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The appearance of our Bali Story 2000 on the Bali Travel Forum brought
so many flattering responses that I was persuaded to put together our
web pages where the story could be illustrated with some of the
photographs we took.
This brought even more flattering reactions and a number of E-mails, one from Michael,
asking about the photos, the techniques I used, the films and where they
were processed, the equipment and a
host of others queries.
Over a period of time I began to copy the previous answer and add the
new things that
another
person was asking abut. The following is the result and I
record it here, not as a gospel of photographic excellence from a
professional but as some advice to help the ordinary snap shooter take
the next step.
Sunset at the Balihai Resort in Tuban, taken from the Pool Bar. What
more could you want?
~ o 0 O 0 o ~
Dear
Michael,
I
hope the information below is not too much for you.
I've tried to give all the detail you might want, but if you only use a
bit of it I hope you are still happy with your results.
The camera I use is a Pentax MZ-5 with Sigma lenses: either a 28-200 mm
zoom with a 72mm
diameter
object lens, or for some recent shots I've used a 28-80 mm zoom with
macro and a 55 mm diameter object lens which I bought Duty Free for the
Bali holiday.
The big lens is an old friend now (well 4 years old) but I think I'm
beginning to like the new one also.
I also have a close up filter for the big zoom but I don't use it much
now since I've got the macro feature in the smaller lens.
The camera and lenses are really quite ordinary, better than a cheap
disposable I suppose, but not in the high class - high price bracket.
I use circular polarising filters on both lenses to put a bit of
contrast in the sky when it needs it, and to take the glare off things a
bit. They just screw onto the front of the normal lens. These things are
not too expensive (well, I suppose that depends on the size of your
wallet) but they do magical things to tropical skies, making the bright
pale blue a much
darker colour and make clouds really stand out.
They are also good lens protectors, absorbing cleaning damage, salt
water spray and grit much better than the coated lenses. If you have to
replace anything damaged in some unfortunate accident it's much cheaper
to get a new filter than
it is to get a new lens.
As they are adjustable for effect (like the old original advertisements
for polarised sun glasses - if you're old enough to remember - one lens
held in front of the other and slowly turned 90 degrees, the light
coming thro' them going from almost full brightness to almost black as
they are turned) you can darken the sky and lighten the clouds just the
amount you want. I think that this adjustment makes them much better
than the cheaper linear polarising lenses which are not too good
on auto-focus lenses.
I also have a Cokin filter attachment for each lens and have just begun
to collect some coloured and special effects filters for these. If you
think that the colours in some of my photos are unbelievable - you're
right. It's the coloured filters at work.
Most importantly I think, I use a heavy tripod and electronic shutter
release whenever I can. If I don't have to worry too much about camera
shake from the old hands,
particularly on
long zoom shots,
I have the courage to use very slow shutter speeds and small diaphragm
openings and slow films.
(I now have an alternative if you're not into this business of lugging aluminium tripods
around and looking a little mad. See the very end of this file.)
This alone improves the image quality so much that it has made it
possible to greatly enlarge 35 mm negatives and still have a reasonably
sharp image from the front of the scene right into the distance.
We have a quite a collection of these enlargements throughout our
kitchen/living/dining area that constantly reminds us of the great times
we've had in Bali.
I'm not too fussy about film, Kodak Gold, Agfa or Fuji Superia or
anything else really does the job for me on most occasions. However, if
you think that a special holiday deserves special film (and some films
will give you denser colours and sharper images that are much better for
enlargements) then try Kodak Royal Gold or Max 200, or AgfaColour HDC
Plus Negative film or AgfaColour Optima II Prestige Negative film, but
don't be surprised to find that quality costs.
(See
other,
later suggestions,
at the end of this file.)
The only constant thing is that I use only film with an ASA speed rating
of 100, occasionally 200 but never 400 and above. I think that the
slower films (100) have finer light-sensitive particles in them and this
gives sharper edges in the photo so they will enlarge more before they
become fuzzy.
Because I use a tripod I can more easily use this slower film, with
longer shutter speeds, but still not get any camera shake. This is
really important.
I try to use a small aperture (f22 or f16) and shutter speeds of
1/60th
of a second or less - even down to 4
or 8
seconds for dawn and sunset shots. All of this makes the negatives (and
the photos) very sharp, even when they are enlarged quite a bit.
I only take 'snap shots' with the camera in my hands - never serious
photos
which
they are all done on the tripod.
I use an Acer 640 (600 x 1200) scanner running the packaged 'Ulead -
Mirascan' software which I'm not too impressed with (the software that
is), but this is new technology for me and maybe I'm just not used to it
yet. I grew into photography as a boy back in the days just after the
old Kodak Box Brownie.
Digital is a whole strange new world for me, but one I suppose I'm
going
to have to try
sometime as
it
seems so easy to do things with your images. Maybe next year.
If you decide to spend some money on camera gear your photo shop
proprietor should be happy to talk to you about using each piece. I
think I've maybe put these things in the wrong order. If I was going to
get only one thing it would be the tripod and shutter release. The
tripod cost me about Aus$120 and the shutter release was about $50.
If this is too much for you now then the second best would be the
polarising filter.
