Tag Archives: TL-120

“TEXTURES”

by Steven Lederman

We used to live in an old Victorian house in downtown Toronto.  Access to the garages was via an alley, and that’s where I found the door in this photograph.  The door served as an entrance to someone’s garden, and I was drawn to the textures of the weathered wood, tarnished metal, and peeling layers of paint.  This might’ve been one of the first shots I took with my TL-120, or it might’ve been shot with my Sputnik – I’m not too sure.  What I do know is that around this time my local lab stopped processing AGFA Scala, and I wanted to determine where I should send my Scala rolls in the future.  I shot a few rolls and sent a couple to dr5, and a couple to Mainphoto.  This is one of the shots from a Mainphoto roll.  Washed out, not a lot of contrast.  I think it has a vintage aged look to match the textures on the door.  It would have been a very different shot had dr5 processed it.  Not necessarily better, but different.

MOG Walkway

by Bob Venezia
MOG Walkway #1

Looking up from a walkway outside the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.

Yeah, not a whole lotta depth. But I took it and you’re gonna look at it!

It was a bit of a challenge to shoot as I wanted the lenses parallel to the ceiling and it was an awkward position from which to check my framing.

TL-120, 1/2 second at f19, Provia 100F. Taken on New Year’s Eve 2009.

Approaching the Pillars

by Bob Venezia
Approaching the Pillars

An area near the Pillars of Silence

When I visited the Southwest a few years back I stopped in Page, Arizona, and hired a photoguide to cart me around to some interesting spots. There’s one spot called the Pillars of Silence where there’s a deep layer of white sandstone topped by a harder layer of rock. As the cliffs erode there are places where a hard rock is still protecting the soft sandstone directly below it so you get to an area full of white pillars each with a stone cap. It looks like an art installation. This photo is of an area right before you get to the pillars. You can see the amazing patterns made in the sandstone as it melts away. It reminds me of brain matter!

Shot with the TL-120, Provia 100F, f22, on a tripod. Shutter unrecorded.

Small Light Stream

by Lattie

One more Bob V. tribute!

I took a series of close-up, Autumn stream shots just down from the Kilgore Falls pictured in my last entries. They turned out OK, but not too exciting. Then I remembered seeing how Bob improved a Bryce Canyon shot with a pan mask crop in the last folio. So I just scooted the smaller frame mount over the pics and arrived at this. I really utilized the 3D World mounting jig for the first time on this one, to try to save everyone too much eyestrain!  (and criticism) 🙂 

The DOF, of course,  suffers shooting at such a close and slanted angle.  But the shapes and colors remind me a bit of Klimt and other curvy,  Fin de Siècle paintings. So, I can just enjoy the pure abstraction of it, without worrying just how sharp or well exposed everything is.  I like looking at the floating, squiggly highlights and finding all the tiny, nearly invisible jets and drops of water poking out in depth. View this one with maximum lighting, if you can!

Artscape #2

by Lattie

This was taken at Baltimore’s Artscape Festival in July – said to be the largest, free outdoor arts event in the country. I set out to do a series of slides to contribute to a  “Summer in the City” themed  gallery group show  last year. The gallery was enthused about the stereo format, but we still have a way to go in presentation ideas and executions for them.

This was shot at a performance by the frenetic “Baltimore Rock Opera Society” (BROS).  Think Ed Wood-meets-Bosch, set loose on the sweltering streets – but the music and singing was actually pretty decent. I just set up my tripod and TL-120 behind a stage, hoping not to get knocked over.

Tacky, silly, and so very Baltimore, Hon!

Fresh Fruit

by Lattie

I did another small series of MD Renn Fest  shots this Fall, but a freak Oct. snowfall prevented me from doing the PA one this year.

April, the confident, photogenic vendor shown here, was introduced to me by Tom, (another roving, middle-aged photographer who was toting an impressive lens and digicam). 🙂 He said he has a Realist camera and was into NSA and such a few years ago, and I invited him to jump back into the fold.

