Hi all Leicaphiles:

Well, I thought it would be somewhat interesting to catch Cassius the cat sipping some Coke from a cup. Very lucky to catch this one: The Coke Addict. The Leica R4 back at work here.

Leicafully, Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001

Answers

It is very easy to catch this sort of thing. All you have to do is put something your cat likes in whatever you want to photograph it with. This way you can clean up your setting and lighting.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 10, 2001.

Uh, I don't get it.

-- Hugh Jass (Cjass@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

Actually, the cup had some leftover Coke from the previous night before so I didn't have to set up the shot at all by sticking any food/drink for the cat. The cat started to lick the Coke from the cup and I thought that was rather unusual. I didn't realize that cats could partake of soft drinks so I thought that it would be a good opportunity to shoot carefully the cat drinking without disturbing it.

Alfie :)

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

I'd get this shot to the National Geographic as fast as possible. Until now, cats have only been captured on film drinking Pepsi. This shot is going to throw the cat world into an upheaval.

Just kidding Alphie ;-)

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 10, 2001.

Alas, someone with a good sense of humour like what I have too :)

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

Hey Alfie,

Make sure the cat doesn't drink too much coke. My cousin's cat did that, and it's weight went out of control. Better give it diet coke.

Ken

-- Ken Kwok (kkwok@stanford.edu), December 10, 2001.

Alfie- Glad to see another image.

I might go for just a little more contrast, but I'm not sure how well this would work, given the lighting present. Many new-timers would place the cat dead-center- glad to see youv'e avoided this pitfall. Very balanced composition for what looks like a grab shot.

Black and white is much more flexible than color, with much more control over acutance(percieved sharpness), tonality, and grain structure. I rarely concern myself with the grain issue, as acutance/tonality is much more important to me.

Which leads me to ask if you are processing or if a lab is.

Even if you do not have room for a darkroom, I still think it is advantageous to process your own for these reasons:

1) Control- once a neg is developed, that's it, I believe. There are reducers and intensifiers, but I would resort to those in absolute last-ditch efforts. I think my local lab does a great job printing, but I don't agree with their choice in developer. They are a full- service lab, but don't offer developer choices for black and white. Tri-X of all film will probably be best for the lab to handle, and it's a pretty safe bet shooting this film with the intent for Pro lab processing. I just find that I prefer the higher acutance developers, preferrably compensating(developer exhausts in the highlights, "fills" in the shadow detail), to give me the "sharp" look when using both the faster (Tri-x, Neopan, HP5+) films as well as the fine-grain films(Tmax 100, Neopan Acros, Delta 100). Diafine is good, I personally use Photographer's Formulary FX-2. I was very surprised and pleased with the results from this switch.

2) cost- a contact sheet costs half of what a roll does, and it costs me much less than 32 dollars to process/contact 4 rolls. If you are lazy/cheap about contacting(like me) and spend (a lot of) time peering at actual negatives (not as easy as the contact print) you'll save alot.

3) satisfaction. (may vary)

It might cost around 100 ducks for a good stainless tank and reels, maybe less. Chemistry is pretty cheap.

I hope you consider developing your own, I know you can do it! The Film and Processing thread on the greenspun server is full of archived messages that will help immensely. Two different developers may affect the results more than other variables (such as camera make), but not as much as lighting/subject/composition.

Again, thanks for the image. That is what it's all about.

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), December 10, 2001.

I'm sorry, that was the "B&W Film and Processing" thread.

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), December 10, 2001.

Hi there Mike,

Thanks for your encouragement. Sadly enough, I won't have any room for a darkroom until summer of next year when I move back to my house finally and set up a darkroom in the basement. I will have to figure out the chemicals but I love chemistry as much as art so photography is the crux of it all.

I use CBOP for my development and scanning of images. Of course, I guess that sometimes Ritz camera is good for using test images for unknown setups. In fact, Ritz scanning is decent compared to CBOP in my opinion. Eventually I want to scan my own photos.

Thanks for your comments, Mike. :) I am highly appreciative of your suggestions.

Leica-fully, Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

Don't ever sell that R4! Could you take a photo of the stock market page of your local newspaper with the R4 and also post it here? Also the sports page with the summary of the weekend's game results? We could all make a killing and have lots more money to buy Leica equipment. Five days into the future isn't much, but it would certainly tip the odds in our favor.

-- rp johnson (rpjohnson2@mindspring.com), December 10, 2001.

Alfie- part of my whole point was that you do not need a darkroom to process yourself. A dark bathroom is enough to load the film onto the reels, or for that matter, a changing bag designed for large format film holders would suffice. Every other step can be carried out in daylight. If I have running water, I am processing my own black and white. I wasn't sh***ing you when I said you could do it! I enjoy your enthusiasm, and I think if scanning is your goal, you might skip the darkroom altogether in the future, and scan the negatives you could be processing. Think of the $ per image- cheeeeep!! Quality- done right (is easy)it is better than what you're used to.

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), December 10, 2001.

Geez, Alfie, the Coke was left over from the night before. You've got to teach the Princess to be a better housekeeper.

Keep shooting. Practice makes perfect.

Dennis

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), December 10, 2001.

I'm sorry, Alfie. What I meant to say was "Maybe the Princess should teach YOU to be a better housekeeper." Sorry about that.

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), December 10, 2001.

Well, since the Princess is only 20 years old, it's tough to instill in her a sense of housekeeping duties. Actually I enjoy doing that work and routine.

After all, Sarah is still somewhat a teenager :)

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

I am glad your work is getting better. Keep it up. Composition and lighting very good.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), December 10, 2001.