How to get started.....

I have a feeling I'm near the bottom of the learning curve in this group, so I really can't wait to start working my way up

Jeff

Jeff...........from Boston! Hello !

My name is David.. I left Boston in 1981 for Alaska!

Been here ever since. Actually I went first in 77 for the pipeline in Alaska to work as an electrican.

but photogaphy is the issue and I have taught for years.. people such as yourself how to "shoot form the hip" and make gorgeous color enlargments using film.

You have digital ? good.. let me explain some simple basics using old type film technology and Techniques.

First lets learn..... HOW TO READ LIGHT!... This is going to require a bit of practice on your part.

and keep notes!

ISO 100 this is your starting point.

Lets go outside.. go to the Boston Commons, this is where I spent many years taking photographs. Thousands of rolls of film were shot here. and the results were all thrown out in the trash accidently.. years of work

100 ISO SHUTTER SPEED 125 f 11


THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE YOUR CAMERA SET AT.. good..!

Now look for people in direct sunlight, casting a shadow. they are lit from either side or the front

-=[click]=- do it again.. go around and look for that situaton -=[click]=-

Now you see someone enter the shade or a shady area Open two / or 3 f-stops and -=[click]=-

now go around with you have just learned and practice this and keep notes if you can.

if you have to shoot into the sun.. F 5.6 or F 4.. keep notes..

Here is what I am trying to illustrate.. A sunny day on the Boston Commons is a SUNNY DAY. it doesn't matter which time of the day or which time of the year.

Now very first light of the day.. that light is very warm or yellow. same with evening.

THE WORST TIME OF DAY.. to shoot color is noon. shadows are flat sun is high over head.

The very best color you can ever achieve is on an overcast day.. just before it rains or just after !

Look! at a stop sign. on a sunny day. Look! at that same sign on a cloudy day.. it is differernt more saturated.

Do the same and Look! at a school bus in either light also. the colors are different! More saturated.

shooting from the hip is ESSENTIAL to learn. If you want to capture that fleeting moment!

If you have to fiddle about with light meters and apertures and focus your gonna miss that shot.

Once you learn how to read light and make that shot without even thinking then I will take you a step further. much further.

Learning EV (exposure values) is a must to learn. I am going to START you with one set of numbers

and just by knowing this one number.. soon you will be able to CONSTRUCT all 22 EV charts fully from one end to the other. In your head, using your fingers.!!!

I have never ever attended as much as one photography class.. but I have taught students such as yourself how to get out there and make big $$ with their cameras.


Practice this and I guarantee you, I promise you, you WILL LEARN how to shoot very quickly

You have an extra added feature. you can see your results instantly and ajjust your STARTING POINT FROM THERE.

good luck! I can't wait to see some of your photos!! The only filter you will / should ever use or need is a polarizing filter.. open 1 stop! (starting point)

I moved these posts from the 'introduce yourself' threads, in the hope that David can continue with explaining his learning methods.

I think it would be as well if others have a difference of opinion with his methods, that it is raised elsewhere, so that the structure of the thread is not sidetracked. - Over to you, Dave...

Thanks Ray

I have a few surprises up my sleeve. ha ha ha.!

back in 1974 I sent hundreds of photos to Kodak and the process information...

they told me.. you better get this patented.. I said it is your chemicals and your paper..

they said. "its your process" we have been trying to do this for sixty years, GET THIS PATENTED.

they offered me 10 million dollars, if I was successful in getting this patentented!

thousands were spent trying to get this patented, but I failed after 8 months pending!

Dale Neville of Buffalo New York was advertising in Rangefinder magazine that if you shoot weddings, using Vericolor professional film, to shoot at 200 iso and send him the film for processing.

you can not patented what is starting to become COMMON knowledge.


200 Iso ? NO !

Vericolor film can/could be pushed to ANYTHING you wanted to use with GLORIOUS SPECTACULAR results that blew the socks off the people @ Kodak


100 ISO

200 ISO

400 ISO

800 ISO

1600

3200

That is as far as I went.. all those iso's ON THE SAME ROLL OF FILM !

and every negative would produce spectacular gorgeous results !

1975 is when Kodak started to come out with the whole new family of high speed color films.


I have had 16 different color darkrooms.

here is a small portion of Darkroom #15



As you can see. I used to go through massive amounts of EP2 (print) chemistry and massive amounts of C-41 (film) chemistry also. I am / was OBSESSED with photography as a hobby!

I would order 8x10 paper by the case(s).

It was only becuase I was so familiar using C-41, that I dared attempt to use this process using SNOW!

Printing color enlargments using snow, washing prints using snow, THAT WAS ALL I had to work with.. SNOW!

CASES of 11 x 14 paper were sent up to Point Hope, via Hunts. (the best place in the country) to purchase anything photographic. Hunt bros. Medord/Malden Mass.

