The perfection of imperfect photos

Thanks for this thread Peter.

Picture #38 from my Instax adventures. Frustrated with overexposed pictures of the coast I held a deep orange 49mm filter in front of the lens, with the intention of converting to bw in post. The result exceeded my expectations. The conditions were +2EV beyond the camera’s limits.

1724563789201.jpeg
 
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Recovering accidental overexposures

The aperture defaults to f/12.7 whenever the Instax Mini 9 is turned on. It’s easy to forget to reset the aperture to current light conditions if you’ve been using it and turn it off temporarily to avoid draining the batteries (it uses two AA batteries that last around 10 film packs, i.e. 100 photos). This has resulted in a few accidental overexposures of around 3-4 stops when shooting in bright conditions. What you get is an almost white frame with a very faint image. It looks unsalvageable but as it turns out all is not lost.

Scanning the image and applying contrast in post can rescue some detail from that almost-white print. The result can be quite beautiful. Judge for yourself.

Picture #91

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lynnb said:
Thanks for this thread Peter.

Picture #38 from my Instax adventures. Frustrated with overexposed pictures of the coast I held a deep orange 49mm filter in front of the lens, with the intention of converting to bw in post. The result exceeded my expectations. The conditions were +2EV beyond the camera’s limits.

View attachment 4843209
Click to expand...

Good one! Interesting to note I went thru a period (of about six months) in 1985 where I photographed everything (on film) through a Cokin sepia filter. Even during a month-long trip to Indonesia. Every image I made with it. Yes. Truly!

I occasionally look at my slides from that time and wonder, whatever possessed me to... anyway, it was fun.

And if that doesn't rate as a perfect-imperfect, well then, what does??
 
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Rikard said:
I think the process of shooting film is beneficial in recognising when a mistake is a successful one. With digital; you have a vision, you press the shutter, immediately see the mistake and maybe delete the picture. With film, because of the delay, there is more of a disconnect between what you wanted to capture and the result. And you are more likely to see the image for what it is, decoupled from your original intent.
Click to expand...

Never, ever delete until you get home and do a full download. The beauty of all your images will then reveal itself.

(Says he, with at least six BIG portable hard disks full of everything...)
 
Dogman said:
My signature below indicates my stand on the issue at hand. 🙂

Sometimes I take a picture with the intent of making it look sorta rode hard and put up wet. This was done with that in mind and most of the imperfections come from software (and my limitations on the use).

View attachment 4843002

Sometimes I come upon a happy combination of circumstances that add interest to an otherwise dull subject. In this case, some pottery on the mantel of our back porch fireplace and the smoke from a just-lit fire. I knew the upper right was gonna be overexposed but I didn't know what to really expect. Some processing in Silver Efex topped it off.

View attachment 4843003

I knew this was out of focus when I shot it although I didn't really mean for it to be. I was using a manual focus lens and I couldn't see well enough to get it in focus. So I just decided to do it and see what happened. An intentional unintentional imperfection, I guess.

View attachment 4843004

Another happy accident. Driving down the street and seeing the sign. No place to stop, shoot through the windshield while moving in traffic and avoiding the other cars--not a recommended procedure. Topped it off with some post processing.

View attachment 4843005


I remember someone saying that, in playing jazz, if you hit a wrong note you just repeat it a couple of times and everyone thinks that's the way it's supposed to be. I don't think there's any wrong notes in photography. It's just the way you play the photos. If the results look good or if they touch someone's heart, it's successful. That's why I have my signature below.
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Wonderful images!!

Happy accidents are everywhere. One only needs a happily accidental eye to see them.

Your second photo is superb. Being me, I see something in it I would rather not put into words, but it's there...

You and I may well share the same attitude to software. It's like how I feel about my Iphone. "I am its master. It is not my master." (An oft-stated quote from me, this, to everyone I know who calls but doesn't get an instant response.)

As for software, in my case I sometimes think the slave could teach the master a few tricks...
 
Here's an imperfect image, taken with the Panasonic G9 and Voigtlander Nokton 17.5mm f0.95 wide open, from the night where I said I would use a couple of Voigtlanders I haven't touched in a few years. Focusing can be tricky, even with the decent EVF of the G9.

G9 - silent shadow by Archiver, on Flickr
 
In this street photo I totally blew the focus and or the shutter speed resulting in considerable blur. But I liked the composition and the mood it conveyed of a cold busy street taken in a cold Australian winter (yes, we do have cold winters in the south of Australia). I confess I did post process it to compliment the OOF blur as an experiment in retrieving an image that would otherwise be lost. As a result, to my mind, like many imperfect images that never the less "work" it is all about mood and this somehow elevates it above what the scene would otherwise have been had it turned out perfectly.48780415792_a3c42ee6e2_h.jpg
 
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I just came across this street photographer. Olga Karlovac. Her pictures are lovely. Not an ounce of sharpness in them 🙂

WE ARE, The RPS Women in Photography Magazine Sept 2022

Olga Karlovac is a self-taught, abstract and street photographer, born in Dubrovnik, Croatia. She is best known for her unique and expressive style of photograp
www.olga-karlovac-photography.com www.olga-karlovac-photography.com
 
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