Movies Shot on 70 mm Film - Ultra Panavision 70

Recent Quentin Tarantino movie "The Hateful Eight" has been shot on a film format that has not been used for decades. Since almost 50 years this is the first cinema theatre movie to be released in Ultra Panavision 70.

This is a ultra wide panoramic format with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1. Given the fact that respective film recording equipment as well as film projection setups were expensive this iconic format was not further used after the release of a few movies in the 1960's.

Now with the release of "The Hateful Eight" there is a roadshow across the US showing the movie in original projection format: http://screencrush.com/the-hateful-eight-70mm-roadshow-theaters-list/

To show this movie in theatres can be complicated. It involves gathering the old material for projection, making changes to screen and cinemas in order to match the ultra wide format:
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/25/461005635/old-school-projectionists-appreciate-hateful-eight-in-70-millimeter

Films shot in Ultra Panavision 70 are - according to Wikipedia:

• How the West Was Won (1962) – selected scenes only in Ultra Panavision.
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) – credited as Ultra Panavision.
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – filmed in Ultra Panavision. Also projected using the single-projector Cinerama system.
• The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) – credited as Ultra Panavision.
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) – filmed in Ultra Panavision. Also originally projected using the single-projector Cinerama system.
• The Hallelujah Trail (1965) – filmed in Ultra Panavision. Also originally projected using the single-projector Cinerama system.
• Battle of the Bulge (1965) – filmed in Ultra Panavision. Also originally projected using the single-projector Cinerama system.
• Khartoum (1966) – filmed in Ultra Panavision. Also originally projected using the single-projector Cinerama system.
• The Hateful Eight (2015) – Directed by Quentin Tarantino, first film shot in this process since Khartoum. Filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 and projected with the single-projector Cinerama system in selected cheaters.

Despite the digital dominance of todays visual entertainment industry there is still a number of cinematographic productions being shot on film. As mentioned above this is not Ultra Panavision 70 film, but for example on Kodak 35 mm film: http://motion.kodak.com/motion/customers/productions/default.htm

Cross processing film

In an earlier post I reported on experimental film I just bought. Among the selection of film there was the Rollei Crossbird ISO 200 film which is a slide film (standard E-6 process) which however is famous for cross processing in C-41 negative process.

My motivation to buy this film was to do something experimental. Shooting sceneries with bright colors, good contrast, and plenty of detail, and then process the film in C-41. It is an experiment with - at least to me - unpredictable outcome. I am wondering if I can get that typical greenish color spectrum for that film.

Being all excited about this experiment I was searching for information on cross processing slide film. - What is cross processing (x-pro)?

Visit the crossprocessing.info site where the technological background is explained.

Here a gallery with all cross processed photographs using different film: link

I am still waiting for the right moment to expose my Rollei Crossbird film. 

Road to Monument Valley

Image sharing platforms such as 500px.com or flickr.com offer an almost endless resource to photographs of almost every spot on earth.

Landmarks such as the Monument Valley on the Colorado Plateau located on the state line between Utah and Arizona, USA are amongst the most visited and photographed landscapes. 

The spectacular rocks are sandstone formations sculptured by the forces of nature over time.

yes - one of the first hits is an image from Myanmar

Searching for images tagged with "road to monument valley" on 500ps.com yields a long list of images capturing this scenic landscape. 

Interesting is the fact that many of these images have been taken from almost exactly the same spot but no two images are the same. The influence of photographer, equipment, and mostly of nature with its unpredictable weather conditions gives rise to interesting variety.

See the series of 500px sample picks below. All of these photographers captured the same three iconic monuments with the dirt road entering the valley in the foreground, some of the textured structures of the desert soil, and some cloudy sky.

Monument Valley by
Florian Demmer (500px)

Monument Valley by
Maciej Bledowski (500px)

Valley by Roman Prais (500px)

But no two images are exactly the same.

Monument Valley by
Dmitry Vinogradov (500px)

While in this series of images the cloudy sky and therefore changes in light conditions make the biggest difference to the individual photographs, the image shown at the bottom of the page involves more artistic photographic techniques such as longtime exposure at night giving raise to these beautiful star trails.

The image involves a bit a lower perspective but has been taken from almost the same spot as the other four. Color of the rock formations is different given the fact that it is a longtime exposure at night.

