Non-Erotic Photos

[tcwild100]

To me the biggest negative (pardon the pun) to film is the impact on the environment. The chemicals used are both toxic and caustic, and the amount of water rendered waste to rinse prints is - well - horrifying. We built our house with a darkroom, as my wife was using film and wanted to do her own B&W prints and even color proofs as opposed to paying a lab. Neither of us had a good handle on the environmental requirements, although we followed the rules and took hundreds of gallons of darkroom waste to an 'appropriate' waste disposal site (licensed by the EPA).

Digital has alot of other advantages, as have been mentioned, and - has also been mentioned - a good photographer is not made by the tools he or she uses.

 

[vanessa65]

To me the biggest negative (pardon the pun) to film is the impact on the environment. The chemicals used are both toxic and caustic, and the amount of water rendered waste to rinse prints is - well - horrifying. We built our house with a darkroom, as my wife was using film and wanted to do her own B&W prints and even color proofs as opposed to paying a lab. Neither of us had a good handle on the environmental requirements, although we followed the rules and took hundreds of gallons of darkroom waste to an 'appropriate' waste disposal site (licensed by the EPA).

Digital has alot of other advantages, as have been mentioned, and - has also been mentioned - a good photographer is not made by the tools he or she uses.

That's something I never gave much thought to TC. At the risk of sounding like a movie disciple...........it was Robin Williams in One Hour Photo, who gave me pause to think.

 

[Ekserb]

To me the biggest negative (pardon the pun) to film is the impact on the environment. The chemicals used are both toxic and caustic, and the amount of water rendered waste to rinse prints is - well - horrifying. We built our house with a darkroom, as my wife was using film and wanted to do her own B&W prints and even color proofs as opposed to paying a lab. Neither of us had a good handle on the environmental requirements, although we followed the rules and took hundreds of gallons of darkroom waste to an 'appropriate' waste disposal site (licensed by the EPA).

Digital has alot of other advantages, as have been mentioned, and - has also been mentioned - a good photographer is not made by the tools he or she uses.

You are so right.

When I worked at a newspaper in the mid-nineties I saw the results of industrial-grade photographic processing. In those days (and I suppose they still do this) they would expose the pages onto giant film sheets (one for each of four colors if printing a color page) and develop them before burning the images onto the printing plates for the web presses. The process would produce thousands of gallons of waste and hundreds of pounds of silver, a by-product of the development process. The silver would be sold back to the suppliers to be added back into future batches of developer.

Tangent alert!

Working in the security department had advantages. I could (and was expected to) go into all areas of the building just to make sure everything was still where it was supposed to be. The inner workings of a major metropolitan newspaper are kind of neat: The docks have huge racks that carry 20-ton rolls of newsprint paper; there is a chute that channels used printing plates from the pressroom to a garbage dumpster and when the plates were dropped down the chute it made a helluva racket; the outside of the building is relatively quiet until the papers start leaving the press when all of the day's activity goes from the desks of the newsroom to the trucks of the independent distributors.

And then there are days like when Princess Diana died and they literally yelled, "stop the presses!" to get that story on the front page.

 

[ShaiGirl]

To me the biggest negative (pardon the pun) to film is the impact on the environment. The chemicals used are both toxic and caustic, and the amount of water rendered waste to rinse prints is - well - horrifying....

I've never thought of that... the water and chemicals used for film prints. To think that I'm somewhat of a tree-hugger...

What I did for our nation's birthday (I apologize if some of these are deemed "erotic" in a non-erotic thread)....

Again, very tasteful photos, Ekserb! This question has been at the back of my mind everytime you post these "model pics". Do the models provide their own clothes, and do their own make-up, hair, etc? Or do you provide them with clothes and bring in a professional to do the hair & make-up?

+++++++++++++++++++

Tangent: Not an expert here, but IMHO photos from film seem to "last longer". Pictures of my parents' wedding from 30+ years ago are still good until now, albeit a little faded and sepia-like (they were B/W before). While some digital pics that I've had printed (at a commercial Kodak or print shop) from around 5 years ago seem to be fading fast. Opinions, explanations, anyone?

 

[Ekserb]

Again, very tasteful photos, Ekserb! This question has been at the back of my mind everytime you post these "model pics". Do the models provide their own clothes, and do their own make-up, hair, etc? Or do you provide them with clothes and bring in a professional to do the hair & make-up?

+++++++++++++++++++

Tangent: Not an expert here, but IMHO photos from film seem to "last longer". Pictures of my parents' wedding from 30+ years ago are still good until now, albeit a little faded and sepia-like (they were B/W before). While some digital pics that I've had printed (at a commercial Kodak or print shop) from around 5 years ago seem to be fading fast. Opinions, explanations, anyone?

First answer: While I've never hired a makeup artist (MUA) to do hair or makeup, some of my models have had the assistance of a MUA before the scheduled photoshoot. On one occasion, I was involved with the production of a "before and after" type of shoot and we took pictures of several models as they arrived and then after they had hair and makeup done by a MUA who was setting up her own website. Some of my models found videos on YouTube for applying professional makeup by themselves. As for the clothing, they generally bring a suitcase full of different pieces and we will pick through the pile together to find what works. (I happen to love telling women what to wear. Hehee.) The white robe that Dailyn is wearing was, however, provided by me—I found that on sale at Bloomingdale's and thought it would be good for a shoot. I bought it about two years ago and finally gave it to Dailyn after she was the first to wear it for photos.

