Create blooming effect in highlights

Newt_on_Swings said:

Karen writes about a chomed pressure plate and film without antihalation backing causing double images here:

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/BolseyB2.html

I'm sure there are more articles where I have read of the same effect but this was first to pop up.

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Oh I don't doubt it could occur, simply that having tried myself it I didn't experience the the problem.

A bit of kitchen foil of course is much less reflective than polished chrome, and in your link she notes that the problem arose only with slide film but was OK with negative film.

pdeeh said:

Oh I don't doubt it could occur, simply that having tried myself it I didn't experience the the problem.

A bit of kitchen foil of course is much less reflective than polished chrome, and in your link she notes that the problem arose only with slide film but was OK with negative film.

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If you have a removable pressure plate or back, and have an extras or a dedicated camera, aluminum aircraft tape can also be a solution. All you have to do it measure cut and apply then burnish it with a piece of plastic to get out all wrinkles and bubbles etc to get a nice clean reflective surface that is very thin (you must get a thin grade of tape though as it varies). It would be very secure even with a motor drive I imagine.

With lower amounts of antihalation material or none at all and not much base tint, negative films could react just as much to the reflection as slide films. I guess it all depends.

pdeeh said:

Oh I don't doubt it could occur, simply that having tried myself it I didn't experience the the problem.

A bit of kitchen foil of course is much less reflective than polished chrome, and in your link she notes that the problem arose only with slide film but was OK with negative film.

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Kitchen aluminum foil usually has different finishes on its opposing sides. One side has a duller finish... less mirror-like. The duller side might work better for this purpose.

Try the simplest possible solution first: use the diffusion filter for a few shots, then switch to the stretched pantyhose over the lens, and see what effects you get.

Sounds like a great plan. Next time I'm shooting infrared, I'll try both of these.

APUGuser19 said:

I always considered the bloom to be a ruination of an otherwise good photo. The grain of HIE was bad enough. Adding the bloom to it IMO turned the whole infrared pursuit into a disappointment. I can't imagine anyone wanting to achieve such a thing. That said, I suppose a Hasselblad Softar would do it. But then if a "dream effect" is the goal, any film combined with fuzzing up the lens can achieve that.
To this day I still wonder why Kodak never improved HIE to a clear clean infrared image, rather than the bloomed-out mess that it was.

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I wasn't going to mention this but I agree. I don't like excessive grain nor the bloom effect. I prefer a subtler look. This is why I'm interested in trying Retro 80s. However, some people do like those effects so I hope they find ways to recreate them.

I know, but everyone raves about how great HIE was. I've managed to duplicate the tonality fairly well with the Rollei IR400S by shooting it at EI25 through a cheap Chinese 720nm filter in bright sun and printing from sc**s. The Rollei is definitely finer grained than the HIE based on the online photos I've seen of the HIE, which is fine by me! If I can get the highlights to bloom a little, then I will have basically replicated the look of HIE with finer grain. Then I can let you all know how I did it, so you can try it too. Oh, and everybody comments about how they could shoot HIE hand-held. I get shutter speeds that let me handhold IR400S at EI25, I just need a different camera so I can see through the viewfinder when the filter is attached, so I won't be tempted to drag the tripod along in order to get the composition right then attach the filter.

When I shoot HIE I just use a rangefinder. If you don't have one you can get a gel filter holder that flips out. I have one that nikon made, I know a few other 3rd party companies made them as well.just tape your ir filter to the front and you can flip it in and out. I think mine also has front threads too. But you still have to adjust for IR focus shift using your lenses IR marking.

I've actually been trying to figure out how to fit a 6x6 TLR into the budget, as I've been bitten by the square picture bug. Also the idea of only committing to 12 IR shots instead of 36 (though this is a nice panchromatic film, I usually use HP5+ for my regular black and white work). Darn budget won't budge

Good idea. Thanks.

I understand about the budget constraint, and the Yashikamat mentioned is worthwhile. I think I have one laying around somewhere. As the proud owner of a Mamiya TLR setup I can't say enough good about this under appreciated system. But alas examples of this are spendy on eBay, mostly. You can get good deals but it takes patience.