May 28, 2013

Ilford Delta 100 on Olympus OM-10 and G. Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

Colorless grass field

My friend Eric Flexyourhead lent me his Olympus OM-10 (which had the G. Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 on it) since I wanted to use an old camera as a subject for an assignment I was doing with Ming Thein. I took advantage since Eric let me use the OM-10 and it was perfect timing since my Nikon FE still has film in it and it's acting up. Perfect timing because I wanted to try the Ilford Delta 100 for the first time and I do not have any other film camera. I was inspired by Ming's BW images and the rich tonal characteristics of the film. Pair the Delta 100 with a sharp lens and viola, I now have a favourite BW film.

May 1, 2013

Shooting at moderate distances with everything in focus

Rectangles in a square

Assignment 6 is done, finally. It took me a while because I was not shooting at all, I was uninspired. The assignment was exciting but was a tough one for me. Just as the title says, it's about shooting at moderate distances with everything in focus. Confusing? Easy? I guess if you take it literally you just need to stop down and Ming's advise was to shoot at f/16 (for FF) or use a compact camera to get the depth. The goals of the exercise are:
  1. Not to always rely on using shallow of depth of field to isolate the main subject 
  2. Focus on composition (hint: subject placement is key)
If everything is in focus on the frame then careful consideration of what we include is required or else it might end up being too busy or with a lot of distractions.