I was stumbling around the inter-webs and came across the work of the Romanian photographer Rares Cuciureanu. His photos on this page have a beautiful archival quality about them, and I just wanted to share them with you.

via 2photo.ru

JPG Magazine

If you ever develop your own black and white negatives, you may have noticed that a roll may come out purple on the odd occasion. This is more prevalent in a community dark room, where the fixer is reused, but still, it happened to me last night. I was developing a roll of 135 and 120 in 2 tanks, and poured the fixer from the 135 to the 120 and regret to say that I didn't leave it in long enough! My negs are purple!

If you ever come across this problem yourself, it's because it isn't properly fixed. Put it back in the fixer for another 2 minutes and have another look. It won't be as good as if you had left it in for long enough to start with, but still...

If you fix it properly a sliver-based (black and white) negative can last more than 100 years, so you'll have plenty of chance for reprints.

Wouldn't we all love to shoot 120 on a Hasselblad or Rolleiflef all the time? No? Well be that way (darn Internet folk, tsk).

OK, so you probably like the look of medium format, but don't want the hassle of 12 shots per roll and getting it developed at extortionate prices. I have done this little tutorial to show you how to do it in Photoshop. If anyone feels like making an action, go ahead, just drop me a comment.

Here is a real 120 photograph taken on HP5+ 400 in a Ensign Ful-Vue:

And here is my fake one taken on a Nikon D60:

Great! Let's get started!

Step 1: Open your chosen image and crop it into a square. Using the shift key and the crop tool will let you get a perfect square.

Step 2: Make it black and white. You can do Cmd+Shit+U (mac) or Ctrl+Shift+U (pc), but the best method that will keep the most data (and result in better results) is to create a new layer (1), then go Edit> Fill... (2). This will pop up a little box, (3), choose 50% gray and OK it. Set the transfer mode to Colour (4).

Step 3: Select the gray layer and press Cmd+J (Ctrl+J) and set the transfer mode to Normal. You then want to go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise... and check Gaussian and Monochromatic. Play with the amount until it looks good and OK it.

Step 4: Set the transfer mode of this noise layer to Overlay and mess with the Fill Opacity until it's not too overpowering no un-noticeable.

Step 5: Here's another little trick... click the little menu icon in the corner of the Layers palette and Option (Alt) click Flatten Image. This creates a copy of the document and flattens it to one layer at the top. This way you still have all the editable layers underneath. Clever huh!?. Don't forget to use the Option/Alt key, though!

Step 6: Remember creating the 50% gray layer, do the same again but this time choose black. Move it underneath the top (flattened) layer. Select the flattened image and press Cmd(Ctrl)+T and drag one of the corner pins in towards to centre whilst holding down the Shift and Option/Alt keys. You want to create a border like the one on the original photo.

Step 7: For the black layer I added a bit of dark gray in the bottom right and an over exposed edge. The gray is easy, but to get the edges, I played with different settings for the brushes, using textures, etc... if you play, you'll find a way that works for you. Do this on a separate layer to the black.

Step 8: The image is still a bit clean, select its layer and press Cmd/Ctrl+J which will duplicate it. The the Gausian Blur form the Filter>Blur menu on to make it so the borders are just a bit softer. Add a layer mask (click the little circle in a rectangle at the bottom of the layers palette) click the newly created mask and a black border should form around it, paint black over the middle of the image (where it doesn't want to be blurred). Hold down the Option/Alt key and drag the mask to the other layer. Select the bottom mask and hit Cmd/Ctrl+I and hey presto, blurred edges and a hard centre.

Step 9: Add the stock info text in the font Futura (for Ilford film at least). To get the little arrows, you can use a font like Wingdings 3 and use Photoshop's text options to stretch the arrow out. Select the text and both images and rotate them slightly.

Step 10: For added authenticity, add a new layer and use the single pixel column Marquee tool and fill a few lines with white.

Step 11: Now play around with brushes, using the eraser this time. to get a scratch like result. Finally set the transfer mode to Add and drop the Fill Opacity until it looks awesome.

