Retouching a Self Portrait.

I have some studio lights and took a self portrait to use as a profile picture.  the shot is OK right out of camera but why settle for OK when we have tools like Photoshop.

The first thing I did is make a duplicate layer i removed blemishes and dark lines under the eyes using the clone stamp at 20% opacity.  I then made a copy of this layer and added a Gaussian blur.  I used the eraser to remove the blur from around the eyes, mouth and all areas with hair. This layer is at 50% opacity so that the detail shows through.

I then add a last layer set as an overlay with a high pas filter set to 2.5 pixels for sharpening.

The end effect isn't much different from the beginning the texture of the skin is still there and the lines are left but the finished look is much cleaner. The sharpening and the blur on the skin pretty much cancel each other out and can be adjusted with the opacity slider.  The detail in the eyes and hair comes out nice but the grey hair is more prominent.

Buying a broken lens. Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

I recently found a great deal on a Canon EF-S 17-85 on Craigslist. The only problem was that the zoom was stuck.  I contacted the owner and inquired if the focus and IS were working.  The owner confirmed that everything functioned except the zoom.  I mad arrangements to meet at a local Starbucks. The sekker was really friendly and I ended up talking way too much and not looking at the lens properly.  I noticed while it was attached to my camera that something was funny with the focus but i got a confirmation on my first try so i just accepted it and didn't even look at the focus window. Oops!

I now owned a lens lens that had a stuck zoom and no response from the focus motor.  I paid too much.  If I have to buy a zoom barrel and a focus motor to fix this I will be paying the same as I would for a working lens.
The bright side is that this lens appears otherwise to be in excellent shape. The optics are clear and have no blemishes and the body is perfect.  There is a little internal dust but that will be taken care of when I have it apart.

The dis assembly begins with the removal of the rubber zoom ring,  under the ring there is a rectangular plastic cover you need to peel this off.

 Underneath this cover is the zoom brush. This brush is very delicate and needs to be removed carefully.

Beside the zoom brush you see a brass bushing with a black screw inside it.  There are 3 off these and they will come out later.






Using a 00 size Philips screwdriver remove the 2 small screws holding the contact strip to the mounting ring.
Then a 0 size to remove the 4 screws holding the mounting ring to the lens body.  The center plastic spacer needs to come free before you can release the ring from the contact strip.  I lift the mounting ring carefully and slip a finger underneath and push the plastic ring out.

 Once I removed the mounting ring i noticed that the focus motor ribbon was disconnected (circle).  This is confirmation that the lens was probably dropped.  As there is no damage to the outside of the lens I an hopeful that it will be an easy fix. The ribbon with the arrow is for the switches on the outside of the lens barrel and needs to be removed before pulling the barrel off.

There are 6 ribbons that need to be removed  to take off the circuit board. Starting at 12 o'clock and going clockwise.  The first has two locking tabs at the edges.  pull these back with a fine tip flat screwdriver and carefully pull our the ribbon. The next two have brown gates that hinge up.  place a small flat blade under the gate and lift.  the gates hinge up and the ribbons come loose.  The next 3 are simple pull our ribbons.  They all have tabs on the side to pull/push on.  the one at 6 o'clock is already removed.  There is 1 screw holding the pc board onto the lens body.

 Once the circuit board is removed there are 6 screws holding the focus motor assembly in.  Don't try to take the focus assembly apart. If it's faulty you can order a complete unit to replace it.  I unfortunatly do not have a photo of these 6 screws.  Once you lift off the focus motor assembly (last picture top right) you remove the 3 screws with the brass bushings we looked at earlier. and remove the outer zoom barrel.

The screw in the white circle is the culprit in the jammed zoom ring.  They tend to work themselves loose. Especially in a lens that has been dropped.

In My case the screw had come completly out and was lodged down beside the front element.  the slider that it connects to in the inner zoom barrel had slipped and was stuck as well.  I had to continue well passed this point to get the lens repaired.

 At this point I was totally focused on the lens and didn't take any other photos.  I ended up with a really good lens that takes really nice photos. Once reassembled the zoom work perfectly, nice and smooth.  The focus works flawlessly ass well. (Lucky)  It is much better than my 18-55.  My 28-135 lens that I have from my old elan 7 film camera still produces better contrast.  The wider angle on the crop sensor makes it worth the effort.