Hope I've answered your query without rambling on too much. If
I've missed anything you're curious about just let me know and I'll try
to help. There's an E-mail contact link on the
Home Page.
Water Lily, Ubud.
If you're interested in looking at some good web sites
that freely help shooters to progress towards photography, try a search
for these sites -
Agfa Online Photo Course - www.agfaphoto.com/library/photocourse/
Kodak Australia - www.kodak.com.au (and look for the 'Taking Great
Pictures' link towards the bottom on
the right side.)
Links to Photography Tips - www.photosecrets.com/links.tips.html
Photo101atPhotographyReview -
photographyreview.com/photo101/
Masters of Photography -
www.masters-of-photography.com
~ o 0
O 0 o ~
Post scripts -
Having recently seen, with
envious eyes, the results that an acquaintance has obtained with
different film, I have tried some
films
that are a bit better and a bit
more expensive.
The results on close-ups and enlarged photos (which many of mine are
because they remind me of Bali each time I see them hanging on the walls
at home) convinced me to investigate further. Rather than accept any old
film as I have done before I now offer the following information which I
have gleaned, backed up with only a little experience so far.
The main players in the film business seem to each have a common 'happy
snappers' quality film, then a better quality amateur users film which
you might have to look for or ask for but which is really fairly
commonly available and these two grades are followed by a number of
professional quality films, each of which is often for different and
fairly specific uses (such as portrait work).
Try Kodak ‘Royal Gold’ film for denser colours in your landscapes. ISO
100 has very fine grain giving sharper negatives which results in better
enlargements. It also comes in ISO 200 & 400. It’s a ‘top-of-the-range’
amateur’s film, and bit dearer than the very common Kodak Gold but you
might appreciate the colours and quality on a special trip. Kodak
Professional ProImage 100 is the next step up into a professional film,
even dearer than Royal Gold and perhaps requiring more exposure accuracy
than many amateurs will care to give it. Don’t waste your money on this
film if you’re using a ‘pocket camera’ as it requires a reasonable
quality SLR to show its capabilities.
AgfaColour HDC Plus Negative film is similar in quality to Kodak Royal
Gold and comes in 100, 200 &400 ISO. AgfaColour Optima II Prestige
Negative professional film (ISO 100,200 & 400) is about the best if you
want big enlargements of your photos but like Kodak ProImage you need to
take a little more care when using it. The prices of these films
increase like the Kodak ones.
FujiColour Superia Reala is their top amateur film. Fujicolour
Professional NPC is the next step up and is particularly good for
portrait shots but like the other pro-grade films needs a bit more care
with the camera work to show it’s value. Again, you’ll find price
structures like the Kodak examples above.
~ o O o ~
Another piece of advice I can now offer is the use of those very small
and cheap tripods with springy wire legs that will fit fairly
comfortably into a 'bum bag' if you don't have a camera bag. Would you
believe that the smallest and cheapest of these that I have found is
called 'Springy Legs' (I am not kidding you) and is about 4 inches (100
mm/10 cm) long. It is quite adequate and retails here for about A$10. A
slightly more sophisticated version, a little longer (maybe 5 inches)
with a few more features is the Vanguard VS-52 at about A$25.
I firmly believe
that the now common availability of small pocket cameras with zoom
lenses are responsible for more bad photos than anything else. These are
the cameras that benefit most from the use of small tripods.
The tripods
can be screwed onto the bottom of most small cameras and the legs spread
to rest the camera on a car bonnet or a wall or fencepost or up-turned
box, anything that will keep the camera steady. (Do make sure that the
car engine is turned off if you're using the bonnet, and that the kids
are not about to jump in and have a fight.)
Adjust the bend of the legs to point the thing in the required direction
and use the delayed shutter release mode of the camera (you know, the
one that lets you press the button and then gives you time to run around
the front and get into the picture yourself) to take the shot without
any risk of the camera shaking in your hands as you press the button.
Without doubt this camera movement causes the ruination of most shots,
and the new crop of small pocket cameras with zoom lenses do, of course,
greatly emphasise the smallest of shakes.
Jimbaran Beach sunset.
Another thing
I've learnt is that there are now far too many photo shops in Bali.
Since the fall
off in the number of tourists after the Kuta bombing there is not enough
work for all of them and their equipment is not regularly cleaned, their
chemical solutions are not replenished when they should be and they will
turn on their machines and try to develop and print your irreplaceable
memories before the temperatures are correct and stable. If you see a
sign advertising 'Print and Develop in 20m minutes' then run as fast as
you can in the other direction.
On our last trip
in October '04 I used only Bali Fotografi at number 57X Jalan Raya
Kuta. Run by Pak Leo, the service and results reflect the fact that he
is a photographer, just like me and you. He is now able to process your
films and and do your selected enlargements and as well at the end of
your trip if you take all of your negatives back to him he will have
them all digitised and stored on CD. Initially I was afraid that I would
get a CD with all of the virus infections that Indonesia is world famous
for, but, like the rest of his service my two CD's were as clean as a
whistle when I ran them through the virus program on my computer. There
is no doubt that this is the easiest way to e-mail your results to
family and friends when you get home. There are more pictures, stories and information about Bali on our Home Page. |
