chromatic-aberration: March 2011

Friday 25 March 2011

Pavement circles

It's been very wet lately in Townsville and there is a thick, slippery coating of dark green algae on the concrete pavement and retaining walls at the DPI Station at Oonoonba, where I work. But there are strange circles in the green. Something seems to be eating the algae. A fungus? A virus? Proto- or metazoan?

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Thursday 24 March 2011

Playing around with Hipstamatic lenses

There are so many virtual lenses, films and even flashes available for the Hipstamatic app that I am bewildered as to which one to choose half the time. Lately I mostly shoot using the app's randomise feature. The results of this on-going experiment are here.

Except that some films are colour and some are black and white, the main difference to the image provided by the choice of virtual film is the frame. Most films have distinct border effects.

The choice of lens has a much stronger bearing on the image. The lenses have distinct optical and colour effects built in. The Salvador 84 lens is especially notable for having a kaleidoscope-like mirror effect.

I shot some images today using each of the lenses I have. The image is simply a view through the patterned glass of my front door. I used Blanko virtual film for every image as it has a neutral border. Here are the results.

1. Salvador 84

2. Melodie

3. Tejas

4. Chunky

5. Bettie XL

6. Roboto Glitter

7. Lucifer VI

8. Helga Viking

9. Kaimal Mark II

10. Jimmy

11. John S

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Monday 7 March 2011

Cropping the monk.

Strolling along Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea last month I suddenly encountered this monk, who was also apparently taking a stroll. My Mamiya 7 was around my neck and I simply pointed it and shot. "Shot from the hip", as the hipsters say.
I have mixed feelings about the result. It was fortunate that the last picture I had taken had been at a similar distance. It was a dull day but I had fast film and the aperture, focus, and, framing (almost) combine to give me the shot I wanted. Unfortunately I missed her foot. I cropped the photo down from 6x7 to a square, but I am still not totally pleased. So I copped much harder to give the closer portrait shot. Still not quite there...

Anyway - here are the 2 crops and the original. Which do you prefer?

Maybe this is why I prefer landscapes.
Camera - Mamiya 7
Lens - Mamiya 80/4
Film - Portra 400VC
Process - Unicolor 3 bath

Korean Buddhist monks are not like the monks to which I am accustomed. No poverty for them. They often have nice cars and can be seen wandering around wearing headphones and making calls on their iPhones.