We're over the halfway mark with this challenge and I'm honestly not sure if I've learned a lot or very little :p If I haven't said already, my camera of choice, aka the one I felt was going to work the best out of my collection is an Amigo 610 - a very simple no bells and whistle Polaroid camera. I was thinking about how to improve my photo quality and I was looking at my camera and started to wonder if it was capable of more. Some internet research later I found the slide bar on front was a "lighten/darker control" most likely to change shutter speed, but who knows what numbers. Since I wanted to take a photo of Gremlin for this month's challenge and he was lying on our front porch on a rather overcast day, I thought I'd try out the "Light" setting by moving the slider to the far right.
I honestly think this helped the photo so much in terms of exposure. I also made sure to quickly put the shot up against my shirt as the film exited the camera and then into a dark place for processing. I didn't time how long it took to fully develop but it was well over an hour - I even went to the shops in the meanwhile!
Now let's talk about this crazy blur!
Moving the slider to the right (the light side!) came with the cost of a slower shutter that I didn't compensate for. This could be avoided by holding the camera extra still or resting it upon something + asking your models to hold there pose or just shooting still things! I shall remember for next time!
Moving the slider to the right (the light side!) came with the cost of a slower shutter that I didn't compensate for. This could be avoided by holding the camera extra still or resting it upon something + asking your models to hold there pose or just shooting still things! I shall remember for next time!
I'm also going to put the very blue tones down to the film source and possibly also for being in my camera now for 7 months. I do keep my camera in a lunch cooler bag but I think film is always the best when stored correctly (even refrigerated) and not left in your camera. When this film's runs out, I think I'll go with a pack of the black and white to avoid the whole colour issue!
I'm kind of excited for next month now and to see if I can actually take a good photo - well what's a good photo anyway?
This post is part of the Polaroid Challenge 2015, you can see my past photos here and read more about getting involved here by the lovely peeps at The Cat you and Us blog!
such a good looking camera! very intriguing outcome too, love it :)
ReplyDelete:) It's cute hey! I've seemed to have had a lot of intriguing/unpredictable results so far, so hopefully I can get a hang of some more normal shots as well!
Deletelooks nice. I like the shaky look of it. and I'm constantly amazed by the patience you guys have. I'm still not nowhere ready to go near film :)
ReplyDeleteI still think you'd do rad things with film but yeah it definitely has it's annoying side too, or even just waiting to finish a roll, send it off and have no idea whats coming back (but then I think that's why I like it as well!)
Deletesuch an informative post fee! i enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI never would of thought taking a polaroid could be so complicated!
DeleteHahahaha, I loved when you said you are not sure if you are learning a lot or nothing at all, how can a camera have so few options and I still can remember to use them? ha! Your polaroid is a beauty! I'm not sure if asking Gremlin to stay still would have worked, at least with Juno wouldn't, the time she realizes she is "helping" us to create a great pic she runs away ;)
ReplyDeleteI was going to put a disclaimer in about cats probably not responding to requests. On a funny side note the other night I asked Gremlin if he wanted dinner and he said nothing so I decided he wasn't ready yet. Ben laughed and told me that Gremlin couldn't respond but I personally believe Gremlin knows what dinner means - 8/10 times when I ask he runs over meowing :P Probably still couldn't ask him to be still though for a photo!
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