Anyway, I did a few shots of her and others that warm day. I waited until the later afternoon when the sun slanted thru the thick, forest canopy of the grounds. It really is a special time, and no, I didn’t usually bother with fill-flash or reflectors. I like the way the sharp lighting heightens the fabric textures of the costumes, even at the expense of harsher shadows on the skin. Check out the fine print detail on those bills she holds!  I got a whole, small series of various Renn Denizens, (including 1st attempts at Bob V. Style close-up portraits).  I’ll slip more into the folios to come.

Submission 2

by Nik Sekhar

Ducks Lake Winnebago

Velvia 100 and TL120(used for all)  Exposure f16 1/30

I used the reeds as a 3d frame for the ducks.  I like to underexpose velvia a bit to saturate the color.

My son, Efke 25, Nikon Sb 28 flash on auto f8

I love this film for portraits, grainless with excellent latitude.  Please try it and DR5 if you haven’t yet.

Purple Tree at Riverside Park Neenah Velvia 100

Also slightly underexposed to saturate the color.  I think trees are the perfect subject for 3d,  I think this was f16 1/125

Myrtle Falls Mt. Rainier Velvia 100

I used f8 and 1/500 for this to eliminate the need for the tripod.  Probably one of the few shots that I’ve used the top shutter speed for.  Still adequate depth of field at infinity, but if you are really looking for it. Some forground needles are slightly soft.  I love this place and hopefully will get to use the Tl- 120 in  few more National Parks.  Long Live Slide Film!


Blue Flower

by Bob Venezia

The Giant Wheel at the Evergreen State Fair, now in LED!

The outfit that provides the rides for the Evergreen State Fair and Central Washington Fair is Butler Entertainment. This year they’ve outfitted their Giant Wheel with LEDs. I prefer the incandescent lights, but I know the LEDs will save a lot of energy. And the LEDs look pretty cool in my time-lapse movies. On film they can have nice patterns (or some with nauseating color) but they often look like big TV sets.

The rides always look (to me) like some great engine of science fiction when captured on film, and of course people should be mesmerized by it. So I’m glad the fellow on the left is doing his part.

Carousel Light Bokeh

by Bob Venezia

Shallow DOF in a long exposure at night.

Normally I don’t think to use shallow depth of field for my stereoscopic photos but I’ve been inspired by the work of my friend Frank Roberto. It was very late, around midnight after the Evergreen State Fair was closed, that I took this shot. It was obviously a long exposure — it came out looking like noon! I miscalculated the light as I didn’t expect it to be this bright but I was pleasantly surprised to see it.

Shot with TL-120 at f2.8 using Velvia 50. Shutter unrecorded.

YOYO & Fireworks #8

by Bob Venezia

Captured at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington, August 2011.

Last year there were fireworks at the Evergreen State Fair and I didn’t know about it until it was happening. I was in a rotten spot to capture them and it all ended in tears.

This year I got the dates for the fireworks beforehand and guesstimated some good spots for shooting.

Poipu Sunrise

by Bob Venezia

The sunrise at Poipu beach on Kauai, a short walk from our rental house.

I have long wanted to use a graduated neutral density filter with my MF photography. The problem is aligning a couple of filters on different cameras. On the TL-120, I wouldn’t be able to mount 2 filter holders side-by-side — there isn’t enough room. You could use screw on filters but then you’re limited by where you can frame the image. Problems, problems, problems.

At some point I realized that there was an extra large square filter size called X-PRO that would fit over both lenses of the TL-120. I found a used filter holder and had it modified to fit on the TL-120 and also came up with a system for positioning the filter (because when you frame the shot through the viewing lens the filter is in the wrong position and needs to be lowered precisely to take the shot).

I found an outfit in the UK that claimed to have Lee ND grad filters in X-PRO size. This was a little confusing to me because on their website Lee has no mention that they make such filters. But after several emails back and forth to the UK and assurances that the filters were real I pulled the trigger. I picked up 1, 2, and 3 stop hard-edged filters.

I don’t remember which filters I used in this shot but it was probably 2 of them, dropping down the sky by 4 or 5 stops.