Red Ring Tupperware Party, Autumnal Equinoctal Edition (24)

I use to be like that until I became our families archiver and digitizer. I quickly learned that the only pictures that have staying power are the ones of people. All the other stuff gets put into the "maybe I'll scan these one day" box.

gjl711 wrote in post #18020340
I use to be like that until I became our families archiver and digitizer. I quickly learned that the only pictures that have staying power are the ones of people. All the other stuff gets put into the "maybe I'll scan these one day" box.

I get it. I recently went through all the photographs my parents had collected over the years... thousands. I probably tossed 80%, at least. He had shot most of the countries in Western Europe, and a good number of states. But unless they had family members in them, most went into the circular file. I still have about 4,000 slides to go through, but that'll be a post-retirement effort.

On an unrelated note: I was at my Dad's house all day painting walls, power washing the garage and driveway, etc, and I caught a 4' Gopher Snake in his front yard. Beautiful criiter. I brought it home, as I didn't think it would survive long in his neighborhood (not only cars and people, but a surprising number of roadrunners). My wife was not happy, but I explained that I just want to release it into the wetlands a couple miles from here.

I used to catch Gopher Snakes fairly frequently when I was a kid living in California. They're pretty nice as snakes go.

We called them rat snakes here. Great for keeping the squirrel population in check.

LV Moose wrote in post #18020331
People just don't get it. I enjoy shooting macro, hummingbirds, and landscapes. So people see my images and think I can take portraits. My best friend at work: "I know you say you don't photograph people, BUT...", and I end up shooting his engagement, and his daughter's senior pics (daughter from his first marriage). Then my granddaughter's senior pics because my daughter found out I shot this other girls'. I also shoot all of our family events and get-togethers, family reunions on my wife's side of the family (to include couples and individual family groupings), and so on. A couple days ago a woman that I used to see at work occasionally (but she hasn't worked there for over six months) texted me and asked me to take pictures of her and her dog. Her pup has cancer, so I felt bad and agreed to it. I don't like shooting people, don't like posing them, not comfortable with the whole thing. But everyone knows I have a DSLR, so I'm the go-to guy.

I don't like shooting people. I hate posing, I hate lighting and I hate that they like the photos and tell me I must have a really nice camera.

gjl711 wrote in post #18020340
I use to be like that until I became our families archiver and digitizer. I quickly learned that the only pictures that have staying power are the ones of people. All the other stuff gets put into the "maybe I'll scan these one day" box.

I've done this. After my parents passed, I collected all the photo albums and scanned each photo in, and gave family members copies on DVD's.

jay125 wrote in post #18020618
I've done this. After my parents passed, I collected all the photo albums and scanned each photo in, and gave family members copies on DVD's.

After my dad passed, I found his box of negatives. I am re-scanning many from the original negatives and the results are much better. I have also switched from using a flatbed scanner to using my 5DII. I built a tube that screws onto my 100mm macro. It's much quicker and easier. Also I think it does a better job.

gjl711 wrote in post #18020697
I built a tube that screws onto my 100mm macro. It's much quicker and easier. Also I think it does a better job.

Interesting. Could you elaborate? How do you secure the negative?

gjl711 wrote in post #18020697
After my dad passed, I found his box of negatives. I am re-scanning many from the original negatives and the results are much better. I have also switched from using a flatbed scanner to using my 5DII. I built a tube that screws onto my 100mm macro. It's much quicker and easier. Also I think it does a better job.

I've done the same just putting the negatives on a light table and shooting them. I agree the results are better then a scanner any day.

Unbalanced wrote in post #18020706
Interesting. Could you elaborate? How do you secure the negative?

I'll post up a picture when I get home.

I was planning on picking up an Epson V600 for scanning negatives, but I'm very interested in how you shoot them on a light table.

I've used a Canon flatbed and a Nikon Coolscan 4000 for scanning in the past with decent results., but I'm also interested in other methods.

jay125 wrote in post #18020754
I was planning on picking up an Epson V600 for scanning negatives, but I'm very interested in how you shoot them on a light table.

This guy shows his crappy setup, but you get the idea. I used black construction paper just to block the light and slid the negative over each time. And I have a large light table, 2 x 3 so I can do transparencies and slides as well. I've done even cheaper and dirtier for folks at work taping a negative to my monitor with a white background and snapping (a window can work as well against a a gray sky in a pinch.

Thanks for that, Chet. I have some old 35mm neg's I'd like to reprint, and I picked up a 6x7 medium format about a month ago. I'm not in the darkroom. I'm having them processed, but not printed. If I like the results I'm getting, I might go ahead and put a b&w darkroom together again. I had one in the 80's, but I sucked at photography at the time for the most part. Now that I suck less at it, I would probably enjoy it more. I was looking at the scanner, but this seems easier. I'll check out light tables. I see them on Craigs List all the time.

I have done some film scanning. I use my 6D and this the setup,


it's not the best photo in the world but it does the trick.

Mark0159 wrote in post #18021184
I have done some film scanning. I use my 6D and this the setup,


it's not the best photo in the world but it does the trick.

Hosted photo: posted by Mark0159 in
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forum: The Lounge

Interesting. I'll try out all the suggestions and see which works best for me.