Et voila! Fin! If you like post a like to your results in the new-fangled comment system.

I can't find much infomraion on these pictures but it's a fantastic concept! I just want to walk right into that photographic portal into the past. Check it out: http://woa2.com/a-walk-through-time/!

We all know that normal Holgas take 120 film, which you either have to develop yourself (and mess it up if your me) or send it off to an expensive lab. But it is actually very easy to temporarily convert it to take 135 film without buying the back! So let's get started.

You will need:

• Your Holga120 (mines the GCFN)
• A used 120 spool (I don't know why I put two in the photo)
• Electrical tape (gaffer tape will also work, but it leaves sticky gunk)
• Bits of foam
• Rubber bands (the thick, Royal Mail, ones work well)
• A roll of film (I know this one is already developed, it was completely over-exposed so I put it in a canister for tests like this)

Step One: Open the back of your holga. You will need either the 6x6 or 6x4.5 mask if you want to get the images printed normally.

Step Two: Get the spool and wrap the rubber bands around either end to leave a gap that is big enough the let the film through.

Step Three: Attach the film leader to the spool with tape.

Step Four: To make the 135 mask, get some black card stock (160g is good) and cut out a square that's about 63mm square, then in the middle cut out a gap that is exactly 36mm wide and either 24mm or 35mm high (depending whether you want the sprockettes exposed).

Step Five: Place the spool in the right hand side, like loading the 120 film.

Step Six: Place the canister in the left had side and support the top and bottom with the foam. Layers of thick card might work, too.

Step Seven: Because 135 has no backing, you will need to block off the window with the electrical tape. I have only done one layer hear, but feel free to do more.

Also block it off on the inside for maximum light-proofing.

Step Eight: Close it all up and wind the film on a turn and a half and your all set. For even more security, you may wish to seal all round the edges with tape.

When you have taken a shot, wind the film on 21 clicks, if you want to try with wider shots, calculate yourself how many clicks you'll need. It helps to use a piece of paper or something.

What do the results look like? Take a look for your self.

This is the third time I have written this post, but me darn computer keeps crashing. I have found this FANTASTIC set of Photoshop actions, I would even go as far as to say the BEST IN THE WORLD! dA user *rawimage has developed a set of actions that can turn any digital photograph into an image that look just like a Polaroid photo! No longer do I need to buy SX-70 film at £30 for 10 shots, "I'll just do it all in post". Haha!

Polaroid Generator V2

A photograph by Margaret Bourke-White.

In 1976 Diego Goldberg from Argentina decided to start an epic document of his family. On the 17th June every year the family stop and photograph them selves to "stop, for a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by."

To see their 33 year (and expanding) document of a family, visit the page on the Zone Zero magazine site: http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html

Whilst stumbling around photography websites, I came across a site with some of the best locations found on Google Maps all turned into fantastic-looking wallpapers! The site was created by Austrtailan photographer, Ashley Ringrose (I think), who is part of the Australian inteactive agancy, Soap Creative. There's the link.

A new TLR has been unleashed on Japan. A plastic beast that takes 135 film; The Blackbird, Fly.

These little toy cameras are the latest thing to come from Japan. Well... there are only available in Japan at the mo, for ¥12,600 (about $127, £75 or €94).

Like the 35mm Holga back, it comes with different mattes, allowing you to take the classic TLR square images. 3 masks allow; standard 24x36 - for portrait shots, 24x24 - for small square images, and full frame - 36mm high and completely exposing the sprocket holes.

It can be used with the regular top-down view, or to achieve better landscape shots, rotated 90 degrees for use with a viewfinder.

The photos I've seen from it all look quite good, for a 'toy' camera. I really need to brush up on my Japanese and fly over there and try one out.

Stats:

Focus - 0.8m - infinity

Aperture - f7 and f11

Focal distance - 33mm

Shutter - 1/125

Features:

Bulb/Normal modes

Hot-shoe

Tripod mount

That's all I can get from my very limited Japanese, if you're better than me - http://www.superheadz.com/bbf/index.html translated it yourself.

