Shooting Wide- Really Wide

Why Shoot Wide

A 20 year preoccupation with the whole picture 

I guess I'm known for my surf photography, and maybe as a reaction to close cropped telephoto action shots I've developed a love for panoramic and landscape photography in general. 

The idea of showing the whole playground and then zoom on in to the action just seems to me the right way to tell a story. I bought my first Panoramic camera in the '90's. I wish I had never traded it in. It was a classic 1970's Widelux that used 35mm film and made a photo to the tried and true 1:3 ratio. The 1:3 ratio is very close to our peripheral view, and that's why panoramic images seem so visually appealing.  

          
I had a shocker ever letting this lil beastie go. 

When I shot for the book Beached As Vol 1, the need for a camera that could show the whole scene in one frame hit home hard. I've been lead down a merry trail with many kinks and turns since. I shot most of Beached As Vol 2 on this...

      
And lesson learnt- never ever trade in a camera- keep em all! 

The PTB 617 has been an amazing producer of images, it's the camera that most of my award winning images have been made with like this one below. 

In the ongoing quest to improve my panoramas I went deeply into digital stitching, and it is a really great way of getting panos, no doubt. Here's a digital pano that also won an international award and it has been a super popular seller. 

But I got really frustrated with the limitations of digital stitching, I still will do them, but not as often. The thrill and discipline of getting it right in one frame of film really excites me. It feels more like you are crafting and yielding an image at the time of capture... that said it's harder! 

Here's the latest addition to the family; 

I'd like to say it has been a seamless transition, but the Fotoman 617 is deceptively easy to muck up a frame on. I am getting keepers now,  this is one of my new favourites off it;

This Manu Bay pano also demonstrates another reason film has it over digital- even though I've used a slow shutter to blur the waves, it is next to impossible to digitally stitch a scene like this with waves moving through it. 

So why all this talk of panos, well it's Panoramic comp season again, and my week has been consumed with pouring over which images to submit. This year I've gone for 5  panos that were all shot on film [you probably guessed it after that filmic rant]. 

Should Have, Could have, Didn't

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

The endless dilemma for NZ surfers

This week has been nothing short of stressful. All the reports and forecasts point to a great week of conditions for both Raglan and Taranaki, and I've sat on my hands. In between other commitments and a decidedly huge amount of indecision I've opted to hope for little windows of opportunity around home... it's not really working out too well to be honest. But I am taking solice in that fact I'm not the only one. Every turn of the tide sees familiar faces rotating around Piha's carparks- the endless search for a bank in this big Tasman Sea pulse... perfect wind, just too much swell for around these parts. 

Big Piha Bar

The carpark conversations inevitably turn to where we all should be rather than, after scouring the beach, where we are. But I love these moments too, catch ups with neighbours, fill ins on the latest local gossip and a huge amount of game talk. 

My neighbour Mike Mulcahy on a wee ankle-tapper 

Mikey post Piha pounding

Moments like this make a swim worthwhile every time

I have been amping to try out my new housing set up, I've mounted a Gopro on the top of my camera housing. The plan is to get video of the waves I shoot stills of. Today was the first outing with the new rig and I'm pretty happy with my first go, above. I've added the wave now entitled Piha Thumper to the Wave Gallery

No More Heroes

Andrew Moore’s seminal documentary film about the birth of skateboarding in NZ, No More Heroes, premiered again last Sunday night at the Pt Chev Raza to a packed house...wait, what, how can a movie have 2 premiers!? 

In 2006 the movie was a part of the NZ Film Festival, it was cut to a soundtrack that was only licensed for those showings. Andrew hit a massive hurdle, in fact a deal breaker; to get all the music licensed for a general release was going to cost 100’s of thousands. The film got shelved for a couple of years because it was just too hard. It looked like No More Heroes may just have become a lonely folder on a forgotten hard-drive.  