Agfa Box 44

Agfa Box44 - With case and film spools.  The wooden spool came with the camera and  is marked Agfa.
Circa 1932

My Mother in law, knowing my interest in photography, picked up an old Agfa Box 44 camera from a market in Austria and brought it home. It is a neat little camera.  It has a fixed aperture, meniscus lens and 2 shutter speeds. Momentary marked as a dot and bulb, marked as a dash.  The camera used 120 film and make a 6cm x 9cm negative.  I took everything apart and cleaned it all.  The camera looks as though it has seen little use.  It even had an old wood film spool in it.

Agfa Box44 - Camera opened for reloading
This camera makes a 6cm x 9cm negative on 120 roll film.  8 shots per roll.

To use the camera you need to load 120 film by removing the back and pulling out the insert. You just place the new film in the holder and wrap it around the backside and attach it to the take up spool. you then place the insert back inside the camera box. Make sure that the take up spool is on the same side as the winder.  Place the back cover on and wind the film until the number "1" shows in the little red window.

Agfa Box44 - Insert holds the film and the lens.  the hole is where the winder attaches to the film spool.

The lens is build into the tube at the front of the insert and the shutter sits in front of that. To take a picture you aim the camera with a little viewing window.  There are Two. One for portrait and One for landscape.
the speed lever has 2 positions a dash for bulb and a dot for quick.  I really have no idea how fast the shutter is or what the aperture is set at.  The only adjustment you really have is the film ASA.

Agfa Box44 - looking at two film spools through the viewing window. also shown are the shutter selector, shutter switch and the winding knob.

Agfa Box44 - Front of camera open showing shutter open in bulb position.

 This first photo was taken of some trees at the side of the road in the country near my fathers home.
The EV value of this sceen is about 14  The film is Ilford FP4 developed for 125ISO.
The photo is slightly over exposed.

Trees
Agfa Box44 - Ilford FP4 6x9 

The second photo is of an old truck on the back of my fathers property the exposure value is slightly less at 13.4 and the mid tones are a lot more apparent.

Old Truck
Agfa Box44 - Ilford FP4 6x9 

I would hazard a guess from these photos that the camera is close to f 16 at 1/60sec.

ND Filter Magic

I have, in my bag of camera equipment a filter called an ND8.  This is a Neutral Density filter. its sole purpose is to reduce the amount of light entering the lens.  I have spent so much time trying to get more or better light that using this filter almost seems counter intuitive. That is until you want a slower shutter speed on a sunny day in order to capture a photo with motion blur.  In the first photo I was in the parking lot at my office trying to capture a vehicle on the highway while panning. even at f22 i was still getting a fairly sharp background. adding the ND filter to the lens allowed me to achieve this with relative ease.

The moving water picture which follows was quite a challenge.  I didn't have a tripod with me and it was really bright.  I had the ND filter and a Polarizer in my 28-135 lens.  I didn't have to worry about vignetting as I was using a 1.6 crop factor camera.  The setting were f22, 2 second exposure, 100asa.  I managed to brace the camera against a tree while using the self timer to reduce shake.

Neither one of these shots would have been possible without the use of the ND8 filter. I am defiantly a fan of  the ND filter. If you want to get creative with your outdoor photography you really need one of these.

Depth of field

I love this Picture.  The really narrow depth of field makes the flower seep to pop off of the photo almost like 3D  I took this with my Canon XTI and 28-135 lens.

F-stop.  f/8
Speed.  1/250 sec.
ISO.     100
Focal Length.  135mm
Subject Distance 400mm

The Minimum focal distance for this lens is published at 500mm.  I am able to get focus confirmation at 400mm with my copy.  I wonder if other 28-135 Lenses are the same. I

This photo was shot in Raw.  Cropped square and converted to Jpeg.  no other editing was done.

A Photo of Mine.

I took this photo in the early evening just before the sun set.
Photo Specifics:
Camera: Canon XTI
Lens:  Canon 28-135
F-stop:  f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/30 sec.
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 135mm
Subject Distance: 710mm

I shot this Photo in RAW and then processed it in DXO.
After setting the color to Black & White i used the Film Pack Plug in to simulate Ilford HP4.
I applied a yellow filter to lighten the flower then added a vignette to darken the other flowers.

I really liked this photo before I played with it but the black and white version has a nice quality.
I plan on going back to the garden where I shot this with my Elan 7 and shooting a similar photo on film.

My goal is to try and match this as close as I can in the darkroom using analog techniques.  this may take a while as family life is very busy right now.

The original Photo, unedited.