Voigtlander Bessa R3M

I few months back I wrote that I was considering getting a rangefinder. Although I love my Bronica, I also want a camera that I can carry in my backpack or jacket pocket. Well, I finally gave in got a Voigtlander R3M. It's a fantastic little camera, really fun to shoot. I've already put three rolls through it. Here are some of my first photos:

Monument Valley

Monument Valley, Arizona, 2007

This photo was taken at sunset. I remember the sun was struggling to break through the clouds on the horizon. It was really frustrating. I had come all the way to Monument Valley to get a shot of the mittens at sunset, and the light was completely flat. Then the sun came out for a few minutes. I was able to get some good shadows in the photo plus some dramatic looking sky. After that the sun went back behind the clouds, and that was it for the day.

The first thing I do for any conversion is apply color correction. This gives me a good foundation from which to do the black and white conversion. For this photo I used two separate conversions. I first selected the sky with the magic wand tool to create a mask. I saved the selection so that I could use it again. With the sky selected I converted the sky using Channel Mixer, going heavy on the red channel. Then I reloaded the mask, inverted it, and converted the ground using the B&W layer simulating a green filter. Then I centered the histogram by moving the midpoint in Levels and boosted contrast using Curves. The sky was still looking washed out so I reloaded the sky mask and adjusted the midpoint using Levels again. The final step was to sharpen the image using the highpass overly method.

Bronica GS-1 Update

Some updates regarding my Bronica GS-1. I recently bought a used 50mm f/4.5 lens and red filter. I haven't tried it out yet. It's a big, beefy lens. The lens cap is metal instead of plastic, and screws on to the front of the lens instead of snapping into place. The front diameter is a whopping 95mm. Can't wait to try it out. I will post photos as soon as I can.

Understanding Photoshop Histograms

I've been working on a new page for BWD called "Understanding Histograms". I've decided to publish it here first to get some feedback before publishing it to my main site.

Histogram is the technical term for what some people call a "bar chart". Here is an example of a histogram:



Histograms allow you to see complex data quickly. In photo editing software, the histogram shows you the number of pixels for each brightness level. The best way to understand histograms is to use a very simple example. Here is an enlarged view of a 50x50 pixel image:



This image uses only 10 shades of gray, here numbered 0 to 9:



To create a histogram, we must first count the number of pixels for each shade of gray.

Shade of Gray	Number of Pixels
0	47
1	10
2	15
3	44
4	291
5	667
6	911
7	249
8	264
9	2
Total	2500

With this information we can construct the histogram.


Each vertical bar represents the number of pixels for that shade of gray. More pixels it has, the longer the bar. The shape of the histogram is called the distribution. This distribution shows that the image is heavy on the mid-tones (levels 5 & 6) and skewed to the right.

Of course, real black and white photos have many more shades of gray (256 shades of gray, numbered 0 to 255) and many millions of pixels. Here's the original high resolution photo and it's histogram:




Photoshop displays the histogram like this.



The histogram's range is from 0 to 255. The histogram panel shows additional information such as the mean, median and standard deviation of the histogram. However, what's important is the histogram's distribution. There are four things to look for when reading the histogram: minimum, maximum, skew, and spread.

Minimum

What is the histogram's minimum value? A histogram with lots of pixels in the 0-5 range may mean that some parts of the image may be blocked. Blocking is when parts of the image becomes so dark that detail is lost. You want to avoid blocking. Even the darkest parts of the image should have some detail. You should be able to "see into" the shadows. Of course, there may be times when you want to deliberately block parts of the image for artistic reasons.

Maximum

What is the histogram's maximum value? A histogram with lots of pixels in the 250-255 range may mean some parts of the image may be blown out. Blowout is when parts of the image becomes so bright that detail is lost. You want your histogram to fall within the 5-250 range. This will avoid blocking and blowouts. Again, there may be times when you want to deliberately blow out parts of the image.

Skew

Is the histogram leaning to the left or to the right of center? An image that is too dark will have the histogram heavily skewed to the left. One that's too bright will be skewed to the right.

Spread

Is the histogram piled up into a single peak, or is it spread out? A low contrast image will have a pyramid shaped histogram. A high contrast image will have a flat or even a twin peak histogram.



