A Walk on the Beach
I recently had the privilege of practicing my portrait photography on Danielle for the second time. After a few drinks and catching up on old times, I tried out the first full roll of film with my new Elan on my model friend. These are with the Elan 7ne, on Kodak Portra 160NC.
Exposure #1. I almost didn’t even realize that I took it, the Elan is so quiet. I had to look at the exposure counter twice before I believed it. The camera operates so smoothly that I found myself having to actively refrain from blasting away on fully automatic.
Apparently she’s found something interesting…
And as for the circular effect, holy vignetting Batman! This is not a post processing thing, but a result of a really wide aperture and really wide focal length. I was very surprised to see this. I know that certain lenses are designed for the smaller digital camera sensor cross-section, as opposed to the 35mm frame. My Sigma is one of them (the whole DC series is like this). However, I was not aware that this lens was anything but a normal Canon EF mount, and the Elan manual just says “Not Compatible with EF-S lenses”. It’s actually a neat effect, though I didn’t intend it here. What I suspect is the case is that due to the difference in size between the 35mm frame and a digital sensor, focal lengths mean different things. I seem to remember reading somewhere that there is something like a 1.6 factor difference in effective focal length for digital SLRs. So my 28mm lens on the 35mm SLR is actually 17.5mm lens in the XTi world… essentially almost a fisheye in the terms in which I’m used to thinking. I’ll have to be careful.
I couldn’t tell what it was at this point, but it turned out that she found a bright blue rock, and was rather fascinated by it.
I thought it was a bead or something when I first saw it, but upon closer inspection it really was a very cool, natural pebble.
Beaches are fun (clearly). I really like how this one turned out, though I’ve received the suggestion that her right arm should not have been cut off. I also think that the vignetting does not add to the image in this case. Oh well, the shot was quick and the moment was fleeting. I’ll try and compose better next time.
It works here though, IMHO.
The film worked out well. I like the low contrast and soft tones, it works well with people. I think maybe the Kodak Portra 160VC film may be better next time, over the NC… especially with that yellow top, some more color saturation would have been nice.
And all in all I’m definitely in love with my new camera… wonderful world of film, here I come!
Being both amateurs at our respective arts, last weekend I drove down to Costa Mesa to give each other some practice; me with people shots (which I really need to improve at) and her with photo shoots.
