film photography Archives - Page 8 of 14 - Nigel Goldsmith photography & film

How a photo film was used to showcase a unique property near Bristol

While still images are well suited to providing would-be-housebuyers with a visual guide to what a potential property has to offer, most estate agents are limited to using a handful of images to describe a house.
A well produced photo film provides a richer experience for the viewer. A typical 3 minute photo film can use between 60 and 100 images and have a professional quality voiceover and background music track. A by-product of the photo film is a set of high quality still images which can be used for both standard print or screen use

The current owners of The Chapel near Bristol wanted a photo-film to showase their property. The film combines stills, video and music (piano) and voiceover recordings, all captured in the property.

Audio quality is as important as image quality so we use professional studio microphones and can set up a temporary recording booth to maximise the clarity of the recording. Alternatively we can use a professional voiceover artist to read an agreed script.

Once edited, the client is provided with a web-ready high definition photo-film in a common video format and a full set of images which can be used on screen or print.

Stop motion animation – bringing characters to life in the blink of an eye

If you are creating a stop motion animation with ‘off the shelf’ characters it can be quite difficult to give personality and expression to your ‘talent’. While it is possible to tweak a mouth here or eyebrow there with applications such as Photoshop, it is very time consuming and involves making major changes to the appearance of the product you may be promoting. A very simple way to give some personality to your characters is to get them to blink or wink. A simple blink may be a character’s response to another character or an event but it does make it look like the character is awake and reacting to its environment. This also doesn’t significantly change the appearance of the character.

I normally place all of the frames in order onto the timeline in Adobe Premiere and do most of the editing. When we are happy with the rough edit I clean up the shots in one by one. Global edits such as dust removal will all ready have been done in Adobe Lightroom when I first import the images so this stage doesn’t need to be too labour intensive. Premiere lets you transfer still frames from your timeline into Photoshop. These frames can then be edited. When saved the edited version replaces the original frame in the timeline.

Edit in Photoshop

I normally use between 3 and 6 frames for a blink in stop motion animation. This varies with the frame rate of the video I am creating. For 10 FPS I use around 3 frames, for 25 FPS I use 6.

individual frames making up a blink

I use the Clone Stamp, the Heal Brush is a bit too perfect and can blend in the skin or fur so well that it removes any trace of an eye. The Clone Stamp leaves is a bit more patchy, this can look like there is an eyeball beneath the cloned eyelid. I also leave a bit of the eye at the bottom of the ‘socket’ in the frame for the fully closed eye (above image on right). This looks like eye lashes. I normally have a couple of frames to allow the eye to re-open.

Obviously a cheeky wink is done in the same way.

The above clip is from a recent stop-motion showreel

Traditional black and white darkroom workshops and consultancy service – onsite

Many photographers feel that while their digital cameras produce amazing quality images when used correctly, the ‘craft’ of the media has been taken from them and embedded in software applications or worse, replaced by emerging AI solutions. The darkroom is still a place where the true craft of photography can be found. Darkroom equipment which was once priced beyond the means of the typical enthusiast photographer can be picked up in online auctions for a fraction of its original price. Sadly, courses on the subject are slowly disappearing as colleges convert their darkrooms into digital editing suites. Recently, I have delivered training in a wide range of analogue photographic techniques to organisations, businesses and individuals across the UK.

The day was jam packed and we both learnt a lot about various parts of traditional darkroom photography, the developing process, pin hole cameras, photograms and luminograms. Emma Hart, Sandy Secondary School, Bedfordshire

DeVere 504 large format enlarger

Traditional black and white photographic prints still have some significant advantages over their digital equivalents the most obvious being its archival quality. A properly processed and washed black and white print on fibre based photographic paper should still be around in a hundred years time. The digital equivalent would need regular conversion by the photographer and their progeny to be available for future generations.

Training staff on using their darkroom in the art department at Chadwell Heath Academy, London

Darkroom options

My permanent darkroom is just outside of Bath, it houses two enlargers, a Devere 504 covering a range of film formats including; 35mm, 6cm x 6cm, 6cm x 7cm, and 5″x4″ and an LPL C7700 enlarger for 35mm up to 6cmx7cm.

I also have a mobile darkroom to provide onsite training which can accommodate the smaller LPL enlarger.