The Pt Chev Raza was packed 

Enter my partner in crime- the gorgeous Ms Ange Jolly, somehow she caught wind of the film and decided Andrew was getting her help. Together Andrew and Ange went through the crowd funding process and with the amazing support of Flying Nun Records Andrew has been able re-edit No More Heroes to a banging all Kiwi music soundtrack. 

Andrew re-presenting seminal NZ Skate movie No More Heroes 

In true grass roots style, as mentioned, the new premiere was at the Pt Chev Razza, sounds weird, but the venue is actually massive. Over 250 people packed the place, there was literally standing room only- filled to [over] capacity. Many of the participants/interviewees in the docco were there- the evening was a who is who of NZ Skateboarding roots.

Later this week I’ll be interviewing Andy for the next issue of Damaged Goods Magazine- I’m stoked his hard work is now getting the credit it deserves. And what about the actual movie? If you owned a Moonskate, a Trax, a Caster or ever had a roll at Skatopia [RIP] or New Lynn, then quite simply, you need to own this film- it is brilliant. It’ll be on i-Tunes in a few weeks. But in the meantime you can get up-dates on the No More Heroes Facebook page HERE 

PhotoCPL Site Facelift

If you are reading this then you are navigating around the all new PhotoCPL website- Thanks for visiting! 

The PhotoCPL website has been in place since 2008, man, have there been some changes in those 7 years. But this new one is by far the biggest overhaul of the website yet.

What's new? PhotoCPL is now responsive; so now whether you're viewing on your monitor, tablet or phone the site will adjust to that format for the easiest possible navigation and ease for you. 

We've made the images higher resolution. This is a tough one for us photographers to balance, we all want to show our images in the highest possible quality, but at the same time not so high that they can be ripped off. To make the images on PhotoCPLlook really good on screen for you we've gone XL on the picture size, but added a centred light CPL watermark. We think we've got the balance about right. Of course the watermark is not there on a final order. 

What do you think? We think we've done a pretty good upgrade, but at the end of the day, and because you are a PhotoCPL client, no one has better insight than you, after you've visited the new site I'd love to know your thoughts about how we can make the site better yet.

Show and Tell: It's the all common request I know, but you guys have been awesome in sharing and recommending PhotoCPL, please don't stop!  Just about every website page has a full set of social media buttons to the left/ centre of your screen, and this newsletter has share buttons at the bottom. Believe me, your actions are most certainly appreciated. 

So, please enjoy the new PhotoCPL site, and again thanks - Craig

The Real Resolution of Film

This is a repost of an in-depth comparision of analogue film verses digital capture from istillshotfilm.org, of course with the name of the source like that you can guess which side of the argument the the author is on....but it is also the side I'm on. Both forms of image capture have their place- use both. 

What Is Resolution?

Ok, so most people equate resolution to the number of Megapixels, especially when comparing digital camera qualities, but this is not entirely accurate. Image resolution is basically the amount of detail an image can show. It is the quantification of the degree to which two lines next to each other can be visibly resolved, or discerned from each other. If a camera, film or lens can produce an image where you can see clearly defined edges of the smallest details, the resolution is said to be high. 

So, Megapixels then become a kind of unit of measuring resolution in digital images. Resolution is determined by the size of pixels present in the image, and the more the pixels, the smaller they are. However, naturally, this has to take the size of the area in question as well. Plus, there are other considerations as well, such as the image processing algorithms and interpolation of pixels, which we will discuss further shortly. 

Film resolution is measured in lines per millimeter, and these lines comprise pairs of a dark and a light line, also known as line pairs per millimeter. Since film records details naturally, there are no algorithms and computer interpretations to mess things up and the details you see are extra-ordinary, especially with medium and large format sheet film.       

Sharpness and Detail

Film naturally records the finest of details in a given scenario, which means you get coarser textures as well as finer ones. Digital sensors are less responsive to fine details, however, but are extra sensitive to the medium level details that they can see. These are exaggerated by boosting the contrast which results in a highly sharpened image which is intended to make up for the lacking in detail and to give a false sense of sharpness in the resulting image. This is one of the reasons film images look so much better to the eye; the natural way it records the coarser details rather than heightened contrast is how our eyes naturally respond to visual stimuli as well. 

