some portraits/scenery with Bessa R3A + 40 mc nokton

[jlindstrom]

I'd like to share with you some of my very first rangefinder photos ever. These were taken during summer vacation this year and starring in these "portraits" is my wife.

I know they aren't the most creative or artistic shots but as these very really some of the first shots ever with RF I tried to stick with basics and play it safe. They were shot using Fuji Superia 100 film and scanned at local camera store. Unfortunately the camera store did a terrible job and I've had to PP the colors heavily to get them to look anywhere close to natural.. camera store totally over saturated greens and reds - it was _NASTY_.

Anyway, hope you like the outcome.

Cheers, Juha

 

[Mablo]

Hi Juha!

I think your photos are really good and your wife sure is lovely.

Finding a reliable lab in our neck of the woods is really a hard job. As far as the color film is concerned I usually ask my lab just to develop the film and scan it by myself. I usually get the unavoidable negative scratches but for the post processing It's much better option. Most of the time I just shoot b&w and dev it by myself.

Cheers,

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Juha,


Nice shots! And thanks for sharing!


I have that lens, and it's good for lots of different things!


Some good photographers recommend to mentally divide the frame in three vertical spaces with two lines, and then put your subject over one of those lines, to the left or to the right... That way your model becomes more related with a wider landscape or background filling two thirds of the image ... It's easy to try it...


But these ones with her in the center look just great to me! She looks sweet, that's what counts!


Keep enjoying,


Juan

 

[Pherdinand]

stick with black and white, and develop yourself. Buy a flatbed and scan them yourself.
Labs are just hopeless lately.

By the way, the 40 mc nokton has an f/1.4 opening as well 🙂 hint, hint 😉 you are up to some adventure once you dare to open up that diaphragm

 

[Andy Kibber]

I want one of those donut-looking things in the first photograph. 🙂

Third one's my favorite.

 

[blackwave]

I love the layers in the second photo. I just picked up an R3A and 40mm Summicron last week. I haven't developed a roll with it yet, but that's my project this week. Welcome to rangefinder land! I can say with confidence, that may be your first RF, but it's not your last 😀

 

[zenlibra]

Nice camera and lens! The second photo is very nice, I like the depth and the colours. Finland reminds me of Canada!

 

[jlindstrom]

Thanks for all the kind comments. I'll be sure to post some more once I have time to fix the colors on some of the other photos.

The whole summer vacation was a big experiment to me. I made it my mission to use the newly bought RF as my main camera during the whole 2,5 week trip. I did shoot some digital as well, but that was mainly because I didn't want to pull out the film to get more ISO in the middle of a roll.

to Pherdinand: yeah, there sure is! 🙂 Unfortunately I didn't have time to get any filters or slower than iso 100 film for the trip. Even with ISO 100 I had to whip out F5.6 to F8 just to get decent shutter speed.. Anyless and Bessa wouldn't have been able to handle it. That larger aperture is something I've been especially waiting for. I want those smooth and creamy backgrounds..