the background pop and their faces are characteristic and detailed.

Colour Process - Research

Hints for the darkroom

Tip number one ... Turn around and go back to black and white, (no don't really, that is easier to print but the final outcome of colour prints is a very fulfilling feeling).

Tip number two ... Go in first with the lights on and get the layout of the room mapped out in your head, know where your machine is and how to get to both the printer and the exit easily (I counted out steps between the door and the back wall - 7 of my steps - and then I know where I am in relation to the room).

Tip number three ... Don't go in by yourself for the first few times, it can take a while to get used too and sharing a machine is an easy way to introduce yourself to the process.

Tip number four ... Talk to the other people in there so that you don't crash into them (yes that will happen).

Tip number five ... Always put all your paper away while not using it and when you leave the room, I do even when I'm in the room just incase (I'm not saying anybody would expose paper boxes on purpose - not at £45 a box I hope - but accidents can happen and it's always better to be safer rather than sorry).

Tip number six ... Test strips are easy to line up where you want them if you hold the strip underneath the shelf so it is out of the light and then run the timer; while it is running place your finger and thumb where the face is (or where you are testing for) then place the test strip against your hand when the light clicks off.


(This is a list of things all from me using the darkroom, there are probably some things I am missing in this list)

How To Use Filters

Once the test strip has been printed on 0 Cyan, 50 Magenta and 50 Yellow deciding an exposure is not the only step before printing a full print, any colour casts will need to be removed, finding these are used by looking at the test strip underneath a white light (as the photographs below are taken) and deciding by eye if he has a colour cast or if he just looks too warm/cool, once a colour has been found if it easy to get rid of it, on the door to the darkroom there is a colour chart which gives a handy hint as to what to change to remove the cast.

With the filter cards, hold up the filters infront of your eye so it covers the whole view of the test strip, then slide it along to see if the print looks a better or worse colour. This is quite difficult to use as first and I scrolled though most of the cards before finding ones that made it better but as I became more practised I would almost always know which cards would make it better, but not every time as my friend sometimes turned and told me to get my eyes checked.


Filters: 

I took these images with the darkest filter changer so that the colour casts are more obvious but not every time the darkest change is needed, sometimes only minor changes need to be made and it can take a while to get a colour cast that you are happy with.

None

Magenta

Red

Yellow

Green

Cyan

Blue

All at once

While I was taking these images the tutor came in and wondered what it would be like to look through all at once well here you go...

Possible Ideas - colour

Half Faces

I have been influenced by the book The Photography Reader by Liz Wells to take separate negatives of the two halves of peoples faces and show them together as one similar to this front cover.

Close Ups

I want to use the 150mm lens with the 32 extension tube so that peoples faces will fill the frame and show all the details in their face.



It is also worth noting the framing will be square because of the film so this will affect my compositioning as I am not used to shooting in this format.

What's it like using colour ?

Shooting

For this section of the project we are shooting colour 120 film with a Hasselblad camera, I am going to continue with working out in Church Square asking strangers as they go past (or trying to anyway). When I got my first negatives back from the store I was confused at first because I was not sure how they would manage to print all the colours as not all the colours are there on the negative and the unlike black and white where the tones get reversed the colour on the negative changes when it is printed.

Printing

Inside the darkroom is a lot different to the black and white darkroom I am used too, the first time I have been in the colour one is this week and I have struggled with navigating the room and having to line the paper up in the complete darkness, I am hoping that this will become easier as I become more accustomed to the room and how it works. I also struggled to come to terms with the filters to remove the different colour casts that can appear on the prints because of the negatives.

First Shoot

This image is a quick view of my first contact sheet from the first roll of film I have used, I think these images have worked technically very well as they have all been exposed correctly and they have all came out, however for the idea I had for the shoot I do not think they were successful because the subject is too small in the frame. For my next shoot I am going to use an extension tube as well as a prism viewfinder, this will mean the subjects will appear closer in my next shoot and the prism will mean I do not have to look for people my height (small) or smaller than me as I would not have too shoot from the hip and be looking up at people which can sometimes be quite an unflattering look.

Possible Final Colour.2

Possible Final Six - Colour

Dennis

Donna

Liam

Stranger One
(Rocky)

Stranger Two

Vivian

Black Borders ?

Trying different layouts .... hmmmm

Scanning (eurrghhh)

Using The Scanner

As I have never used this scanner before I was nervous about loading it up for the first time incase I was the one who would break it. I knew from watching other people the frame size for the colour negatives is 60x60x3 as the other sizes the frame would get taken into the machine and be taken past the rollers and not be able to come back out.

How To Use It

I changed the frame size to 60x60x3 for the roll of colour film I was scanning, I also changed the type to "Negative RGB Standard" so that when it scans it knows what it is scanning. I put the film into the frame and blew the dust of (with a blower) so that none of the dust comes up in the scan, I then clicked to create a preview of the film so that I could start correcting the colours and make them look less negative-y (hmm ok thats not a word, but you know what I mean)

Colour Correcting

To correct the colours I selected the area of the negative and firstly pressed the Auto button so that this gave me a general view of how the negative should look. Then I loaded up the other colour correction option boxes and started to experiment with that they did as I did not have a clue what difference they would all make. I think that the colours that I scanned in at represent the person and the light that I shot under.

It Went Wrong

Between changing the rolls of film I was scanning something went wrong and when I clicked preview it took the roll half way into the machine then came up with a message that "the holder is not recognised" and would not return the negatives out so I could change the positioning of the framing. I then panicked slightly and went to find the technician who only turned it off then on again; but at least I know how to fix it incase it happens again.

Teaching Others

While I was scanning a few people came up too me and asked if I could help with their scanning as they had never done it and wanted me to teach them. I told them I would try my best as I did know everything about the software. People managed to scan them with my help though and nothing went wrong with them (as far as I know).



Screenshot's Of The Settings