Film + Digital

While I can't complain much about the amazing skin tones and colors from my Fuji S5, I still miss the feel of film.  And thanks to my wonderful wife and her wedding present to me, a Hasselblad 500c/m, I've found that feel of film again.  I am realistic enough to know that I will continue to use digital for the majority of shoots.  However, I have really fallen in love with the Hasselblad.  There's a peace in the process, in selecting your shot, judging your exposure and know you got it without chimping the LCD after every shot.

Brother Matt, a photo by Michael Berg Photo on Flickr.

So lately I've been exploring the world of film again.  To be more precise, film that has been scanned loaded into LR or Photoshop and edited there.  It's nice having that feel of the film, combined with the abilities of new technology.  For a long time it has been film or digital not film + digital.  Honestly, it's been almost exclusively digital with a touch of film when I felt nostalgic.  Then I'd pick up my old Ricoh TLR or the Nikon N80 I started out with and shoot a few rolls.  But, like I said it's been digital.

Foggy Orchard, a photo by Michael Berg Photo on Flickr.

Since getting the Hasselblad my gear has quickly been broken into two different sets.  When I just want to go take pictures I now leave the S5 at home and instead bring the Hasselblad and a Lumix LX5.  The LX5 is there for snapshots and also works nicely as a digital Polaroid for the Hasselblad.  For shoots my main camera is still the S5.  However, right along with the digital kit comes the Hasselblad just waiting to be picked up at the slightest thought of "this shot would really work great on film".  On a recent road trip I decided to bring both kits and you may be able to guess which one never left its bag.  Digital may be the way of the world, but film still has its grip on my heart.  And after a few shoots where I've scanned the medium format film I'm not sure there is anything wrong with that.  I guess time will tell what my thoughts will be in the future, but for now film is definitely alive and well.

P.S. In addition to the shots above, the three shots I posted from my first shoot with Tawnie were also shot with the Hasselblad.

Retouching

This month in PDN I read an interesting article about the pricing of retouching.  As luck will have it I had a shoot with Tawnie and Lissa again, this time for Lissa's portfolio.  The shoot was a lot of fun and we produced some good images and taught me quite the lesson about retouching.  I decided to use my 90mm macro lens to be able to get the details.  And believe me there were a lot of details.  My retouching in the past has never been so close up, nor has been so important.  I took a lot of time trying to get it right.  One thing I've never liked about retouching is when it's taken to barbie level, that plastic skin that no one comes close to believing.  Another thing I wanted to stay away from is modifying what she really looks like.  I'm not apposed to nipping a little unfortunate fold in a dress, but I'm not into digital nose jobs.  Not that I'm an expert at this point, but everyone has their angles and isn't it my job as a photographer to find them?  I guess what it boils down to is that I want the image to look natural and beautiful while still staying true to reality.  

Tawnie Makeup, a photo by Michael Berg Photo on Flickr.

Tawnie has great skin to begin with so there was a good base to start working from.  However, I learned an important lesson about using macro lenses on skin.  You see everything, I mean everything.  This is one thing I've noticed about film vs digital for editing.  Film you just lit for processing the film plus a stop, and boom, great looking skin.  With digital everything is so clinical.  At least we have Photoshop.  Bringing me back to the original thought for this post, I now have a new respect for retouching.  For me a bit of retouching has always been part of making a good image, whether it's cloning out the trash from an otherwise clean landscape or spending an hour staring at every pore on a face.  For this shoot I spent much more effort retouching than I have in the past and the results speak for them selves.  Would it still be a good image without that effort?  Seeing the result, I'm not sure I would care to know.  It was definitely worth it.

Portfolio Shoot - Tawnie

Since I've got back into shooting portraits I've noticed a couple things that have changed for the better.  One, that I find myself shooting smoother, with a better rhythm.  I feel like the little things have become so much easier.  Two, I'm executing my vision with a lot more ease.  I've always been able to imagine what the end result should be, but now I'm finding that I can plan the details much better.

This last shoot has been a prime example of that.  Coming into it I knew what I was after and how I wanted to create it.  Working with Tawnie was great, she was able to see the vision I had for the shoot.  I was also fortunate to have Lissa working with me again for makeup.  Not only did she do a great job but she also suggested the pose below.  It really is nice working with talented people.

Welcome to the Journey

I figure I should give a bit of background for where I've been and direction for where I'm going.  For the past five or so years I've bounced around in the world of photography.  I've worked as a freelance assistant.  I've shot weddings and bands and kids and families and etc and etc.  But, where my passion really lies is in portraits, more specifically editorial portraits.  Now I'm focusing on making that passion my career.  Over the past couple years I've stepped away from photography and went back to my roots in architecture, but it really didn't give me the satisfaction of photography.  So... I'm building my portfolio and getting ready to make my way back to photography.  This blog is basically going to be the journal of my trip from aspirations to reality, at least that's the plan.  Wish me luck!