Author: fioritto

Happy Birthday Mia!

Hi Mia, Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day and we love and miss you. I think you were in the Nutcracker when I took this shot. If I remember correctly you were in-between performances or this might have been a break during a rehearsal. You also look a lot like your cousin Anna in this shot as well.…

Need some help with Photoshop

I need some Photoshop help for this photo. I like this shot of kids playing tag, but the boy’s hand in the foreground is overexposed. It was in a shaft of sunlight so there is really no detail there. What is the best approach to burn this down? (Update: the kid’s face has been blurred re: privacy concerns)

I’m a conservative Republican and I voted for Obama

I don’t write personal observations on this blog very often. I was always more intrigued with the technology. I’m also not a political junkie. Most would call me an apathetic voter. As the election heated up in the beginning of this year, I wrote the following to a good friend of mine back in January. I was trying to hash…

Fuji Neopan 1600 and Xtol

This is from my first roll of Fuji Neopan 1600. I processed it in Xtol 1:1. This was shot with the 40mm 1.4 lens, wide open, on my rangefinder. I don’t remember the shutter speed, but we were in a dark corner of the Beer Bistro so it was in the “hail Mary” range I’m sure. I also have some…

Elegant photographs

I have been spending more time on Flickr looking at various photographers work. I have been drawn to several photographers in Japan including Tommy Oshima, Clarice and D.Fujio. They all see things in a way that I find unique and appealing. I wanted to point out a few photos from a photographer named Ta (at least on flickr). They are…

Xtol and Kodak Tri-x development test

I processed my first few rolls of Tri-x with Xtol and so far I am happy with the results. I processed Tri-x exposed at 400 for 8 minutes in Xtol diluted 1:1. Here are a few samples. You can find more as I shoot and process them on my Flickr account tagged with Xtol.

Rodinal and Tri-x film developing

Since I started developing black and white film again I have been using Rodinal. I chose this developer after seeing several examples of it in use on Flickr; primarily Bud Green’s photographs of his family. I have tried various dilutions including 1:50, 1:100 and for the last few rolls I tried stand development (1 hour). But I am having a…

A new pandemic? XDR-TB

The photographer James Nachtwey writes, “I have been a witness and these pictures are my testimony” in the opening frame of a video, highlighting his work to bring awareness to a drug resitant strain of TB (XDR-TB). You can read more at the XDR-TB website.

Film processing notes

I just processed some film and here are my developing notes so I don’t forget the next time. Kodak Tri-x, rated at 200 Afga Rodinal developer, diluted 1:100 for 15 minutes at 68 degrees. I agitate for the first 15 or so seconds then gentle agitation every two minutes after that. At some point I’m going to try stand development;…