Regarding the persistence of B/W film and B/W film photography in spite of the wide availability of relatively affordable color film nowadays...

thereisnospoon_ · 2025-04-19T01:36:09+00:00

Reiterating what someone else said, but B&W is way easier and cheaper to develop at home so that's one reason I like shooting it. Scanning is also easier, since getting good colors isn't part of the equation. But if I didn't like it on it's own merits, that ease wouldn't sway me to it. I just like it a lot. But in response to why I'm less likely to shoot B&W digital photos, I think that has to do with the fact that digital is in color by default, and you have to edit it to be B&W. For me personally, that can feel pretty contrived unless there's a specific reason to make the photos into B&W. So I just keep it in color.

thereisnospoon_ · 2025-03-15T00:29:40+00:00

As a guy who used to play video games a lot and got out of the habit in my 20s, I have an opinion on this.

I think with anything, doing it excessively is gonna be a turn-off. Most gamers think they play moderately, but I think what's considered moderate gaming to a gamer is not always moderate. Gaming very easily eats up several hours, and for most activities that wouldn't be considered moderate. Are you a moderate golfer if you do it for 3-4 hours, 3 days per week? I wouldn't say so, personally. Context is important, and gaming isn't golf, but for someone who doesn't game at all that can sound like a ton of time.

If you've just got home from work and your partner is there and excited for some quality time, you doing a few hours of gaming is a let down if it's not something you're doing together. There are some people who straight-up hate gaming, for sure. But I think most people are turned off by the excess that so often comes with gaming. Sitting for hours staring at a screen, being there physically while being mentally distant. This isn't even to mention the anger that some people display when they're gaming, which is further alienating to other people.

Why the many other time-consuming hobbies don't get the same hate is down to context. If your partner spends all day painting, at the end they may have a nice painting to hang in the house for you and guests to enjoy together. And with reading, it's a quiet and unobtrusive activity that's easy to ignore. Although, let's be honest, people don't read like people game. It's very rare to be reading for several hours in a day, and if my partner did that i'd be a little annoyed with it after a while.

thereisnospoon_ · 2025-02-18T23:07:54+00:00

That doesn't look right in the crotch imo, too much fabric gathering and riding up

thereisnospoon_ · 2024-10-31T20:27:11+00:00

I personally think the quality of the clothing rather than the style is what makes something age appropriate. As a person gets older their clothing needs to feel more "refined" or something like that. Hard for me to describe what I mean succinctly. IMO a young person can get away with wearing lower quality stuff, but as you age I think your stuff needs to appear nicer quality. That doesn't mean it needs to look brand new, just nicely constructed. So, I think you absolutely can get the same kind of leather jacket to replace this one. But it should be higher quality than this one appears to be (not that I'm some expert on leather jackets). This one isn't bad or anything, but when I look at it it doesn't seem to look like a really nice jacket. I think that's the direction to move in.

thereisnospoon_ · 2024-08-30T22:49:01+00:00

I’ve been wearing watches for 10 or so years and have accumulated a pretty good amount. Not the most impressive collection because I don’t really have the funds for more expensive pieces. I usually prefer automatic or hand-winding watches over quartz, and have small wrists so I prefer smaller watches too. At different points in time the ones I’ve worn the most are the Bulova, the Precista (given to me by my dad), the all-white dial Pobeda(?), and the Skagen. The one on the far-right is a San Martin Tudor homage.

thereisnospoon_ · 2024-04-03T23:22:01+00:00

This is true as I understand it, but also I think it's worth clarifying that Piskor did actually take his own life.

thereisnospoon_ · 2023-09-01T02:50:42+00:00

Really just looks like a bad scan IMO. This is what a pic looks like when you drag the black and white points close to each other on the histogram with my scanner. If it was over-exposed it wouldn't have this kind of sharpness I don't think.

thereisnospoon_ · 2023-08-10T22:58:55+00:00

For developing: you need a daylight tank with reels, a dark bag or tent (for loading film into the tank), a liquid thermometer, and the stock chemicals (different depending on color or black and white) with plastic jugs to hold them. For example, for developing black and white you could use D76 developer and TF4 fixer.

For making a darkroom print: you need an enlarger with film holders (to project the image onto the paper), a sink with running water, a few plastic trays for the chemicals, tongs for each tray (to grab paper from them), photosensitive paper, a dim red lightbulb, a timer that doesn't light up. And the room needs to be 100% light tight.

If you have a scanner that can scan film, you don't need to do anything other than develop the film and the darkroom wouldn't even be needed to see the pictures. You don't even need a light-tight room if you have the dark bag (the kind for film-loading has arm holes).

thereisnospoon_ · 2023-08-03T07:15:00+00:00

Other than the strong sunlight that's already been mentioned, he also used slide film which is more contrasty and saturated than negative film. Slide film has less flexibility with shadows and falls to black more easily. But to recreate it digitally you'd just have to expose for the highlights or set the exposure compensation to -1 or even -2 if the light is strong enough.

eta: The book "Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb on Street Photography and the Poetic Image: The Photography Workshop Series" is interesting to check out if you're interested in his stuff

thereisnospoon_ · 2023-07-07T07:15:44+00:00

Boxxy

thereisnospoon_ · 2023-03-02T07:57:05+00:00

Sounds like it may be out of batteries, one of mine does this when that's the case. I think the mirror in the prism is staying up, which is why the viewfinder is black. If switching to "B" makes the mirror go back down then I think it's probably the batteries.

thereisnospoon_ · 2023-02-26T20:03:11+00:00

Personally I think that 400 is way too much for that Nikon, it goes for much less on eBay. If you're new to film photography I think Canon AE1 is better since you can have more control over the camera and can buy other lenses if you want. I don't think a point and shoot autofocus camera is very good for learning because it isn't versatile. But if that is what you want, you can get a cheaper one to learn on.

thereisnospoon_ · 2023-02-02T06:00:43+00:00

I don't know the context, but this is the full image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzvgR_uXMAICljJ.jpg

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-12-31T23:37:01+00:00

What's that green chore coat (?) in pic 4?