Lets analyse the swan photo using these four criteria.The minimum value is around 4 and there no pixels piled up around 0. This means there are no blocked shadows, which is good. The maximum value is well below 255, so there are now blown highlights. This is also good. The histogram is skewed slightly to the right of midpoint. This means that the photo is on the bright side but not overly so. There's no need to correct the brightness. Finally, the bulk of the histogram is a huge pyramid in the middle with two smaller peaks on either side. The small peak on the left represents the dark patches on the swan's face. The tall peak on the right represents the bright patch on the swan's back. Although there are dark and bright patches, this is actually a very low contrast image.

Black and White Film Processing

Since the best way to learn something is to try and teach it to someone else, I've decided to post the notes I've been keeping regarding black and white film processing. Keep in mind that I'm still a noob when it comes to film.


Chemicals Required
There are only two chemicals that are required: developer and fixer. All others are optional.

Developer:
I use Kodak D-76. I get it in power form. Mix one envelope of D-76 in 3 liters of water at 50 degrees Celsius. Mix until power is dissolved. Add cold water to make 3.8 liters. This is the stock solution. You can use it as stock or diluted 1:1 with water.

Stop Bath:
Some people use water as the stop bath. I use Kodak Indicator Stop Bath. Mix 16ml to 1 liter of water.

Fixer:
Ilford Rapid Fixer. Can be used for both film or paper. Dilute 1:4 with water.


Preparing the Chemicals
I mix the developer in advance to stock solution and store it in brown plastic bottles. I keep the bottles as full as possible because a partially filled bottle causes oxidation. I also dilute the fixer and stop bath in advance. I keep the fixer and stop bath in old plastic jars that protein power comes in. I don't need to worry about fixer or stop bath oxidizing so I can keep them in the wide mouth jars. This also has the advantage of being able to pour the chemicals back into their storage jars without using a funnel.

Optional chemicals are:

Hypo Check is used to check if the fixer is spent. Put a few drops of hypocheck into the fixer. If the drops turn cloudy and doesn't dissipate then the fixer is spent and must be disposed.

Hypoclear is used to remove excess fixer from the negative during the wash process. I don't use hypoclear. I just use water.

Wetting agent is used to dry the film. A few drops of wetting agent in the wash water will help prevent water spots from forming on the negative when you hang it up to dry.


Equipment Required

Development Tank
I use a Patterson 3 reel plastic tank. This will hold up to three 35mm film reels or two 120 format film reels.

Development Reel
Two Patterson plastic reels. The Patterson plastic reels are adjustable. You can load 35mm or expand it to load 120 film. I also find them easier to load that the old metal reels.

Thermometer
Cheapo thermometer I bought at the dollar store. You want to make sure all your chemicals are at 20c.

Measuring cups
I bought four cheapo plastic measuring cups at the dollar store. That was a mistake. I didn't notice till I got home that the both the Imperial and metric markings were the same. I checked the volumes by measuring water in a good quality measuring cup and pouring it into the plastic cups. The markings on the plastic cups were completely off for both Imperial and metric. I ended up fixing the marks with a sharpie. Cheap measuring cups are not worth it. Buy good quality ones. Also buy four cups at the same time: one for developer, stop bath, fixer, and water.

Water pan
This is to keep all your chemicals at the same temperture. I use a rusty old baking dish.

Hangers & Clothes pins for hanging up your negatives.

Use All Available Tools

Recently I read an interesting comment from a photographer on another blog site. In his opinion, the true test of a photographer is to be able to shoot a good quality black and white photo using in-camera process only. In other words, no photo editing.

In-camera black and white simply uses straight grayscale conversion. Anyone who has used this method in Photoshop or any other photo editing software can tell you that straight grayscale probably is one of the worst ways to convert an image to black and white. Being able to produce a good quality black and white in camera is not easy. So why make things more difficult for yourself? As I point out in my web site, there are many advantages to photo editing vs. in-camera black and white:

1. you can undo it.
2. you get better results.
3. you have a color backup.
4. you can adjust your technique.

Also, by setting your camera to black and white, you're letting someone else do the conversion. This is kind of like sending your film to be processed and printed by someone else. It may look good, but it may not look exactly the way you want.

Why not use all the tools available to you?

NAPP

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals is a great resource for Photoshop users. I recently renewed my membership. Membership costs about $100 per year. With it you get a subscription to Photoshop User magazine, plus access to their member website. The features plenty of tutorials, a user forum and user galleries. Plus members get discounts at B&H and other stores. It's well worth becoming a member.

Check it out.
www.photoshopuser.com