Monument Valley landscape before
sunrise by Katrina Brown (500px)

Black and White Landscape Photography

Dreams of a White Christmas by Scott Rinckenberger

The Old West by Jeff Clow

El Capitan, Yosemite National Park by Alexis Coram

Sony RX100 Mark III pocket camera

Shanghai at night, Sony RX 100 Mark III

Since a bit more than a year I am using a Sony RX100 Mark III point and shoot camera for occasional street photography when it is not possible for me to carry along my DSLR. The results are amazingly good.

Especially in challenging light situations such as low light or large contrast this camera does a very good job. The image quality some times is even better then some of the DSL cameras.

The camera has a 20.1 MP CMOS sensor. The sensor has a size of 13.2 mm x 8.8 mm which is quite large for such a small camera.

Paris la Défense, Sony RX 100 Mark III

Further more the camera is equipped with the same BIONZ X engine for in camera noise reduction. The same as the in Sony Alpha series cameras.

Besides the high quality sensor and image processing the Sony implemented a ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70 mm f1.8-2.8 lens into the RX100 Mark III.

This combination of high quality optical glass, a high performance sensor and image processor built in a small form factor makes it a very interesting alternative to DSLR equipment when space is limited.

The camera is also physically robust since everything is built into a solid metal housing. This is in particular important for such a small camera that fits into any pocket.

Other features, such as the built in WiFi interface allows easy access to the photographs via smartphone or tablet for further processing and sharing of the artistic work. This further supports the space limited travellers use case.

And one more feature which sets the camera apart from other point and shoot cameras is the built-in electronic viewfinder which gives a completely different photographers' experience compared to the on display image composition applied using pocket cameras and smart phones.

For detailed technical specifications visit the Sony product page.

In the mean time there is a newer version of the same camera available. The Sony RX100 Mark IV which introduces, among other features, several technical improvements for video capturing in 4K.

Watch the Sony RX100 Mark III review by Ted Forbes, The Art of Photography channel on Youtube:

Visit my Shanghai street photography gallery. All images shot using the Sony RX100 Mark III camera.

Shanghai - Images by Andreas Mueller

Smartphone Wallpapers

Are you tired of standard smartphone wallpapers coming with the recent version of the operating system?

Here is a selection of three of my this years' best photographs prepared to match your smartphone screen. - Three images all telling an individual story by means of the subject shown, the photographic technique applied to capture them, and the story to be told around the individual location and situation when taking the shots.

Download your wallpaper image prepared for your specific phone from the downloads page of my website (see screen shot below) at http://www.andreasrmueller.com/#!/p/wallpapers
If your smartphone model is not listed just pick one with matching screen resolution or drop me a note through the contact form on the website.

The selected images are representatives of all three photographic techniques I have been applying throughout this year.

"Winter-1" is a view from Mount Rigi in central Switzerland right after sunset on a very cold evening in February using my digital DSLR equipment.

More images from that same evening can be found in my image archive at link.

"Coral" is an underwater photography shot from a trip to Raja Ampat and the eastern Maluku islands in Indonesia. This image has been taken at one of the most beautiful dive spots called Gorgonian Passage in the Misool area using a digital DSLR in underwater housing and external strobes.

For more interesting underwater images follow this link.

"Lavender" was taken mid July in the area of Valensole in the Provence, France.

This detail image has been captured on film using a all mechanical Hasselblad 500 c/m camera.

More analogue photography from the lavender bloom.


This is a first selection of three smartphone wallpaper images. - More to come!

www.andreasrmueller.com - Downloads page for smartphone wallpapers

Using expired film

Ilford Sportsman, Kodak 200 ASA film

My recent analog photography revival started with a very experimental setting. - The 1959 Ilford Sportsman range finder camera using a more than 10 years expired Kodak 200 ASA film.

For both camera and film I did not know what the results would be. As a result, only a handful of the 24 images were well exposed, sharp and useable. For some of the exposures the leaf shutter of the camera did not work properly.

But overall the visual performance was very satisfying.


2014 June - Kodak 200 ASA - Images by Andreas Mueller

For some more tips on shooting old film read the post from the "I Still Shoot Film" photography blog.

http://istillshootfilm.org/post/118025728220/5-tips-for-shooting-with-expired-film

Hasselblad 500 history

Learn something about the history of Hasselblad camera models. S. Heymann and Q.G. de Backer compiled a concise tabulated history including a serial number look up for manufacturing years. - Follow the link.

My Hasselblad 500 c/m (Made in Sweden by Victor Hasselblad) was built in 1976. The 80 mm f2.8 Carl Zeiss T* Planar lens I am using is from 1981.