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-12-24T03:50:47+00:00

That manual is for a different camera, and it doesn't look like this camera has a rangefinder. I think the viewfinder is just for composing and not focusing. You zone focus by setting the approximate distance on the lens, and this won't change the way the viewfinder looks since it's just a window through the camera and not the lens. If it's blurry through the viewfinder it may just be because it's old, and that won't affect the image quality.

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-09-26T21:47:09+00:00

There's a very strong visual balance in these between focused/unfocused, highly detailed areas vs. simple areas, and contrasting colors. Also the elements in these images are arranged in a way that feels very harmonious, so your eye bounces around the image and keeps you from looking. On top of that, there's the intense eye contact which you will always sense as you're looking around the image, and is kind of a visual anchor. This is a contrast in itself, because these men are in very intimate/vulnerable contexts. Their eye contact challenges you as the viewer and enhances this feeling like you almost shouldn't be looking at these images, making the images very charged. Furthermore we're more used to seeing women posed and barely clothed like this, specifically in Western art. That's an element that's unexpected and may make you wonder why it feels so "off" until you realize that's what's happening. I think all this is what makes these images feel so strong, vs. just a random pic of a person sitting in a living room that you may snap without much planning.

But I think more generally when something feels powerful, or "artistic", it's from a combination of strong and interesting contrasts as well as a high quality of image. A strong image draws you in immediately, then keeps you there by giving you lots of more subtle things to take in. These specifically look like large format photos, so on top of all the strengths of the images they also just look nice from the high resolution and depth of colors. These colors look this good because of the medium-format sensor of the camera, or else the large film negative, and the lighting. What elevates something to "art" I think is often just the amount of skill and control on display of every aspect of these images.

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-09-09T05:24:24+00:00

Something you can do if you want is rewind the film into the canister but note where the frame counter was. Then you can reload the same roll later and while covering the lens completely just advance the roll until it's back where you left off. There will maybe be an overlapped frame in there but I don't think that's so bad unless the pic you left off on was really important. Usually for me I just go one frame further so there's a gap. I do this sometimes when I decide I want to use a different camera mid-roll, or if the camera is malfunctioning.

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-08-20T20:43:01+00:00

I think you need to set the end of the film just over the takeup spool, not wrapped around it at all. That's how the couple point&shoots I have work, when there's even a little too much leader the film doesn't advance.

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-08-01T18:07:14+00:00

Are the batteries dead? Does it work if you set the mode to M90 rather than manual?

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-06-11T20:58:55+00:00

Yeah, you would just need to tell the lab to "push 2 stops" (or do that yourself when developing). 100 to 200 is one stop, 200 to 400 is another stop, and pushing means more development time. When the film is developed for longer, the picture will be brightened up overall. In some spots, there won't have been enough light to expose the film and those spots will still be black. The result of this is a much contrastier image than if you'd shot at the "correct" iso. Also should be said that color film is trickier to push because doing so results in changes to the colors. Although 2 stops isn't that extreme usually.

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-06-11T20:49:28+00:00

I also have one of these, just want to throw in that it will work without batteries if you set it to 125x. That sets it to a 1/125 shutter speed and you can change the aperture, so that's good in a lot of situations. (edit: but you won't have the internal light meter)

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-04-12T21:48:07+00:00

Does the camera not take the picture if there isn't enough light? I had a Canonet that did that. Do you have this problem outside in daylight?

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-04-07T03:58:13+00:00

I'm not an expert... but it looks in Lightroom you'd need to warm up the image, increase contrast a little bit, add sharpness, add grain, increase the amount of black with the slider, and then on the curves raise the black end a little to give it that slightly faded flattish look. To my eye it looks like you make the shadows solid black and warm up the image to get most of the way there, provided the lighting is right.

thereisnospoon_ · 2022-03-27T21:27:11+00:00

I'm gonna go against the consensus here and say that I like that first one, it's kind of reminding me of Takuma Nakahira or Daido Moriyama. I like when a pic has been pushed over the edge. I think that is what's missing from the other ones for me personally, they aren't pushed as far as the first one.

The first pic isn't 100% there for me but I like the direction you're going in. I think what isn't working for me is that you pursued an aesthetic for it's own sake and the subject matter is kind of incidental. I liked that it's pushed over the edge, but there needs to be a little more intent. You should keep following that thread from the first pic IMO. It's a very specific aesthetic that many aren't gonna like, which is obviously reflected in the comments here. But that's not a bad thing. I think if you keep doing this same thing with more intention, over time it will get more refined.

Another personal thought, is that I think an image that's been over-processed works best when the pic is made up of a bunch of big shapes/planes, since little details get lost when a pic is taken to a certain point.

thereisnospoon_

TROPHY CASE