I've been reading this great blog recently. Go Holga is a great site dedicated to the bare-bones Chinese camera. It's updated on an almost daily basis and is very conveniently arranged into categories, with a gallery and now a new forum. Go on! Check it out!

Another good one I found was Satsuei - basically, it Japanese for photography/photographing. The actual blog in fortunately in English, and has some brilliant shots on it.

A couple of weeks ago I was given an old, 120 camera spay painted entirely gold; don't ask why. But anyway, I cleaned it all up with white spirit and washing up liquid and did a pretty good job of getting all the paint off. It looked like one of the later Kodak Brownies, but had a little logo of some kind and the words "INDUSTRIA BRASILEIRA": Made in Brazil on the top. It was getting more intriguing. On the front, under the lens, it had big sliver letters spelling out "KAPSA" (Brazilians seem to like their capital letters). So I did a little Google search and came up with very little; things like the "Korean American Pharmacy Student Association" and an Arabian dish made from chicken and rice. With the general search being a bitter disappointment, I moved on to other things. I had a gander at Flickr and found a handful of people who still use them.

I thought to myself "that can't be all there is on the internet!" and had another look at the camera. Then I noticed that on the metal bit around the lens was the peculiar word "VASCROMAT", again in block caps. Crossing my fingers, hopping I found something relevant. It was a hollow victory when the 75 results came back 0.49 seconds later; they were all in Portuguese! And most were just telling you how much they were worth. I did manage to find the most important information. The shutter speed. It is apparently 1/100. Which means that I have to use 160 ISO film. Which unfortunately does not want to be found easily. So rather than wasting my life hunting film in the vast planes of eCommerce websites, I decided to use 400 ISO that was stopped down to 200 with an ND 2 filter.

The camera has a little window on the inside as a mask for the incoming light. It it no bigger than an inch square, so I could just get some ND lighting gel. You can buy a whole sheet for the same price as a regular glass filter, but I only want a tiny square. That is where a little help from my friends come is. I know a woman who is a TV production designer and she said that she could have a word with a lighting technician who would have some ND gels. So until then I'm stuck with 400 ISO colour negative film. I did read about red scaling colour film some time ago and remembers something about you having to adjust it exposure by a couple of stops. I looked it up again and indeed, the celluloid is ND 2-3 so I just did that with some 35mm with the canister blue-taced in upside down where the new spool would normally go and taped the leader to the take up spool and I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

Image by Rodrigo Moraes

Sorry if you've been trying to access the blog in teh past coupkle of weeks, Blogger have been taking down their FTP support, so I move the blog to Thingamablog instead. I've been templating for days to get it to work and it's still not finnished!

To make it up to you, here, check out JPG magazine.

Whilst looking around I found this. It's quite interesting, but no real new information.

http://www.film-center.com/splicing.html

These are the instructions for the development of Ektachrome and other reversal films. Wash the film thougherly between baths and if you can't remove the backing and the film is opaque, put it in a container with mild bleach. Black stuff should come off and then wash in water. 38°C = 100°F.

1. Lights out.

2. Remove the film from the cartridge and cut in two 7.5m lengths (see last post).

3. Bundle each half into a 2-reel 35mm daylight-developing tank.

4. Lights on.

5. Mix up 500ml of each of the chemicals as follows:

a. 100ml First Developer

b. 100ml Colour Developer (Part 1) + 60ml Colour Developer (Part 2)

c. 100ml Bleach Fix (Part 1) + 100ml Bleach Fix (Part 2)

d. 50ml Stabiliser

6. Top up chemicals to 500ml with water.

7. Make sure all chemicals are 38°C.

8. Develop:

a. Water at 38°C for 5 minutes to war up the film.

b. First Developer for 6'15''

c. Wash at 38°C.

d. Colour Developer for 6'00''

e. Wash at 38°C.

f. Bleach Fix for 6'00''

g. Wash at ~38°C

h. Stabiliser outside the tank for 0'30''

9. Hang to dry and rub with a chamois to remove the anti-halation backing.

10. Project