Author Topic: Show me some sunflowers (Read 20798 times)

jharr · « **on:** July 01, 2014, 07:13:00 PM »

I grew a handful of sunflowers this year and they just catch the morning and evening sun so beautifully, I was wondering if anyone else was enjoying their own sunflowers this summer.
Chinon CP-5
Ektachrome Slide Dupe Film @ iso50 - expired 1981
Unicolor C-41 cross-processed

Fresh or Expired on Through A Glass, Darkly

Bryan · « **Reply #1 on:** July 01, 2014, 08:27:17 PM »

Great shot jharr! I tried growing some several years ago, they were a giant variety called Sunzilla. They were just starting the get some good seeds when the squirrels attacked them, pulled the heads off and ate all the seeds. I haven't tried to grow any since.

charles binns · « **Reply #2 on:** July 01, 2014, 08:36:25 PM »

Quote from: BAC1967 on July 01, 2014, 08:27:17 PM

Great shot jharr! I tried growing some several years ago, they were a giant variety called Sunzilla. They were just starting the get some good seeds when the squirrels attacked them, pulled the heads off and ate all the seeds. I haven't tried to grow any since.

Don't get me started about squirrels after what the little &*$£ers did to my crocuses. Rats with fluffy tails is what they are.

I now have a heavy duty catapult and a bag full of dried conkers to deal with any that dare wander into my garden.

Nice sunflower shot by the way.

Bryan · « **Reply #3 on:** July 01, 2014, 08:43:03 PM »

Quote from: charles binns on July 01, 2014, 08:36:25 PM

Quote from: BAC1967 on July 01, 2014, 08:27:17 PM
Great shot jharr! I tried growing some several years ago, they were a giant variety called Sunzilla. They were just starting the get some good seeds when the squirrels attacked them, pulled the heads off and ate all the seeds. I haven't tried to grow any since.

Don't get me started about squirrels after what the little &*$£ers did to my crocuses. Rats with fluffy tails is what they are.

I now have a have duty catapult and a bag full of dried conkers to deal with any that dare wander into my garden.

Nice sunflower shot by the way.

I call them "Tree Rats".

jharr · « **Reply #4 on:** July 01, 2014, 09:04:04 PM »

We don't have grey squirrels down here in San Diego. Not sure if anything will come for the seeds. Maybe a opossum?

Here's another.

KevinAllan · « **Reply #5 on:** July 01, 2014, 09:11:08 PM »

I don't have any images from this year, so here are a couple of oldies:

charles binns · « **Reply #6 on:** July 01, 2014, 09:14:54 PM »

Sorry, with my rant about squirrels I forgot to post a photo. Heres a dead one.

jharr · « **Reply #7 on:** July 02, 2014, 12:04:53 AM »

Kevin, have you printed that b/w? I'll bet it would be spectacular!

Charles, it takes a very good eye to bring out the beauty in dead/dying flowers. Good job.

gregor · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2014, 04:31:32 AM »

Not this summer, but for many summers in the past few years. These, polaroid 55, calumet monorail....

mcduff · « **Reply #9 on:** July 02, 2014, 04:50:44 AM »

Hi James. That extra bit down south you are means you get to enjoy sunflowers already! I have not seen any flower yet in southern ontario. These are last year in the splendor of goofy lomochrome ;-)

(Actually I have to admit shooting vegetation with lomochrome every now and then is kind of fun and surprising. Tho the half dozen rolls I have will last a few years!!)

Indofunk · « **Reply #10 on:** July 02, 2014, 05:19:05 AM »

Wow, those lomochrome shots are trippy!

ManuelL · « **Reply #11 on:** July 02, 2014, 06:23:18 AM »

Some pinholes taken a few years ago

Paul Mitchell · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2014, 09:09:10 AM »

Here's one from my sorely missed XPan

Paul

Peter84 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 02, 2014, 12:37:34 PM »

Will flowers in the sun do as well?

