AboutMikael Barnard Expertise I have much experience in photographing events and my most specialist area
of knowledge is alternative photographic processes. I may well answer
questions on broader topics of photography but only if my sphere of
knowledge extends to the question in hand. Please feel free to ask away
though!
Experience I have both a GCSE and an A-level in photography and much experience with event photography, I now persue photography as a hobby.
Education/Credentials GCSE photography- B. A.S. Level- C. A-Level- D- nothing wrong with my work, seems the exam board are pretty narrow minded when it comes to alternative photographic processes :-(
Expert: Mikael Barnard Date: 5/21/2004 Subject: -------------------------
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Question -------------------------
Followup To
Question -
I am a beginner photographer and I am usually using slide film such as fujichrome sensia or kodachrome elite and when I go get the slides back from the lab, they look fantastic but at the moment that I get some prints, they look horrible. Is there anything that I don't know. I would really appreaciate if you can help me out with this. Thank you very much!
Answer -
Hi Marco.
The primary use of slide film these days is for projection. As the image is a positive on the film there are very few economic ways to get a decent print on paper. You can't print in the same way as from a negative because you will have a negative image form on the emulsion and if you contact print this you will have a positive print but you will a)have lost a generation of quality and b)the image will be back-to-front. The only other methods I can think of is to strike a duplicate print on slide film from the original and turn it the correct way round in the enlarger, there are some chemical processes that will process slide film as negative but then you may as well have shot on negative film anyway and the only other method is to scan them digitally and print them from computer.
My reccomendation to you is that if you want to have paper prints rather than slides for projection you should use negative film as slide film is not really designed for this. Hope this helps in some way. Happy photographing, best wishes.
Mikael Barnard.
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Thank you very much Mikael, I really appreciate your answer.However, I have another question for you. My main purpose, my main goal is get to be a great photographer. I have been looking at pictures from Thomas Mangelsen, Art Wolfe and Steve Bloom and looking at those pictures I feel like I do not have the right equipment, the right anything... I know it might be a little to soon to dream of my pictures coming out as Mangelsen's do. But, I would like sharpennes in my pictures, I would like striking lighting in my pictures, is there any lens you would recomend, is there filter you would recomend. Do you know what is it exactly what those people do to come up with those type of images. I know they use Velvia RVP as their film, so why I can't get images that sharp or that striking from the same type of film that I am using? I know there are more than only one question here, I would be grateful all my life if you help me out with this, Thank you Mikael!
Marco Vinicio Aguilar
Answer This is not an easy thing to answer and is a little outside my sphere of knowledge. However I'll do best as I can. On the point of lenses the general rule of thumb is the more you pay the better the quality (there are exceptions!) I find canon lenses in particular to be of fine quality for everyday use, however, if you want something that produces really sharp images Carl Zeiss is definitely the way to go, expensive but fantastic. There is, of course, a point at which the lens only becomes as good as the camera operator so in order to get really sharp pictures you'll want to practise shooting, well, basically anything. Get a couple of cheap rolls of film and go for a walk somewhere, country or city, and start snapping bearing in mind camera stability (ideally use a tripod), shot composition, focus, lighting etc. This will help you to recognise the more common problems encountered and will enable you to recognise potential difficulties and how to overcome them.
If you want to be a great photographer my advice to you, which I have to say has met with ridicule before but I stick by vehemently, is if you have an automatic camera forget it. I use a completely manual SLR and I wouldn't use ANYTHING else, the only thing it does have is a handy little light metre built in which is extremely helpful and accurate. With this you have complete control over the focus, the aperture, the shutter speed, everything. Either way, with automatic or manual cameras I think it goes without saying that if you are after sharp images use a proper SLR camera, you will not get sharp images on your average automatic compact camera, they're useless for this sort of thing.
There is one other absolutely vital factor besides lens, camera and operator in achieving nice, sharp images, the film. I assume you are shooting in colour, if you are shooting in black and white I can't reccomend T-Max 100 enough to you. Kodak have recently released a wonderful high definition colour film, details are here:
and you'll find it in practically any shop. If you are looking for sharpness you will want a nice, slow speed film so DO NOT use anything over 400 ASA (ISO).
One other thing I will say about film is that if you are photographing still images (e.g. a landscape with NOTHING moving in it except maybe tree-leaves) then there is one black and white film that I will break down and cry is Kodak stop producing. The last 25 ASA film to be made in this country was by AGFA and was discontinued 5/10 years ago. Kodak makes one film which doesn't have a set ASA rating and is designed to be used at different speeds. This film can be used all the way down to 12 ASA although I have never tried it at that setting but for 25 ASA work the resulting image is absolutely beautiful. This film is called 'Technical Pan' and comes in 35mm cartidges and as sheet film. It is a little hard to get used to as it is very contrasty and the resulting image can be something of an acquired taste but I think it is marvellous. Of course this is where having your own/access to darkroom facilities is especially helpful as you can simply look up the time it needs developing for and do that yourself. Whilst I'm sure there will be the odd shop out there that will process technical pan (Jessops for one, the best shop for photography ever) you would obviously have to inform them what speed you shot it at and mistakes do happen.
Well I hope of that is useful to you. It's not an easy thing to understand or master, any fool can produce a photo, whether they can produce a well considered, well made piece of art is another matter! With practise it will become progressively easier and you should be able to produce some wonderful images. Photography is a strange phenomenon, it's one of the few things in life that becomes more and more fun every single time you do it, therein lies its appeal. Good luck with your aims in this field. If I can be of any further assistance please don't hesitate to ask. Best wishes.