Let me explain WHO I am...

Absolutely no body.......! Nothing !

Now that; that is ESTABLISHED! Let me continue.

Oct. 1969 Date: Shirley Hurley! We went to fly a kite, and I took some B&W photographs using a friends camera that I borrowed. When I returned the camera I asked the person, how, where do we send this film to process? He replied "we can do it ourselves"!

That one simple sentence caused a nuclear explosion of sorts to envelope me and control me for the next 37 years. I was obsessed and I had to learn this.

I quickly became very bored with Black and white. ONLY BECAUSE.. Black & white as an "art form' is extremely difficult to achieve. I could not do it, or achieve the results, and all my photos looked like b&w snap shots, Not art!

VERY FEW people in this country or in the world. can effectively accomplsh the stunning results that Ansel Adams was capable of. and many others as well. I did not fit into that area of expertise.

I wanted to process color and everyone told me back then.. It is too difficult and to expensive and cannot be done at home. I DID NOT LISTEN ! I refused to listen!

I achieved successful results very quickly.

EVERYTHING looks NATURAL in color, not so in B&W.. !

I had to master this Color technique.

I didn't learn this over night, but I can save you time, by what I have learned THROUGH experience only!

Question: ? What is / are the latent image capabilities of Color film when stored properly ?

Kodak: Up to one year with proper storage.

David Eves: I lost this roll of film, It was NOT STORED PROPERLY. 5 years later it was processed!



I think differently than most people, I have proven Koday WRONG on many many things.

I want to share some insight into Creative color darkroom techniques. That I am sure you will find very usefull if you use, own, work in a darkroom.

I use pencils that have erasers on the end, because I make mistakes, lots of them, this is how I learn, by making the mistakes, noticing them, and correcting them.

You are no different ! this is the best way to learn.. ANYTHING!

If you want to effectively produce stunning gorgeous COLOR.. then it is an absolute must to understand -=[COLOR THEORY]=-

Primary vs. Secondary or Complimentry (Opposites) COLORS, there are six of them.

Red, Green, Blue PRIMARY - additive

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow SECONDARY - subtractive



First of all .. black is not a COLOR. it is the abscense of ALL color(s)

Learning to use COLORS and their compliments in Juxtaposition with ONE another PRODUCES THE MOST STUNNING RESULTS.

IT IS a proven FACT: Colors influence us. stimulate us, inspire us.

The absolute worst thing you can possibly do or look at constantly. In a darkroom, is / are

black walls, surroundings!

Make sure you paint your darkroom WHITE! or some other very light color!

(to be continued)....

A grave mistake is corrected

I made a mistake in the above post and I am going to clear that up here.


Ev = Exposre values I used the WRONG numbers in the above post.

EV 16 should have been EV 14

EV 17 should have been EV 13

EV 18 should have been EV 12

EV 19 should have been EV 11

I haven't held a Gossen Luna Pro since 1973, and I gave that away.


but during the years I had this LIGHT METER, I would just sit and study it and watch how it worked.

ASA / ISO 64,000 - ASA/ ISO 2 ?

1 /10,000 of a sec - 8 hours

THAT IS the range and sensitivity of this meter.


I am going to teach you how to have all this info in your head! very easily.

and learn how to shoot with no light meter w/ perfect results EVERYTIME "Once you learn how to READ light.


JUST BY REMEMBERING.. this one setting ISO 100 125 @ f 16

You will EASILY learn how to construct ALL 22 EV (exposure value) charts,, in your head!

more to follow soon.

David, thank you for your post. As soon as it warms up a bit I'm going to put it into practice. I will definitely post the photos once I do.

Glad your going to PRACTICE .. .. . .

with much practice YOU WILL BECOME much better!

And let me add...

there are only 3 things that happen when you squeeze that shutter release.

too dark
too light
PERFECT.

Now that you have learned all this technical stuff.. LOL. lets practice!

learning how to read that light. you notice the scene you want to capture. IS it DARKER then your surroundings? OPEN a stop, or two, (take notes). You can always bracket, but with the digital age, you INSTANTLY see your results and you can adjust your "EYES" accordingly. then you will practice, .. ..

UNTIL you can correctly expose EVERY SHOT. AS YOU BEGIN..to gain confidence. You will START to accomplsh what took years for professionals to master.

Photojournalists don't fiddle about, when it comes time for that SPECTACULAR SHOT. they have learned and mastered "reading the light" based on years of PRACTICE.!

they don't have time (usually) to fiddle about, point, click and capture in one quick effortless movment!

I like to think of it this way.

focus, aperture, shutter, think = FAST!

As I am walking, looking, my hand is on that aperture ring, ready to OPEN, CLOSE, or stay the same. I know my VALUES, before I bring that camera up to expose that frame.