The 500 c/m model has been manufactured from 1970 until 1994. And was a follow-up of the 500 c model adding the possibility of interchanging the focusing screen by the user.

Hasselblad company was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1941. Right after world war II.

Moon buggy, Apollo space program

The most famous use of Hasselblad equipment was during the NASA Apollo space program. Some of the most spectacular images from manned exploration of space have been taken using Hasselblad cameras.

The Hasselblad 500 c/m model is still a quite popular camera in film photography. No longer being manufactured since more than 21 years, the market for 500 c/m cameras is still there. On eBay a good maintained Hasselblad 500 c/m set including a 80mm lens goes around 1'000 Euro. Similar as for old used cars there can  also be found a market for spare parts and repair services for old mechanical cameras.

#Bike by Joe Hirtenfelder
(500px: Hasselblad film photography)

by Shinya
(Flickr: Hasselblad film photography)

Hasselblad cameras are still widely used. A search for "Hasselblad" in the film photography section at 500px yielded a number of more than 2'000 analog images.

Flickr yields an even bigger number for "Hasselblad film" which is more than 260'000 images.

Among these Hasselblad analog photographs there are a lot of still life, landscape, and people images.

My own Hasselblad 500 c/m analog photography can be found at: andreasrmueller.com

Medium Format Cameras

What are reasons to use medium format cameras?

Main reason is the size of the image capturing medium which is either a CCD/CMOS sensor or classic film.
The result is both high resolution with low noise in the image and greater dynamic range with much better transitional tonal values in color.
Both is driven by the larger format compared to 35mm (3-4 times the size) or even crop sensor formats when talking of digital.

Watch the documentary from Karl Taylor explaining the medium format advantages.

The Majesty of Manta Rays

Manta rays belong to a family of eleven species of plankton eating rays. Nine of them are mobula rays while only two are manta rays. The two manta ray species being the giant oceanic manta (Manta birostris) and the resident reef manta (Manta alfredi).

The oceanic manta reaches 7 m in width while the reef manta reaches 5.5 m. They are dark brown or black on top while mostly white underneath. With this colouring they are well camouflaged in the water both when spotted from the bottom against the bright sky or when viewed on from the top against the dark background of the deep sea.

Manta rays are an endangered species listed in the "vulnerable" category of the red list of the international union for conservation of nature. Primary threat is fishing bycatch. Among other threats is deterioration of their habitat and unregulated tourism. Pollution of the oceans, floating waste, and disturbance by mass tourism are main reasons for manta populations to disappear.

The infographic on the right shows the fisheries value of a dead manta compared to the value of a manta alive over its entire lifetime. Hence, the economic value of controlled and mild tourism is by orders of magnitude higher than the direct fishing income.

There are several conservation organisations taking care of manta rays specifically.

Manta watch: this is a project which found a low-cost solution to collect data around manta occurrence by collecting photographs from scuba divers world wide including location of where pictures have been shot. Identifying unique patterns on the mantas' skin allows to keep track of manta movements. - For all the scuba divers, please contribute your images of manta rays to this innovative project and help to enrich their database.

Manta trust: this is an organisation doing research around manta rays raising awareness and providing education to the genreal public and community stakeholders.

Manta pacific research foundation: is a research foundation to study manta rays in their natural habitat.

Manta ray at dive spot Magic Mountain, Misool Raja Ampat

Manta rays are majestic swimmers and very photogenic. However, they are difficult to capture unless one is at a cleaning station in the reef where they happen to stay a while for removal of parasites by other smaller reef animals.

Manta rays are rather shy animals. Hence, it is difficult to get into a situation where they come and stay close enough for a spectacular underwater photography.

Collection of manta ray images at 500px

Since manta rays are plankton eaters also visibility in the water is usually not too good upon manta encounters which is another challenge for an underwater photographer.

A selection of my own manta pictures can be found at: link

A search at 500px yields more than 300 underwater images of manta rays. Some of them are really spectacular!

My landscape photography year 2015

On my landscape photography projects I was shooting digital using my Nikon cameras as well as film using my Hasselblad 500 c/m.

Mt. Rigi towards Mt. Pilatus, Nikon D4

Two times I went to mount Rigi in central Switzerland for beautiful landscape
photography.

Especially in winter time - my first trip was in February - this was an interesting experience. The landscape down in the valleys and around the lake Lucerne were covered in fog, while the snow covered peaks of the Swiss Alps were in brightest sunlight.

