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Route 66
07 08 09 February 2014
These are snaps from Dave Wyman's 2014 Route 66 photo trip.
In the spirit of Route 66, I brought a 1950s rangefinder camera to shoot. I brought my Nikon S3, a 21mm f/4 Voigtländer SC-Scopar lens in Nikon S (rangefinder) mount, an original 1957 3.5 cm (35mm) f/1.8 W-NIKKOR•C, a Year 2000 Nikon 50mm f/1.4 and an original 1957 10.5 cm (105mm) f/2.5 Nikkor. I also brought a new Apple iPhone 5S in case I needed any "digital" snaps before I had my film scanned, or needed to shoot in low light or needed accurate color.
The Nikon rangefinder system was never pro grade because the lenses took different size filters, one of the many reason Nikon's rangefinder cameras died in the 1960s and LEICA still makes them today.
Because I couldn't drag up enough filters in enough sizes fast enough to outfit all my lenses (39mm on the 21/4, 43x0.5mm on the 35/1.8, 43x0.75mm on the 50/1.4 and 52mm on the 105/2.5), I decided to try living like the other half and simply shooting color print film to see what happened. By "the other half," I mean people who don't know how to mail their film to a pro lab to get what they need for real B&W or E6 processing, and instead have to slum it with C-41 color print film like my grandmother used to shoot at Christmas. I shot Kodak Ektar 100, arguably the world's best color print film.
I used a Gossen Digisix light meter. With print film, I could have just guessed exposure.
I had my film processed and scanned at North Coast Photo Services or the Costco in Laguna Niguel, California on Heather Ridge Road, then copied all my image files to my Mac Pro and used Phase One Media Pro to select which of these images I wanted to publish. I dragged each image to be published from Phase One Media Pro into Photoshop CS6 for optimization and formatting. Once in Photoshop, most shots were processed with the Athentech Perfectly Clear plug-in which usually makes them look even better. I cropped each image to perfection and added significnt other artistic input as needed.
Of course I really was shooting in B&W; my plan in advance was to convert the color scans into B&W with Photoshop CS6's B&W adjustment layer, and move the color sliders to reproduce the effects of the colored contrast filters I would have used if I had ones that fit.
A huge advantage of converting to B&W from color this way is that I have a seamless and far more flexible ability to alter contrast based on color, and even could do it with different adjustments in different parts of the image. I didn't need any regional corrections, and I did love the ability to move the sliders to get exactly the contrasts I needed based on color. I doubt an amateur program like Lightroom has this flexibility; I don't know.
Once I had my look, I split-toned my prints.
07 February 2014, Friday top
Tom's Welding, 4:07 PM. (Apple iPhone 5S, f/2.2 at 1/4,566 at ISO 40, Athentech Perfectly Clear.)
Cook's Paints, Tom's Welding, 4:20 PM. (Year 2000 Nikon S3, Gossen Digisix light meter, Voigtländer SC Scopar 21mm f/4, Kodak Ektar 100, NCPS process and scan, Athentech Perfectly Clear, split-toned print.)
Dirty Yellow Sign, Tom's Welding, 4:30 PM. (Year 2000 Nikon S3, Gossen Digisix light meter, 1957 10.5 cm (105mm) f/2.5 Nikkor at f/4, Kodak Ektar 100, NCPS process and scan, Athentech Perfectly Clear.)
Signs, Tom's Welding, 4:40 PM. (Year 2000 Nikon S3, Gossen Digisix light meter, Voigtländer SC Scopar 21mm f/4, Kodak Ektar 100, NCPS process and scan, Athentech Perfectly Clear.)
Desert Palms, 5:04 PM. (Apple iPhone 5S, f/2.2 at 1/684 at ISO 32.)
Abandoned Motel, 5:10 PM. (Year 2000 Nikon S3, Gossen Digisix light meter, 1957 3.5 cm (35mm) f/1.8 W-NIKKOR•C, Kodak Ektar 100, NCPS process and scan, Athentech Perfectly Clear.)
Anna Thomas' Abandoned Baby Album, 5:18 PM. (Apple iPhone 5S, f/2.2 at 1/40 at ISO 40.)
This is the saddest thing in photography. The only photographs worth having are baby pictures, and here someone has abandoned theirs. If you know Anna, contact me and I'll tell you where we saw these back in February. We left them where we found them.
Arroyo de Basura, 5:22 PM. (Apple iPhone 5S, f/2.2 at 1/120 at ISO 50, Athentech Perfectly Clear.)
Bizarre Camper, 5:45 PM. (Apple iPhone 5S, Cortex Camera app, which stacks photos automatically for cleaner results in dim light.)
Route 66 Pizza, 7:48 PM. (Apple iPhone 5S, f/2.2 at 1/30 at ISO 125, Athentech Perfectly Clear.)
Green Motel, 9:20 PM. (Year 2000 Nikon S3, Gossen Digisix light meter, 1957 3.5 cm (35mm) f/1.8 W-NIKKOR•C, Kodak Ektar 100, f/4 at 4 seconds, NCPS process and scan, Athentech Perfectly Clear.)
That's all for today. NEXT ->> 08 February 2014, Saturday
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