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A few months ago (at Christmas) I was gifted an old Zorki 4 camera and I immediately started using it after learning how to operate a camera despite having no prior knowledge in photography. I'm still experimenting (fucking around) a lot but I have since had a lot of film developed and one thing that specifically bugs me is that something is always off about the orientation and composition of my photos. I was wondering whether the view that I see through my viewfinder is that much different than what my lens actually captures, because most of my photos reveal that my camera is terribly unaligned with the ground, I tilt it in slight angles without feeling it and I seem to cut off large parts of peoples' bodies (sometimes I accidentally end up just photographing their heads). Are there any tips to better feel how you're holding the camera and not to fuck up the composition too much?
I don't want to post too many photos with people in them because they probably wouldn't like getting their photos posted on the internet (I know it's stupid and no one shares them, but I'm just paranoid), so I can post just a few pics to illustrate my point of how inept I am at composing a shot.
You've probably already guessed that I don't have a tripod or anything, and I don't really plan on getting one because taking pics is just a really little hobby for me, but I'm looking to improve.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. Camera Model SP-3000 Camera Software FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. FE FDi Service Software / FRONTIER355/375-3.0-0E-511 Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 72 dpi Vertical Resolution 72 dpi Image Created 2017:01:26 15:32:00 Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 1818 Image Height 1228
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I don't know what my EXIF means, it's just that I got my film developed at a fuji company store.
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Another quick question: what's with the little light streaks that show up on top of some of my dark photos? They look like little lights in pic related. They turn up occasionally in this line pattern at the very top. I have a feeling that the film inside my camera gets slightly scratched when advancing/rolling the film, but I don't know. They don't turn up in every photo, but you can sometimes see them in even slightly lighter photos.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. Camera Model SP-3000 Camera Software FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. FE FDi Service Software / FRONTIER355/375-3.0-0E-511 Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 72 dpi Vertical Resolution 72 dpi Image Created 2016:12:31 13:49:00 Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 1818 Image Height 1228
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>>3018434
Here are a bit of these streaks again from a black and white roll.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. Camera Model SP-3000 Camera Software FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. FE FDi Service Software / FRONTIER355/375-3.0-0E-511 Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 72 dpi Vertical Resolution 72 dpi Image Created 2017:01:05 16:10:00 Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 1818 Image Height 1228
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Another sadly tilted photo.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. Camera Model SP-3000 Camera Software FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. FE FDi Service Software / FRONTIER355/375-3.0-0E-511 Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 72 dpi Vertical Resolution 72 dpi Image Created 2017:01:16 15:41:00 Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 1818 Image Height 1228
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File: 000046a (17).jpg (918KB, 1818x1228px) Image search:
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Perspective would probably be the word I'm looking for, instead of "composition".
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. Camera Model SP-3000 Camera Software FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. FE FDi Service Software / FRONTIER355/375-3.0-0E-511 Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 72 dpi Vertical Resolution 72 dpi Image Created 2017:01:05 16:10:00 Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 1818 Image Height 1228
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>>3018457
oh fug
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. Camera Model SP-3000 Camera Software FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. FE FDi Service Software / FRONTIER355/375-3.0-0E-511 Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 72 dpi Vertical Resolution 72 dpi Image Created 2017:01:05 16:10:00 Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 1818 Image Height 1228
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Related to tilting you just need to keep this in mind when composing. Try to keep the camera level along a straight line you have somewhere in the scene. That should help.
It takes time, especially with an film camera to get things leveled on the first try. As for some other shots you posted, some people use tilt-shift lenses to correct perspective...
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>>3018468
I try to align my shots along straight lines when I look through the viewfinder, but it seems not to be enough for me. Perhaps my eye fidgets too much and I lose alignment after further "composing" the shot. Also, my hands are really really shaky, which is why I try to take photos with a high shutter speed.
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Not sure how the 4's and 4K's load, but I had this happen occasionally with my bottom-load zorki when I loaded the film with the leader too low in the take-up spool clip. A trick is to remove the lens and readjusting the film through the lens mount while the shutter is open in 'B' mode. Hope that helps.
Can you post a picture of your negatives?
Don't forget that these cameras are very inexpensive, about $20~100 on eBay.
Thread posts: 12
Thread images: 6
Thread images: 6