Tag Archives: Kodak Portra 400

Black and White, Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Portraits, Washington DC

Street Portraits

May 12, 2015 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Just some random captures of people out and about. I want to get better at street candids, so I’m practicing. These are a few good examples, at least I think they’re good, for me.

I saw this man crossing the street early in the morning, loaded down with his bags. I don’t think this shot would have worked in black-and-white – the hodgepodge of tweed jacket, American flag logo bag, Adidas bag, and the plastic shopping bag wouldn’t pop if they were tonally similar.

I’ve posted the boy on the bus sleeping before. This one DOES work better in black-and-white because the brightness of his hat and shirt contrast with his skin color and give him a very peaceful, almost angelic look.

This man is watching the overhead sign announcing the upcoming station. I caught him in an unguarded moment, doing what everyone does on the train. Hard to tell if he’s a tourist or a local.

Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Washington DC

World Health Organization in color

May 11, 2015 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

I’ve been photographing the World Health Organization building in black and white, regularly, because the architecture lends itself so very nicely to geometric abstracts. Here it is in color, to show a different take on photo abstraction and the creation of meaning in an image.

World Health Organization, Sky 'V' — World Health Organization, Sky ‘V’

World Health Organization End, 'Monolith' — World Health Organization End, ‘Monolith’

The building itself was designed by Uruguayan architect Roman Fresnedo Siri. In 1961, Siri won an international design competition with his arc and cylinder concept. Construction was begun in 1963 and the building opened officially on September 27, 1965. There are bronze plaques on the face of the tower representing each of the 29 member nations.

Cameras, Color, Macro, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Washington DC

Planter Box Waterer

May 8, 2015 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

I saw this hose connector for watering the planter box down the street from my office and the blue handle contrasted perfectly with the new green grass around it. The light filtering through the tree leaves above the planter box made dappled patterns in the grass and softened up the scene so that the contrast was created through color as much as it was through brightness and darkness. The shallow depth-of-field really makes the blue of the handle pop out even more against the sea of green.

It was also the perfect opportunity to test out the macro capability of my Tele-Rollei with the Rolleinar 1 close-up set.A friend of mine had advised me that the Rolleinars made for the standard Rollei work just fine with the Tele-Rolleiflex. There were a separate set of Rolleinars originally designed for the Tele, and they look somewhat different. I was concerned that the parallax-correcting prism for the viewing lens in the Rolleinar set for the standard would over-correct and the composition would be off, but it doesn’t, as can be seen here. The pump handle is in exactly the spot I composed for.

Color, DC Cityscapes, Photography, Washington DC

More DC Street Scenes

April 8, 2013 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Just some random shots from around my neighborhood. All with the Rolleiflex 2.8E, on Portra 400.

Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Washington DC

Orchid Show at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum

February 6, 2013 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Here’s a few shots I took at the Latin American Orchid exhibit at the Smithsonian over the weekend.

All shots taken with a Rolleiflex 2.8E with a Rolleinar 2 close-focus adapter, Kodak Portra 400, and hand-held at 1/30th of a second between f2.8 and f4.5. I think I’ll go back another weekend and try again this time with a flash so I can get more depth of field. Don’t know if I’ll take the Metz or something smaller, as the Metz may be TOO powerful.

Cameras, Color, Digital cameras, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Portraits, Travel

Mummers Parade, Part 2 – with the Rollei

January 12, 2013 dcphotoartist 3 Comments

A few more from the parade, taken with the Rollei. I have about 300 digital files to edit through before I post those – I switched to the Canon 5D after shooting these because the Rollei was rather labor-intensive and the lighting was rather dim, limiting me to slow enough shutter speeds that I was getting motion blur with a lot of images and I didn’t want to waste film. I think what came out best with the Rollei are images I’d classify as portraits. It excels at shooting people filling the frame at relatively close distances. Or maybe that’s just what I’m good at and I’m confusing the camera’s talent for my own.

Cameras, Color, Medium Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Mummers Parade, Part 1 – with the Rollei

January 11, 2013 dcphotoartist 3 Comments

A major reason for going to Philly for New Years Eve was to avoid the hassle of driving up and back on the same day to attend the Mummers Day Parade on New Years Day. I decided to try and shoot some of the parade with the Rollei. While not as many images were 100% successful as I would have liked, I’ll put some of that down to needing more experience zone focusing, and some of it down to needing a fill-flash which I didn’t have. But I’m not complaining – I did get some good images, and here is a selection. I’ll follow up with more tomorrow when I’m done scanning everything.