Meg

[Brian Moore]

Meg by brian-moore, on Flickr

Meg's my daughter. I took this shot with my Polaroid 210 Land Camera and Fuji FP3000b film. This is the "goop" (negative) side of the image that you're supposed to throw away. For some reason, and I'm not sure if anybody knows why, sometimes the goops show up positive rather than negative.

 

[Hamish Gill]

That's fantastic!
Very spooky! An the natural frame is really nice!
Must take a look into this lark... I have a mate with 2 polariod land cameras of some sort sitting in a box gathering dust

 

[Hamish Gill]

I think I might have even tld her that the film is no longer made ...
I must correct my self on that!

 

[Hamish Gill]

If this is the effect of this "goop" bit... Then even if it is negative, if tour scanning it anyway, just invert it ... I bet there are stacks of cool images like this that have just been chucked!

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks for the comment, Hamish. If it were me I'd be trying to rescue those Land Cameras from your mate before they end up in a tip somewhere. I have at least 9 now. Got my most recent acquisition--a near pristine 103--a couple of weeks ago when out walking the dog. Somebody was selling it for $2.00, a deal that I rapidly agreed to. When he handed the camera to me he said to me quite seriously "Thank you for taking this off my hands." I nearly choked holding back the laughter, but I limited my response to a polite thank you.

Polaroid no longer makes film for them, unfortunately. But Fuji makes colour and B&W. (You want "FP100c" for colour and "FB3000b" for B&W. There is also an FB100b, but Fuji recently stopped making it I understand.)

 

[Hamish Gill]

Did fuji Re-start making it? ... had they stopped?
Im sure i was told it wasnt available at one point ...
So which model would you choose as your favorite then?

 

[Brian Moore]

I don't know if Fuji stopped/re-started. Polaroid definitely stopped though. Could be in UK there was some stopping/starting since I understand that the Land Cameras were never that popular in The Sceptered Isle.

Favorite? They're all good. All of them are fun to use. I guess I'd have to go with one that has a metal chassis and a glass lens. (Such as the 100.) Some have plastic chassis and glass lens, some plastic and plastic. The advantages of the metal/glass are that you get a tripod mount and a sharper lens. However, plastic/plastic are plenty good too.

You'll probably need to convert the battery (although you can still get the original types, but they're dear). Instructions for conversion are available on the web. (Look up Option 8).

 

[Vic Shaw]

I like this shot a lot, although film I think it would look great with some texture added, it just has that feel about it


Vic

 

[Hamish Gill]

... Ahhh... This was where we were talking about it... See new thread Brian

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks for your comment, Vic. Not sure what you mean about texture, though. Is that something that would be applied in Photoshop or some other program?

 

[Brian Moore]

Hamish,...what new thread?

 

[Hamish Gill]

http://www.realphotographersforum.com/threads/2139-Polaroid-camera-help...?p=17129#post17129

 

[Pete Askew]

Great Brian, I do like this sort of thing and it works really well. I guess it could be an effect related to solarisation. I'm pretty sure I've seen an article about reversing the negative part of Polaroids. I'll try to find it.

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks, Pete. You might be right. You can see some actual solarization in the photo of Meg.

 

[Hamish Gill]

... Yeah, round her eye?? I'd wondered where solarisecame from ...
What's the cause of that then?

 

[Brian Moore]

I don't know the cause of the solarization, Hamish. I haven't yet seen an explanation that could be described as definitive. However, Polaroid shooters, especially them that like the goop images, seem to value it.

 

[Pete Askew]

I guess it's because you have exposed the unfixed / partially fixed negative layer to light and so it has 'printed' a 'solarised' image on the negative. I guess the extent will depend on how quickly you exposed the negative and how bright the ambient light is.

 

[Brian Moore]

Well that is as good an explanation as I've yet seen, Pete! Thanks. (I think I will get some more B&W film and try to reproduce solarization by peeling apart the film from its negative before just as development is finishing.)