Shot this a couple of days ago on kodak hawkeye with my trusty AE-1 and a 80-200mm SSC. I think I'm starting to like this film a lot. This was a roll from FPP. Home developed in a tetenal c-41 kit, but I just can't seem to get rid of the dust in my scanner $:-\$

jharr · « **Reply #14 on:** July 02, 2014, 03:56:44 PM »

Gorgeous shots all! Not even a mediocre one in the lot, well except for this one. Shot on Portra 160 in my Yashica Mat 124G.

thatguychad · « **Reply #15 on:** July 08, 2014, 08:02:44 AM »

Went out and took this one for the thread earlier this evening. Had a little processing problem (seems to always happen in my blues - note the artifacts at top, right) and I'm not completely happy with it, but I'll take the SQ-A out in the next couple of days around the same time and try to capture what I imagined. Fuji GA645Zi on Ektar. I got a couple to turn out okay on the Polaroid 360 that I'll post if there's interest.

Sunflower by thatguychad, on Flickr

jharr · « **Reply #16 on:** July 09, 2014, 05:18:01 AM »

I'd like to see the Polaroids! And I don't think there's anything wrong with the image above. The blue is on the intense side, but it offsets the backlit orange petals nicely, complimentary colors and all. Keep 'em coming!

thatguychad · « **Reply #17 on:** July 09, 2014, 05:54:17 AM »

It's pretty much more of the same, I was trying and failing to capture the shot I wanted:

Sunflowers by thatguychad, on Flickr

thatguychad · « **Reply #18 on:** July 10, 2014, 07:53:55 AM »

Burned another couple of rolls on sunflowers in morning light for practice with the subject and tried out the new macro lens (110mm f/4.5 PS) on the SQ-A. I wish I could figure out the specs on the negative (more easily seen on the Portra). Anyone have ideas?

Ektar

Portra 160

Indofunk · « **Reply #19 on:** July 15, 2014, 04:37:58 PM »

Here's a sunflower growing across the street from my building. An "urban sunflower", if you will.

It's actually a part of a series of test shots using 3 filters (yellow, lt green, dk green) because I refuse to believe that green filters are good for photographing flowers, as is commonly claimed. And at least in this case, I believe I'm correct (maybe only because sunflowers are yellow. maybe a green filter would work better for a red flower).

Full test series here, if you care.

SLVR · « **Reply #20 on:** July 17, 2014, 03:40:57 AM »

too late to the party? 50mm F1.1 wide open. Mcduff would be proud.

Untitled by nownownownow, on Flickr

jharr · « **Reply #21 on:** July 17, 2014, 10:57:10 PM »

I don't know about anyone else, but I am so glad I started this thread. Wonderful photos from all different styles and approaches. Thanks everyone for contributing. I'll have some more maybe this weekend if I carve out some dev time.

Thanks to all and keep them coming.

James

Indofunk · « **Reply #22 on:** July 18, 2014, 03:22:39 AM »

I shot a few more of the same sunflower on Ektachrome 50HC, so whenever I get through the roll (color? let's say a couple of weeks

) I'll xpro it and post it here

Phil Bebbington · « **Reply #23 on:** July 18, 2014, 11:11:12 PM »

The Rain Will Breathe Life in Wiltshire by Terrorkitten, on Flickr

In Search Of Late Sun Near Bath. by Terrorkitten, on Flickr

All Down Hill From The Summer. Beckington, Somerset. by Terrorkitten, on Flickr

jharr · « **Reply #24 on:** July 19, 2014, 10:59:04 PM »

Not sure whether to post these here, the weekend thread or the T-Max thread. Well, they are sunflowers after all.

Sunflower buds by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

sunflower by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

limr · « **Reply #25 on:** July 20, 2014, 05:02:38 AM »

I had a few old shots of sunflowers but I can't find the prints or the negatives without some serious digging. I'm going through and re-organizing my office room so I might run across them, but in the meantime, I'll see if I can take some new ones.

Like this one!

rs Sunflower by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Went to a sculpture garden a few days ago and found this deconstructed sunflower so I grabbed a shot for y'all!

