Sunday 15 January 2012

That "film look"

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens

When talking about how punchy and colourful the film scans that I've been posting recently look, I had of course forgotten that many of them were taken with filters in place. I had a whole set of grad. filters, warm ups of various strengths, and of course, obligatory for every 1990's "coffee table book" landscaper, a set of circular polarising filters.

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens

Though I haven't used any of these for about 10 years, I found a 49mm one which fits my Zeiss 24mm and the 18-55mm kit lens for the NEX-7, and I've spend the last two days down memory lane, twiddling about with it.

I remember vaguely that there were some problems with these in the early days of digital, but I can't remember what! However, no problems whatsoever with the NEX-7. As you can see, its a pretty dramatic effect.

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens

Over the top? Well possibly, but then I've never had any trouble selling pictures that make the UK look like Provence. I'm a colour saturation junkie anyway, and to be fair the last two days have been freezing cold but with this wonderful clear light and of course, deep rich blue skies. We don't get light like this here that often, so it was a good opportunity to get the polariser out and let it do its thing.

In addition to pumping up the blue sky, it does also enhance other colours and help to get a more balanced exposure by altering the dynamic range. Like many of these things it can be quite addictive and I did spend far too much time making sure I was at the right angle to maximise the effect.

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens

Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens
Sony NEX-7 Zeiss 18-55mm kit zoom  lens

How much I'll continue to use this I'm not sure, but I did use polarising filters a lot when I was shooting film. Its great fun and there is no denying that it certainly makes the images jump out from the screen. I'm sure the "colour police" (those people who criticise any photograph that moves away from the bland and the flat, in some vain attempt to equate photography with reality) will disapprove, but I've never taken any notice of that anyway. I was very much a Fuji Velvia photographer as opposed to the somewhat dull rendition of Fuji Provia and these are pretty close to a digital equivalent of that.

One of the reasons I'm enjoying my film scanning so much, is that I can get this wonderful colour depth. It seems I can now get that with digital, under certain circumstances, and I will certainly be doing more of it. All I need now is the weather!!