RGB Resolution 

Except for Foveon sensors, all digital sensors are black and white, covered with red green and blue dots. This means that each pixel does not have complete R, G, and B information, with each color only covering one-third of the sensor. This translates into one-thirds of the resolution for each color, which means that the megapixels states by camera manufacturers for their products are grossly exaggerated. 

Since each pixel only has one-third the color data needed to be resolved, digital cameras use something called the Bayer Interpolation firmware which helps them interpolate, or guess at the values in between the pixel locations of each color to come up with brightness value for any given color. So, if a camera states it can resolve at 25 MP, it can usually only resolve at half, or sometimes even less than that, and the rest is a result of interpolation algorithms and smoothing over. 

On the other hand, in film you have full R, G and B resolution at every point and get endless amounts of color information and details throughout the image. So you get the same resolution for different colors being recorded, and the resolution you stated is the resolution you get in the results.

The Real Resolution of Film

So, when we take all this into mind, what is the real resolution of film? It captures way more detail than any digital camera can, but this detail cannot be conceived in any measure that can be easily compared with digital. When we zoom into a quality shot taken with film and digital both, we can see the differences clearly; with film you get the finer details of textures that digital will smooth into oblivion while maintaining sharp edges to make us think the image is still sharp.

A DIGITAL CAMERA WOULD HAVE TO BE 156 MEGAPIXELS TO GIVE YOU THE SAME KIND OF DETAIL AS 35MM FILM. 

And of course, this is just 35 mm; with medium and large format you get even more detail, and the larger you keep going the possibilities keep skyrocketing. With medium format 6x6 film you get 56 x 56 = 3,136 sq mm, which is 282 megapixel.

Large format 4x5” would be 95 x 120 mm, which is 11,400 sq mm, and 1026 megapixel, with full RGB data at each pixel. With 8x10 sheets or 203 x 254 mm you have 51,562 sq mm and 4640 megapixel, which is insane.     

Output Method

While film itself might have a high resolution and an ability to capture endless detail, what we end up seeing is limited to the quality of the output method. Recently most people have started scanning their film digitally, and the scanner will only be able to resolve the details up to its DPI or dots per inch rating. The film may have a lot more detail to show, but this cannot be resolved by the scanner. 

That being said, the scanners can resolve the fill RGB information available for each pixel and can resolve as well as the film can up to the finest detail that they can respond to. A lot of people tend to compare digital scans to digital cameras when comparing resolution, rather than comparing film, which results in a declaration that digital has caught up, or that digital is better. The quality of the scans will no doubt depend on the quality and abilities of the scanner, and if outdated low quality scanners are used, the results will not be that great, just as a low quality monitor will display you 25 MP camera results in a poor light.  
Some other factors to consider :

Output methods are not the only thing that affects the quality we see and get. Lenses have their own lines per millimeter resolution ratings and play a huge role in whether or not you can tap into the resolution potential of the camera. Another factor to consider is your own ability. Your skills as a photographer need to be highly refined in order to capture the amount of detail possible with film, and should also have the skills and resources to make quality prints/ scans from these exposures. If you’re making comparisons between film and digital, these factors need to be taken into account, and your equipment, subject matter, exposure settings and other factors influencing quality should all be controlled so that the details and resolution can be truly compared.

What we can take away from this is that the real resolution of film is endless. We can try to quantify it, but the amount of detail it can capture can only be seen through the various methods we use for output, that is scans and prints. With the advancement of scanners we have seen that film resolution just keeps better and better, with the scanner unlocking more of the recorded detail. The possibilities are endless, and while we talked about how the resolution doesn’t make a great picture, it is kind of helps to push our limits and see how much better it can get.