Mt. Rigi, Hasselblad 500 c/m

The beauty is not only in the breathtaking landscape - which from Mt. Rigi almost covers a 360° view of entire Switzerland - but also in the details. Details such as the snow structures formed by wind and temperature, or the trees covered with frosting made out of snow.

From Rigi Kaltbad, Nikon D4

I went back to Mt. Rigi in autumn. A season of the year where weather conditions usually offer a very clear atmosphere.
I got some very nice shots of the surrounding mountains just after sunset.

Lake Lucerne from Rigi, Nikon D4

On the second day the sky was covered and I got a dramatic picture of Lake Lucerne with Mt. Pilatus in the middle.

Lavender fields, Provence, Nikon D4

As reported earlier (post August 16) we made a short trip to shoot the lavender field landscapes in the Provence, south of France.
This was not only visually but also for the sense of smell a breathtaking experience.
To experience landscapes covered with lavender just shortly before harvest I would not like to miss. The various sensations I will retain for a long time in my memory.
The gallery slideshow below shows some of my photographs from that trip taken on film.

2015 July - Lavender fields - Images by Andreas Mueller

Andalusian landscape, Nikon D800

I made some more trips for landscape photography in 2015 among these a trip to Andalusia.
If you ever want to experience scenic landscapes with olive plantations all around until the horizon then go to Andalusia.

Olivera, Spain, Nikon D800

The pictures here are from a September trip. However, the landscape looks completely different during other seasons. For example in spring everything happens to be green while in autumn the landscape resembles more a desert.

Swiss Alps from Black Forest, Nikon D4

Swiss Alps from Jura, Nikon D4

A last series of landscape images I produced this year was around the Swiss Alps from a distance. Some of these images were shot from places in the Jura overlooking the Swiss midland plateau, others were taken from the southern Black Forest in Germany.

"Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance." -- Charles Lindbergh

My travel and street photography year 2015

"The Photographic Society of America defines a travel photo as an image that expresses the feeling of a time and place, portrays a land, its people, or a culture in its natural state, and has no geographical limitations."

"..the challenges faced by travel photographers are lot greater than some of the genres where the light and other shooting conditions may be controllable."
-- Wikipedia

Throughout 2015 I did a couple of travels where I planned dedicated time slots - some of them were really short and limited - to do some photography.
Here some examples:

La Defense from he Eiffel Tower

In June I spent a week in Paris, France for other purpose than photography. I took one evening with my Sony RX100 Mark III compact camera to take pictures of modern architecture around La Defense, the iconic Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triumphe at sunset.

One of the images I like the most is the shot taken from the Eiffel Tower of the modern architecture of La Defense framed by the old stell construction of the Eiffel tower.

Eiffel Tower

Another one which has more sort of street photography character is the Eiffel tower elevator arriving with the people impatiently waiting behind the glass door to exit at the ground floor. It pictures many different behaviours and characters of human beings. And only one person in the middle clearly noticing that this picture is being taken.


Paris - Images by Andreas Mueller

Disagreement

Another short trip brought me to Vienna, Austria. Same as in Paris I had only my Sony RX100 Mark III compact camera with me.

Among pictures of the well known famous palaces and buildings as well as statues of Vienna I took a couple of interesting shots in the streets. Such as the couple obviously having an argument in front of the perfume shop.

Street food

Or the picture of the street food shop. Where not so typical Viennese, but not minor tasty food is being prepared and sold.

Alhambra, Granada

In October we went on a dedicated travel photography trip to Andalusia in the south of Spain.
Here we traveled for 10 days across Andalusia to visit not only the most famous landmarks and places but also more rural areas and more remote villages in order to get a good expression of this beautiful place.

Pueblos blancos

One of the most famous places is the Alhambra palace in Granada, but also the Mezquita in Cordoba, the cathedral in Cadiz, or the villages of El Rocia and Ronda.

Typical for Andalusia are the white villages - pueblos blancos. Some of these villages are well renovated and very well cultivated picturesque places.

Hospederia la Era

We spent some of the nights in very spectacular locations. Such as la Hospederia la Era in a village called Almedinilla, and in the Hacienda la Morena near Montellano.

These are both very recommendable places where you can really feel the relaxed Andalusian climate and life style.
Both places are being run by very passionate and dedicated couples. It is not only a special experience by means of location and atmosphere but also given the deliberately chosen kitchen which remains some of the for me most memorable culinary experiences of this year.


Hazienda la Morena - Montellano - Images by Andreas Mueller