• Artists,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People

    Backstage, Before the Downbeat

    Shot on Kodak Portra 400 with a Canon EOS 1V and the humble yet reliable 50mm f/1.8, this frame captures the unspoken moments before the music begins. No spectacle, no spotlight, just the quiet mechanics of musicianship. I focused on the baritone saxophonist, half-turned, reading the score with that blend of tension and calm that precedes performance. Portra’s muted tones did exactly what I hoped they would—warm but never too rich, soft on contrast without washing out the mood. Skin tones stay honest. Brass textures from the saxophone register with depth, neither overly polished nor artificially gritty. The background instruments bleed into shadows, helped by the lens wide open at…

  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Rome,  Spring

    Partner in Glam

    I framed this shot fast — the kind of street moment that gives you three seconds to get it or lose it. What pulled me in wasn’t the man alone, nor the advert behind him. It was the convergence. His physical presence, heavy and brooding, intersecting perfectly with the oversized face of the model. Two expressions, one contemplative, one seductive, unintentionally in conversation. The poster reads Partner in glam. A marketing line, forgettable in most contexts. But set against this man, seated in shadow, caught mid-thought, it takes on irony. Or honesty. Depends how you read it. Technically, the photo leans hard into contrast. Shot in direct sunlight, the shadows…

  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Rome,  Technique

    Processing DSLR-digitized film with and without Pentax K-1 Monochrome Custom Image profile

    Digital Camera Utility 5.0 is a pain to use on a Mac with Monterey. It is slow and laggy. Its only use is to get the photo as shot, with the custom image profiles embedded in a K-1 (and other recent Pentax DSLRs), and export it as a 16-bit tiff for further processing.One might wonder, however, whether editing a RAW file without going through the DCU —and thus losing the custom image profile— would produce lower quality results. We are about to find out.The test is quite demanding, as it starts with a shot from an Ilford SP2 Super 400 (note: this is not a true B&W film, as it…

  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Rome,  Spring,  Technique

    A Frame Within a Frame Within a Frame

    The irony didn’t hit me until I developed the roll—an expired Ilford XP2 Super 400 that had been lounging at the bottom of a drawer for years. Shot with a Voigtländer Bessa R2 paired with the Nokton 35mm f/1.4, this image is as much a meditation on layers as it is a commentary on isolation. What initially looked like an ordinary street shot—girl on a call, perched on a windowsill—turned out to be a trifecta of enclosures: her physical pose wrapped in posture and winter clothing, set within the architecture of the window, itself encased in the framing of the building. Beyond, the city reflects itself, ghostlike, on the glass—another…

  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Stockholm,  Summer,  Technique,  Travels

    DSLR film scanning: episode three

    This is, by far, the most pleasing result I have ever had from digitising a film negative with a DSLR.Contrary to many suggestions found on Youtube, I did not invert the negative RAW curve by tweaking the Master RGB option. I did it, instead, channel-bychannel minding each clipping point. This approach allowed for a better reproduction of the grey tones, and in the end a fair result.

  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Gear,  Stockholm,  Summer

    Another attempt at DLSR film scanning

    Still trying.I digitised the negative with a Pentax K-1 and the FA 100 2.8 Macro lens using the JJC clone of Nikon ES-2. Postproduction is done in Pixelmator Pro. I used a Nikon 35TI and a Kodak BW400CN to take the original photo. Strangely enough, the JJC does not allow a 1:1 ratio with the Micro Nikkor 60 2.8.The instructions advise to mount the 62mm to 52mm step-down ring, the #2 52mm barrel-shaped tube and finally the film holder. These instructions are clearly wrong, as it is not possible to get 1:1 magnification with this setup.So I removed the tube and mounted the film carrier directly on the 62mm to…