Photography: Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim

You really forget how wide the Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim is until you go back to it after a bout of Holga photography.

Here are some shots that I dug out a few days ago and Boy, they are wide!









Comments and questions are very welcome, so go ahead and leave one!

Labels: Photography, Toy Cameras, Ultra Wide and Slim, Vivitar

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Why Going Pro on Flickr is Worth It

A lot of you are using Flickr. I actually know this for a fact because of the great feedback I had on the post Flickr Fun. With 79 reactions its currently the most popular post here on Go Holga. Thank you all for your feedback its been wonderful to increase everyone's contact list, I'm sure you will agree!

Ok so back to the point of the post, your thinking of going pro on Flickr, but you don't know if its a good idea, or if you are going to use it enough.

Let me assure you, that from my experience its been fantastic. I will now proceed to outline why I think its worth the money.

1. You get more uploads

The first great thing about going pro on Flickr is that you get more space for uploading photos and videos. If you don't upgrade Flickr start deleting your oldest photos to make room for the new ones.

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Labels: Flickr, Pro

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Get More Light Leaks From Your Holga

The Holga is sort after, because of its dreamy characteristics such as its light leaks and its vignetting.

The good news is that getting more light leaks from your Holga is very easy, and there are a number of key things that you can do to your camera in order to get a huge increase in leaks.

1. Remove Mask

Firstly, ditch any mask that you are using inside your Holga. They help to reduce the amount of light bouncing around inside the camera and as a consequence reduce light leaks.

Take it out, shoot again and see the results!

2. Don't tape

If you've been taping the Holga seams, then don't! You need as much light to get through those little gaps as possible. Use as little tape as you can and let that light burn your film!

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Labels: Light Leaks, Tutorials

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Simple Strap Fix For Holga Camera

A problem that many of you may have with your Holga, is that the back flies off because the strap locks are terrible!

There are a few ways that you can alter the strap on the Holga camera so that it is more secure. Personally I just chose to move it to the front of the camera.

This video I made explains what I did:



If you have any questions or comments then feel free to leave them below, and I will gladly answer.

Thanks for reading!

Labels: Fix, Hacks, Strap

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Holga Photography: Archway

So the whole scanning in a negative and turning it positive in Photoshop is working out really well for me on the last couple of films I have shot. If you want to know how to do that click here.



This is one of the best results recently. I love the way the subject sits just to the left, I think that really helps to make it more interesting to look at. The people at the base also really help to emphasise the scale a lot. All in all I was very happy with the overall shot.

Don't forget that if you want to follow me on flickr you can do that here, or by clicking the photo.

Labels: Photography

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Scanning Black and White Negatives With a Flatbed

So you have the prints from the lab and you can scan them easily enough, but you want those cool little borders on your pictures that you see all those people scanning negatives have.

Can you get them with just your flatbed scanner? The answer is yes! However you will need some kind of imaging editing software. (Photoshop is the best if you can get hold of it.)

Here's how you do it.

1. Get the strip of negative that you want to scan in and pop it in the scanner. It doesn't really matter which way as it can easily be adjusted afterwards if you get it wrong. I seem to find that scanning the glossy side down works best for some reason.

Choose any scanner setting that you might want to use such as dust removal etc.

2. Next you need to open the scan in Photoshop or your image editing program. It should look like a normal negative at this point. Now you want to invert the image to make it look positive. This is done by hitting Ctrl + i in Photoshop. You will have to look around a little in the menu if you are using a different program.

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Labels: Black and White, Boarders, Flatbed, Negative Scanning, Tips

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Digging In The Closet Project On Hold

I've had to put the Digging in the closet project on hold after a bout of terrible weather over here in the UK. I've not even got around to getting some film for my Brownie yet.

The good news is that this gives you more time to dig out your unused cameras and get burning film!

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Holga Photography: Nelson

I know a lot of people are waiting for a review of the Canon 8800F, and I apologise for the delay, however I just can't seem to get the results I want from it. This is only the second successful negative scan I've been able to do.

Nelson's Column - London

Labels: Holga, London, Nelsons Column, Photography

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Jump Breaks Added To Blog

Good News folks: I've just managed to add the 'jump breaks' to the blog again which I find very exciting indeed!

When I was using Wordpress as a blogging platform, the process of adding one was very simple. Now blogger lets you do the same, so I've been through and made some of the longer posts I've published a lot shorter on the main page.

You will notice a 'continue reading' link at the bottom. Click this to go to a page where the full post can be seen on its own...just like the one you will use now...

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Labels: Improvements, Maintainence

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Digging In The Closet Project

This week I would like you to join me in doing something that every photographer should do once in a while, and that is to go into your stock pile or camera draw, pick out a camera you haven't used for a while and burn some film through it.

You are welcome to post links to photos and leave a comment explaining which camera you are going to use. In fact, I strongly encourage you to do so! The more the merrier, and it gets us using our old cameras again.

I've chosen to dig out my Kodak Brownie Cresta 3 (pictured below). Its not been used for a while and I've never really worked out how good this camera is. it takes 120 film and has a selection of apertures, and focal lengths.

Please join me on this mini project, and help save those long lost cameras. You have until the 14th Jan 2010 to get shooting!

Labels: Brownie, Projects

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