The angle was tricky. Too close or the wrong vantage point and it didn't look like a sunflower anymore.
(Mamiya C330, Portra 400)

SLVR · « **Reply #26 on:** July 20, 2014, 05:13:30 AM »

daaaang phil that first shot is crispy

Indofunk · « **Reply #27 on:** July 23, 2014, 08:00:58 PM »

Another shot of my urban sunflower, this time on Ektachrome 50HC

jharr · « **Reply #28 on:** July 29, 2014, 04:07:50 AM »

Last batch. These flowers are all dead now and I am harvesting seeds.
Yashica Mat 124G + Closeup lenses
Portra 160
Unicolor C-41

PortraSunflowers by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

Portra Sunflowers by James Harr's Photos, on Flickr

Bryan · « **Reply #29 on:** August 02, 2014, 01:23:12 AM »

These were growing on a stockpile of lead and arsenic contaminated soil that had been there since last summer. It was soil we excavated from residential properties so someone must have had them growing in their yard. The black mound you see in the background is slag from an old lead smelter. I shot this with my Zorki 4K with an Industar-50 lens using Kodak Ektar 100 film.

Sunflower by bac1967, on Flickr

Indofunk · « **Reply #30 on:** August 02, 2014, 01:34:56 AM »

Poor sunflowers, trying desperately to survive and bring beauty to human-contaminated soil

Indofunk · « **Reply #31 on:** August 05, 2014, 03:28:55 PM »

A couple more around my neighborhood. This is the first roll of the 2 bricks of 1980 Ektachrome 64 daylight I got. Cross-processed in C41. I shot it at 25, which worked great for the last batch of Ektachrome 64D I had, but obviously it was too much for this roll. Next roll I'll shoot at 50 and see how it comes out. Since I pulled it back 4 full stops in Lightroom, I'm thinking maybe I can even shoot it at 100?

jharr · « **Reply #32 on:** August 05, 2014, 04:36:58 PM »

The green shadows are kind of cool. I had a shirt that color back in the 80's.

I might have to shoot some slide dupe film at 25 and see if I get similar results.

Indofunk · « **Reply #33 on:** August 17, 2014, 04:14:49 PM »

Peter's (hookstrapped's) neighborhood has lots of community gardens, many of which have sunflowers. To wit:

Francois · « **Reply #34 on:** August 17, 2014, 09:14:55 PM »

This is the only decent picture I ever managed to take using a fisheye...

gothamtomato · « **Reply #35 on:** August 18, 2014, 04:10:54 PM »

Quote from: jharr on July 01, 2014, 07:13:00 PM

I grew a handful of sunflowers this year and they just catch the morning and evening sun so beautifully, I was wondering if anyone else was enjoying their own sunflowers this summer.
Chinon CP-5
Ektachrome Slide Dupe Film @ iso50 - expired 1981
Unicolor C-41 cross-processed

Fresh or Expired on Through A Glass, Darkly

Goegeous! When you cross process, do you still expose for the ISO on the box or do you expose differently?

jharr · « **Reply #36 on:** August 18, 2014, 04:49:55 PM »

Hmmm... That's a good question. I have never thought about developing this film in E6, so I'm not sure what its "box speed" should be. There is no speed printed on the can and there is no speed referenced in the spec sheet from Kodak. It's 30 years expired as well, so that effects the speed. I shoot it at iso 50 though I have read about people shooting it as low as iso 8. I think that generally duplicating films were slow in case you wanted to dodge/burn. I like the "pushed" look I get at 25-50, so I haven't experimented much. Hungry Mike has a roll of this as well, so maybe he can chime in and let us know how he is using it. There is a wide variance of how people expose for x-pro, from +2 to -2 stops. If I were starting with a new stock that I wasn't familiar with, I would just start at box speed. Maybe I would bracket a couple of shots (but probably not). Satish (Indofunk) is sending me a couple rolls of waaaay expired Ektachrome (yo0u can see a couple of his shots with it above). He shot those about 1.5 over box speed and while I appreciate the aesthetic, it isn't quite what he was going for. So I am going to try a couple of experimental things and see if I can get a different look out of that film.

I'm not sure any of that is helpful, but I look forward to seeing your x-pro shots when you get them.

Thanks,
James

Hungry Mike · « **Reply #37 on:** August 18, 2014, 07:47:18 PM »

Not sure if I have much to add this discussion but my understanding of this particular dupe film is that the ISO is very low, something like 6 or less. I certainly could be wrong but I believe that is the case. I haven't used this particular film much but my limited experience doing Xpro is that it should be shot pushed as James (Jharr) has in his shots (I really like the colour palette the film gets). 50 to even 100.

limr · « **Reply #38 on:** August 21, 2014, 03:31:53 AM »

I finally have some sunflower shots to share! I was so excited that had both time AND camera so I could stop and take pictures. These were technically in someone's yard but they were huge and growing over the sidewalk, so it's not like we just walked onto someone's property. And these were pretty massive sunflowers. One was the size of my head!

