Morning fog at Lake Kell - a photo on Flickriver

            Camera: Agfa Isolette I (6x6 cm)
Lens: Agnar f/4.5 85 mm
Film: Kodak Portra 400
Exposure: 1/100 sec and f/8, hand-held
Film developed and scanned by MeinFilmLab
Edited under Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro

This photo from the beginning of my shift back to film photography around 2017 was taken with my first Agfa 6x6 cm folder and the first roll of color film. I was pleased with the atmosphere and the composition but in the first instance I put the scan file aside for some reasons: First of all, the colors came out unsatisfactory and at that time my experience with black & white editing was limited. In addition, the camera was an Agfa Isolette I fitted with Agfa's entry-level Agnar triplet lens with unsharp boarders, here resulting in blurred planks of the landing stage at the bottom right. Finally, some condensation trails began to show up in the foggy sky part.

Recently, I remembered this photo when I was editing some shots of trees in fog taken with my digital compact camera. I succeeded to adjust the colors and to narrow down the contrast of the photo under Adobe Lightroom. Lower contrast makes photos softer and more painterly. Subsequently, I used Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, my preferred tool for b&w conversion. Basically, I prefer to edit as little as possible: I applied a red filter to get a better structured sky part, further reduced the contrast by 30 percent, and finally applied a type 12 frame, to my taste appropriate to the given scene.

The Agfa Isolette I which I used arrived via ebay in near mint condition but after the first use the bellows had developed light leaks, as so may Agfa folders with bellows made of plastics material. Replacing the bellows by a camera repairer seemed to be too expensive considering this low-level camera. Moreover, the red window for controlling the frame numbers in the camera back of this model line has no metal slider for preventing light incidence through the backing paper. During my photo session I used black tape for closing the window. For these reasons this camera has not been used any more. Instead, I decided to dissemble the camera completely to practice on repairing Agfa Isolettes.

What I learned is that very often the quality of light is more important than the photographed item itself and that the camera and lens performance both tend to be overrated. However, there are still many photos benefiting from resoving fine detail and texture.
   

Taken on: December 5, 2019

Tags:

Analog

Film

Medium-Format

Agfa-Isolette-I

Agnar

Kodak-Portra-400

Lake-Kell

Fog

Foggy

Mist

Misty « less

Sets appears in: • in explore • Lake Kell - Film more » • Fog / Mist « less

Groups appears in: • Vintage Camera Photography • Backlight more » • Vintage Agfa Medium Format • Vintage 120 Camera • Agfa Isolettes • in explore • The Fog / The Mist and The Rain • BEAUTY PHOTOS AROUND THE WORLD « less

Camera: NORITSU KOKI EZ Controller (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	NORITSU KOKI EZ Controller
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 10.0 Windows
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Stats: 17,094 views / 23 comments

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