Due to the compact size of my portable darkroom it is normally suited to teaching smaller groups.

If you have a darkroom at your business or organisation but need it checking, maintaining or you need to know how to sue it let me know and I can help you to get it up and running again.

Nova Darkroom Tent, outside (left) inside (right)

Darkroom consultancy service

If you are planning to set up a darkroom or revive a darkroom which hasn’t been used for a while, I can provide onsite support to test equipment and materials, provide the guidance and training to get you up and running. If you do not have a darkroom, I can bring along a small portable darkroom, all I need is a nearby sink and electricity.

Nigel sparked not only confidence in us, in what we were going to teach the students but also newfound enthusiasm for the process. Whilst with us Nigel also spent time checking out, advising, and helping organise and clean our current darkroom that hasn’t seen much love. He advised us on best practice and items to purchase to make what we had already easier to use and more effective, he even brought along his own kit as examples and to demonstrate techniques to us. Emma Hart, Sandy Secondary School, Bedfordshire

Typical workshop content might include;

an introduction to darkroom equipment,
film processing demonstration,
camera-less photography, photograms, cyanotypes, luminograms,
contact printing, enlargement, use of multigrade paper,
advanced darkroom technique, dodging and burning and split grade printing
experimental darkroom techniques.

Preparing to make a black and white print in a darkroom

Equipment and materials to make a black and white print in a darkroom

Guidance on teaching darkroom techniques on GCSE, A level and BTEC course at schools and colleges

Having taught film and darkroom photography for some time, I recognise the common pitfalls encountered by new users and have developed a range of strategies to simplify learning and minimise mistakes. If you are introducing traditional analogue photography and darkroom techniques into your curriculum, I can help you to structure your sessions to support learning. Sessions also include a range of experimental darkroom techniques

Film photography

In addition to darkroom workshops, I can also provide training on using black and white film, choosing a camera, loading film, unloading film, processing options and film processing.

Film (analogue) photography

Processing and editing black and white film negatives

Pinhole photography and camera-less photography workshop

Learn how to create photographic images without the need for a camera. In this practical workshop, attendees will learn how to create photographic images without the need for a camera. They will also learn about the camera obscura before making their own pinhole cameras and using them to take a range of different pictures. This workshop can also include preparation and simple contact printing using the cyanotype process. At the end of the session, they will be able to take their cameras home to take extreme pinhole exposures over several months in length.

6 month pinhole Cheney Court near Bath

Prices

Prices start from £300 / day for 1:1 training or £435 / day for up to 5 attendees.

If you would like me to deliver an analogue photography workshop at your school, home or workplace give me a call or drop me an email.

Web video testimonial Hartley Farm

An internet testimonial video filmed at Hartley Farm in Somerset

Social Media advertising campaign for Sylvanian Families

As a photographer, I often have to climb a tree or hang out of a window to get an elevated viewpoint of my subject or get down on my hands and knees to capture a dramatic low level perspective. This however was nothing compared to the contortions I had to do while shooting a recent social media campaign for Sylvanian Families. The brief was developed by Highlight PR in Bath and the aim was to get pictures from a child’s (and Sylvanians) viewpoint and place the little characters in the ‘real world’.

Sylvanian Families enjoying the sights in Bath

The shots were taken in a variety of locations around the city of Bath with the tiny figures going about their everyday activities under the noses of the city’s human inhabitants. The shot of the car (above) driving around the city’s famous Royal Crescent required me to lie flat-out across the middle of the road. While I was trying to compose the picture and avoid being reflected in the car’s bodywork my assistant had to guide traffic and pedestrians around me. None of these images have been heavily manipulated, the lighting, colour and perspective were all captured ‘in camera’.

Sylvanian Families enjoying an ice cream on the beach

The characters are only a couple of inches high so casual observers couldn’t always understand why I was lying flat on the pavement or what my lights were pointing at.

The images have been widely used to promote Sylvanians both on Twitter and Facebook and other social media though they may also be used in traditional print media in the future.

It was great to work alongside Alison Vellacott from Highlight PR and I think we managed to get some entertaining images though I think I will need to limber up with a spot of yoga before I do it again.

Sylvanian Families visiting the dentist

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