Minolta SR-1, Tri-X, Caffenol:

Sunflower 3 by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Sunflower 2 by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Sunflower 1 by limrodrigues, on Flickr

jharr · « **Reply #39 on:** August 21, 2014, 04:56:42 PM »

Love those Leonore! The Tri-x/Caffenol treatment looks great.

limr · « **Reply #40 on:** August 22, 2014, 01:43:29 AM »

Thanks!

jharr · « **Reply #41 on:** September 03, 2014, 04:15:06 PM »

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but Ted Forbes did a short video comparing 3 photographic interpretations of a sunflower. The photos were from famous photographers, but looking back through the thread, I think that many of the photos here are of equal if not better quality. So this begs the question... What makes Tom Baril's photo worth more to a publisher or a collector than say Phil's or Leonore's? Is it just name recognition? Did they just catch the right gallery owner's eye at the right time/place? Or is the something qualitatively/objectively better?
I realize that d!&!74L photography and the internet have changed the whole world of photography and people I think realize that there are not just a few core photographers producing amazing work. So with so many talented photographers, is it just the luck of the draw for who gets paid/famous? I don't mean to diminish the accomplishments of those here that are successful photographers. I know that you must work very hard at your craft. I am just asking about the quality of the photos on a gallery wall compared to some that never make it past a forum or a Flickr group.
Any thoughts?

Ted's video:
http://youtu.be/GwkOL7lQl9g

Francois · « **Reply #42 on:** September 03, 2014, 09:12:22 PM »

I do think that luck now has more to do with it than talent... and also timing.
People who managed to get discovered in the early 1980's had a lot more chance than those trying to get noticed nowadays.

The other day while going through some old tapes, I found a show on small business that I had recorded somewhere possibly in the late 1990's. They were interviewing an Australian photographer who started photographing in 1980 and specialized in panoramic postcard like pictures that he sold through one of his 5 galleries. The guy shot everything on a Linhof, had a drum scanner, custom framing shop, 87 full time employees and no problems filling orders. I have doubts he would have managed to get the success he had if he was to start these days.

jharr · « **Reply #43 on:** September 17, 2014, 11:44:08 PM »

Not mine, but from one of my favorite unknown film photographers. The flower appears to be fake, but the color and comp are so good.

Подсолнечник by Towy-Yowy, on Flickr
Minolta x-300 Rokkor 58/1.4 Fujifilm c-200

jojonas~ · « **Reply #44 on:** February 18, 2015, 12:32:32 PM »

I promise that I did shoot this last summer!

I am very grateful for the friend that develops my negs at the mo', but it is quite funny looking at pictures that have laid dormant this long

jharr · « **Reply #45 on:** February 18, 2015, 03:54:17 PM »

Jonas, is that a crop? If not, how did you get a Brownie to focus so close? Nice photo by the way.

jojonas~ · « **Reply #46 on:** February 18, 2015, 06:17:58 PM »

Quote from: jharr on February 18, 2015, 03:54:17 PM

Jonas, is that a crop? If not, how did you get a Brownie to focus so close? Nice photo by the way.

thanks!
I used one of my holga close up filters taped up on it. this was either the 250mm one or the 120mm

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #47 on:** February 20, 2015, 10:21:00 AM »

Thanks Jeff, for starting this and to Jonas for resurrecting it. I've taken a ton of sunflower shots over the years. They're gorgeous. Here's a moody b/w shot from a few years ago taken with a Pentax Program A on Tasma 100 film.

Sunflower Top by Ed Wenn, on Flickr

jojonas~ · « **Reply #48 on:** February 20, 2015, 03:27:24 PM »

glad to see you join in, ed. you've got some nice details too in your flower, and it's not the usual shot

jharr · « **Reply #49 on:** February 20, 2015, 03:32:27 PM »

Very nice photo Ed. If you have a ton, why not post a few more? It seems to be a subject that everyone gets around to eventually. They are just so photogenic!