Beginner's Questions About Colors, Developing, Film

[Scott Brady Drummonds]

Hello, everyone,

I'm trying to learn a little bit about photography and I've run across
something that I don't understand. I really like Peter Lik pictures
(http://www.peterlik.com) and am fascinated with the punchy colors that he
has in his work. No picture that I've ever taken--including the ones I've
taken with my best lens using film that my local photo shop called "high
color saturation"--has colors that even resemble his work. They all look
washed out and bland by comparison.

Can anyone tell me what techniques photographers use to get these type of
colorful images? I notice that the pictures in his galleries say that he
used Fuji Velvia film which appears to be slide film. Why is slide film
used? Does this have something to do with the color? How do you get prints
of pictures taken using slide film? Is he doing something else when
developing the film to make it look that way? How can I get that done?

Also, my local photo shop out-sources its film developing to some one else.
The digital scanning process that those developers use often "corrects" the
film's exposure, at least. I've had a series of bracketed images all come
back with the same apparent exposure. If those developers are "correcting"
my film's exposure, are they also "correcting" the colors in the print? How
can I get images developed that are precisely what I saw and not what the
developing machine thought I wanted?

Thanks much for the help!

Scott

--
Remove ".nospam" from the user ID in my e-mail to reply via e-mail.

[zeitgeist]

shoot transparency film so you get what you did and not what the lab decides
(or neglects or worse tries to help you)

excellent exposure probably brackets

the right time (twilight) for low contrast lighting

graduated density and graduated color filters IE: drop a filter that gets
darker on one half so the sky gets darker and bluer

my favorite time besides twilight is a stormy cloud day, when the sun shoots
across the ground but the sky is a threatening dark mass, way cool.

perhaps the quality of the glass has a bit to do with it,

lens shade

[McLeod]

It looks like properly exposed Velvia film to me. It appears as if
graduated neutral density filters were used to match sky density with
ground, and polarizers were used to cut reflections from plants, water,
etc., and warming filters on shots that could use it. It looks like good
technique to me: tripod for every shot, exposure selected through spot
metering and bracketing, and good use of Photoshop for everything online.

"Scott Brady Drummonds" <scott.b.drum...@intel.com> wrote in
message news:baubbg$831$1...@news01.intel.com...

[Scott Brady Drummonds]

"zeitgeist" <blkhat...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:kOCAa.125503$rt6.40857@sccrnsc02...

> shoot transparency film so you get what you did and not what the lab
decides
> (or neglects or worse tries to help you)

What is the preferred way for getting a print that I can frame for a friend
if I'm taking pictures using slide film? Can that film be developed to
prints, too? If so, why are there two types of film? If it can't, how are
most photographers getting these shots to prints?

Thanks!

Scott

[McLeod]

The preferred (by me) way is to take your unmounted slide film to a lab that
uses one of the new digital laser printers. By that I mean the kind that
scans the film and prints with 3 colour lasers onto photographic paper and
processes in regular RA4 chemistry. It's the best of both worlds.

"Scott Brady Drummonds" <scott.b.drum...@intel.com> wrote in

message news:bb0iaf$5fo$1...@news01.intel.com...

[Rick Wilson]

A good lab will be able to make prints or enlargements from your slide film.
In my case, I scan the slides into my PC with my Minolta film scanner and
print out 8x10s of the ones I really like with an Epson printer.

As for what you should do, you probably need to find a dedicated developing
house near you. If you post the area you live in, someone might be able to
give you some direction. If by some strange coincidence you are in Tucson,
AZ, check out Centric Photo.

Rick

"Scott Brady Drummonds" <scott.b.drum...@intel.com> wrote in
message news:bb0iaf$5fo$1...@news01.intel.com...
>

[Scott Brady Drummonds]

"Rick Wilson" <gutter...@qwest.net> wrote in message
news:tHQBa.307$eP3....@news.uswest.net...

> As for what you should do, you probably need to find a dedicated
developing
> house near you. If you post the area you live in, someone might be able
to
> give you some direction. If by some strange coincidence you are in
Tucson,
> AZ, check out Centric Photo.

OK, I'll do exactly that: any good recommendations in San Francisco, CA?
Preferably something in the Mission or within walking distance of a BART
stop?

Scott