Second answer: Photo fading depends partly on the process used to create the prints and has nothing to do with the way the image was first captured. Until the advent of digital photography, most people took their color film to a lab to have them developed and printed. The lab would use a chemical process to create the prints on photographic light-sensitive paper. I believe there are digital printers that will make chemical prints from digital originals, but I'm not sure how they work. On the other hand, the prints you get from one of those little standalone kiosks are made by a dye-sublimation printer inside the kiosk. Dye-sub printers are capable of a very wide gamut and will typically produce what's called a continuous tone print—a print in which you can't see any dots from the print head no matter how close you look. (Inkjet prints, no matter how high their resolution, will always have very small dots when you look at them under a magnifying glass or microscope.) Dye-sub prints are also supposed to have a very long life, but the newest inkjet printers can produce prints that will last 100-200 years.

Photo fading also depends on how the photos are stored. Light and air are the enemies of any print, so keep them out of the sun and in a sleeve or under glass if you want them to last a long time.

One last thing: I used to take my digital files to a lab and have them printed professionally. Black and white files were printed on color printing paper and they developed a color cast within months after printing. The reason they were printed on color paper is because A) no one even carries B&W photo paper anymore, and B) even if they did, the machine would have to be reloaded with a roll of B&W paper for those prints and most labs wouldn't want to hold up production for such a limited run of prints. True B&W paper does not develop a color cast over time (unless it picks up stains from whatever storage medium it's in). Now I make my own prints on a $500 HP Photosmart printer that can print up to 13" x 19" sheets. These are the best prints I've ever seen from any source, including the best labs available. When buying a printer, you get what you pay for.

Whew, my fingers are tired.

 

[tcwild100]

Tangent: Not an expert here, but IMHO photos from film seem to "last longer". Pictures of my parents' wedding from 30+ years ago are still good until now, albeit a little faded and sepia-like (they were B/W before). While some digital pics that I've had printed (at a commercial Kodak or print shop) from around 5 years ago seem to be fading fast. Opinions, explanations, anyone?

I'll try and 'sum up' Phil's response to this one...

Prints made from digital images using 'standard' inks on 'standard' paper will begin to fade almost immediately (and are likely not really very good to begin with). Those same images printed using what are called 'archival' inks and papers will last a long time - essentially just like the prints of the old days.

 

[functioncurve]

Anyone miss my cloud pics?

 

[Ekserb]

Anyone miss my cloud pics?

I swear your skies look an awful lot like the skies in South Florida.

 

[functioncurve]

I swear your skies look an awful lot like the skies in South Florida.

I hope I'm not giving myself away!

 

[functioncurve]

My first try at making a panorama.

Here's a link to a bigger version:
http://imagesocket.com/view/clouds_05d44.jpg

 

[tcwild100]

My first try at making a panorama.

Here's a link to a bigger version:
http://imagesocket.com/view/clouds_05d44.jpg

Nice work FC!

 

[nonimura65]

My first try at making a panorama.

Here's a link to a bigger version:
http://imagesocket.com/view/clouds_05d44.jpg

Oo nice one.

 

[functioncurve]

Thanks! Glad you like my cloud experiments!

 

[Mads]

Excellent work FC

http://i.imgur.com/Thq0i.jpg

 

[functioncurve]

Excellent work FC

Thanks!
Lovely portrait!

 

[functioncurve]

Sunset

 

[SweetHoneyV]

After the Ice Storm - Ice Tree.

http://i28.tinypic.com/i6i0xz.jpg

 

[Deleted member 1177770]

My first contribution here, this bugger was waiting to be captured today!

http://a.imageshack.us/img186/7610/dragonfly.jpg

Another one :

http://a.imageshack.us/img408/1497/p5150017t.jpg

 

[Mads]

My first contribution here, this bugger was waiting to be captured today!

IMG]http://a.imageshack.us/img186/7610/dragonfly.jpg[/IMG

Really nice shot that. What the hell is it?

Oh, and to stay somewhere near topic...

http://i.imgur.com/0GQGQ.jpg

 

[Deleted member 1177770]

Really nice shot that. What the hell is it?

Oh, and to stay somewhere near topic...

I added one more actually and it was a dragonfly hovering on my balcony.

 

[functioncurve]

Glad to see you posting, Proactive_boy. I have a few bug pics, too.

Mads, she's pretty! In fact, I feel bad posting a pic of a bug right after her portrait, so I'll leave it as a link.

 

[functioncurve]

After the Ice Storm - Ice Tree.

Interesting! It looks kind of like bees.

 

[Deleted member 1177770]

Oh I forgot to compliment Mads on his photography! pardon me

And FC you are really talented!

 

[Kahlo]

I love playing with my macro lens

 

[functioncurve]

I love playing with my macro lens

Oh wow! Beautiful pics! My crush grows ever stronger.