Ten (Temperate) Botanical Frames in Colour

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Thanks Ibraar. I've enjoyed your recent flower pics too.

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Thanks Gary! Glad you enjoyed it.

David Hume replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Simon I mean... where the hell did I get Tony from? Maybe because I was also writing to an Adelaide photog called Tony this morning. Sorry!

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Gday David, Thanks for your comments and sorry not to have included some details on digitisation (I'll edit the piece now to include some). I bought myself two nice Nikon Coolscans in the early 2000s, shortly after acquiring my Mamiya 6MF - a 5000 and a 9000. The images in this piece were scanned on the 9000 at 16bit, 4000dpi, and Adobe colour space, then converted to 8bit, downsized and converted to jpeg for uploading. I didn't edit these scans much (if at all) in post, though I habitually tweak Curves in Photoshop for most scans just to get something that looks right on my Macbook screen. It's easy to over-egg Velvia's already intense saturation so I do try to avoid doing that. I used Velvia and Provia a lot in the '90s and early 2000s, and still have a small stash in my freezer. I wrote a piece about the film for this blog in Sept 2023: https://www.35mmc.com/04/09/2023/fujifilm-velvia-and-my-shallow-and-shameless-dumping-of-kodachrome/ So to clear up another thing, I didn't use the AF Micro Nikkor 60mm for digitisation, but for shooting some originals. It's a terrific and under-rated lens IMHO. However I did use that lens a lot back in the '90s to make slide copies on copy transparency film (and it worked brilliantly). That was when I was submitting original slides to stock photography agencies and wanted to keep a copy for myself. Looking forward to your Venice piece!

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Gday again David, I didn't answer your specific question 'was that one a Velvia shot? (re the feature image). Yes it is. Most of the images are Velvia (which is definitely more saturated than Provia), but I scanned them a while ago, and the transparencies are all filed now (and many are in plastic mounts, as 6x6 'slides', making the process of verification a bit time consuming) and it would take me a while to dig them out and double check.

David Hume replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Cheers Simon - thanks for the info. I did have a borrowed CoolScan 5000 for a time many years ago and the results were superb, (but the pace was glacial!) I digitised a lot of 135 colour neg with it - no transparency though. I used to shoot editorial stuff on 135 Sensia 100 (people, wine and food) and 120 Velvia (for covers - which needed higher res and also paid more) in the early to mid 90s before I had ever digitised anything, but sometimes I would get copies of the scans back from the magazine in that hybrid film/digital time. I guess I wanted to know if the the featured image of your post was that saturated by choice and feel confident you're master of your domain in that regard, and it got me thinking because it seemed the reds and yellows in particular were clipping a bit and I wondered if you were going in hard with them to make a statement (I imagined the cover of a 1980s gardening magazine featuring "Colours of Spring!" which in turn made me think of what happens with film when you digitise it. - I don't agree with Geoff's comment below - (sorry Geoff if you're reading) I think the situation is much more nuanced than that, even though of course it's true "real colours aren't like that" (not least because there is no such thing as real colour, or maybe all colour is real, but let's move on.) Anyway - I'll go and have a read of things of yours I've missed, not least because I did a Kodachrome piece and one about shooting environmental portraits on E6 myself a while ago. Anyway - great to see this and I look forward delving into in to your back catalogue. (And I have a roll of 135 Provia 100 with me on my trip so maybe I'll look out for some flowers in our Great Nation's Capital!) Cheers.

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Ah, I think I understand what you are driving at now. Yeah Velvia is totally capable of clipping (AKA blocking up) reds (as well as bright highlights) in some situations. Hadn't noticed it so much with yellow. Any clipping (or appearance of it) on the feature image here is on the original slide, as opposed to being an artefact of scanning or any tweaking in post. I have seen 'blocky' reds on a few Velvia transparencies in my time, and it's definitely a feature of the film. Several of the shots here, including the featured image, are shot in pretty harsh, direct sunlight (albeit backlit in several), so that additional contrast, with an already very contrasty medium, is likely contributing to any appearance of clipping. But as you suggest, I'm happily owning it! The aim is really to convey the eye-popping colour of Floriade. The colours of the actual flowers really are very intense, even if Velvia soups them up a bit. It's a stunning event to witness - I take my hat off to the people who plan the displays, because not only do they have to create appealing arrangements, but since tulips are bulbs, they have to get the timing right too!

David Hume replied:

Comment posted: 12/07/2025

Cheers Simon. Yep, thanks - we're on the same page there.

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

I suspected this one might draw you out Geoff! I agree that Velvia does not represent reality, but many would argue that this is not a problem - it just does with chemistry what the saturation and vibrance sliders do in Photoshop. Ansel Adams openly admitted to doing a lot of heavy dodging in the printing of 'Moonrise at Hernandez' to darken the sky, so that image doesn't represent reality either. I enjoy wild colours for some subjects, flowers included, and marine fauna especially. But I am working on another piece in black and white, featuring some recent images made with Kodak Technical Pan, which I have to say I really like, and I hope you will too :)

Ibraar Hussain replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

Ah but they’re not supposed to be real nor to look real. For that get a modern digital ‘Forget how it looks, how dies it feel?’ A wise man once said

Ibraar Hussain replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

*does

Geoff Chaplin replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

I have no objection to images being different from reality - van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night for example which is in no way an accurate reflection of 'reality' but is a wonderful insight into the painter's reality. Velvia, or Photoshop, colours are generally (not always) simply over-saturated rather than an artist's thoughtful interpretation.

Geoff Chaplin replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

And to reply to Ibraar - it feels yuck! blear! hoo-eeee!

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

Thanks for this Tony, glad you agree.

Simon Foale replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

Thanks Gary, glad you like them.

Geoff Chaplin replied:

Comment posted: 13/07/2025

Gary, I agree colour's don't have to be real - but choosing Velvia gives the same colour shifts and saturations to every shot you take. Simon has very sensibly restricted the subject matter to a single genre and perhaps he loves those reds and deep saturations - I do not, and my reaction is the colours of the films do not help the flowers show their glory but the opposite. That's just my reaction and I know the majority of photographers have a different opinion, that's fine.