I know whether to open, close, etc. this requires practice, and soon.. you will master this.

I am no body, nothing.. Just an electrican that wanted to learn photography! So I could make enough money to GET OUT OF THE TRADE. I succeded handsomely! Beyond what I would have ever expected! I was obsessed! I made good paychecks and as much as possible went into my darkroom, and other equipment.

I had a huge darkroom, 20 x 40 and I put an add in the news paper.. Learn how to print color. Color Printing classes $200 dollars for an 8 week course, One night a week.

INSTANTLY I had 25 students, and $5,000 to play with. Five students per night 5 nights per week. for years, and years, and years, I made fantastic money off my HOBBY!

30K BACK in the early seventies was an ernormous year's pay for anyone in those days.

Each student would receive 8 rolls of film upon signing up, SHUT OFF YOUR LIGHT METER

DO NOT use it or pay any attention to it. were the first words I would say to them. Then I would open a box of film and show them the numbers that are written on the inside of that box. USE THESE NUMBERS for a starting point. and take notes to compare to see what you are doing wrong when you get to see the final image.

Should you have opened that lens? kept it the same? or closed that aperture.?

THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO TRAIN your eyes to notice.. BEFORE you bring that camera up to eye level.

Each student would print approximately 50 - 8 x 10's 20 -11 x 14's and 8 - 10 16 x 20 prints. a very good deal for all !

After the second or third class. they didnt even need me in the darkroom anylonger.

I have taught 4th grade to 80 years old, and they ALL mastered this technique very easily!

There is nothing hard about this, but it feels like "walking the plank" when you first start.

DIGITAL.?. ha . you can't possibly miss!

If I take a piece of cardboard - a circle, such as what comes with a pizza sometimes.

and I divide that into thirds, and paint each third, Red, Green, blue.

Now I put a pin in the center of that cardboard. and SPIN IT.. what color will I see ?

?

David J. Eves said:

If I take a piece of cardboard - a circle, such as what comes with a pizza sometimes.

and I divide that into thirds, and paint each third, Red, Green, blue.

Now I put a pin in the center of that cardboard. and SPIN IT.. what color will I see ?

?

Click to expand...

Depending on the actual colors used, and the spinning speed, muddy brown.

Bart

well you can also do this .. ..

in a 3d program. and you will always see

WHITE!

WHITE IS THE PRESENSE OF all colors!

red, green, blue; here is an example using a 3d program called 3d studio max

three lights were used.. red, green, blue. The white is obvious (WHEN THEY ALL MIX) but the secondary colors also show quite well.

the opposite of red is cyan

the opposite of green is magenta

the opposite of blue is yellow

so in other words. You have a photo, that is too blue what do you do to correct it?

add yellow! But in the darkroom, you would subtract yellow!

In the darkroom if a print is too yellow.. YOU ADD YELLOW to get rid of the yellow!

There are two ways to print color in the darkroom, Additive color printing

3 exposures through three different filters red, greeen, blue

Subtractive color printing uses only TWO colors and one expousre to create the print.

Yellow & Magenta filters are used (negative process) (transparancies can be different). Cyan is never used because it adds neutral density increasing your exposure tiimes.



This is an un-edited rendering of what happens when you mix three primary colored lights

Same exact results as when you make a circle and spin it using the three primary colors

WHITE! THUS THE web notation of ff ff ff meaning full red (255) full green (255)
full blue (255) which equals WHITE !

I realize there are other ways to print color (Dye transfer) but that is not the scope of this thread

COLOR THEORY.. and how to get started. TAKING & MAKING awesome gorgeous color enlargments!

Then the know how. to get out there and sell them to make $$ to buy better equipment, to make better images!

David, I took these out at the Public Garden and on the Charles River about two weeks ago. I plan to go back with your instructions printed out and practicing on full manual.

http://bostonwolf.smugmug.com/gallery/2789401#P-1-15

Well Jeff.. .. ..

I can honestly say I took the time to go through all the 95 images you have posted.

Exposures overall seemed great. Some very interesting images that brought back memories of a place that I haven't seen since 1989 !

There are basicallly only THREE things that happen when you press or squeeze that shutter, That image is going to appear too dark to light or perfect !

Now once you acquire that image into Photoshop or ANY image editing program, then you can manipulate that image to suit your imagination of what your final statement is all about.

FAST

Focus
Aperture
Shutter
Think

My final thought: for me, photography has always been about .. .. being able to compose and create an image, then find someone to purchase that image.!!

That takes a lot of practice before you learn how ! but it does work!

don't buy a teleconverter.. save your money and purchase the lens you want / need.

learn how to fill each frame with detail !

have fun I look forward to seeing more images of what used to be .. home !