Three Minute Tips #3 – Negative to Positive

There are a few apps available that allow you to preview your film negative as a positive.  A quicker way that I have been using for a long time to do it is to invert the colours on my smart phone.  Im sure most smartphones can do this but i have an iPhone 6s and I know how to do this on iOS.

Settings, General, Accessibility, Display Accommodations.  At the top of the list you will see ‘Invert Colours.’  Click on this and toggle ‘Classic Invert.

It inverts all the colours over the whole of the operating system – including the camera.  When you then hold your camera up to a film negative, preferably on a light box you will see on screen the positive version.

…but thats not quick you say…!?  Well no, thats not, but if you go again to your Accessibility settings, scroll right to the bottom and go to the Accessibility Shortcut tab you can set this up as a shortcut from the iPhones home button.  Three clicks of the button from any screen and the screen will invert.  Three clicks again and its back to normal.

Its no alternative for a scan, but helpful for quick reference.

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Analogue Boy Project – Kodak Instamatic 33

Today I was carrying on with this project, which due to its content I have decided to name Analogue Boy.  Todays subject was an old Kodak 33 126 point and shoot camera.

Shooting kit was a Mamiya RZ67 coupled with a Phase 1 P40+ digital back.  It took about two and a half hours to set the studio  lighting up for this shoot.  For continuity I am still using the one Elinchrom lamp with a softbox and bouncing the light over the subject with a series of reflector boards.  You would think that by the fourth image of the project it would be a simple task to set up.  Incorrwct…all of the subjects seem to need the boards set slightly differently.  A board is held, yes that lights the side I want.  Then it has to be clamped to a light stand.  Repeat this for about half a dozen or so boards and you get something that looks like the image below…

Shooting tethered to the iMac is great as it allows you to see each image on a big screen as it happens.  Boards and/or light output power can be micro adjusted as you go until you get the final result you envisioned.  Unfortunately with the Mamiya being a mechanical camera there is no way to use Capture One to remotely fire the camera.  This would be fine and I wouldn’t normally mention it but I was fining that as the focus adjustment dial on the Mamiya is next to the shutter cocking lever I knocked it a few times when trying to cock the shutter.

A good day was had, I got the shot I wanted and found out that I actually really enjoy still life photography….  Working on my own in this way with no real time constrains means that I can keep control of every aspect of making the image which is what I like so much about my other work (see neilpiper.com)

After some retouching in Photoshop and Lightroom, the final image can be seen below,

Thanks for staying til the end and speak soon.